Zoe Park had grown by leaps and bounds in the last year, from a prime example of a shallow airhead into a pure hearted person that saw people's souls not their exteriors. She sacrificed herself for Daniel's safety and happiness. Sadly it all ended i...
The morning peace in a small home was broken by a terrified shriek.
Zoe woke up with a jolt, falling off her bed. She didn't have more than a second before her door burst open as her mother barreled in to her room.
"Zoe baby, what happened?!" Her mom shouted looking over her room for whatever danger had scared her daughter so, but Zoe couldn't do anything but lie there as she felt the phantom pains across her body suddenly disappear. Her mother quickly got down, kneeling over her and helping her sit up as she gasped and clutched her chest.
"I'm alive-I'm alive? I'm alive?!" Zoe repeated to herself as her mother gathered her up in her arms.
"Zoe, shhhh shhhh... Zoe, tell momma, does your chest hurt? shhh, It's ok it's ok baby, momma's here, shhhhh..." Zoe finally began to snap out of it as her mother patted her back and hugged her trying to calm her down.
"Zoe, feeling a bit better now? can you talk to me? It must have been a terrifying dream but you're alright? Darling, are you alright?" Her mom asked, looking at her daughter worriedly.
"I-I'm fine mom. Sorry, it was just a scary dream..." Zoe replied as she got her breath under control. "It felt so real though?..."
==
It took Zoe a bit to convince her mother that she was alright and to leave her alone to go to work, specially as Zoe herself wasn't sure it was the truth. By the end of the morning however, she had been able to figure a couple things out. Her terrifying memories from that nightmare had faded a bit in the light of day.
It was as if she had an extremely detailed dream of the next year of her life, which played out like a cheesy fight comic. Part of her tried to explain it away as a really weird type of anxiety breakdown now that the midyear break was almost over and she was less than a week from starting the second semester of first year.
'It had to have been a dream, right?' Zoe tried to convince herself.
It made sense, as while she could remember bits and pieces with ridiculous clarity, large swaths were simply generalities. Nothing about classes or teachers, barely anything about her own day to day life really. For the most part it was just a highlight reel of her interactions with her classmates and with a cute little honeybun of a piggy.
Still, she caught herself feeling slightly too short, everything just off a little bit. Her hair wasn't quite the length she expected it to be when she brushed it, her closet felt like there were clothing items missing that she had learned to coordinate with thanks to Fashion class, other pieces she had gotten rid of, and in general, things just felt... off.
It had to be a dream though, right?
==
That evening, Zoe took her habitual walk to the convenience store... for the first time
'gah! Ok... if my Daniel is there... then maybe? though probably just my brain remembering him subconsciously...' Zoe knocked on her head a couple times as she tried to organize her thoughts.
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'Ok... There it is... I just need to go in, see if my piggy -I mean Daniel!- is at the register, and if he is... maybe see if what I remember about him is accurate?' Zoe took a couple deep breaths before crossing the street and entering the convenience store.
'Welp... ok maybe he is taking time off today?' Zoe walked up to the counter, where the manager seemed to be moonlighting as the night shift worker.
"Excuse me, mister?"
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"mhmm, yes? Do you need assistance with anything?" The mustached older man mumbled as her reluctantly looked up from his cell phone.
"Um... I was wondering if you have another worker that usually takes the night shifts? He-"
"Oh! Are you here for the job then?!" She was suddenly interrupted as the manager seemed to come to life suddenly. "We've been missing a night shift employee for the 9pm-7am shift if you're interested?"
"Uh... Sorry, I just wanted to know if you know of a boy my age, that I think works here? He's short, chubby, wears glasses? His name is Daniel Park?" Zoe replied smiling nervously.
"...nope, never heard of him!" The manager replied before slowly looking back towards his phone. Zoe sighed before walking back out of the store and began her trek home.
'Of course guys like that are imaginary Zoe...'
===
"hyaaaaaaa!" Zoe screamed into her pillow as she woke up in terror, reliving another part of her nightmare again. It was the night before the new semester, and she had a hyper realistic flashback every night for the last week.
Tonight it was a replay of the knife attack from the online stalker 'Gungnam Lord', except this time her piggy knight was not there at the end, as her mind had helpfully noted that apparently he wasn't real.
'I need to get over these memories-I mean these dreams!' Zoe thought to herself as she tried to relax back into bed. She had noticed her mom getting more and more worried about her these last couple days.
Zoe curled herself around her pillow as she reminded herself that it was all just a dream, and that there was no use yearning for an imaginary person.
