Live Inside a Dream

A short story about a highschool girl that feels like she has it all in her life. But is that really the case?

Everything was perfect in my life. I had a caring family, friends that stood by my side, and even a boyfriend that would listen to the little troubles that I had. Nothing ever seemed to go negatively. Sometimes I was worried that everything was too perfect and I might go insane if things continued this way. When I told Richard this, he laughed, told me I was silly, and gave me a gentle kiss. Then, I carried on with my life, knowing I had to focus and practice for the play that was coming up in February, which I of course had the main role in. That’s when I started to notice that things were a little off.

I somehow had perfect grades, even though I had a strong feeling that I couldn’t be that smart. One day, I purposely didn’t study for a huge science test that was coming up. I didn’t cheat on the test either. I simply gave it my best shot. It was risky to do so, but my grades could take the impact, even if I did fail. When it was handed back, I got a D-, but a few days afterwards the event sort of faded into the background, like the D- never happened. It was strange, as if a fog was blurring my life into pure happiness. I checked my grades and the D- was there, but the science teacher marked it as “doesn’t count”. Being a Junior, I was plenty worried about my grades, so I never brought it up with him and let it be. If God had ordained my life to be flawless, who was I to stop it?

Finally, it was the day that I had been wanting for, practicing for, and putting my entire soul into. The day of our grand performance. It was time to shine on the stage, and wow the school with our act, especially my flawless presentation. I had it all memorized and could recall my lines with a great ease. I was more than ready to do it.

“Emma, what’s up? The opening show’s tonight, right?” Jane asked me with great perkiness.

“Yeah, I am ready to give it my all. Don’t miss it!”

“Wouldn’t miss it if I was mauled by a rabid freshman boy. You always light up the stage, it’s amazing.”

“Thank you. Well, I have to sit through my math class, so I’ll talk to you later J!” I smiled and gave her a wave, heading into the musty classroom.

Calculus. Last period of the day. Let’s do this. As usual, since math was obviously not fun, it went by as a blur like any else uncomfortable in my life. Afterwards, I didn’t even remember what we had done. I was use to it by now. All that mattered was that I was going to be performing and had to meet with the cast crew right away.

As I walked down the long, plain, hallway, I heard a voice call my name, clearer than all the other noises in the hall. When I turned around and looked at the other students I didn’t see any of my friends or boyfriend in sight. Must have been just my imagination. Or calling for a different Emma. God knows there are plenty of them in the school. As I passed by the bulletin board, I saw painted in large black letters, “Emma, I’m here for you. Please…”. What was the meaning of this? I looked at it with wondering eyes, and out of nowhere my boyfriend popped up and tapped me on my shoulder �"- scaring the living hell out of me.

“Heh, I wrote that when I was thinking of you. I know it’s a little strange message, but just wanted to let you know that you can always lean on me!”

“That’s nice,” I muttered under my breath with a forced smile.

This day was supposed to be perfect like the rest of my life. I couldn’t deal with this right now.

“Bye Richard, I have to go now,” I said “Watch the play tonight, alright?”

“Okay, I will see you then, my fair lady.”

He gave me a quick kiss on the check, and we parted our ways. The rest of the walk down the hallway and to the stage was fairly peaceful, as peaceful any walk in a high school could be. I arrived at the drama room, twisted open the door that had a single metal star on it, and cheerfully greeted the other members, pretending like nothing was wrong. They need not be burdened by any strange events. We ran through everything once again, and before I knew it, all the seats were full of people wanting to see our adaption of Romeo and Juliet.

I waited patiently on the edge of the stage as the other characters started off the play. The smell of the props, makeup, and even a couple other actors were all distinct where I was standing. I lived and breathed the acting life. When it was time for me to come on as Juliet, I was hardly nervous; I had done this all before. I strode onto stage elegantly, saying my lines as if I was living the character. I knew I had grab the audience’s attention almost immediately. When I went off stage for the next scene that only had Romeo and a few other characters, I could almost feel the audience’s disappointment. Soon, my fans, soon. I felt my hair, making sure everything was in place and proper. I was still good to go. I didn’t even have to change my costume until the fifth scene or so. I smiled to myself as I watched the actors performed their parts. I was going to do amazing things in this life, I knew it. Besides, it seemed like nothing could ever go wrong, so I was set.

I went onto the stage once more, ready to talk about my love and yearning to Romeo. Then, it hit me. This had never happened to me before, yet here it was. My palms were sweaty, I couldn’t recall my lines, and I simply stood there like a deer caught in the head lights. The audience begun to get restless, coughing and muttering, wondering what was going to happen. No, no, no. I had practiced! Countless times! How could this be happening? My head started to spin, and a loud male voice cracked into my world.

“Emma! Emma! She’s showing signs of being here! Come on, I know you can do it.”

The audience was frozen. Holes of blackness were starting to form through everything. I spotted where Richard had sat, and there was only a black void in his spot. I screamed with all my might, my hands trying to tear the hair off of my head. This couldn’t be happening. My perfect life, where was it going? No! Don’t take this away from me, and please, no more drugs.

“Emma! I am here. Listen to my voice. Come to me. E. M. M. A. That’s you. Right here, nowhere else, right?”

The world spun; time or space had no meaning. Everything was one solid spiral of colors going downwards, heading into nowhere. My perfect life was real, not that other side. I knew what was real. They just didn't understand.

“This isn’t reality!” I howled with a broken voice, the sentence coming out more like garbled nonsense.

Here I was. In a straitjacket, padded room, and spit coming down all over my face. There was a boy that stood before me, with gentle blue eyes and a pleading look dripping from them. I felt a deep connection to him, even though my brain couldn’t bring back any memories of his face. Standing by his side was a stern, yet gentle woman in white clothing.

She barked, “She opened her eyes! Get the others! And for crying out loud make sure Dr. Robin is here to see this! And don’t get her parents yet, this might be only temporary.”

I rolled around the floor, observing the feeling of a thousand ants crawling under my skin. And the feeling of intense anxiety washing over my every single second, making it hard for me to form a single thought. The spheres were going to come for me now, weren’t they? Wait, what? Spheres? I formed these few thoughts during the time where they poked and observed me: I wanted to go back to my dream. Where everything was perfect. Where I had a future.

Tears flowed. Down, down, down, until it felt like it was going to cover the sterile white floor.

They told me what had happened. All the stress, sadness, and chaos of my life was too much for me to bear. How I went part way into a dream year before, and spouted nonsense about spheres taking over the world. And how I ended up killing a person that had too much of a circular face. That wasn’t true. That wasn’t true. No, adfhakfj, no. I closed my eyes once more.

“I told you she couldn’t handle all that, even when you tell it to her through months. Why can’t you do something that actually helps her?” the boy spoke with a fury.

“At this point it seems impossible, as she will forever live in a dream some way or another. It’s the only way her brain knows how to work at this point.”

“Shut up! I love her even more than her parents do, and I know it’s not impossible. Now, get to work and actually do something.”

The boy knelt close down be my side, right by my ear, as if to say something.

“Aww Emma, I know your performance didn’t work out that good, but let’s just move on from it,” Jane said.

“Yes, Emma, don’t worry about it,” Richard whispered into my ear, “I still love you.”

For a split second, Richard wasn’t there. It was the familiar padded room with the kind boy with blue eyes whispering those sweet, yet seemingly pleading words into my ear. When I blinked it was gone. How strange! I must need more sleep or something. I smiled and whispered I love you back to Richard, holding hands with him and walking out of the wild school. Thank god that I was blessed to have such an excellent life. I gazed up at the blazing sun that hung over the school, wondering why my life felt so surreal at times. As if it was all only a lovely dream.

Author's Note

Is it predictable? Does it feel cheap?