Fan Fiction ❯ We Met in a Dream ❯ Tuesday, September 12 The waking world ( Chapter 1 )
[ P - Pre-Teen ]
By: Darialan 
Anime/Manga: Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Fantasy | Type: Other | Uploaded On: 05.11.2005 | Pages: 2 | Words: 3.2K | Visits: 142 | Status: Completed
Anime/Manga: Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Fantasy | Type: Other | Uploaded On: 05.11.2005 | Pages: 2 | Words: 3.2K | Visits: 142 | Status: Completed
(note kodomo no Omocha belongs to Miho Obana)
Chapter 1:
Darien Hart ran through the rain with his books over his head. He knew he was early for school. In fact he was always early for school, but it was not because he liked school or anything like that. What he wanted to do was avoid the other kids that always teased him. You see, ever since the 3rd grade when he told a trusted friend a secret he had been picked on for having nightmares most every night. It was more than that. He had also told this friend that he had these weird feelings he was being watched after he woke up. Darien had always seemed a little shaken when had arrived at school. Even now when he gets to school he shows signs of fear. Since his nervous nature was quite noticeable, it was quite easy for everyone to pick on him for it and quite often they would still pick on him for his nightmares.
Within minutes Darien had finally made it to Matsimoto High. He had been going to school in Japan for many years, now and was in the 9th grade. His father was a big name in the high tech toy industry and he was required to move to a new home in Japan. That was when Darien was 6 years old and in the 1st grade. His father remarried a local woman name Mika Mamiya, 2 years later. Darien's biological mother died in a car accident before he started school back in the states.
Darien walked into school. Obviously he was early. There were no students to be seen. He walked into the classroom and sat down shaking the rain off of his book bag. He laid his head on the desk. Just then his teacher looked up from her class plans. "Oh, hello Darien," she greeted him warmly. "Beating the morning rush again, I see."
Darien looked up for a moment to look at the teacher. She was probably the best looking teacher at the school. Her name was Misato Kumashiro and she had only been teaching for about 3 years now. Darien had known her for a year already. She was a very good teacher, but that wasn't her best quality. She is very comforting to many of the students who had problems. Any kind of problem at all and she listened. The first thing someone would have noticed about her was that she was very attractive. Many of the guys in school had their secret desires for her. Her straight hair goes down to her shoulders and curls forward. It's a dark blue and she also wore a black beret with a pin resembling the little white bat from 'Kodomo no Omocha.' Today she had on her red turtleneck with a short black dress. Many of the other female teachers objected to her normal attire, but she had always been able to get away with it.
After looking up, Misato continued, "You know, I could never understand why you seem so shy." She smiled. "I know the girls seem to like you."
Darien just groaned. She seemed to have no idea what it was like. Sure some of the girls would hit on him once in a while, but they still picked on him for his fear, just like most everyone seemed to.
"Someday I'll make you talk," she said confidently.
Darien laid his head back down on the desk after glancing at the clock. It was time for the students to arrive. He could already hear them walking down the halls. The first one to walk in was Megumi Tenaka. She was the perfect student; good grades, always came in on time, and sucked up to the teachers. She didn't associate much with the other students and everyone says she's stuck up. She just waved to Darien and sat down in the front row and in the very center, next to Darien. Darien always sat in front. He never wanted to sit in the back or anywhere else where the teacher wouldn't notice him being teased.
"Good morning, Sensei," she said proudly.
"Ah, good morning, Megumi. Do you have tutoring sessions at the library this evening?" asks Miss Kumashiro.
Megumi nods, "Hai."
Only a minute later the rest of the students started to come in. Two of the students started to fight over who got to sit next to Megumi. Obviously the only thing that made her even remotely popular was the fact that she was so smart and a couple of the failing students figured they could easily cheat off of her.
"Hey, I was here first!" one shouted.
The other one shouted back, "My butt's in the seat, go find your own desk, moron!"
The teacher stood up. "Did I not assign seats earlier this week or did you forget, again?" she asked, annoyed. Her head was cocked forward and her eyebrows pointed down.
The two simultaneously replied, "hai!" nervously bowing their heads in respect. They each took their normal seats.
Miss Kumashiro once again put on a happy face. "Now, where did we leave off yesterday?" she asked the class in a sweet voice. No one answered as she looked down at her class plans. She quickly found her spot and class began.
Darien started to space out and think about last night's dream.
Darien was running as fast as he could. He could feel the unbearable soreness in his throat as he huffed and puffed in the cold night air. He looked behind him every few seconds hoping that what was chasing him was no longer there. He was carrying a sharp sword in his right hand. All around him he could see trees with gnarled branches. They seemed to reach out after him the more he ran. The holes in the middle of their trunks all seemed to open up further and further awaiting their meal. Darien was sweating so bad that he was practically soaked. He had turned his head to look behind him one last time and he tripped over a tree's root. He fell flat on his stomach. Panicked he turned his body over and before he had the chance to even try to get up. It was there in front of him. A great horned beast with bloody hands, deep brown and wrinkled skin, and eyes as black as the heart of the devil, bent down and opened it's mouth wider and wider as he came closer and closer till all Darien could see nothing but black.
"Darien, are you there? Earth to Darien," he heard the teacher say.
"H-huh?" Darien said as he had just realized that he was in class.
"You know, you really should get more sleep. Then you wouldn't be spacing out like that." Sensei Kumshiro said.
"Gomen," Darien replied bowing his head.
"Now can you tell me about what you were supposed to have read last night?" she asked.
Darien opened up his notebook as Misato waited patiently. He discovered what he had written down for class and read quietly what he thought about the reading.
"I can't hear you, Darien. Please speak up. Don't be afraid."
Darien spoke up nervously and repeated his answer. He really hated being called on in class, but apparently she thought it would be good for him to talk more and Darien couldn't help, but try and please the teacher. He hates to have anyone upset with him in the least bit.
"Good," the sensei replied. "Can anyone else tell me a little more?"
Megumi immediately put her hand up. This was to be the teacher's introduction to today's lesson, so she usually called upon the smart students for theses answers.
"Tenaka," the teacher says nodding.
Megumi spoke very confidently as she stood up. It was obvious she knew what she was talking about. Darien was always a little unsure of himself, not to mention he hated having attention drawn to him. He usually felt a little more confident after hearing Megumi's responses, although she had a lot more to say. Megumi sat down and smiled.
"Very good," replied Misato. And the class went on.
Many of the guys could be seen moving their heads in sync with Misato's hips as she wrote things on the board. The girls in the class were very disturbed by this. There have been times when Darien would hear an argument just outside of school between a couple where a girl would accuse her boyfriend of his staring. Darien was one of the few guys that didn't. It's not that he didn't think she had a nice body or anything, but he just didn't think it seemed right. He was one that kept his hormones under control. It was pretty easy, since his interest in girls was small. Of course the reason for this was that he felt everyone picked on him.
Darien and the other students sat in class after class through the morning till the lunch bell rang and everyone headed outside to eat. Darien sat alone beneath a cherry tree. He always sat alone and he liked it that way. Usually he was left alone during lunch.
Although he enjoyed this moment alone, there were times when he'd look out away from his spot and envy all the other people who had company. He often wondered why, he felt this way. He usually hated attention from his peers, because most of it was bad attention. Today was one of those days he'd look among them and even wish one of them would come over and talk to him. But today, like always, he ate his lunch alone, watching the cherry blossoms as they fell.
His eyes followed a few more people as they went by and sat down. One of them seemed to stand out. There was a girl sitting on a bench, by herself. He stopped watching everyone else and started staring at her. Her head was bowed down and from what he could tell, she was very sad. Her long brown hair reached mid-way down her back and flew to her left as the cool breeze came by. She sat there a very long time before she opened her lunch box and ate. She was very beautiful. Several times Darien felt the urge to walk over to her and talk to her. But it was no use. He couldn't. He was too afraid, he had experienced rejection before, just like he had always felt rejected by those around him. He continued to look at her as she ate, remembering his own hunger as he finally started eating his own lunch.
He had almost finished before the bell rang again. He lagged behind the rest of them. He could no longer see the girl he saw sitting alone. He started thinking about her again. She probably didn't notice him at all. He headed to his next class and after studying through another regular day. He waited as the other students left, before standing up to leave afterwards. As he left the room, Misato walked by. She caught sight of him through the corner of her eye and stopped him in the hallway.
"Darien, hey. How was school today?" she asked him.
Darien just shrugged.
"Hmmm. Ya know. I know another student that's a little like you, if you'd like to meet her." She added.
"Her?" he asked. He really didn't care much for meeting anyone. After all, he was a bit ant-social and even when he felt he wanted some attention from someone, he was too afraid to talk to anyone. He would be especially nervous around someone new, if that someone was a girl. Gosh, just the thought made him feel somewhat nervous.
"Yeah, she's very shy and hardly talks to anyone. The thing is, she seems kinda sad and I think, it'd be nice if you two got to be friends," she says with a big smile. Then she starts to chuckle a little. "Or maybe even more."
Darien started to turn a little red. He started to feel rather uncomfortable about this.
"Would you like to meet her? She's in grade 10, but that shouldn't matter," she continued smiling down to him.
Darien shook his head and said "no," in a low voice.
Sensei Kumashiro frowned. "Snap out of it Darien and smile for once. You're always so cold." Just then her beeper went off. "Oh, my. Umm, I'll see you tomorrow, Darien. Please try to be happier," she added as she went out the front door.
Darien sighed as he left the building. He wondered if she was talking about the girl he had seen at lunch. "She really did seem sad and alone, but there was no way I'd ever meet her. I'd be too afraid. That and I'd probably start to turn red as I start talking to her and embarrass myself thoroughly. Everyone would be looking on and I'd be picked on even more. I couldn't possibly handle any more picking. She probably doesn't want company anyway," he thought.
He made it home, took off his shoes and put down his bag. His step mom, Mika, greeted him, "Good afternoon, Darien." She looked around as if she was expecting someone. "No friends for dinner?" she asked.
"How long have you known me? Since when do I bring home friends?" he thought about saying to her. He'd never be that disrespectful to her. He liked her friendliness, but it kind of got on his nerves, when she'd try to talk him up. "Hey," was all he could mutter back to her as he headed to his room to play with his playstation.
"Darien! Dinner will be ready shortly. So, don't get to comfortable in there!" she called to him.
"Ok," he called back.
Before going into the kitchen, she walked to Darien's bedroom door. "Hey, um, Darien. Your dad won't be home till late, ok? He's working late."
"As usual," Darien scoffed in a low voice, not loud enough for her to hear.
"Did you hear me, Darien?"
"Yes," he replied back in an annoyed voice.
His stepmother sighed. "He can be so mouthy, sometimes," she said to herself as she headed back to the kitchen.
Mika called Darien to dinner minutes later and waited as Darien attempted to save his position in the game. "Darien, why are you so cold to me?" she said a little stressed.
Darien sighed as he sat at the table to eat. He was rushing through dinner as usual. Dinner was often spent quietly without his father. It was like this many times with just him and his step mom at the table. Occasionally, Darien's dad would come home in the middle of dinner, but normally he wouldn't see him till just before bed. Mika would ask Darien some questions during dinner to break the silence. She would ask him about his day, if he had a girlfriend or things of that sort. Tonight she asked him those same things and Darien just shook his head. He said that his day was as boring as every day and that he'd never have a girlfriend anyway. Mika would always reply the same way to him about girls. "She'll come along. Just wait and see. And if she does, talk to her, don't just sit there and say nothing," is what she'd say. She sometimes felt that she was being a little demanding when she'd tell him to talk, but she really felt sorry for the boy. She wished he'd open up at least a little bit.
Darien finally finished his dinner and left the table silently. Mika sighed. It made her very sad sometimes to see him like this every day. Maybe, if his father was home more, he'd be better off, but it was almost useless asking him to be here more often. He'd just say that the company expects a lot out of him and that if he were to take too much time away from work, the company would be very displeased with him.
Darien made his way back to his room where he sat at his computer. He logged on to the Internet. He only has one friend online. Even online Darien was a bit anti-social. But he was bored one night and went into a chat room, where he met Zex46. Zex was a rather unusual individual. He or she never gave out his or her age or any photos of any kind, but if there was one thing Darien knew about Zex, it was that he or she was very smart and was a reliable source for nearly any kind of information. Darien thought Zex was likely a scientist. Sometimes Darien would joke and think to himself that maybe Zex was from a completely different planet. The information he'd give was sometimes out of this world. Darien would respond to him with disbelief. One day Zex would mail him and talk about how there are other planes of existence and how people can travel there in their sleep. From there, the first person to make it could imagine the world to be anything a dreamer thought of. Darien scoffed at Zex's theory of this "dream plane" as Zex called it.
Darien's father finally came home late that night. He came in and said goodnight and that he better get to bed. His father turned off his light. Darien suddenly realized that tomorrow was his test in math. He knew it was Friday and there it was on his calendar. He took an hour to study and he laid in his bed thinking about the girl he saw at lunch time. "Wow," he thought. "She was cute." Darien smiled as he continued to think about her. "But I could never get to know her," he continued to think. His thoughts about her slowly diminished, but not completely as he finally nodded off.
Chapter 1:
Darien Hart ran through the rain with his books over his head. He knew he was early for school. In fact he was always early for school, but it was not because he liked school or anything like that. What he wanted to do was avoid the other kids that always teased him. You see, ever since the 3rd grade when he told a trusted friend a secret he had been picked on for having nightmares most every night. It was more than that. He had also told this friend that he had these weird feelings he was being watched after he woke up. Darien had always seemed a little shaken when had arrived at school. Even now when he gets to school he shows signs of fear. Since his nervous nature was quite noticeable, it was quite easy for everyone to pick on him for it and quite often they would still pick on him for his nightmares.
Within minutes Darien had finally made it to Matsimoto High. He had been going to school in Japan for many years, now and was in the 9th grade. His father was a big name in the high tech toy industry and he was required to move to a new home in Japan. That was when Darien was 6 years old and in the 1st grade. His father remarried a local woman name Mika Mamiya, 2 years later. Darien's biological mother died in a car accident before he started school back in the states.
Darien walked into school. Obviously he was early. There were no students to be seen. He walked into the classroom and sat down shaking the rain off of his book bag. He laid his head on the desk. Just then his teacher looked up from her class plans. "Oh, hello Darien," she greeted him warmly. "Beating the morning rush again, I see."
Darien looked up for a moment to look at the teacher. She was probably the best looking teacher at the school. Her name was Misato Kumashiro and she had only been teaching for about 3 years now. Darien had known her for a year already. She was a very good teacher, but that wasn't her best quality. She is very comforting to many of the students who had problems. Any kind of problem at all and she listened. The first thing someone would have noticed about her was that she was very attractive. Many of the guys in school had their secret desires for her. Her straight hair goes down to her shoulders and curls forward. It's a dark blue and she also wore a black beret with a pin resembling the little white bat from 'Kodomo no Omocha.' Today she had on her red turtleneck with a short black dress. Many of the other female teachers objected to her normal attire, but she had always been able to get away with it.
After looking up, Misato continued, "You know, I could never understand why you seem so shy." She smiled. "I know the girls seem to like you."
Darien just groaned. She seemed to have no idea what it was like. Sure some of the girls would hit on him once in a while, but they still picked on him for his fear, just like most everyone seemed to.
"Someday I'll make you talk," she said confidently.
Darien laid his head back down on the desk after glancing at the clock. It was time for the students to arrive. He could already hear them walking down the halls. The first one to walk in was Megumi Tenaka. She was the perfect student; good grades, always came in on time, and sucked up to the teachers. She didn't associate much with the other students and everyone says she's stuck up. She just waved to Darien and sat down in the front row and in the very center, next to Darien. Darien always sat in front. He never wanted to sit in the back or anywhere else where the teacher wouldn't notice him being teased.
"Good morning, Sensei," she said proudly.
"Ah, good morning, Megumi. Do you have tutoring sessions at the library this evening?" asks Miss Kumashiro.
Megumi nods, "Hai."
Only a minute later the rest of the students started to come in. Two of the students started to fight over who got to sit next to Megumi. Obviously the only thing that made her even remotely popular was the fact that she was so smart and a couple of the failing students figured they could easily cheat off of her.
"Hey, I was here first!" one shouted.
The other one shouted back, "My butt's in the seat, go find your own desk, moron!"
The teacher stood up. "Did I not assign seats earlier this week or did you forget, again?" she asked, annoyed. Her head was cocked forward and her eyebrows pointed down.
The two simultaneously replied, "hai!" nervously bowing their heads in respect. They each took their normal seats.
Miss Kumashiro once again put on a happy face. "Now, where did we leave off yesterday?" she asked the class in a sweet voice. No one answered as she looked down at her class plans. She quickly found her spot and class began.
Darien started to space out and think about last night's dream.
Darien was running as fast as he could. He could feel the unbearable soreness in his throat as he huffed and puffed in the cold night air. He looked behind him every few seconds hoping that what was chasing him was no longer there. He was carrying a sharp sword in his right hand. All around him he could see trees with gnarled branches. They seemed to reach out after him the more he ran. The holes in the middle of their trunks all seemed to open up further and further awaiting their meal. Darien was sweating so bad that he was practically soaked. He had turned his head to look behind him one last time and he tripped over a tree's root. He fell flat on his stomach. Panicked he turned his body over and before he had the chance to even try to get up. It was there in front of him. A great horned beast with bloody hands, deep brown and wrinkled skin, and eyes as black as the heart of the devil, bent down and opened it's mouth wider and wider as he came closer and closer till all Darien could see nothing but black.
"Darien, are you there? Earth to Darien," he heard the teacher say.
"H-huh?" Darien said as he had just realized that he was in class.
"You know, you really should get more sleep. Then you wouldn't be spacing out like that." Sensei Kumshiro said.
"Gomen," Darien replied bowing his head.
"Now can you tell me about what you were supposed to have read last night?" she asked.
Darien opened up his notebook as Misato waited patiently. He discovered what he had written down for class and read quietly what he thought about the reading.
"I can't hear you, Darien. Please speak up. Don't be afraid."
Darien spoke up nervously and repeated his answer. He really hated being called on in class, but apparently she thought it would be good for him to talk more and Darien couldn't help, but try and please the teacher. He hates to have anyone upset with him in the least bit.
"Good," the sensei replied. "Can anyone else tell me a little more?"
Megumi immediately put her hand up. This was to be the teacher's introduction to today's lesson, so she usually called upon the smart students for theses answers.
"Tenaka," the teacher says nodding.
Megumi spoke very confidently as she stood up. It was obvious she knew what she was talking about. Darien was always a little unsure of himself, not to mention he hated having attention drawn to him. He usually felt a little more confident after hearing Megumi's responses, although she had a lot more to say. Megumi sat down and smiled.
"Very good," replied Misato. And the class went on.
Many of the guys could be seen moving their heads in sync with Misato's hips as she wrote things on the board. The girls in the class were very disturbed by this. There have been times when Darien would hear an argument just outside of school between a couple where a girl would accuse her boyfriend of his staring. Darien was one of the few guys that didn't. It's not that he didn't think she had a nice body or anything, but he just didn't think it seemed right. He was one that kept his hormones under control. It was pretty easy, since his interest in girls was small. Of course the reason for this was that he felt everyone picked on him.
Darien and the other students sat in class after class through the morning till the lunch bell rang and everyone headed outside to eat. Darien sat alone beneath a cherry tree. He always sat alone and he liked it that way. Usually he was left alone during lunch.
Although he enjoyed this moment alone, there were times when he'd look out away from his spot and envy all the other people who had company. He often wondered why, he felt this way. He usually hated attention from his peers, because most of it was bad attention. Today was one of those days he'd look among them and even wish one of them would come over and talk to him. But today, like always, he ate his lunch alone, watching the cherry blossoms as they fell.
His eyes followed a few more people as they went by and sat down. One of them seemed to stand out. There was a girl sitting on a bench, by herself. He stopped watching everyone else and started staring at her. Her head was bowed down and from what he could tell, she was very sad. Her long brown hair reached mid-way down her back and flew to her left as the cool breeze came by. She sat there a very long time before she opened her lunch box and ate. She was very beautiful. Several times Darien felt the urge to walk over to her and talk to her. But it was no use. He couldn't. He was too afraid, he had experienced rejection before, just like he had always felt rejected by those around him. He continued to look at her as she ate, remembering his own hunger as he finally started eating his own lunch.
He had almost finished before the bell rang again. He lagged behind the rest of them. He could no longer see the girl he saw sitting alone. He started thinking about her again. She probably didn't notice him at all. He headed to his next class and after studying through another regular day. He waited as the other students left, before standing up to leave afterwards. As he left the room, Misato walked by. She caught sight of him through the corner of her eye and stopped him in the hallway.
"Darien, hey. How was school today?" she asked him.
Darien just shrugged.
"Hmmm. Ya know. I know another student that's a little like you, if you'd like to meet her." She added.
"Her?" he asked. He really didn't care much for meeting anyone. After all, he was a bit ant-social and even when he felt he wanted some attention from someone, he was too afraid to talk to anyone. He would be especially nervous around someone new, if that someone was a girl. Gosh, just the thought made him feel somewhat nervous.
"Yeah, she's very shy and hardly talks to anyone. The thing is, she seems kinda sad and I think, it'd be nice if you two got to be friends," she says with a big smile. Then she starts to chuckle a little. "Or maybe even more."
Darien started to turn a little red. He started to feel rather uncomfortable about this.
"Would you like to meet her? She's in grade 10, but that shouldn't matter," she continued smiling down to him.
Darien shook his head and said "no," in a low voice.
Sensei Kumashiro frowned. "Snap out of it Darien and smile for once. You're always so cold." Just then her beeper went off. "Oh, my. Umm, I'll see you tomorrow, Darien. Please try to be happier," she added as she went out the front door.
Darien sighed as he left the building. He wondered if she was talking about the girl he had seen at lunch. "She really did seem sad and alone, but there was no way I'd ever meet her. I'd be too afraid. That and I'd probably start to turn red as I start talking to her and embarrass myself thoroughly. Everyone would be looking on and I'd be picked on even more. I couldn't possibly handle any more picking. She probably doesn't want company anyway," he thought.
He made it home, took off his shoes and put down his bag. His step mom, Mika, greeted him, "Good afternoon, Darien." She looked around as if she was expecting someone. "No friends for dinner?" she asked.
"How long have you known me? Since when do I bring home friends?" he thought about saying to her. He'd never be that disrespectful to her. He liked her friendliness, but it kind of got on his nerves, when she'd try to talk him up. "Hey," was all he could mutter back to her as he headed to his room to play with his playstation.
"Darien! Dinner will be ready shortly. So, don't get to comfortable in there!" she called to him.
"Ok," he called back.
Before going into the kitchen, she walked to Darien's bedroom door. "Hey, um, Darien. Your dad won't be home till late, ok? He's working late."
"As usual," Darien scoffed in a low voice, not loud enough for her to hear.
"Did you hear me, Darien?"
"Yes," he replied back in an annoyed voice.
His stepmother sighed. "He can be so mouthy, sometimes," she said to herself as she headed back to the kitchen.
Mika called Darien to dinner minutes later and waited as Darien attempted to save his position in the game. "Darien, why are you so cold to me?" she said a little stressed.
Darien sighed as he sat at the table to eat. He was rushing through dinner as usual. Dinner was often spent quietly without his father. It was like this many times with just him and his step mom at the table. Occasionally, Darien's dad would come home in the middle of dinner, but normally he wouldn't see him till just before bed. Mika would ask Darien some questions during dinner to break the silence. She would ask him about his day, if he had a girlfriend or things of that sort. Tonight she asked him those same things and Darien just shook his head. He said that his day was as boring as every day and that he'd never have a girlfriend anyway. Mika would always reply the same way to him about girls. "She'll come along. Just wait and see. And if she does, talk to her, don't just sit there and say nothing," is what she'd say. She sometimes felt that she was being a little demanding when she'd tell him to talk, but she really felt sorry for the boy. She wished he'd open up at least a little bit.
Darien finally finished his dinner and left the table silently. Mika sighed. It made her very sad sometimes to see him like this every day. Maybe, if his father was home more, he'd be better off, but it was almost useless asking him to be here more often. He'd just say that the company expects a lot out of him and that if he were to take too much time away from work, the company would be very displeased with him.
Darien made his way back to his room where he sat at his computer. He logged on to the Internet. He only has one friend online. Even online Darien was a bit anti-social. But he was bored one night and went into a chat room, where he met Zex46. Zex was a rather unusual individual. He or she never gave out his or her age or any photos of any kind, but if there was one thing Darien knew about Zex, it was that he or she was very smart and was a reliable source for nearly any kind of information. Darien thought Zex was likely a scientist. Sometimes Darien would joke and think to himself that maybe Zex was from a completely different planet. The information he'd give was sometimes out of this world. Darien would respond to him with disbelief. One day Zex would mail him and talk about how there are other planes of existence and how people can travel there in their sleep. From there, the first person to make it could imagine the world to be anything a dreamer thought of. Darien scoffed at Zex's theory of this "dream plane" as Zex called it.
Darien's father finally came home late that night. He came in and said goodnight and that he better get to bed. His father turned off his light. Darien suddenly realized that tomorrow was his test in math. He knew it was Friday and there it was on his calendar. He took an hour to study and he laid in his bed thinking about the girl he saw at lunch time. "Wow," he thought. "She was cute." Darien smiled as he continued to think about her. "But I could never get to know her," he continued to think. His thoughts about her slowly diminished, but not completely as he finally nodded off.