I closed my eyes and awoke in the same never ending dream that had plagued my mind for months at a time. The dream always ended the same; I fell into a deep dark pit with laughter all around me and nothing to hold into but a black feather. So when the same ever taunting dream started tonight, I just went along for the ride. The dream began with a view of the twinkling skyline of New York City while the noises of cars and the wind roared in my ear. On the top of a large building sat a young girl with four golden feathers in her hair. At first sight, she looked barely a teenage that had yet to understand to concept of a hair brush since her curly orange red hair looked alive much like a birds nest. With her pieti size, the only give away to her true age was her foretelling eyes. The amber in her eyes swirled with wisdom and grief. It gave the feeling she kept reliving the same tragic past, only the knowledge she had learned could never stop it from repeating. Highlighting the brightness of her orange hair was a night raven sitting on her shoulder to her left. The raven and the girl looked like they were in a deep conversation, but I never heard the words because the darkness came.

From under my feet, I plunged into a sinister world with fast ticking clocks and evil cackles. Even though my mind told me to stay calm, my feet refused to listen and like the many times before, I was off running through the dark maze. I tried to slow down my speed, but my body ran on and crashed through a silver mirror hanging at the end of the path. The shattered glass picked at my skin but no blood or cuts appeared. Normally, this was the part of the dream where I would wake up and scream my head off, but a bright light appeared and a giant flash of burning white moved me to a different setting. After my eyes adjusted to the room, I saw a small girl no older than 11. She wore a light blue gown that shifted to yellow at the bottom. The girl turned around to smile at me and her turquoise green eyes looked sad like a dirty emerald that had lost its glow. With her small tan hand she beckoned me forward, but the same orange hair girl from before transformed from the ball of white light and pulled her back.

“She is not here for us.” The orange haired girl whispered softly. Her voice was clear and strong, but also sweet and loving. She turned away but not before a look of worry showed upon her face. “It is time to go. Goodbye Lyrana.” The sprit grabbed the blond girl’s arms and dragged her away to a portal of light. The room flashed white one more time and I was finally awake with no memory of what happened that night.

Most teenagers my age life for the night. Crawling out of bed in the morning with nothing but a cup of coffee to get them going until the sugar crash kicks in at three in the morning and the whole process repeats. I hate the smell of coffee. It was like a wafting drug that once you took one sip, you could never stop drinking it for the rest of your life. For some reason, I could wake up in the morning at the drop of a hat with little zombie like appearance. Sure, I chose to drink some earl grey tea every winter morning and cold apple juice each summer, but I could live without it. My drug was my sleep. I still don’t understand how my classmates managed to live without 8 hours of sleep each night let alone staying awake past ten. Each time when the clock hit 9:45, my brain started to mentally crash and I found myself snoozing away to dream land.

“Hurry up!” my father called from down stairs, “your mother had a seven o’clock class to teach and I need to be at the University by nine. I have a huge stage to set up and I can’t be late.” Being the daughter of two University Professor’s can be a challenge. They have more demanding schedules than I do and I’m in high school!

“I’m coming dad.” I replied in my sing song voice. Secretly, I was thankful that my dad was the one taking me to school today. Sure, I love me mother, but she’s so uptight all the time down my back that I can’t breathe. I’m only a junior and she already has a list of colleges that I’m going to apply to. No might, but I am going to apply to with her way. According to her I’m going to a ‘good school’ and major in a ‘good field’ like mathematics or science. Just because I can find dy/dx of f(x)= sec(e^4x)log(3) does not mean I want to major in math {In case you care, the answer is (e^4)log(3)tan((e^4)x)sec((e^4)x)}.

“I here you reply, but for some reason I can’t here you moving.” My father lectured and I rushed down the stairs and hit him on the back of his head lightly.

“How’s that for movement?” I retorted with my hand on my hips and walked out the door. “I win”

“I see your point.” My father mocking put his hands on his hips and swayed back and forth while following me out the door. “So did you finish all your homework?”

I raised one eyebrow and snorted, “When don’t I?” while hopping into his lime green jeep. The color was a bit of a turn off at first, but the seats were comfy.

“I still can’t believe that you are 17 and I still have to drive you to school each day.” My father started the car and pulled away from the house barely missing the trashcans from the house across the street. “Woops!” He really does suck at driving. That was the one thing I made sure mom taught me.

“And someone is supposed to trust you with their kid’s educational future? If I was them I would have dropped the class after the first day.” I chuckled.

“I am and English Teacher, not drivers Ed.” He rolled his eyes as he started the same old speech.  “I just need to educate my pupils in the basic knowledge of literature, not how to play bumper cars. They learn the importants of the written word and how to express…” Blah blah blah. He really needs to get a new speech. It was always the same old thing on how important it is to express ones self with the written word and how to understand the importants of the past. I’m not five and I grew up in a family of writers and mathmatians. I think I can understand the importants of what of those professions and if I didn’t how could I still be alive. They would have killed me years ago if I didn’t care or understand their works.

“I get it” snapped while waving my hands in the air with defeat. There was no real polite way to make him stop talking. The car pulled up to the front of the school and I jumped out. “See you when I get home dad.”

“I have a late night extra study session, but I will see you later.” He rushly yelled out before driving away. I keep my sympatric wave until he was out of view. Once again I was on my own for dinner. Fun! I don’t mind being alone, but don’t mean I enjoy it either. There are less pressers when no one is around, but there is also less people that care.

“Lyrana!” I turned around to here the fimilure voice of Sari Cloud. She was a new student last year from California, but over that time we became good friends. Both her parents where from Japan, so we bonded over the stressful home life and unlike me, Sari’s strength where not her academics, but her puzzling solving skills. She could solve any logic puzzle as long as it didn’t involve numbers, facts, or data. She was good with plays on words that are easily overlooked and under appreciated by intelligent people.

“Hey Sari. Did you finish the paper for History that’s due tomorrow?” I asked. Darn my parents training. All I could think of first thing in the morning was hw. How pathetic I’m I?

“Please. I’ve had the essay prompt buried in my backpack since last week. However, I did plan the perfect murder. Want to hear about it?” she gleefully added a mini skip hop to her step while brushing her dark black brown hair out of her face each time she landed. Every few steps a little burst of aqua blue dyed hair would pop out and quickly be brushed away with the others.

“Why do I even bother asking?” I mumbled while playfully pushing her with my elbow. I must have used more forced then I planned because Sari tripped over her own two feet and the glasses started to fall of her face. Instead of stopping her fall with her hands, she quickly pushed the dark blue glasses back on her nose and fell head first to the hard ground. “SARI!” I shrieked and rolled on the ground to stop her fall.

“I’m fine.” She lazily whispered while bending down to her knees away from my arms. “I’m fine.” A crowd had gathered around us and I helped Sari up. “Good thing you have quick reflexes Lyrana or I would have become a pancake.”

“Don’t joke about that. You could have gotten hurt.” I sternly gave her a version of my mother’s look. Once the crowed realized she was okay, the people disappeared to their little groups caring nothing for us at all. The bell dinged in the distance and the mobs dispersed into the building.

“We don’t want to be late.” Sari grabbed my hand and we both dashed into the school, up three flights of stairs, and twisted around the halls until we reached are first period English class. Right as we sat down, the late bell rang and I sighed with relief.

“Take your seats class. I will begin in a moment, but first, I have to head down stairs to the main office to pick up some new transfer students. Don’t get in any trouble until I get back.” My teacher Mrs. Penti glared of in Sari’s direction as Sari whistled an innocent tune.

The class started to buzz and I looked around for my missing best friend since kindergarten, Corbin. She used to live net store to me when I was five, but she moved to the other side of town in middle school. She still went to the same school and we still hung out 24/7, but she also had a longer drive to school. “Where’s Corbin?” I asked Sari who was trying to make a rubber band sling shot.

“Don’t know. She’s normally here by now. The important thing is how are we going to welcome these new kids to school? We can’t do anything boring because where’s the fun in that?” She jokingly laughted.

“You’re not thinking of using the sling shot on them, are you? What part of your supposed to be staying out of trouble this year do you not understand?” If there was any record for the most number of times a student good get in trouble before getting explead, Sari had broken it. She was always so crazy and unprtitable, that I tried my hardest to turn to other check and look away so I wouldn’t get dragged along with her.

“No. This is for latter.” She placed the contration inside her desk and mosioned me forword with her hand. I leanded in and she pulled me close with an evil look in her eyes, “I don’t have anything for today. Nobody ever transfers during the thyroid month of school so I don’t have anything planned.”

“You? Have nothing plan” I yelled out a little to louldly and Sari put her finger to her lips.

“Sushh. I don’t want anythong to know that the great pransiter has run flat. I only brought wo things with me today and they are for more important things then a new student.”

“Students. I corrected. “She said new students. There is more than one of them.”

“What ever.” She interrupted. “The point is I don’t know what to do. There is nothing is this room that I can use and the only thing left I have is word play. And or word play to work, I need time to plan. This is a disaster.” Sari’s face head planted into her desk and she started to wine under her breath.

“Oh come on Sari. Stop acting like a child. You will think of something.” I tried to place my hand on her shoulder, but she pulled away with a big smile on her face. “What?” I demanded.

“Oh nothing. Just woundering how your dreams have been latly?” she asked out of the blue. Why would she care. I had to same dreams every night, well, accpt for last night. That was the first night I didn’t dream. Form the look on my face, she knew something was up. “You had a different dream!” she explaimed with joy.

“No.” I hushed her down. “I didn’t. I didn’t have any dream at all. There were no tickling clocks or black feathers. Nothnig there at all.” I mubblded.

“That’s great!” Sari stood up and rubbled through her backpack for a large yellow note book. She filled to a bag filled with werid chats and writings. “I’ve been keeping track of your dreams…”

“You what?” I intruppted.

“I tracked your dreams. Perfectly normal.” She refuted and I wanted to kill her. Sari was turing my re-occring dream into a psyc experiment. Why would I want to be a part of that? “According to my charts, the dreams started exactly last year on this day. Every night you’ve had these dreams of a werid girl with feathers in her hair.”

“Your point is? Like you said, it is normal for people to have dreams over and over again. It’s not like they mean anything.” I tried to take the notebook away from her but she held on tight.

“They do mean something. Dreams come from your inner toughts. It’s fate that these new girls came on the day the dreams stooped. What if one of the girls was from the dream!” she chimmed and I pulled harder on the book. I was willing to do anything to make her shut up. We were starting a sceen with her drawn out theories.

“Sit down!”