Chapter 1; THE DREAM
Samantha was running through a fog-drenched street, her footsteps echoing against the emptiness. Her lungs burned, but she couldn’t stop. Something was wrong—terribly wrong.
Then she saw them.
Bodies. Dozens of them. Lifeless, scattered across the ground like fallen leaves. Some lay with their eyes open, staring at nothing. Others were curled in unnatural positions. The sight made her stomach twist, but her legs felt rooted in place.
And then she noticed him.
A boy. He stood alone in the center of it all, the only living figure. His features were blurry, as if hidden behind the fog, but she caught the curve of his lips. A playful smirk. It wasn’t kindness—it was something else, something that made her chest tighten. She tried to speak, to ask who he was, but no sound came out.
The boy tilted his head, as if amused.
Before Samantha could take a step toward him, a sharp voice shattered the scene.
“Sam! Hey, wake up already!”
Her eyes flew open. The fog, the bodies, the boy—they were gone. In their place was the bright, fluorescent glow of her classroom. She blinked at the sudden light, her mind still foggy. Her best friend, Leah, hovered above her desk, shaking her shoulder.
“You seriously slept through the entire lesson,” Leah whispered, half-scolding, half-laughing. “Mr. Kato almost called on you!”
Samantha sat up quickly, brushing her dark hair out of her eyes. A few of her classmates were snickering, and heat rushed to her cheeks. “I wasn’t sleeping,” she muttered, though her voice betrayed her.
Leah raised an eyebrow. “Uh-huh. Then explain why you were drooling on your notes?”
Samantha groaned, slamming her notebook shut. She tried to push the dream from her mind, but it clung to her like smoke. Those lifeless eyes. That boy’s smirk. Why did it feel so real?
The bell rang, sparing her from further embarrassment. Chairs scraped as students rushed for the door. Leah nudged her. “Come on, before the cafeteria line gets crazy.”
Samantha grabbed her bag, still unsettled. The dream replayed in her mind as she walked beside Leah. It was only a dream, she told herself. Just her imagination. Still, a small voice whispered at the back of her mind: What if it wasn’t?
