Inside was different than what was in my dream, and not just by a little bit. There weren't any blank canvases and instead, large tables with cardstock paper and other assortments of painting materials. The teacher's desk was similar except that the computer on top of it was much larger and that there weren't any papers set on it. The windows were also larger but split in the center so that you could open each side from there, which was a strange design but made sense since you wouldn't want the wind to blow away the papers.
Also, there was a specific moving cabinet full of paper, coloring pencils, and other tools meant for painting. I can only wonder what this meant though. Was the room different in my dream because of how I thought it should look like or was there some other reason I just didn't know about right now like a collective unconscious? At least I remember hearing something about that from Dominique but all he said about it was how 'idiotic' it seemed. I guess I'll find out tonight whether it changed or not, walking toward the front of the school and toward my home.
I was still here, still in this nightmare as my eyes caught up to the sudden change. It's still so strange, I'm still lucidly dreaming. I've never had a lucid dream three times in a row. As a matter of fact, I only lucidly dreamed once or twice in my life. This time though, I'll take my revenge on this creature for hunting me for two nights in a row. Looking around, I could see that the room I stood in wasn't the same as before. It was definitely the art room, but no longer the version that I had in my nightmare yesterday. Just like I thought, it changed when my brain finally knew what it actually looked like. The creature was nowhere to be seen either, which was a breath of relief for once.
I still didn't understand anything of what was going on, but that seemed inconsequential right now. At least I was safe, even if I couldn't die in this world...I think. Peeking out, I could see that the halls were empty, the only thing that gave the creature's existence some proof was that part of the walls were smashed in. The broken bricks or debris were nowhere to be seen though, just the missing pieces being there. If I'm right in assuming, they're probably in the sky right now, just floating about.
Without the fear of being hunted by the beast anymore, I needed to find a weapon to use in the future but where would you even get one? It's a school for crying out loud, it's not like there are any knives or guns...except maybe in the teacher's lounge. I seriously doubt there would be one in the real world but I've never seen the teacher's lounge so it's just up to the imagination.
I guess you could say that the areas I've never seen are copy-paste to other things I've seen in the real world so a kitchen area should have the basics of a kitchen... unless there's something else I'm missing. There could be another reason, a person's mentality and how they see the world could change things, but I don't have time to become smart. The creature might be stalking the halls and looking for me while I stand here doing nothing.
There were two ways into the teacher's lounge with one of them needing a key but the other one was simply walking through the office. Not only that but there were cameras throughout the school and all of them were being monitored in there, I've seen it once, so I might be able to track it after finding the knife. Moving about the school while sticking to the walls, I could see that more of the building was broken apart and in the sky, with a large platform up there.
Though it was hard to see, I swear there was a shine or glint of something up there that I've seen before but I couldn't quite place it. Once near the door to the office, I precariously jumped toward it and went through, looking at the bulky computers where the cameras would be on. I was already here so I might as well, walking to the other side of the desk and glaring at the different feeds, seeing that the school was empty. Each camera feed just stared at a random part of the school where the creature wasn't at, but one of them seemed out of place.
It was the only one recording a feed from outside, seeing a fence with the chain links being broken at the base. I don't remember a camera being out there in the first place and it couldn't have been installed without my knowledge because this is created with everything I know and think. Then the answer to my question walked into view as I saw myself with a backpack slung over my shoulder. It didn't make sense until I saw the creature gingerly walk onto the feed, swinging its pincer into the backpack of the kid, sending him into the fence. It seemed so familiar as the creature began to chitter loudly before the person who looked just like me said something. Their voice didn't go through the video but I already knew what they said as the creature began to repeat the past.
Before I knew it, the 'me' who was in the video slinked under the fence and insulted the creature, running away with it following right behind. Who would've guessed but it makes sense? I think I know what I need to do now in the real world but before that happens, the one in this dream world needs to be taken care of. I've accepted the futility. No, that's a lie, I won't accept it. I'll overcome them with my tenacious attitude and won't let this dark cloud stop me any longer.
No more lying to myself, I won't be ashamed of how I acted in the past. Going into the kitchen, it looked exactly how I imagined, complete with a microwave, blender, fridge, and a bunch of other things like a dishwasher. What I was looking for was here as well, a set of different kitchen knives sheathed in a wooden stand. Quickly, I grabbed the uppermost one to see that it was the largest one there, lucky for me that it's almost the exact same wooden stand that I have back at the house.
I guess it's time to look for this thing, which should be at the other entrance to this school. Well, there's three in total: one being the front doors next to the office, the back doors next to the gym which were on the opposite side than where the front doors are, and the side doors near the science class which I believe was in the far west part of the school if the front doors are South and the back doors are in the North. So, I darted out of the teacher's lounge and through the office again, going around the heater, where I would normally sit until classes started, and ran down the hallway.
From here, it's pretty much a straight shot down, seeing the water fountain and the doors adjacent to it, except the light from the glass doors was nowhere to be seen. The only light I could see down there was the gaps in the ceiling, and now that I think about it, this is near where I first saw the creature. Down the hall, before you reach the doors, there's another hallway that seemed broken apart. As soon as I reached the small little section, I looked down to see that I was right, the rest of the hallway farther down was completely torn apart and floating as if there wasn't any gravity.
It makes sense though, that part of the school is normally off-limits to students, it being bought out to another school for their... special education kids. At least I knew where I was now, turning around to see that the doors outside were the same as the back doors, a brick wall formed blocking anyone from leaving. How am I supposed to hurt the creature if it's out there and I'm stuck in here?
I just need to pay it back for the pain it caused me, I'm beginning to understand pieces to this puzzle and I need to solve it. My hatred or something like that is what the beast is, and it makes sense. Jose's the spidery parts of the creature, webbing me up and having a grasp on my life. Cadell is the crab pieces like the pincers or head, being the one to bring me down and has been the one actively trying to hurt me.
Then there's Taylor who is the stinger on that creature, hardly being used and only injects its poison when it finds a weak spot. I don't know about Jackson though, was he the body keeping them together as one creature, was that how I really thought of the group. How can I forget about Jessica, but what part did she play in this creature? Now that I think about it, the creature knew where I was at almost every move... was she their inside agent who made sure I was an easy target they could pick on?
God, I don't want to think about it anymo... No, I need to face this. There has to be another way, maybe the gaps in the ceiling could be my escape from here but how would I reach them? Before I could act on how to get up, the school began to shake as I fell to the ground. It felt like an earthquake like the one I felt a few years ago that caused the power at the house to go out for a couple of days. This was stronger though, the ground tearing and breaking apart, the walls shattering but instead of falling on me, they began to rise.
Even pieces of the tiles on the ground floated above my head and rose to the sky. My entire landscape changing before my eyes, but a loud chittering sound drowned in my ears. Instinctively, I curled and covered my ears, closing my eyes in fear before realizing that it must be nearby. For one final time, I opened my eyes with the determination that I need to finish this... only to see that I was in my bed.
Yet again, an abrupt ending before I could do anything. I still doubt that this dream or nightmare or whatever it is will be gone now. Since I'm back in the real world, I might as well finish my priorities here before going back to sleep, rushing to school and waiting for the others like any other monotonous day I've had before. This time, Dominique was here so now was a perfect time to ask, trying to figure out when I should tell him what was on my mind without the others interrupting with their own logic.
Still, it was hard to begin a conversation about it, my words stuck in my mouth but he might be the only person who could answer my question. Now that I thought about what I wanting to ask him, I couldn't help but notice the soreness in my arm wasn't that intense anymore, so were the effects that weak? Soon enough as Johndavid and Grif went to get their lunches in the lockers, I held Dominique back. His cold eyes caught mine as he kept quiet, waiting for me to talk. I was nervous he might think I'm a weirdo, but then again, he's also a weirdo.
I mean, everyone is, deciding to just come out and say it. "Well, I have a small problem that only a smart-aleck like you can answer... Can a placebo from just your head cause yo-" Before I could finish my sentence, Jose came out of nowhere with his little gang and surrounded us. Dominique was unfazed though, staring at them with the same cold eyes he was staring at me with. Wasn't he scared or stressed about what they wanted, or did he know they were here for me? Jose, without any hesitation, walked up to me with his shadow casting over my body, his face from under the hoodie being visible.
"You think you were safe bastard, really? I'll see you tomorrow, and you better not run away." I could see a pretty large bruise right below his left eye, and it wasn't circular either. It seemed something small slammed against his cheekbone or something. At least it wasn't from a fist or anything larger than that, so what could've caused it. That's probably why he missed school the day before yesterday, he got into some kind of fight.
I knew he wasn't lying either when he spoke those words, causing my hands to become clammy as I stressed about what was going to happen to me. Of course, I made sure not to show it before he and his posse began walking away. Dominique still didn't say anything, analyzing the situation and noticing the small details that I couldn't see myself. I couldn't bring myself to even begin to talk again as the words simply escaped my mind because of the adrenaline and fear pumping through my blood.
Before long, however, Dominique suddenly spoke up, "Strange, his left palm was clenched, but hidden away from your sight."
I didn't really know how to respond to that, scrambling for some answers and saying, "What, what does that mean? He really hated me or something?"
"No, that's a sign of fear. If he wanted to hurt you, his clenched fist would be in view to show his aggression. It could be neurosis of some variation, but that is unlikely as he didn't have this symptom before. Now, what were you saying earlier about placebos?" Dominique said before I regained my confidence in asking him the question again, the thought of Jose being scared in my mind.
"Oh, yeah. Can something that you think or dream about cause real pain, like to your body?"
"In forms, I guess it can but I don't believe it can develop out of thin air. Psychogenic, as an example, is physical pain brought on by psychological causes. Are you wondering because you are feeling similar symptoms?" He said before going quiet again, the others walking back after getting their lunches. Dominique never brought it up for the rest of the school day as Grif and Johndavid hardly left us to talk in private, Johndavid's carefree personality helping me forget about the worries of what's bound to come tomorrow.
And here I thought that Saturday was going to be a fun extra school activity day and without any worries, but it was the perfect time to beat someone up. When there are fewer teachers here and the students are allowed to wander around the school, no one would notice a few kids go outside and terrorize another less fortunate student. Well, do you know what I say? I say bring it on. I may not be the smartest or the strongest, I'm average in every way, but that also means I'm not the dumbest or weakest kid there either. Losing is bound to happen, but I won't go out without a fight and I'm willing to bring it. A smile spread across my face as we were beginning to go our separate ways, my dream awaiting me. Dominique and Johndavid stopped me before I left though, both of them confused at my expression.
"Hey boyo, are you happy because we left? We're not that annoying, maybe." Johndavid said before turning around for no reason and walking backwards down the hall with us. If he wasn't careful, he could easily bump into someone as cause a ruckus that neither of us wanted to be a part of. Honestly, staying with him for an entire day might give a really bad headache.
Before I could finish my thought, Dominique chipped in saying, "You're going to give me an aneurism, JD. So London, if you do have something like what I was discussing earlier, then it won't be easy to get rid of and you may need some professional help. However, if you want to try far-flung ideas, then find the root of it, whether that be trauma or chemical imbalance, and mentally change whatever caused that pain." Johndavid had no idea what he was talking about but seemed to ignore it.
The rest of the walk with them was pretty regular with Johndavid bringing up weird topics before both of them had to head off to the bus, running so that it wouldn't leave without them. I never thought of it like that, though the way he said it sounded as if the idea was stupid and almost impossible. Well, hopefully, this night will be the last I have where I have to deal with that thing, since I know what it's made up of and I've already come to peace with what they are. There are so many things going on, whatever happened to Jose, This injury, dealing with the monster, and the finals that are a month from now or something like that. How is an average kid like me supposed to deal with all of this by himself?