Echo Laney

There was darkness everywhere, I could hear a voice calling me, but there was nothing but cold, hard blackness blocking my way everywhere I turned.I could have sworn the trees were following me. As I ran, it felt like my feet were barely touching the ground. After what seemed like hours of running, I noticed a small light comming towards me. All of a sudden, at light speed, the tempting light wizzed by my ear speaking almost to quick to hear saying the simplest words, "Follow me."

In a desperate attempt to break free of the mystical dark forest, I followed.Running as fast as I could to keep pace with the small glowing speck before me, I was suddenly swept off my feet. Looking to see what had become of gravity, I stared in awe as I tried to put logic into my mind. I couldn't. To put it simply, I had freaking butterfly wings on my back!

I jerked my head forward and was taken aback by the sight in front of me.What use to be a wimpy glowing speck was now a radiant flying woman with wings exactly like mine. Following the sparkling diamond particles of the beautiful woman's identical wings, she took me by the hand and led me to a wall of green surrounded by exotic flowers and glimmering light. The woman stood before me with tears filling her eyes. "Welcome Home," She said softly as she presented the wall to me. I reached out towards it and was blinded by a bright wonderful light.

"Elayda? Elayda! You are going to be late for school again. Get up." Coming back to reality, I saw my father leaving my room. I looked at the small digital clock on my night stand next to me and remembered that I forgot to set it. It wasn't the first time that I had the strange dream with the beautiful woman leading me through the dark forest, except, it was the first time that I had reached the door.Each night my dream progressed allowing me to see more and more each time. It felt as if being guided through the future.

Running into the empty hallways of Highfeild High School. Half an hour late, My new record. I have been a tardy student since kindergarten and that wasn't about to change. As I raced around the corner, I hit someone and braced myself for the fall, but before I hit the ground I felt warmth around my waist. Opening my eyes, I saw my best friend, Drake, holding me up and breaking my fall. Looking into the endless pools of his topaz eyes, I smiled at my life long friend. I always felt safe and secure around him. He was the most wonderful guy a girl could have as a friend. He was always around when you needed him, even when you didn't, he'd be there in case you suddenly did. He was mysterious, but open. His luscious dark hair waved back and forth like the dazzling actors in the movies. He wasn't like all the other guys, he was better. I had always found it strange that he had never dated anyone. The only girl he would ever hang out with was me. It made me understand his thoughts about the male and female gender better. He had always said that they are the same. They shouldn't be treated differently or have any other rules of privlages than the opposite sex.Everyone were equal to him. The two genders were not two completely differant worlds. Then again, He was my only guy that I had ever hung out with. Heck, he was the only person in general that I ever hung out with. I never had to worry about class work or anything because he was always that one large step ahead of me and informed me of everything. He was a great student, but me, not so much.

As we stood there in the hallway, with his arm around my waist and me off balance, the silence started to get awkward. Slowly regaining balance, i opened my mouth to speak, but he cut me off before anything came out.

"Late again, are we?" He asked in a teasing tone. As the mood lightened, a smile came to my face.

"Why yes, Drake, we are." I teased back as his arm left my waist after lingering there for a moment.

Awkward moments like this had been happening ever since we had met each other when we were both only five years old. My dad and I have lived in the same house for my entire life, but when the Burtons moved in next door, everything changed. It's a long story, but it ended with a flat pink ball and the boy in the mud. One thing led to another and we have been best friends ever since.

The sudden force that was moving me brought me back to the present.His hand had moved from my waist to my hand and I was being dragged into the janitors closet. The door shut quickly and quietly and his free hand went over my mouth before I could protest. As a set of high-heeled foot steps passed, he slowly moved his hand from my mouth and whispered softly.

"The school thinks that you are home sick. It wouldn't be a good idea if you showed up perfectly fine," he said.

"You pretended to be my father again?" I whispered back. Looking down, I noticed that he was still holding my hand and I pulled away.

"Yeah, I didn't know if you should show up today, So I called for you."

I sighed. "What would I do without you?" I said as I peeked out the door.When it was clear, I walked out the door and back the way that we had come.

"Fail, die maybe, I don't know," he teased as he followed me.

I rolled my eyes and smiled as we reached the front doors of the school.Opening the door for me, he smiled back and bowed.

"My-lady," he said as I walked through.

"Why thank you kind sir," I said in a really bad attempt for a British accent. Laughing, we both got into my old white ford truck. As I got in, I unlocked the passenger door for Drake and slid the key into the ignition. "So where to boss?" She said as he shut the door.

"How about breakfast?" he suggested as I backed out of my parking spot in the student parking lot.

"Alright," I said as I pulled out onto the highway and turned right so we could see the IHop in front of us. A quiet drive ended up being a quiet meal. Neither of us knew what to say to break the silence. As our blond waitress brought us another glass of water, I finally thought of what to say.

"You know she's flirting, right?" I asked as she walked away. He had shown no interest at all in the blond and had continued to eat even when she brought him an extra napkin that had her phone number on it in big, bubbly writing.

"Yeah, I know," he said as he looked up from his plate of pancakes. "I just don't care." He picked up the napkin with her phone number on it and used it to wipe off his mouth before taking another bite.

"Why not?" I asked looking down at my half eaten omelet. I never understood why he never dated anyone or even shown an interest in any girls at all.

"There is only one girl out there for me and she's not her." he said smiling. That wasn't the first time that I had heard that.

"You really want to find that one special person, don't you?" I asked smiling back at him.

"Yeah, I do."

"Well, she'll be a very lucky girl. You you find her, tell her I said good luck."

"Good luck?" he questioned as I pulled money out of my jeans pocket and started to count.

"Yeah, she has to compete with me for your attention. You know that you can never leave me." I teased looking up at him.

"true true." he said pulling his wallet out. He always offered to pay for me no matter what we did. After a while, I figured that no matter how much I argued with him, he always won the money debates. Sighing I put my money back into my back pocket.

"Thanks," I said softly.