The Dreamer

Chapter 3

"I can't leave right now. My parents will worry and will have the cops after me!"

"Why can't you just make up a lie or something?"

"I don't even know you though! For all I know, you could've drugged me to pull that weird trick and want to kidnap me!" I'm panicking, yet I'm still talking to him. "If I wanted to kidnap you, don't you think I would've done it by now? It's clear I overpower you and could easily shove you into a car by myself." I open my mouth to argue, but slowly close it, unable to reply. "See? You have to believe me. How else would I know about your dreams?”

"Stalking," I casually replied. I cross my arms and he sighs in frustration. "What about your drawings?"

"I left them here so you could've looked through them." He raises a brow with a slight frown. "From the cage?" I frown and thought for a moment. He's right, he was stuck in the cage and it's a pretty good distance away from the bench where I had my book. "Okay then, if you know me so much, what did I talk about?"

"A lot of stuff. You always keep to yourself and love to draw, listen to music, and read. You don't have any friends and said that you thought of me as a friend, despite you also thinking it was weird. Your favorite color is blue, teal if you want me to be more specific an-"

"Okay, I get it. You've officially proved that you're the wolf. But that still doesn't answer the question. Why me? What do I have to do with this?"

"Like I said, it's a long story. A story I'll tell later if you'd come with me." I don't say anything, but I thought about it. Could be a sense of duty to help or I’ve officially lost my mind. So far he's told the truth and was actually able to prove his claims. Maybe he really isn't trying to kidnap me and he actually needs my help. Why me in specific? I don’t know but he seems determined and sure of himself that it's me and only me who can help him. I sigh. I think I need help. Professional help for doing this.

"Okay. I need to pack stuff though so can we meet back here tomorrow after school?" He nods with a smile. A smile that made my heart suddenly skips a beat for no reason. "I'll be here until then." I nod and turn around. "Don't be fooled though. I still don't quite trust you and I have a lot of questions for you to answer."

"And I hope I can answer them all." I don't say anything else after that. I just leave. I jump into my car and drive away back home.

As soon as I get back home, I pack my stuff in a duffle bag. My clothes, an extra pair of sneakers, and my sketchbook with a few pencils. I throw the bag under my bed and change into PJs then went to bed. I thought of Zeke, the stranger who's the wolf that I call a friend. Even though I don't trust him now, I've trusted him for the past few weeks. The only difference is that he was a wolf then. I can't even believe I'm doing this.

That night, I dreamed of helping Zeke like I planned to. We were walking through what I guess is a forest or woods and Zeke's next to me as a wolf.  The dream doesn’t last long though. I woke up and quickly change into a plain shirt with jeans. I put on my sneakers and jacket then grab my bag. I grab my keys and hurry out to my car.

As promised, Zeke's still there. He's standing next to the entrance to the zoo, waiting for me. He was looking down, avoiding all eye contact until I approach him. I can see him better, but he's still wearing sunglasses. I glance up at the sky and saw that it was cloudy.

"You actually came." I nod. "I keep my word." I nod my head towards my car and he follows. "So where do we go?"

"I'll show you." I raise a brow while looking back at him. "Are we going to a woods or forest?"

"Sort of. How did you know?" We got into the car and I start driving. "I have the weird dreams, remember?" He nods and starts to tell me where to go. "We have to go visit a certain place. I need to pick something up."

"Will I have to pay anything?" He looks at me before he shrugs. "No, not really." I have a bad feeling about the idea after our small talk, but I keep going.

*******

"Where are we?" I stare at the mansion in awe. "Umm...I'll tell you later." Then he walks up to the door. He stops and I see him move his hand slightly before the door opens. We enter and I look around. It's beautiful, but it doesn't seem like he lives here. How could he?

He seems to know his way around, however. He opens a door to reveal a large room with shelves of books. There are places to sit right in the middle of the room. I stare wide-eyed as I step into the room.

There's what would seem like a dining table in the middle with chairs surrounding it and I guess it to be where someone might do research. To the side, there were other chairs to sit and maybe read. Zeke immediately starts looking through the shelves, opening any book he looks suspicious of. "What are you doing?"

"Finding the clue before he comes back." Wait, before what? "This isn't your place?!" He gives a quick glance at me and smiles. "Would it impress you if it was?"

"That's not the point! We broke into someone else's home?!" He shakes his head, taking out a small piece of paper with a look of success. "Not just anybody's home. He had this which has our first clue." He shows it to me and it's blank. "It's blank," I state.

"It is, but it can reveal a hint." I raise a brow and look at him. "It was made from the rays of the sun. At least that's what I heard in the story. He heard this story as well and he went looking for it. He travels the world to find strange and unique stuff like this." I sigh, wondering why I'm doing this. I see Zeke suddenly look up with a serious expression. "He's here. Go!"

We ran out with the piece of paper and snuck out through the back door without anyone noticing. I don't even hear a voice try and stop us. We ran into the crowd of trees that's behind the mansion and Zeke hands me the paper before he changes into a wolf. He stops and turns to me. I watch in confusion as he nods his head towards his back. "Get on?" He nods, but I hesitate.

There's no way I'm doing that! I take a step back but he suddenly runs around so that he's behind me and he throws his head between my legs, lifting me onto his back. I quickly grip onto his fur but try my best to be careful. He ran past trees and brush. I lost track of where we're going.

He stops and I quickly got off. "Don't do that again!" I yell at him. I see him roll his eyes at me and I glare. He starts walking and I follow, matching my pace with his. As we're walking, it suddenly occurs to me that this is what happened in my dream. I glance at Zeke and he's still a wolf. This is exactly what happened!

But I'm not really surprised. All my life, I've dealt with this. For the longest time, I thought it was normal. Mom told me that people often dream of the future, but immediately don't remember when they wake up until it happens. Nothing can change the future. I always wake up remembering the dreams and I've tried to change the future, but nothing works.

As I'm walking deep in thought, I suddenly bump into something. I jump back, clutching my nose. I look up to see that Zeke's human again and I bump into his back. "Why don't we rest for a bit?" I nod, dropping my hands back to my side. "That sounds good." Then we walk towards a giant rock. If it was carved out, it'd actually be a cave.

We sat down to rest and he starts to tell me more about his situation. I learn that he's actually over hundreds of years old and he has powers. He has telekinesis basically. He also told me that he can control humans, kill if he wanted to. Soon, I find myself slowly trusting him. If he trusts me with something such as that when he could've kept it a secret and used it on me later, it's not fair if I don't start trusting him just a little.