North Way High

Chapter 10

The dream starts out very interesting. I'm in some kind of jungle by the beach. Someone is with me. He looks like Jackson but talks like Chase. He is walking ahead of me, so I follow. We see creeping monkeys and flying birds all around us. I see a beautiful butterfly and I put my hand out for it to land on my finger. It does and I hold it delicately and I'm about to rub it's wings, but all of a sudden, it turns into a bat and flies away. I continue walking. I see a leaf on the ground from a nearby tree, and I pick it up. As I examine it, I hear loud footsteps. I turn around, but I see nothing. I turn back to the leaf, but I still hear the footsteps. It seems like it's coming from the leaf itself. I put it closer to my ear, and realize that I was right. The leaf is making sounds. I freak out and drop it to the ground, and then it turns from green, to a black piece of nothing. All of the sudden the blackness spreads and the ground is disappearing. We start to run, fast. But we aren't fast enough. The blackness turns into a whirlpool on land, and I get sucked up in it. I can't see anything. I'm spinning around in the darkness. All of the sudden, I get thrown out of the void and now I'm laying on the ground. I get up and I'm in a different world than before. Now I'm in the mountains. At the very top of the tallest mountain I can see. I'm terrified of heights. My breathing immidiently becomes fast and heavy. I try to walk down the mountain, but I trip on something and I fall down the rocky mountain. Roll after roll after roll. From my back, to my stomach, for a long, painful time. When I reach the bottom of the mountain, I try to get up, but I'm kept down by someone. The person is far away somehow, but each step they take, I can see clearer. I eventually see who it is. It's Chase, he speaks to me.

"Jamie! Did you know who put you up on that mountain? And who tripped you?" He winks at me, "It was actually me who took your brother. I wouldn't let you leave today because I don't want you to get him back. Always remember that I'm not one of you. I'm better!" He laughs an evil laugh and walks closer to me. I'm in some kind of quick sand and he gives me a helping hand. I'm almost out of the quick sand, when he let's go of my hand and pushes me under. He snickers and runs away, giving his older brother a high five. I try to get out, but struggling only makes it worse, and I'm drowning in it. The sand fills my eyes, my throat, my lungs, until I can't breath and it consumes me.

I bolt awake, and I'm in my bed. At home. I struggle to get out of bed, but all of the sudden, I stop. I hear a voice. A sweet, gentle, graceful voice. My mother. She sits by me on the bed and gives me a warm, kind hug. She smiles at me, and I smile back. She says something to me.

"Jamie, my sweet child. I love you so much. I'm always watching over you in heaven. But I want to tell you something before I go. Chase is bad, and if you continue to listen to his guidence, our whole family will be doomed." Her face floods with concern. "You need to fight against him and help Jackson. Remember that you can't trust Chase. He's evil, he's a Morrison. I love you, but I must go." She kisses my forehead. I beg her to stay a little longer, but I'm starting to come back to reality. I desperately claw for her, trying to hold onto the dream, but the shot forces me back to reality, and I'm on Chase's couch. He is sitting right with me, patiently waiting for me to wake up. He sees that I'm awake now.
"Jamie! Are you alright? Please don't twist my wrist again." He says, jokingly. I don't know what to say. My mother just said some important things. But it was also a dream. Or was it a message? I'm going to test him out.
"Hey, Chase... I'm fine but I want you to let me get my brother now." I say. I get up from the couch but he pushes me back down, my head flushing with pain.
"No! You aren't safe to leave, Jamie! You said you would stay. Please don't leave." He says. I'm choosing right now to trust messages from my mother.
"Chase, the gig is up. I'm not falling for your tricks anymore. Let me get my brother and leave this school. I'm not safe here anymore. I doubt I ever was. You're a lier and I know it now." I say, attempting to get up again, but he pushes me down again.
"Jamie, I'm keeping you safe. That's why your here, with me. Please don't leave." He says.
"I don't trust you anymore, Chase! I had a dream and my mom was there and she said you were evil and my dreams never fail me! Let me out of here! I'm done with this nonsense!" I finally yell.
"Oh no..." he whispers to himself, "He gave you the bad one." He looks really worried. He says something unintelligible under his breath.
"What?" I ask. He silently shakes his head.
"He gave you a different version of the confuser gas. When I give you an antibiotic for it, the gas reacts by giving you false messages. So when I put you to sleep, you saw the few people you care about most. They probably told you that I was evil and couldn't be trusted. Your not going to believe anything I say about being able to trust me now, because the gas sunk in. Anything that I need you to believe about me will seem like a lie now unless I hypnotize you into thinking that it's true." He says, worridly. This makes no sense. But I don't care.
"Chase, even if my mind is all contorted, I still know what I'm talking about. I need to get my brother. And if you won't let me leave, I'll tell my dad about Cornells and you'll all be taken away and killed, or held in a museum for the rest of your life!" I say, feeling a cruel happiness.
"Jamie, please. You won't survive if you go alone!" He says, cautiously.
"Then come with me." I say, angrily.
"Jamie, he'll hypnotize you, and use you, and lock you up, and pretend to love you so you'll work with him. He's horribly evil and he'll ruin your life forever. I won't let that happen to you." He says, confidently.
"You must be talking about yourself, because that describes you perfectly." I say harshly. His eyes turn upset and empty. He looks hurt, as if I just slapped him across the face.
"Jamie, you don't understand. I'm trying to save you from him!" He says, I can see the anger building up inside of him. It's so hard for him to not explode. I want to see what happens when he does.
"Save me?! You already locked me up, drugged me into sleep, and tricked me. I bet you don't even love me the way you act like you do." I say. I expect him to say something mean back. But he surprises me instead.
"Jamie, you think I'm trying to fight you? Because I'm not. You already won. I really do love you in a way you might not understand for as long as that gas is controlling you. The confuser gas Jackson forced into you is taking over. I might seem like an evil, selfish Morrison to you, but you need to snap out of it! I'm not like them. I'm trying to protect you because I love you. I'm not hiding from you anymore. You already found me." He says, trying to get through to my mind. But I'm not falling for his dirty tricks.
"Let. Me. Go." I say, coldly. I feel hatred in my stomach. Evilness It's stirring around inside of me, and I can't do anything to stop it. Not even those mints can save me now. I have to do it for myself. Chase sees that I'm struggling with myself.
"Jamie, look at me," he lifts my chin up. "You need to believe me. I know it's hard, but I can't help you with this. Please, please, please snap out of it. I miss you." He says. He looks into my eyes, trying to claw through me, to reach me. "You have to overcome this, Jamie. Please overcome this. Please?" He begs in his hypnotic voice. I desperately want to believe him but the confuser gas just won't let me. It's so terribly hard to control myself. Every second I have to try harder to keep down the anger that won't stop growing.
"Chase, I need to leave. Now. I don't want to hurt you. I'm going to hurt you! You need to run!" I say, cautiously, breaking through the gas and squeezing back into it again. I can feel myself slipping further and further away. I'm going to lose control. I start breathing extremely fast and heavy. He gives me a concerned look.
"Jamie, I believe in you. You can overcome this. I'm not going to leave you. I'll never leave you." He says without any doubt.
"Chase, please!" I pleadingly cry. "I can't do this! I need to--" he stops my words with a kiss. This isn't what I expected, but it works. The anger is replaced with love and it's so sweet. He gently takes his lips off mine.
"I'm sorry. That was really sudden. I didn't know else to do so--" he starts.
"It's okay. That was nice. Thank you." I give him a warm smile and he embraces me. His warmness dries my tears away. I sit with my head under his shoulder and he puts his arm around me. We sit there for a few minutes. But it's not long enough.
"Chase..." he stops me.
"Okay. We'll try to get your brother back. Just let me enjoy this moment. This might be the last innocent moment I have with you for the rest of my life." He says.
"Okay." I say with no stress. So we sit there for a few minutes, trying to enjoy the sweet moment that very well might be our last.