Burning Reality

Chapter 2

Lexi heard a light tapping noise on her door, the sound of knuckles hitting wood. She quickly put down her notebook, and set her pencil on top of it's tattered cover.

"Lexi, honey it's time to go to bed." Her mother's tired voice sounded from the other side of her door. Lexi glanced at the digital clock resting on her chipped little table, (one of the newest things she owned) which resided next to her unmade bed, and did a double take. Three hours had passed since when she had gotten mad at her mom and stormed off into her room. Only seconds later did Lexi realize her wrist felt like it was about to fall off.

Shaking her wrist to try to stop the ache, Lexi stood up and walked over to her nearly

empty closet.

"Lexi, you need to do laundry soon or you'll have nothing to wear to school." She quietly

reminded herself, glancing at the full laundry basket on her floor, and her closet. She pulled out the first tee shirt and shorts she saw, and changed slowly, not really feeling like she wanted to sleep. Lately, Lexi's sleep was disturbed. She was afraid she would have a nightmare.

Lexi's nightmares tended to be extremely realistic, like they actually could happen in real life, those few nightmares usually made sense, at least in her mind. Sometimes things she said didn't make any sense to other people, making her seem like she was crazy. That was one of the main reasons she didn't have any friends, no one understood her was a more simple way to put Lexi's social problems.

Lexi laid down in her bed, looking up at her once white ceiling, now stained and tinted

yellow bracing herself for another nightmare. It's not like she was used to them, each time one of her nightmares happened, they seemed to get more and more real, slowly making her question her own reality.

One time Lexi had a dream about two people who acted like they were her parents, these figures seemed so realistic at the time. When Lexi woke up, she fully expected those two strange adults, ones she had only met in a dream, to be making breakfast downstairs in the kitchen, or be cleaning the little house they all resided in.

Lost in her train of thought, Lexi slowly slipped away into the depths of whatever land waited for her in her dreams this night.

This dream was different from the others. Instead of being in a normal, solid landscape like a grassy field or a forest, she was floating in the dark. Well, she wasn't exactly floating. An invisible board was holding Lexi up in the air, each time Lexi touched the board, a small purple light would emit from where her fingers made contact. There was nothing in the world she was currently residing in, the only sign of color was Lexi's skin, the little white nightgown that covered Lexi's small frame, and the dim purple light that traced Lexi's outline from the board underneath her.

"Hello?" Lexi called, her voice echoed, even though there were no visible walls in Lexi's surroundings. Lexi sat up, looking for any light in the inky darkness of her dream other than the dim purple aura that surrounded her. A bright flash of light surrounded Lexi, making her flinch and cover her eyes, those few moments were the most beautiful moments of her life, dream and reality. All the colors Lexi ever knew were mixed in with a pale tan shade, forming a person's face. When Lexi's eyes finally adjusted to the darkness that was left behind from the light, she was greeted little screens flashing with random scenes from what looked like another person's life. Some of the events flashing through the screens, Lexi recognised as her former dreams, others were completely foreign to her.

Lexi layed back down, her arms hanging off the side of whatever was holding her up. She stared at the screen directly above her. This screen, which was slightly bigger than all the other portrayed a little girl playing with two adults, Lexi guessed the three of them were family from the way the little girl stared so admiringly at the adults.

Lexi looked closer at the small child, for the first time noticing how familiar she looked, it was almost like Lexi had met that girl somewhere else.as The little girl had the same shade hair, dark brown, and both Lexi, and the little girl's skin both were very pale. Sudden realization hit her. That was Lexi in the the memory, a very small, more innocent version of Lexi, somewhere she didn't even recognize.

What didn't make the most sense was the fact that she was playing with people she had never met before. Before Lexi could make any sense of this, all the screens around Lexi flickered and dimmed, leaving Lexi in complete darkness again.

A small light flashed under where Lexi was sitting, she turned over and saw a new scene, one she had never seen before. The sky in this scene was scarlet, little black lines where clouds should be there were people running around, people crying, people sitting .

"What's happening?" Lexi whispered. Staring at the screen. She caught sight of the same little Lexi was crying, her little white gown she was wearing was torn and smudged with dirt, tear lines streaked down her face.

"Mommy! Daddy!" She screamed, but not moving, or making an attempt to look for them, her eyes were fixed firmly on the ground. She was holding something in her arms, at closer look,it looked like a small stuffed rabbit.

A glow of purple light materialized next to the little Lexi on the screen, and a man in a full white uniform, and a white helmet blocking what their face looked like stepped out of the light. The little girl on the screen fell onto her knees, not looking at anything except the ground, like it was the only thing that mattered or existed in her world.

More and more of these men in white uniforms appeared, grabbing people, putting various weapons against their heads and faces, or binding them and throwing them back into the purple light in which they had come from.

The screen flickered, much like when the scenes disappeared earlier, then vanished.

Leaving Lexi to think about what the heck just happened.