I sat with my parents to watch the mandatory newscast.

One of the headlines was the street urchins attacking James Fillmore.

His father is the governor. How could I not recognize the governor's kid? He probably didn't know I existed. We're not a wealthy family. I only afforded the tuition with three years' worth of babysitting money. Barely.

Then I got to thinking about that boy again, the notes on the rock.

I was going to have trouble sleeping tonight.

The fact that some street urchin is going to "pick me up" in the middle of the night killed my appetite.

My parents expressed their concern when I was playing with my dinner.

I broke a rule and lied. "I'm just not that hungry."

Lying was absoultely forbidden. I might get away with it this time; it's just my parents. But if there was a lie detector within a mile radius, I would've been thrown in a dank cell to wither and die.

I excused myself and went to my room.

I plopped onto my bed and exhaled.

Another thing I hate about my life; there is abosulutely nothing to do.

Any form of self-expression--singing, writing, acting, playing instruments, etc.--was banned years ago, right before I was born.

I had a secret room full of books, and I've read them all at least eight times.

I've read practically every book in the public library. At least all the ones that caught my fancy.

If I didn't have school and all the crap the President has me do, I'd sleep forever.

I have a dream every night.

And I can control them. I can bend them to my will.

But whenever I do, I wake up not feeling too good.

As fun as it is manipulating these dreams, as powerful as it makes me feel, the vomiting that follows is everything but.

But falling asleep is absolutely beautiful.

The silence of the night slowly guides me to unconsciousness, into the peaceful, serene moonlit beach I often visit in my dreams.

Sometimes rain will slow my breathing and close my eyes and I can feel the rain drops on my skin as I open my eyes and find myself caught in the eye of a hurricane. Stray rain drops fall on me, sheets of it guarding me as a sun beam falls on me, while the storm roars in my ears.

But these dreams aren't always pleasant. During thunderstorms, I can feel myself being pushed up and down in these gigantic waves. This time, I'm caught in the hurricane. Seawater fills my lungs, making them burn. My eyes and tongue feel like they're engulfed in flames. I fight against the currents, trying to breach the surface and fill my lungs with air. I manage to do so a couple of times, but the air is nothing but a mix of rain and salt water. Finally, my body gives up. My muscles relax as I'm pushed further and further down, until finally my lungs give up on me, and the pressure becomes too much.

On hot, muggy summer nights I find myself in the middle of the desert while the sun is exploding. I'm drenched with sweat almost immediately. My tongue becomes a dry patch of useless skin. I'm panting, my lips chapping and drying out. This sensation drags. With nightmares, I usually jolt awake in the early hours of the morning. But with this particular nightmare, the sun is high in the sky when my subconscious can't take the heat and radiation any longer.

It's a cool, peaceful night. Nights like this, I find myself in a forest, dark leaves falling all around me. The clouds roll slowly in the pearly gray sky. The air is crisp and filled with the smell of dry plants and Thanksgiving dinners.

I smile. Despite my nerves about this street urchin business, I know my dream world will comfort me with its peaceful, dying forest.

~

As promised, I fell into sleep along with the leaves.

I wander the dream world with its crunchy, dead leaves and promises of wamth despite the chill in the air.

I can feel my cheeks reddening from the chill. I was still in my usual bed attire, a tank top and sweat pants.

Goose bumps rise from my skin.

I shiver and follow the smell of turkey and pumpkin pie.

Suddenly, the sky turns black. A gust of wind picks up all the leaves. They all began to swirl around me. The pleasant chill becomes a bitter, heartless cold. My lungs seemed to freeze into chunks of ice. Another gust sweeps me off my feet. I twirl in a never-ending cycle along with the leaves, wreaking havoc upon the village that always haunted the distance.

People scream and try to run away, but the wind is too strong.

Mothers cling to their children, couples embrace, orphans cling to their few possessions.

I'm blown to the center of the tornado.

The villagers all stare at me. With one, haunting voice they said, "Why did you do this, Ariane? We thought you were our friend. How could you?"

The villagers began to work together to push me out of the calm in the center of the tornado. I'm completely helpless. I can't fight back; I haven't the strength. The wind throws me out, catapaulting me to who knows where.

I began to fall.

I hit the ground, and I hear my spine crack.

I jolt awake. The cracking sound resonated in my ears. Then it got louder. Louder. And louder.

I cover my ears, gritting my teeth in a desperate attempt to block out the crack.

"Hey!" A voice yells.

I know that voice. Where have I heard it before...?

I look over and see a girl standing by my window.

My head whips around, looking for my clock. It's midnight.

Oh, no.

"Are you M?" I asked shakily.

The girl wiggles her fingers and answers spookily, "Yeeeeees,"

I chuckle despite my fear.

The girl smiles. Then she says, "Open the window."

I obey hesitantly and let the girl in.

She stands up and stretches.

"So you're really M?" I asked once again.

"Nope."

I blinked. "You're not M?"

The girl faces me, placing her hands on her hips. "No, I'm Seraph. But you can call me Sera."

I nodded. "OK, Sera, why are you here and not M?"

The girl's lips curl into a mischeivous, wicked grin. "M doesn't even know you exist."

My eyebrows knit. Sera answered the question in my head before it could escape my lips.

"I wrote the notes."

My eyes had adjsuted to the darkness and saw her nail polish. My eyes widened.

"What do you want with me?" I asked. "I'm just Ariane van Eeden. There's nothing special about me. My family has no power, no title, we barely have the money to pay for the cable to watch the news!"

"Look, Ariane, we don't have a lot of time. We really should get going. The President's slaves will be on their way right about now," She says, looking at her watch.

"Out the window," She commands, climbing out the window.

I shook my head, too tired and afraid to object.

Sera takes off sprinting. I sigh and run after her.

Sera was at peak performance, and I had just woken up from a nightmare.

And the whole "Out the window, the military is after us" didn't repair my frayed nerves.

Sera slowed down a little so I could keep up with her.

I hear the Jeeps' engines sputtering.

Sera grips my wrist and slams me against a wall. She covered my mouth before I could cry out.

"Don't move a muscle. Don't even breathe." Sera whispers in my ear. It was so soft I could barely hear her even though her lips practically touching my ear. My heart hammered.

Is this how I would go? Shot down under a streetlamp becuase I followed some stranger into the fray? If it is, I just hoped it'd be quick.

Then I heard boots on concrete.

"Split up! Find the girl!" A gravelly voice barks.

A chorus of "Yessir!"s followed the command.

Sera lead me to an alley.

I didn't have to worry about my shoes hitting the concrete; I was barefoot.

Sera had on combat boots. Her attempt to remain unheard inhibited our progress.

I followed Sera. She knew where she was going. Yet, I had no idea why she needed me.

Mom and Dad are going to wake up to a rapping on the door. They'd find out they were looking for me.

From the dark alley, I could see the neighborhood gathering in their robes, seeing what was going on.

I saw my parents step out. "Where's Ariane?" Mom asked worriedly.

"She'll be fine. She's a tough little cookie. She can take care of herself."

A soldier holds a gun to my mother's head.

Dad held her close. "Don't even think about it," Dad growls.

"I'm going to have to ask you to unhand your wife."

Three soldiers tear my mother from my father's arms. Three more hold Dad back.

"What do you think you're doing?" Dad yells.

I froze. Sera tugged at my arm.

"Ariane!" She hisses.

The three soldiers bring my mother to her knees.

No.

They can't.

What did my mother do wrong?

"She's Lucid, sir." said the soldier that held the gun to Mom's head.

"Dispose of her."

I tried to break free of Sera's grip.

The gun is fired, and blood bursts from my mother's head.

"MOM!" I screamed.

The three soldiers throw my mother's body to the ground. The other three run towards the alley where Sera and I hid.

I see Dad hold Mom's body. I could just barely make out his shoulders shaking. A guttural cry escapes his throat.

It was inhuman. I couldn't even recognize his voice.

Sera gives one last mighty tug and she's pulling me away from my parents.

It was as if Sera was a dog on a leash, running at full speed while I'm being dragged, trying to stop her.

What's Lucid? And what about it lead to my mother's murder? Was she simply killed because she was different?

Anger bubbled up inside me.

They killed my mother.

I suddenly didn't care why.

They. Killed. Mom.

I broke free of Sera's grip and sprinted ahead of her, my anger increasing every time my foot struck the ground.

"Ariane!" Sera yells after me.

She soon gains speed and catches up with me.

Hot tears began to spill from my eyes. I wiped them away angrily, running faster.

"Ariane, you don't even know where I'm taking you!" Sera says, out of breath.

"Where are we going, then?" I called back.

"The subway," Sera replies.

I ran a little faster, cried a little more, and I knew my life will never be the same.