Daydreamers

The Past

                 My mind begins to wander to before. Before the fear, when it was just me and my friends. We would always be together during lunch; Mareena, Lance, Schneider, and Jonathan. We were as close as we could be. When we were together we didn't need to say a word, each other's presence was enough. My favorite part was that they called me Alice, like Alice in Wonderland. We each played a character perfectly Mareena was the mad hatter, Lance the white rabbit, Schneider the Cheshire cat, Jonathan the caterpillar. So many inside jokes were created, so many moments we will never forget. For instance, one day Mareena and I came up with the idea to bring glitter to school and surprise our friends. I had already surprised one of my other friends with glitter for their birthday, so we bought a bunch of glitter tubes and handed them to each of our friends; Lance, Schneider, Jonathan. Every time we saw each other we would throw a handful of glitter at each other. Once we all reached the lunch table a full blown fight broke out. Everyone was covered head to toe in glitter. A few of us had hidden glitter and used it later, there was no escape. By the end of the day everyone had piles of glitter in their hair and our clothes were splattered with multiple colors, that seemed to stay forever.
           However, those moments are gone. Lance and Jonathan were the first to go. Schneider tried to interfere and was gone just as quickly. Mareena and I didn't know what to do, we were terrified. It wasn't long after that we found the letters. Piles of letters, from each of them telling us how they knew this would happen and how they want us to continue to hold onto the moments we had. We couldn't cry, not in this world.

...
           
    The doors fly open, cool fresh air throws my golden brown hair into my almost identical colored eyes. Lanere High has rung its final bell for the day and every student fights to escape its walls. A crowd of smoke colored uniforms billow out every door. I stand nearby watching, unaware that my mind was wandering until a familiar voice sails through the crowd. "Allyson!" is repeated about a thousand times before Mareena reaches me. She says "I'm coming over" before I have a chance to blink. "Of course" I reply, this has become our routine every afternoon. We start off walking towards my car, after only a few steps Mareena stops dead in her tracks. "What's wro-"I try, but before I could finish, she yells "race ya!" and bolts. I stumble trying to catch up shouting "No fair!" to her back. We zig-zag through groups of friends uniting after the long day, and even dodge a few bicycles. Out of breathe we both throw ourselves into my car arguing over who won.
             We were in my room, Mareena stretched across the floor, me sitting on the nook of my window. Mareena was obsessed with looking up stories of those who were taken by the help. I worried about her attachment to these people. I knew it started because of the loss of her parents, but I didn't expect it to get this bad. Right now she's frozen, staring at a picture of a woman holding a child. The words "Mother gets treatment after crazed attack towards child" headline the picture over exaggerating the supposed "attack." It's heartbreaking, knowing that the "help" made this story, turning a loving mom into a monster out to kill her child. I know it isn't true. The "attack" was more likely the mother trying to protect her family from being taken, only to suffer the fate herself. Yet Mareena stares at the woman almost like she's looking at her mother, but there's nothing I can do to comfort her. I turn away, choosing to work on writing instead. I started writing in my journal after my dad was taken, these words are all I have. My words, my thoughts are the one thing they can't take away from me. Even though I feel the unbearable sense of being watched I know there's nothing they can do, words are not illegal. I glance down, reading over the last words I wrote:
Please remember me, as I was, as I always tried to be