RING

RING

RING

RING

Due to the importance of the day, I awoke eagerly from my alarm.

"You seem brighter today!" my mom exclaimed with a smile on her face.

"I altered the bloody red potion that the monster used into a green one, and it turned my bully back to her former self! The nice one!"

I thought she'd laugh because it happened in my dream, but instead, she said, "Well, let's hope it can happen in real life, too."

I hopped out of the car with the help of my crutches to stabilize me, and Isabella ran toward me and hugged me.

"Why are you so happy today, too?" I asked.

"You know that dream we had together last night? About the green potion and turning Emma nice again?"

I nodded.

"I don't think we need to worry about real life anymore!"

I was stunned. "What are you talking about? If it happened in our dreams, it wouldn't replicate in real life without us doing anything, right?"

"I thought that as well, but why don't you go see for yourself?"

Upon resuming my crutches, I found Emma handing out chocolate truffles!

There's no way....

Dreams weren't real. Was I still in a dream?

As if Isabella could read my mind, she pinched me. "See? You're wide awake, proving this o-occurrence is real!"

My arm hurt where she pinched me, so I rubbed it to alleviate the pain.

When does she even cut her nails?

"Wow, you're even learning longer words!"

"My parents and Ms. Reagan have been helping me learn," she said. "What are you waiting for? Go talk to Emma!"

"H-hi Emma!"

She turned around and waved.

"How are you feeling?" I asked, attempting to be as natural as possible.

"Amazing! You two were in my dreams last night and helped me return to my normal self!"

Isabella was right!

As Isabella and I entered the class, Ms. Reagan pulled us aside.

"Are we in trouble?" Isabella asked, wide-eyed.

"No, I just wanted to let you two know about your fame on the news! Last night seemed crazy!"

"I- We dreamed about turning a long-time bully back to her nice self, but did it actually happen?"

I looked at the news article with the headline: Two First-graders Take the First Step to Save the World. At the beginning of the article, there were two pictures of us: one with the monster explaining to us the procedure with his potion and another of us smiling with Emma and her truffles.

"You two are going to be successful. I just know it."

"Thank you, Ms, Reagan!"

She handed me a page of the newspaper containing the article as well.

After the first class, the bell rang for recess; before we could do anything, many students older than us ran to us and congratulated us on our bravery!

Was it a dream or real then?

After thanking them, Isabella pointed to my 9 o'clock direction. "What's that gate for?"

I looked at the gate but didn't notice anything extraordinary past it yet.

"Whatever it is, race ya!" Isabella jogged rather than sprinted to keep it fair for me and my crutches.

I carefully tugged on the gate handle once we both touched the sides of the gate at the same moment. It had been unlocked.

On crutches, I couldn't be as discreet as I wanted to be, but it would have to suffice.

We both stared down a crimson and purple tunnel with no lighting!

Who could possibly see through it? Is this real or a forgery?

Behind me was a field with children playing soccer and tag. In front of me was what appeared to be a portal. But to what end? What would it bring us to? Was it a ruse?

A plethora of mirrors of varying angles.

Isabella laughed. "Avery, look! I don't have a head, and you don't have arms!"

I froze. I didn't have arms? I looked down and saw my arms. "Liar-"

"No, silly! Look in the upper left mirror!"

I breathed a sigh of relief. However, why would these mirrors simply slide up out of nowhere?

"Want to go back home?" a voice called out.

I stumbled backwards. "Who are you?! Let us out!" I cried as the gate began to close and self-lock and the portal began to do the same. The last look I had ever gotten then was a boy kicking a soccer ball into the net, scoring and cheering.

BUZZ

It came from my fanny pack. My phone. It was a text from my mom, which she rarely does because I never used my phone that much: Avery, where are you? School ended half an hour ago.

"You won't be needing that piece of human trash anymore," the monster showed up and threw my phone into the depths of my despair.

"But my mom-" I began.

"You may or may not get your phone back. By the way, why would you, a six-year-old, have a phone? Shouldn't you be reading-"

"Don't parent me!"

Isabella stepped in. "Well, I should be asking you why you have decided to ruin people's lives for the fun and sake of it? Didn't you learn in school to not bully? Why w-would you want to make others into bullies?"

The Inequality Monster ignored her. "Welcome to my darkside."

This is five chapters into "The Inequality Monster", so if you guys enjoyed this excerpt, you can find the full book on my Amazon page (link in bio)!