Broken Rings

chapter 1

I wake again in my bed as the sun is rising. I look around, my room is different, it's spotless as if somebody had come and spent hours scrubbing the walls and polishing the floor. At least my dream is over with. I've never had a dream seem that real. it makes me wonder if it was but there is no sign of the man. I put my slippers on, the same spot they were in before i fell asleep, and go to brush my teeth. My bathroom is spotless too, which also makes me wonder. I get done and go to put clothes on. Something about this closet give me chills down my back. I pick out one of my usual outfits and throw in on my bed. I put the clothes on but they fell about three times too small. The sleeves go to about the middle off my forearm and my jeans are about four inches shorter than they were last time i wore it. Either my clothes shrunk in my sleep or i grew about a foot. I look back at my pajamas and realize i have no idea where I got those. I try all my clothes but it seems to be the same problem with all of them. I decide to stick with the pajamas which were the only things that seemed to fit, though they smelled musty as if they hadn't been washed for weeks. I go to the kitchen to get something for breakfast, and i see my mom sitting at the table reading a newspaper. My mother likes old fashioned thing such as newspapers and home phones. Her face looks worn like she has been crying and her is starting the grey in patches on her head. "Hey, Mom. i had the strangest dream last night." as soon as i said that my mom shot her head up and dropped her newspaper. "Mom? you look like you've seen a ghost," i say. "A-Avery, w- where have you been?" She stutters "umm my room?" by this point i am very confused "Avery, you've been gone for years! where have you been? i've been scared to death" she responds confusion and surprise in her voice. "What? I have no idea what you are talking about i just went to sleep and woke up," i say as i bend over to pick up the newspaper mom dropped on the ground. I flip to the front page i look at the date. I freeze and drop the paper in surprise, like my mom did. I have either been asleep for three years or something happened to me. "The dream, it wasn't a dream was it?" I ask my mother.