The Dreamer's Blood

Chapter 1: Figures and Fears

Chapter 1: Fears and Figures

"Liam."

"Liam?"

"Liam!"

My eyes popped open. I bolted upright, startled at the sound of my name. My mom stood over my bed with a concerned expression on her face. I look down at myself and realized that I was drenched in sweat.

"Are you alright, honey?" My mom reached over to feel my forehead but I shrank away. The dream, it felt so real. However, it wasn't the first time I had had strange dreams like that. I had been having bizarre dreams for several weeks now, but this dream was definitely the darkest thus far. My mom pulled her hand away.

"You look awful, Liam. Was it another one of those dreams?"

"I'm fine," I lied. I wasn't fine, I was horrified. That freak lady drank my blood, for goodness sakes.

"Well if you think you can go to school, you had better move. Your bus will be here in ten minutes," my mom looked at her watch. I got up and shooed her out of my room. I then threw on a pair of jeans and a t-shirt, attempted to comb my hair, and scrambled down the stairs. Something buzzed inside my pocket and I reached in to pull out my phone.

"meet me by ur locker. got something to tell u."

It was from my best friend, Skip Ritter. I knew there was nothing to worry about, though. He was either going to tell me about a close scrape with the police or a new girlfriend. Probably both.

I grabbed a pop tart from the kitchen table and dashed out the door. I had missed the bus too many times this year already. I walked down my driveway and stopped a couple houses down at the curb. It was still pretty dark out and the moon was directly in front of me. I hate that. Then it feels like you're in math class at 1:00 in the morning.

I stood out in the cool morning breeze for a few more minutes until I saw the blinking lights of the school bus winding down the road towards me. In the darkness, it looked like some kind of space monster with all the flashing lights. I adjusted my backpack on my shoulder and waited for the bus to come to a complete stop before jumping on. There were no seats open, so I asked if I could sit with some guy up front. He nodded, but got out so I could sit by the window. How thoughtful. On a bus, that's like the place of shame. In the front and by the window. But I didn't really care and glanced outside as I took my seat.

Something moved. I pressed my forehead against the glass at an attempt to get a better view of the gloomy neighborhood. There, standing in the fog by the curb, was a hooded figure. I couldn't see a face, just the form of a person draped in a black cloak or something. I turned to the guy next to me.

"See that?" I asked him.

"See what?" I turned to the figure and pointed.

"There! There's someone standing there!"

"I don't see nothing," the guy squinted at the window in the direction I was pointing. He shifted his eyes to me. "Are you ok, man?" He looked at me as I had just come down from outer space.

"I'm fine," I told him.

What's wrong with me?

I looked back to the window and searched for the figure, but it had vanished. The bus began to drive away from the curb and I slumped down in my seat. I'm not crazy, I thought. There's no way I'm imagining things. I wallowed in fear and confusion as the bus made its way to school.