Escaping Heaven

Chapter 1

It was dark.
So very, very dark.
Nothing to be seen but a red spider lily that popped out of the black ground.
I walked to it and picked it up. It was just a normal spider lily.
That is, until it turned into four red spiders that climbed up my limbs.
Shocked, I tried to shake them off, but they gripped on tightly to my wrist and ankles and glued me to the ground.
As I stared up I could see a syringe, filled with red liquid. It got closer and closer to me, injecting me and filling my arm with the liquid. I could see the veins poke out of my arm, I tried to move but the spider, that had now turned into a red chain, wouldn't budge.

I began calling for help. "Somebody, please!" I screamed as veins could be visible all around my body now. "Help me!"

"Sari." I heard a voice. "Sari, Sari." It sounded familiar. It was gentle, and sweet.
"Sari, wake up." It said. "Wake up, Sari. Wake up!"

My eyes shot open as I stared into the eyes of Nelle, my best friend.
"Good, you're awake. C'mon, Mother is calling us."
I sat up on my bed and noticed how all the other girls in the room were gone. It was just me and Nelle, alone in the bedroom.
"Wait for me please, just let me brush my teeth." I said, hopping out of bed. I walked to the bathroom and took out the 4th toothbrush hanging from the wall, it was a light shade of red, signifying that it was mine.

As I brushed my teeth, Nelle talked to me. "Another nightmare?" She asked.
"Yeah." I said. "Same one? About the spider lily and the syringe?" She asked.
"Mm hmm."
"Weird. Your dreams make no sense." She commented as I gargled some water and spat it out. "That's not true. Alex says that all dreams have meaning." I told her as I switched off the light and left the bathroom. We walked to the dining room and talked about dreams we had. Nelle rarely ever has dreams. I often do.

We walked into the large dining room that had two long tables, all filled with children our age. This group of kids, including us, are called the 13's/14's class. I didn't think that made much sense, since Gabbi and Ramon are 15. But who am I to say how we should lead the class. I'm definitely many things, immature, naive, reckless, but not a leader. No, I'm more of a loyal follower. If anyone is a leader here, it's Nelle. She's the most mature out of our group of friends.

Speaking of which, Alex and Sam waved their hands at us and pointed to the meals laid out for us. We walked to them and sat down. "Let me guess, Sari had another nightmare?" Alex asked. "Yep." Nelle said, bringing a spoonful of scrambled eggs into her mouth. "I don't get you, Sari." Sam said, looking at me. "What's with you and dreams? And how do you remember them so clearly? 90% of the time, I forget mine the minute I wake up."

"I don't know," I said. "I just... have them...and never forget." It was true, I never forgot my dreams. I remember them to the very last detail. "You should talk to Mother about it, she's got loads of books on dreams." Of course Alex would say that. She loved to read, in fact, she sometimes fell asleep in the library while reading another thick, boring book about God knows what. Me, I didn't read that much. I prefer drawing, it was one of my very few skills. I wasn't athletic, nor was I good at singing, or dancing. I did know how to cook, but not bake. And I was good with words, I could make songs and poems in seconds.

Once breakfast was over, we all formed a line by height and walked into our large classroom. Instead of a chalkboard, however, there was a large screen where the teachers would digitally write and draw what they had to. Our first subject was Science, and we had a quiz. I personally hated this subject, especially now that we're older and it got harder. Nelle didn't like the subject either, but she still got good scores, and so did Alex. Sam is kinda like me, but with slightly higher scores. After Science was English, my specialty. Here, I shine. We rarely had quizzes here though, but I still did pretty good.

After that, we were allowed to play outside. We all played a game of Ice-Ice-Water. Of course, Alex was the last one tagged. Aside from being smart, (but not smart enough to be in the top three or five) she was athletic and sporty. She had long, strong legs and a regular diet. Among these kids, some have diets where they're not allowed sugar, or salt, but in my case, it was fruits. I was always just told I was allergic. I don't have a medical degree, so I never asked any questions.

Alex was being chased by Yuan, the sportiest in the whole class. He had his sleeves rolled up, exposing his strong arms. He was obviously sweaty and tired, but that didn't stop him from chasing Alex down like a predator to its prey. Alex tagged random children nonstop as she ran, allowing us to move again. Unfortunately, we're not as fast as Alex or Yuan, so we were tagged again by him pretty soon.

Eventually, we were brought inside again. We changed our sweaty shirts to clean, dry ones and went to Math class, my worst subject. Luckily, all were doing now is making a Math-themed board game. Like I said before, art and drawing is my special skill, so it was fun to do. Besides, Sam was one of my group-mates along with Paolo and Enzo, so it was fun to do with friends.