Everything

Chapter 1- There's fire everywhere, and tongues of scarlet lick the walls in a rapid pace; and I'm scared stiff, fear engulfing me, and the situation is irrevocable for sure; everything is on fire, and I can't even breathe, and I can't even remember how to think, as if my brain is frozen, while heat roats my flesh. And that's when all the things around me have no sound, as if I'm deaf, and then I'm rooted to the spot. What's going on? My heart seems to skip a beat, and there's crashing sound again, and something whispers. And there's a yell, apparently belonging to Jess. "Are you nuts?" And then I'm awake again, sweating on my bed, my pillow and sheets wet with perspiration, like I've pissed on it. Vanessa peeps from her upper bunk bed, and narrows her eyes. I shrug nonchalantly and endeavour to cradle myself to slumber, but it's already morning, and I'm yawning lots; there's another wave of sleepiness crashing over me, but still I'm afraid that I'll dream again, and because the dream is awfully real, and everything seems so vivid- as if it's going to happen- or it did happen, actually.

"Eric, seriously, is there something wrong with you? Been screaming all night, won't let me sleep- I have not slept a wink 'cause of you, man," Oliver says, a sort of a suspicion entering his voice.

"I've got this...yawn...big, vivid dream, and uh, it keeps me from sleeping," I yawn. 
They aren't any dreams, Eric. They're real. The voice freaks me out, and I jump, drop my toast, which, with the butter, is stuck to the floor, the orange juice spills all over my shirt and soak up the fabric cushion of the chair, wets the oak table, seeps through the rug beneath our feet, and I'm screaming in irritation. I mop them up and stuff food into my mouth, and speak through muffled voices. "What if, guys, they're real? I mean, what if they're real?"

"You freak me out, little brother," says Vanessa. "Just shush, and eat up."

Images flash across my mind.

Jess' handsome face is twisted up into horror, that I can't bear to watch him. "T-the palace-" "Butt out, if you're not helping, young man!" cries a few men. The. Palace. Is. Burning. I'm watching, and feeling extremely, incredibly hapless, my palms cold and clammy, and I grow cold inside. I never had felt so helpless. Jess pick up his fallen composure, balling his fists, his eyes getting redder and redder in the effort to suppress tears.

"Let's go! We can't just watch it burn!"

"The royal family is already escorted there," I say. "So sir-"

Jess smirks. "Why don't you just escort the prince, lowly bodyguard of the prince?"

"Quit being sacrastic, sir. The prince gave an order to escort you and your sister," I say, gritting my teeth. Jess is the same age as me, but he's way above rank of mine, and I try to keep my respect, but sometimes he's really something.

"I'm not the royal family, only the prince's cousin," sneers Jess.

"Seriously, sir!"

"FIne, fine, Eric! But the royal palace is burning, the palace of tradition, built by our ancestors!" he mutters crazily. "I can't belive it!"

"And by our enemies, sir! The last thing you want is the enemies who have burnt this palace mockking you because you got hurt in this fire," I say. "So-" Jess yanks out my grasp. "No! I shall not abandon-" There's a shriek. "Jess! Jess!" I'm horrifed. "Miss!" It's princess Summer.

"I thought you said all royal family members are escorted to a safe hideaway?" Jess says angrily, at the verge of blowing his tops. "Why is my cousin sister still inside the burning palalce?" I look around and grab a stray pail, and fill it with water, and throw it over myself. "What on earth are you doing?" he demands.

"Save her, of course," I say, and before he can say anything, jump into the wild fire, which invites me literally warmly in.

And there is the princess, five years old, her face smeared with dirt and soot, crying. "Miss, let me help you," I shout above the roaring, angry fire. She cries harder, and I carry her up, and lift her up to an empty space without any spark of fire.

"Sir! Can you hear me?" I shout.

"Yes!" Jess yells. "Are you at the right?"

"Yes, I can see you a little!"

"Catch the princess, will you?"

"Then what about you?" My throat is burning, and I'm coughing. I tear a piece of cloth from the edge of my shirt and give it to the princess to cover her nose before replying back.

"It's not important- I'll figure out a way! One, two, three!" I hurl the princess up, and I can hear Jess groan under the weight of his cousin's sudden weight in his arms. But a plank, the hindrance, burning, drops to the ceiling, and my only way out of the burning palace is obstructed. Great.

"Eric!" he yells.

"Escape the terrain completely, sir. The fire is spreading!" I shout. And fire closes in rapidly.

"Eric!" My eyes fly open, and I'm in the middle of breakfast, the juice wet on my shirt, fresh air entering my nose.

"Huh?"

"Snap out of it and get ready for school! Do you sleep during breakfast, kid?" Oliver shakes his head, as he hands me over my bag, which I sling over my shoulder. I can't recall the thing I 'dream' vividly after I wake, but i vaguely remember...that there was...a boy, and a young girl. I shake my head, and head for school. I plunge down on an empty seat on a bus, and then close my eyes. There it comes again. There's no way out. I'm breathing real hard, and the last piece of burning plank drops over me- until a pair of strong arms grasp and pull me out of the palace completely. My head is clogged with clouds- I can't think, and my vision is blur, my eyes swimming, but I can vaguely see a figure towering over me, and then darkenss. Who was it?