The Time Ring

At school, she was exhausted. She slept in almost every lesson. Of course she had to have two hours of English on that day and it just made it harder.

On the other side, Mr. White was as tired as her. The dreams were much detailed than hers but he couldn't see the faces either. It was frustrating and he couldn't focus on his classes anymore. They couldn't concentrate, couldn't sleep and Richard had his fiancée. She was sick of her soon to be husband wake up in the middle of the night mumbling another woman's name. Actually, that was one of the reasons he wasn't too happy lately. And there was always Amanda, who was adding fuel to the fire.

"Amanda!" It became something common already. He would yell or nudge her or make loud noises with the books. She didn't care. She would wake up and simply say something rude. "Don't forget you have detention on Monday" She rolled her eyes. Of course she had detention.

"Whatever" She put her head back on the desk and drifted off. She didn't fall asleep but she started to remember her nightmare. It became very confusing.

"Tomorrow it's Saturday" The girl turned around to look into her teacher's eyes.

"I know. The amazing day when I can get a break from you" He scoffed.

"I'm sorry to disappoint you but you will see my face tomorrow too. And every Saturday from now on for the entire year" She gasped in horror.

"No" He nodded. "No, no, no. No way in hell!" He rolled his eyes.

"I am your tutor. Believe me when I say I didn't know what I got myself into" She scoffed and left.

She didn't feel like going to classes anymore so she left the school grounds. She sneaked out through the back door and went into the garden. There was no one, as expected. She walked towards the further bench and sat down. She let her head fall back and closed her eyes, breathing slowly. She was stressed. Next to weird dreams she had the annoying English teacher as a tutor. And the worst part was that Mr. White was confusingly dealing pretty well with it.

"If he hates me, why did he accept to come and have the same treatment on his free time?" She mumbled.

Actually, that teacher was a mystery for her. He was half intriguing. It was weird, though. Amanda couldn't remember anything before he came in. Anything at all and instead of childhood memories there were the dreams. Every time she tried to remember something while watching a photograph or asking her mother, there would be the same result. Nothing. Complete blankness. But the dreams were always there. It started as one and then became millions. Her head hurt when she thought about that.

"Amanda…"

The girl groaned when she heard his voice again. She opened her eyes but there was no English teacher. She frowned.

"Mousy!"

Her eyes widened. She knew that name from somewhere.

"The ring"

Amanda jumped up and glanced suspiciously around herself.

"Don't give the ring" It was scary. Something snapped inside her head and she heard many voices talking at once.

"Don't give the ring"

"Mousy!"

"It hurts!"

"I'm no one's propriety!"

"You can't escape"

Her head. was hurting She felt it ready to snap in two. Her legs gave up and she fell on her knees. She rubbed her forehead but the pain wasn't going away. Nothing seemed to make sense anymore. When she finally opened her eyes she heard a hiss.

"Amanda. Come here, Amanda"

She listened closely to that specific voice. She glanced at the forest. It was a forbidden place but she couldn't remember why exactly. Every little thought was locked somewhere in the back of her mind. To the surface were just illogical theories about things she would never even think of.

"Amanda, I can take away the pain"

She got on her feet and turned fully to the forest.

"Come on. Come to me"

She shook her head and took a step back. The voice didn't sound friendly anymore.

"Come!"

She shook her head again and took another step back.

"You will die! Die! And he won't do anything to help you! But I will! Stupid girl, come now and you'll be saved

Amanda was still backing off when she tripped and fell on the bright and healthy red roses.

She tried to alter the wreck and she got a slight scratch. She looked closely at the small scrape and at the amount of blood running down her finger. She heard her name being called again. When she looked up, she saw the same man from her dream,. However this time, she saw his face too. The next word just came out her mouth without thinking.

"Doctor!"

That was when her eyes snapped wide open and she took a deep breath in. After she calmed herself down and started to breath normally, she glanced around herself. There was nothing wrong; no man and no voice. Her head didn't hurt anymore and there were no weird thoughts or memories. She was back to normal. But something still wasn't right. She didn't feel right. That feeling of normality wasn't right. She sighed and got up. She looked over her shoulder at the forest before she retreated into the big old building.