Dreams of Demigods

Chapter 16

Cherry's POV 16

What is happening? Who? What? I don't see anything. Why is it so dark? Wait. I have been here before. I have seen this room before. It was too small. Too tight. I couldn't see anything. It was suffocating. All the evil in the world was clawing at me. Drowning me. It was a battle to move, to breathe, to think...

Wait. Someone was approaching. A petite lady. Time wasn't real. We were all watching.

A flash. What? I was back in the box, this time, alone. All alone in this dark room. With no one but myself and my own despair.

I jolted up in my bed. It was only 4 AM. What the heck was that? That was the most depressing dream I have had in a while, and trust me, I had a lot of the strangest of dreams. Like if there was a competition, I would win. But the strangest thing was that it all seemed familiar. Déjà vu am I right. But it was all so familiar as if I have been in that situation before. Oh well, probably side effects from coming to a weird demi-blood camp or halfgod something.

I looked around the cabin. I was really getting used to these people. They were all so accepting and fun and truly... like me. I had already made more friends and met more people in a week than I had in a year of school. And they were all genuine people. Even the Stoll brothers were ok as much as I wanted to hate them. I looked over at Connor. Wait, WHAT? Why the heck was Connor sleeping nearby Allison's bunk. Umm, I would leave that for a conversation in the morning.

I wondered what happened yesterday. I didn't remember a single thing that happened after dinner. I must have had too much apple cider. One of my foster moms said apple cider made her husband forgetful and stupid every morning. I didn't remember having apple cider, but someone must have handed it to me or something.

Back to my situation. I was wide awake at 4 AM in an asleep camp. I sneaked outside, avoiding all the traps the Stolls set at the door. I knew them all at this point. The humiliation. Ugh. My annoyance of the Stolls quickly returned. They must think it's hilarious to tease me. Funny, they always made sure Allison was safe from their tricks. Coincidence, I think not.

It was so strange to see the camp so quiet. So still. I've only been here for a day but I knew it was always buzzing with activity and balls and shouting.

I knew that we weren't supposed to be awake this late, let alone outside. It was strictly forbidden for the safety of campers. But there was the tree of life anyways. No way would I get in trouble with that tree protecting us. I didn't quite know how it works, but trees have always helped so I didn't doubt it.

I ventured out into the night. It was honestly a little scary. I couldn't help but remember my dream. The dark. The despair and feelings of worthlessness and helplessness. Fun fact: worthlessness and helplessness are completely different words. Worthlessness is thinking you have no value in this world and helplessness is the feeling of being powerless. Completely different but absolutely horrible when combined. A complete double kill. So that should give you an idea of how absolutely horrible my 10-year old self was feeling. Life couldn't get worse than this, right... RIGHT!!!

I took a quick walk around the cabins to refresh my mind. I wasn't going to let a stupid dream haunt me down. My walk turned into a quick run. I loved running. It was my favorite thing ever. But running was so freeing. The wind if you face and the grass under your socks and the smell of the fire and the-

Wait. The smell of the fire? Wind back. WHAT! FIRE! WHAT!

I ran to the source of the fire like the stupid idiot I was. Anyways, as I turned the corner around a gray cabin, I ran into Malcolm. Playing with. Huge. Fire.

"Malcolm? What the heck are you doing? Are you trying to burn us down!" I asked, horrified.

"Woah. Calm down. I'm just trying this new experiment with Greek fire. I finally got all the ingredients today and it's the only thing I can think of right now. Greek fire is extremely rare and only used by the greatest heroes. With this, I can prove I am old enough for...ahhh you won't understand. And with this, I can finally prove myself. I need to finish this now wh..." Malcolm kept raving on, as if in a trance-like state while jumping around a cauldron looking scene. He really looked like some wizard. You're a wizard Harry. Sorry, I'll stop.

Ok anyways, I slowly approached him as if he was some wild animal. He looked like a mess, sweating, running around, mumbling, almost as if he was possessed. If he was, it would explain a lot. I looked over to his shoulder to his "creation." It didn't look so good. Kind of just like some disgusting poop that he mixed together. Poop that he lit on fire. But it just looked like regular fire. Not this Greek fire that he was saying was only for the heroes. "So...not going out well for you huh," I remarked.

"Well you certainly aren't helping, are you," he snarked back, almost growling. This project meant way too much to him. I was about to turn away in disgust when all of a sudden, it all just broke. Just snapped in half. The disgusting poo mixture oozed down the wall as I stared in disgust. Then I glanced at Malcolm and he was just in pure, utter horror. The event was pretty anti-climatic and literally the opposite of dramatic, but he was acting as if he had been stabbed 20 times in the chest. He just stood in shock, unable to move or comprehend what was happening. I almost felt a little bad if he wasn't such a bad person. Actually, I felt pretty bad. It really does hurt when your hopes end up in the trash. When families don't want you. When no one is truly there for you.

I tentatively put my hand on his back. "Um it's ok bro, [A/N: yes, I am a bro dude] it'll get better. I suggest watching Disney movies. Disney literally exists for that purpose. Not gonna lie, they help. Um... anyways, you aren't responding so I'm gonna head back to my cabin. But remember, Disney," I stated as I tiptoed away.

Wow, you had to hate the dude but you had to feel bad for the dude. I didn't even know what happened, but I hoped it would work out for him. I hope he takes my advice. Disney helps. Anyways. This morning was longer than most of my full days. I needed to go get some sleep. And find out what my cabin would be. And find out what was happening. Lost in my thoughts, I crawled in through the window to find... CONNOR STARING AT ALLISON WHAT THE-