I woke up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat, and I couldn't remember at all, try as I might, why my dreams had been so disturbing.

It wasn't the first time I had woken from a strange dream. Many nights I would wake, shivering like a winter storm had rolled in, with no memory of what I had seen in my sleep. It was infuriating, but I had learned to live with it. Besides, I always saw my dreams in the end.

For as long as I could remember, every so often I'd just be walking along at school or the street, and then I'd see something and freeze up. My body would go stiff and time would seem to slow down. I'd see the same thing that I just had. It was always simple things, like a boy walking down the hall with his buddies, or some couple kissing. Gross! The latter was definitely not something I wanted to see twice!

Anyway, whenever this happened, I knew it was something I had seen in my dreams. I don't know how I knew, but I just did. It was a feeling in my gut, and I couldn't shake it away, hard as I tried.

I knew I wouldn't get back to sleep anytime soon, so I crawled out of my sleeping bag and silently tip-toed over the snoring forms of Kat and Lyra to the door. I opened it gently and walked drowsily up the carpeted stairs without a sound.

As I reached the top of the stairs, the light illuminated to a soft, buttery glow. It was just enough for me to see clearly, but not enough to blind me.

I went into the kitchen and rummaged around in the fridge for a bit before closing it in disappointment. I had been hoping for some left-over casserole from a few nights ago, but it looked like Kat had finished it off.

I crossed over to the cupboards and got out a bowl from one and a package of beef-flavored Ramen Noodles from another. After crushing the noodles and putting water in the bowl with it, I put it in the microwave and set the timer for two minutes.

While I waited for my food, I took out an iCup from the cup cupboard.

There's an old joke: "Spell iCup." "I-C-U-P!" Of course, it sounds like you're saying, "I see you pee," and that's the whole part of the joke. But in reality, an iCup is like an iPod or iPad. It's a high-tech clear cup with a touch-screen outside. When you set it down, the outside lights up and it gives you different beverage options. You tap your choice, and it fills itself up with that drink.

I tapped around for a bit on the screen until I found a button that said "Hot chocolate" on it. I tapped it and the buttons disappeared to be replaced by more buttons, which offered marshmallows, a mint in the drink, and other things like pumpkin pie spice, cinnamon, and nutmeg.

It then gave me temperature settings, which I added in in annoyance.

I pressed in my order and the cup filled itself with warm cocoa with marshmallows and a single red-and-white peppermint floating around in it.

Just as I was about to take a deep gulp, the timer on the microwave buzzed softly, and I rose from my seat to fetch my food.

I added in the beef flavoring packet and stirred it in with a spoon from the drawer.

I had just sat down again when I heard a voice say, "Rhea?"

I turned around to find Lyra walking slowly towards me. She blinked a few times to get used to the dim light while she rubbed the sleep out of her electric-blue eyes. "What are you doing?" she asked. "It's still in the wee hours. What time is it anyway?"

I looked over to the microwave, which announced that it was 3:06 in the morning.

"Just past three," I answered her.

She walked to the cupboard and got out her own iCup and it filled itself with creamy white milk after she tapped around on it for a while.

"What are you doing up so early?" she asked as she sat next to me and took a sip.

"Couldn't sleep," I replied as I shoveled a spoonful of noodles in my mouth.

"Dreams?"

I nodded as I swallowed and took a sip of my cocoa. It was thick and creamy, with just a hint of mint.

"You still don't remember them?" she pressed.

I shook my head. Normally, I'd get all defensive and tell her to back off (nicely of course), but it was Lyra. She was like a sister to me, and she had never let me down before.

"Don't you think it's strange that you have these dreams you can't remember? And then a few weeks later, what you see in your dreams actually happens?"

"Of course it's strange," I said. "I'm just used to it."

She was silent for a bit; meanwhile, my noodles slowly disappeared. Then she said, "Don't you think it's strange?"

I looked at her. "What's strange?"

"Our lives. There's no bills or money or a currency of any kind, but we all know what it is. There's no parents or vacations, yet we all know what they are. We don't know how we become families, and there's no government, but we all know what they are, yet again. We never have any droughts or food shortages or anything, but, surprise, surprise, we all know what they are and their effect on people."

Until she mentioned it, it had never really occurred to me. Life was pretty simple here. You never saw anyone above the age of sixteen, and there were no grades in school. The older ones taught the younger ones, and if there was something we didn't know, we'd just look it up online. There were no teachers or adults, and the youngest child to be seen was five years old. There were no births or deaths, but we all knew what they were. Everyone knew each other, and no one ever left town. I guess I thought life was a little too perfect, and if I thought about it too much, all that would go away.

We knew about the things of the world like modern music and such, but no one actually knew how we did. It was kind of a surreal feeling.

"I guess," I said after a long pause, "that we just don't want to think about it too much because it's too complicated."

She looked away but nodded, like the answer didn't satisfy her. I wished that I could have said something more, but really what was there to say?

She stood, her stool scraping against the floor, and said, "Try to go back to sleep. I know we don't have school in the morning, but you still need to rest."

I nodded and she silently walked back downstairs.

I stared at my noodles, thinking about what she had said about how strange our lives really were, now that I thought about it. Could our lifestyle have something to do with my dreams?

Sighing, I drained the last bit of hot chocolate and noodles and put the dirty dishes in the dishwasher where Kat would wash them tomorrow. I smiled thinking that I got a whole month off from the dishes for going to the dance. Looking at them now, it seemed worth it.

Author's Note: So, what do you guys think of this chapter? What do you think is going to happen?