The Tales of a Daydreamer

"Just stop talking. Just. Stop. Talking."

I rolled my eyes, turning my head away to hide my grin. I winked at Rian, and her puzzled expression melted away. She hid a smile.

Ryland opened his mouth, grey eyes hurt.

"I SAID STOP TALKING!" I screeched. "Honestly, you would think you were raised by a bunch of foreign barbarians!" At that point, Rian exploded into laughter behind me and I couldn't continue my act. The "anger" disappeared from my face as I went to give Ryland a hug. "I'm sorry, doll. If it helps, I do love you." I laughed.

He grinned. "Man, that wasn't cool... I really thought you were serious for a second."

"Yeah, well. What can I say? My amazing skills surprise even me, sometimes." I grinned, and Rian rolled her eyes.

"Show off..." she muttered, hazel eyes dancing.

"Whatever...." I crooned. I forced a cough. "Ahemjealous!" I grinned. "And with that, my dear children, I must leave you. It is quite late, and my mother is quite psycho."

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I waltzed through my front door, and a red object soared towards my forehead. I watched it bounce right between my eyes in shock.

I looked down, watching it skid across the white carpet. A skittle.

Laughter erupted from across the room, and I looked up to meet the cool blue gaze of my sister, Hayley. She grinned, aiming a purple one at me. I caught it, to my surprise and hers, and chunked it back. I missed.

"Dude, are you serious?? A skittle, Hayley?? Why??"

She shrugged, popping one into her mouth. I cringed as she crunched into it. "I dunno. Felt like it, I guess. You understand, eh?"

I shook my head and laughed. "You are so strange, Hay!"

"Gee, thanks," she said dryly. "I can feel the love, you know? It's returned, by the way. Just in case you care." She grinned, standing up and walking towards the stairs. "Night," she laughed.

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Ryland watched me color for a few moments, and made a face. "Dude, your drawing sucks. What kind of a dog is purple?"

"You know what, Ryland. I don't need your criticism."

Ryland laughed. "Of course you do." He tapped my head. "It helps keep that big noggin in check. Can't have ego-titis, you know. Sucks." He shook his head, clucking his tongue.

I laughed. "You're real odd, you know?" I stared at him sideways where he was sitting next to me on my wooden porch swing. His face reflected back in the glow of the light behind my head.

He shrugged. "Eh. You only laugh because you're jealous."

"No, I only laugh because you look funny." I tipped my head back, letting the laughter tumble from my mouth. Suddenly, a sharp pain shot through my shoulder. He bit me! "Ouch, Ryland! Why'd you - holy crap, you're not Ryland."

"Nope, babe. I'm sure not. Glad for the change?"

I stared, perplexed, rubbing my shoulder, at the face that used to be Ryland. I stared at the face that was now Jada. "You're not Ryland, and... you bit me. Why did you bite me?"

She shrugged. "You know, you should never laugh at someone who bites. That's valuable information, you know? Your friend Ryland? I'm sure he'd'a done the same."

"Where did Ryland go?"

She shrugged. "Away, I guess. What, you're not glad to see me?" She scooted closer on the swing. "That's not showing good hospitality."

I squashed my reflex to scoot back, knowing it would just trap me in the corner of the swing when she mirrored my action. "But... you're dead..."

"Well, I came back just for you, babe."

I blinked, and rubbed my eyes. When that didn't work, I shook my head. Jada grinned. I rubbed my eyes again.

This had to be a dream. This had to be a dream. There was no way it couldn’t be. No way. So then why couldn’t I wake up?

She scooted closer, and I fell out of the swing.

**

That seemed to be the trick. When I opened my eyes, I was on my bedroom floor, wrapped up in my blanket and still trembling. What was with that dream? I didn't even know who Jada was. What, was she some voice from my conscience telling me never to drink Fabuloso? Like I would do that anyway!

I picked myself off the floor and laid back in bed, closing my eyes.

________________________________________________________

I closed my eyes and flinched as the impact I hadn’t seen coming became unpreventable.

Only, it wasn't even half as bad as I thought it would be. For my car, anyway. The other car couldn't say the same thing.

I watched as the car we had collided with spun across the road and hit a light pole.

"Oh crap. Oh crap oh crap. Crap crap crap! Mom's gonna kill me!" I glanced at Hay, and her eyes were wide. "Ah! Are you okay?"

She didn't take her eyes off the other car. "We just hit Hayley Williams..." she whispered.

I squinted, and the face resting against the steering wheel of the other car was very familiar. Eerily familiar.

And it wasn't moving

I blanched. "We just hit Hayley Williams..." I muttered to myself. My eyes tried to jump from my skull as I realized what I just said. "Omigosh, we just hit Hayley Williams! Wait... There's no way. No way possible. Okay, very funny brain, time to wake up." I sat there for a moment, and the only thing that changed was Hay's facial expression. As she turned her gaze to me, the look of disbelief on her face transformed into horror. She glanced from me, to the other car, and back to me.

"Uh, Lohgan? Could you, like, make some sense? We need to do something!"

"Wait!" I snapped. My smile was almost psychotic as I turned my gaze to her. "One moment, please." I looked away. "Brain! Hello?? I wanna wake up!!" I slammed my fist into the steering wheel. "Now!"

"Lohgan..." Hay whispered. "This isn’t a dream..."

I snapped my gaze back to her, and she flinched. "No! It has to be! No... Oh, no... Oh my gosh we really hit Hayley Williams! Call nine one one!"

This wasn't a dream? I didn't even remember waking up! I didn't ever wake up! I had to still be sleeping!

So why wasn't this a dream!?