(F/n) = (friend's name)

(O/f/n) = (other friend's name)

Reader's P.O.V.

The giggle of (f/n), my friend awoke me from my day dream, as did the pounding of the rain droplets on the school bus windows. I glanced in their direction. They were talking
with my other friend,
(O/f/n).
My mind danced from the conversation they were having, to the busy life outside the vehicle we were in. People would come outside on their weekly routine of taking out the garbage. Dogs would yip and bark whenever the bus passed by their domains, whether it was from excitement or the simple instinct to protect their home and the people living inside it. Everything was normal. Everything was the same. I could barely hear outside since the loud, obnoxious sounds of the other students on the bus blocked my ability
to listen.
I scoffed as I overheard a conversation a couple of nerdy looking boys were having about seeing a cute girl in the cafeteria and how they wanted to "knock her up". My eyes slowly traveled to my body. My lips twisted into a dissatisfied frown. Yes, it was true. I was slightly insecure about myself, though many people are as well.
My  negative thoughts were lifted as I felt the school bus come to a halt with a somewhat loud screech. I knew that was my cue to rush to the front of the bus. My legs stopped pacing down the isle as I saw that someone's ankle was blocking my path as if to try to trip me. Whether it was meant purposefully or not, my feet stepped right on it. I heard a surprised "Ouch!", as I finished my way off the bus and into the school, followed by the sound of my friends' laughter.
As I neared my locker (which, might I add, was one of the bigger ones in school), my eyes spotted one of the more scarier students at the school.
Her name was Sheela Conner. She wasn't like one of those cliché divas. You know, like the ones from Mean Girls? Sheela was just plain aggressive, especially when it came to sports. I wouldn't say she's a bully, just hard to deal with. I would still catch her eyeing me with envy from time to time. I was one of her targets. She would act like a complete savage whenever I was up against her in physical education. Of course it wasn't just me Sheela would be passive aggressive to. She would act like that to (f/n) and (o/f/n) as well. The girl hung out with the classes majority of girls. And guess what. For some idiotic reason, the school staff was generous enough to make me take all of my classes with her this year.
The first instinct of mine was to face my locker. If Sheela didn't notice me, good. If so, the worst I would get from her would be a bossy comment from her. My head turned to see that fortunately for me, she walked right past. I mentally sighed with relief. Swiftly, I finished gathering my utensils and books for first period.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Class was hard as usual, but at least I got most of the stuff. When I got home, I immediately ran to the couch and flopped right on it.  My limbs felt paralyzed, but I winced as I forced them to turn on the TV. Ah, Law and Order was on. I didn't really watch it, I just listened to it. Since school was stressful, I fell asleep quite easily.
The calm sleep I was in soon took me to where I was running through a forest. It was a bright, sunny forest with lots of birch trees. The fall leaves covered the ground like a never ending carpet. Even as my feet kissed the ground, there was no sign of the soil below, just leaves. Even though it seemed like fall, the temperature was pretty warm. Everything was in slow motion. I tilted my head up to see the warm rays of the sun shining on my face. It was beautiful. All I wanted to do was stay in that dream forever. Alas, the dream had to come to an end.
My eyes shot open from instinct when I heard a loud thump. My heart rate began to pick up. What the fuck was that? My body had gotten the jitters and I slowly stood up. Oh my god. It was pitch black. I couldn't see a thing. My arms searched for my phone, but they had no luck. Fuck. I glanced at the clock on the stove. The digits read 11:24pm. My arms extended and began feeling out in front of me while I slowly walked over to the window. I scrunched up my face in reaction my mother and her car's blazing headlights. Thank god, it was just her. Man, mom had never been home this late.
As soon as mom got through the door and saw me, she immediately apologized for coming home so late and gave me a hug. I hugged back and so on and so on.
After eating a quick, late dinner, I went upstairs to go back to sleep. It wasn't long until I slowly drifted back into that blissful state. My mind traveled into that dream again and I had relaxed much more now.
As I was running through that wonderful place, something in the atmosphere changed. Something about the dream was off. I felt as though I was being watched. But, that's impossible. Only I knew about that place. There could be no one else there. My head started to hurt and an odd ring with static was playing in the background and getting productively louder.
It got to the point where I literally was forced to wake up. My eyes began to water out of fear. What happened? Suddenly, out of the corner of my eye, something fled across the room and out the window. My whole body was shaking and my mind was still trying to process what just happened.
I eventually ended up convincing myself that it was just a nightmare and that I needed to go back to bed. I did so and didn't speak about that incident with anyone all day the next day. My mind couldn't help but wonder though.....what the hell was that thing?......