Despair Inside Of Dreams

3: Confounding Delusions

Halley escorted me out of the auditorium, calmly. Fortunately, nobody glanced over in our direction. We walked out towards the park, right by the parking lot. It was a nice day. There were almost no clouds, it was warm, and the breeze brushed against us, gently. After moments of walking around silently, we sat down on a park bench, in front of a pond. Near the pond, there was almost no one to be found. It was just me, Halley, a family with a young girl, and a couple of ducks.

"Are you feeling better?" she asked.

"Yeah, a little bit. The headache's gone," I responded.

"That's good. Hey, my name is Halley, by the way."

"I know," I said while laughing. "I'm in your first class."

"I know," she said while giggling. It reminded me of my sister's laugh. So calm and innocent.

"Halley... That's an interesting name."

"My parent's named me after a comet. They've always had a thing for astronomy."

"Well, a girl like you only comes around once every 76 years," I said while laughing.

"You dork," she answered back, blushing and smiling.

Halley left the park after a bit. She had to go home, so she could babysit her siblings. It was definitely nice to meet her. She seemed unique. I looked at the ducks for a little bit. So independent and young, yet brave when facing the world. A sharp pain jumped inside my head and stopped after a few seconds. I decided that it was time for me to head home.

My parents were wondering why I was home later than usual. I told them that I was with a friend. They didn't ask much more. I didn't want to tell them about Halley yet because I knew they would make fun of me, or they would tease me. I ate dinner, and I went to my bedroom. I was so happy to see my bed after a long, tiring day. When I got in my bed, I wondered about the last dream I had. I couldn't remember much. 'Must have been nothing,' I thought. I slowly drifted to sleep.

"Halley, she's not-" a voice in a distance spoke. "Save her, Aries." I could see the man, now. A blurry, black figure stood in deep separation from me. I ran towards him, or at least, I tried to. I tried to run as fast as I could, but it seemed like I was running at a snail's pace. "Hey, wait! Come on! Who are you?" I shouted, but my words were invisible. I started to sweat. A white piece of paper fell from his back. I stopped running and picked up the paper as I watched him disappear in the fog. "0513," it said. The words slowly disappeared from the paper. A sharp high-pitched noise grew in my head, as if a child was screaming into my ears. I squeezed the paper in my hands and shut my eyes.

I woke up, covered in sweat. I quickly got out of bed, found a piece of paper and a pen, and wrote "0513" and "Save her" on it. I was half-awake, and I couldn't see anything. The darkness of the sky overcame the moonlight shining through my bedroom window. I fell back asleep.