A Fraction of the Whole

Chapter 1: The First Event

Nathan walked down his driveway, going on his routinely walk to school, like he does every weekday morning. A light mist hovered in the air, not uncommon in late October, but it certainly brought Nate to a fully awakened state. He got to the end of his road, where it met at a T intersection, and looked across the road to see the girl he had been crushing on since he moved into the area at the beginning of his freshmen year, Jennifer. Now, being in his senior year, he constantly beat himself up for not asking her out before she got together with the school jock, Ben.

Nathaniel was looking at her when she happened to look up, a smile lit her face, and she started to run across the street toward him. But, before the surprise could register on his face, a truck comes screaming from around the corner, headed straight for Jennifer. Then Nate startled awake.

Nate sat up, drenched in a cold sweat, panting heavily, and after looking around his room quickly, he realized it was all just a bad dream. He looked at his alarm clock to confirm what he already knew, it wasn’t October, but the 22nd of June, and about four o’clock in the morning. He just started his summer vacation, and it already started out pretty bad.

Nathaniel slowly got out of bed, slipped on a pair of pants, and made his way downstairs to pour himself a bowl of breakfast cereal. This wasn’t the first time he had such a vivid nightmare, he started having them when he first went to grade school. His first dream was about planes crashing into skyscrapers, causing them to fall to the ground in a large rubble heap.

When he woke up, he went out to the living room where his mother and father were watching the news, to tell them about his nightmare, when he saw his dream play out on the television screen. After his mother overcame the shock, she got up and moved him away to get ready for school. It was then that he realized what these dreams could lead to, and how he had to keep them to himself, because he witnessed the events of 9/11 before it happened.

Since then, he had not had a dream of such a great level of devastation, but he still had dreams, some that came true, and others that seemed to barely miss the mark, thus not replicating his dreams. In middle school, the dreams kept him up, causing his grades to drop. So his family, not knowing what else to do, they took him to the doctor who prescribe some sleep aid, which greatly reduced the frequency of the dreams. The dream of Jennifer was the first one he had in almost a year, and was also the farthest laid out dream he has ever had. Not to mention it was the only one that he had ever had in which he was part of, not just some spectator.

Nate sat down in the dark at the dining room table, reaching into his pocket and pulling out his phone to place on the table before he started eating. After a few bites of his cereal, Nate looks at his phone and notices that there is a message from a friend of his, Daniel. Nate put the spoon down in his bowl and picked up his phone, glancing at the timestamp. 3:00AM. He opened the message to see a picture of Daniel standing in front of a bonfire. Below it was a line of text that read: Hey dude, are you still coming to greet the first sunrise of summer with us? PS... Before you say no, Jen is here. Text me.

Nathan had completely forgotten that the bonfire was tonight, so he grabbed the bowl and drank the milk out, leaving the bowl rinsed out in the sink. He hurried to his room to slide on a shirt and jacket, left a quick note to his parents saying he was going for a walk, and should be home before eight in the morning. Nathan sort of hoped they would be still asleep when he got back, but he left the note just in case.

The lake that the bonfire was taking place was only about a mile from his house, a brisk fifteen minute jog. Once out the door, he sent a text to Dan, saying that he just woke up and was headed to the lake. About five minutes into the jog he got a reply back, Dan telling him it was about damn time, and that all the booze was almost gone, but he would try to save him a beer. Nate laughed silently to himself; Daniel knew very well that Nathaniel didn’t drink, which meant he was using him once again to get a little extra alcohol. Nate didn’t mind, not to mention it kept him from looking like a light-weight.