Lucid (3 page)

Day 2

Evening

“I'm picking you up no later than ten
!” m
y mom called as she backed out of Tiff's driveway
.

“All right, Mom, bye!” I waved as she drove away. There were no cars parked in front of the house
, but that was normal. Both of Tiff's parents worked pretty late
.

Tiff greeted me at the door after I rang the bell a couple of times. She looked just as she always did
; short and very slender
, with pale skin. Her long, dark
-
brown hair was pulled up in a messy ponytail, and she kept pushing her large, dark-framed glasses further up the bridge of her nose. She had on a baggy, black shirt with an
anime schoolgirl on the front. It complemented her oversized grey sweatpants
.

What can I say? Tiff liked to dress up for her guests. Not that I had much room to talk. I still had my hi
gh
-liter yellow summer camp shirt on. It was nice being able to visit a friend without dressing for the occasion. Not that I put on coats and tails for my other friends, but I made sure to wear a Seahawks shirt when I hung out with Tom, or he and his dad would throw a fit
.

“My parents are gonna be home in a half-hour
.
” Tiff beckoned me inside quickly to avoid as much of the setting sunlight as possible. She would've died working summer camp. “They shouldn't bother us, though. Come on upstairs, and tell me mo
re about Mitch.”

I liked going to Tiff's house. I always felt I was visiting a contemporary art museum. Her father thought of himself as an art snob, and he had lots of sculpture-like furniture downstairs. The furniture was subject to change often, too. My favorite was the chair that resembled an eyeball. The seat was heat
-
sensitive, so the iris changed colors according to how hot your butt was. The lighting also reminded me of some sort of coffeehouse. The very middle of her living room was the brightest spot, which her father used for monthly poetry readings. Tiff could never make up her mind if she did or didn't like that her dad was into the art scene. It made her house look cool, at least
.

It was w
ay cooler than my living room, anyway. My mom collects porcelain horses.

Tiff led the way up the spiral staircase that was directly behind the living room. There were only two rooms (other than a bathroom) on this floor
; Tiff's room and her sister's old room
.

Haley, Tiff's sister, moved out last year. Tiff wasn't mourning her absence, though. She no longer had to share the bathroom, and it only took her three weeks to convert Haley's old room into a tech-junkie's paradise. This was the room Tiff usually occupied. It was slightly larger than her bedroom, and there was a pretty cool balcony. When Haley lived here, there were bright pastel-colored curtains around the glass door. Now that it was Tiff's, however, there were only her black curtains that virtually blocked out all sun
light
. Tiff painted some silver stars on her curtains for variety, but the room was still the physical embodiment of gloom. She didn't bother repainting the walls, so the pink clashed horribly with her black and purple decorations
.

She had more important things in her room and couldn't be bothered with color coordination, though. Her top-of-the-line computer with three monitors, HDTVs, and video game consoles — each assigned to a TV — were much more important than frivolous decorations. She had a family game system
, too, but her parents liked using the exercise games, so it stayed downstairs. Tiff only bothered with it when she wanted to humiliate someone at racing games
.

“Here
.
” Tiff got up after logging into her computer and let me sit down in the black leather chair. She sat next to me on a smaller, dark grey swivel chair, clutching her favorite Japanese
-
creature pillow. “Let's see if that dream guy responded
.
” S
he smirked at her own joke
.

“He's way too old for you
,
” I informed her. “He looks like he's the same age as Kyle — hey, he's online!”

Tiff wheeled her chair closer to the screen and seized the keyboard. “I type faster,” was the excuse she muttered before typing away madly
.

“This is Devon, right?” Mitch typed after Tiff greeted him.

“Yeah,” Tiff typed. “From the dream.”

“Man, I'm almost afraid to go to sleep again because of that,” Mitch typed. He hesitated. “So you said you've been there before, right?”

“I can't believe this,” Tiff said to me, removing her hand from the keyboard. She slowly turned to face me. “It's true. It actually happened.”

“Thought I was lying?” I broke the tense silence. “Thanks, Tiff.”

“What? Of course I didn't!” Tiff snapped. “It's just — I mean it seems realer because Mitch saw it, too.”

“We didn't see it; we experienced it.” I corrected her. I had to make sure she knew it wasn't the same thing as just being in a regular dream where you're taken on a ride but you can't control your own actions
.

“Hey, you still there?” Mitch was typing again. “I gotta go soon, but I wanted to see if you have a plan for tonight. I saw some of the people on the bus from last night on TV. They were also in those weird comas they showed on the news. I think we should help.”

“How about you ask the people on the bus their names?” Tiff suggested, her fingers poised over the keyboard. “Tell them that you and Mitch are the resort directors or something.”

“Good idea
.
” I had barely said the words before she was firing away. “And we'll check the names tomorrow.”

“Sounds good,” Mitch typed. “That'll confirm if we're really experiencing something other than a dream. Oh, one more thing
.
” H
e paused for a minute. The star next to his screen name started blinking again. “Did you tell anyone about the dreams?”

Now Tiff was actually typing for herself. She explained that she had been helping me look up information about the coma crisis and she was also going to research lucid dreaming for both of us. She added that she was thoroughly convinced neither Mitch nor I were going insane.

“Oh, good,” Mitch responded. “Well, I need to go now, but I'll remember the plan for tonight. Guess I'll see you on the bus.” He signed off.

“Well, now you've got a plan, big hero.” Tiff turned around in her chair to face me. “I hope you don't mess it up. Mitch will be there to help you.”

“Hey, I was the one who entered the bus first!” I retorted, sounding a little more annoyed that I had intended
.

“
C
alm down
.” Tiff stood up and looked out of her morbid curtains. “I think my parents are pulling in. We'll worry about
your space bus later.” She exited the room
.

I followed grudgingly. Even though I saw it first, I definitely
did not want that creepy bus!

Day 3

Afternoon

I awoke the next day in a cold sweat. As soon as my eyes opened, the vision of last night's dream flooded my mind. The memories came back so quickly, I had an instant headache
.

Mitch and I barely escaped last night. That was the first time I truly feared I would never get off that bus. At least Mitch remembered the plan from the night before. Otherwise both of us would have been toast.

*

We had met on the bus, like the night before. The souls had already taken their seats and were as excited about going to the moon as last night's bunch. I spotted Mitch instantly. It seemed he and I also had a certain glow about us compared to the souls. I guess it was because we were wholly conscious of the situation, and the souls were just being pushed along for the ride.

“Ready?” I asked, not even bothering to sit.

“Yeah
.
” Mitch stood up, too. He was clutching something that was glowing brighter than both of us. After adjusting myself to the bright light, I saw it was a clipboard.

“Where'd you get that from?” I just realized that I never saw anything from the real world in these dreams. The clipboard definitely stood out from the rest of the dull ship.

“Oh, I fell asleep holding onto it,” Mitch explained, looking down at the clipboard. He extracted a pen from the top clamp. “I'm surprised it actually came with me. Well, ready to rock?”

“I guess
.
” I backed up to let Mitch exit his seat. The souls watched us as we made our way to the front of the bus. To my immense relief, there wasn't a driver
.

I froze as I faced the passengers. Looking at all those blank stares really freaked me out. Suddenly, the plan that Tiff and I had devised mere hours before became a haze in the back of my numbing brain. I couldn't explain what I felt when I saw the souls' collective gaze. It was just so
unnatural
.

“Uh
.
” I tried to make myself go through with the plan. “If you could all just look up—“

“Attention, everyone!” Mitch's booming voice drowned out mine. The souls immediately focused on him. Mitch didn't even turn to me to make sure he was supposed to start (which he wasn't.) I could have been invisible for all it mattered, now
.

“If I could have your attention for one moment. We are about to begin our exciting voyage to the moon, but I need to take attendance first.”

“Why didn't the woman who came in earlier take our names?” A
n elderly man piped up from the back. So, I guess even the souls weren't completely brainless.

“Well, uh, that's because—“

“She was just the welcoming committee
.
” Mitch interrupted me again. “Since we're going to be on board with you, we're taking down names. It's for your own safety, and it's merely procedure.” The souls seemed to accept his response.

“Great! So, if you could just write your names on the clipboard that my assistant will pass around.”

He handed me the glowing clipboard. It felt warm in my hands, but I didn't register the sudden temperature
change
. I had been too busy looking at Mitch incredulously. Now I was just his assistant? I was the first one to discover this horrible place, and I gave him this plan — okay
, so Tiff did most of the planning, but she's
my friend!

“Give them the board,” Mitch muttered to me. I grimaced. He sounded just like the head counselor who bossed me around all the time. Scowling slightly, I gave the clipboard to the person in the first row
.

“First and last name, please,” I said before Mitch could say anything. He wasn't going to totally dominate the situation. Even though I was scared out of my mind, I still had a problem with being bossed around.

We were halfway down the bus when the doors opened
.

I saw the lady in blue for the first time, and I immediately saw she was no push-over. She was extremely fit, like a mixed martial arts fighter, with long brown hair she kept in a high ponytail. Her bright, blue eyes showed all signs of being fully awake. She was definitely not a soul
.

She didn't seem quite human, either
.

“Well, what is going on here?” The tone of her voice was kind enough, but her eyes gave away her intent. She knew something was up
.

“Ma'am, we're just taking down names
.
” Mitch tried to sound as if this was standard procedure
.

“Hmm, I believe this goes against our visitor confidentiality right, though,” she shot back
, her voice slightly colder than with her first remark. The souls stirred, some seemed to be in agreement. The woman's eyes flickered between Mitch's and mine. She knew we weren't souls, either. Her eyes flashed dangerously
.

“Well, we're finished anyway
.
” I yanked the clipboard out of a little boy's hand. “I think we can wrap this up and go home, Mitch.” I walked to the front of the bus. Before Mitch and I could leave, however, the doors closed
.

“Oh, I believe this roster you imposters took should be given to the r
esort d
irector
.
” The woman smirked at both of us
.

I saw Mitch was looking for a switch to open the door. I was scanning the bus for that ball of light. It was definitely time to go. With a jolt, I realized I couldn't find the light. Mitch nudged my arm, and I looked at him. He wasn't looking for a switch; he was looking out the window. The ball of light that would take us home was right outside the emergency exit. Great, the
one time we desperately need the ball, and it's outside the bus
.

“But we were told to deliver the roster to h
eadquarters
.
” Mitch was trying to buy us more time by negotiating with the woman. His eyes were flickering up to the window and then to me. I started edging backward ever so slightly. The woman looked at me once, but for the most part she was too busy giving Mitch a cold stare. It looked as if she were sizing Mitch up. Did she think he was a threat? What did she think about me?

“Well, you're in luck
.
” T
he woman smiled cruelly. “Headquarters is on the Moon,
sir
, and if you we
re a Resort employee, you would surely know such simple information —
edge any closer to that emergency exit, boy, and I will have to resort to violence.
”

I jumped and looked up fearfully. She had added that last statement in so quickly, it almost sounded like a hiss. Her eyes were focused on me with such intensity, I found myself breaking contact. I looked at Mitch and saw he was barely containing his fear.

“Yes, I caught you, boys
.
” T
he woman smirked. “You were not invited to this Resort, and you were merely trying to steal identities to sneak onboard. Very cleve
r, but it didn't work, did it?”

I chanced a glance at Mitch. Did the woman really think we wanted to go to wherever this horrible bus was taking these passengers? Something in her tone told me otherwise. Though her eyes remained cruel, I could tell she was mostly curious. She didn't know why we were on this bus, but she knew we weren't souls, either. Still, that didn't make our situation any better
.

There were a few tense moments in the bus. None of the souls dared to move, much less speak. I think they were mesmerized by watching the three standing figures stare at each other. My heart steadily beat faster with each passing moment.

“Time to start the ship—”

“Well, you got us!” Mitch cut off the woman just as I thought I was having a heart attack. I did
not want this ship to leave with the creepy woman on it. Apparently Mitch thought the same thing.

“Finally caught on, have you?” The woman jeered. “Well, it's too late—”

“Maybe for us
.
” Mitch indicated himself and me. “But not for our friend.”

This caught the woman's attention. She turned sharply to see my reaction, but I was steps ahead of her. Private school taught me to never look surprised when a friend tells an administrator a lie, especially if I was in trouble, too.

“There are more of you?” She turned back to Mitch
.

“Yep, our pal Charlie
.
” Mitch put on a defiant grin. I got the distinct vibe that he was a trouble
maker in high school. “But don't worry; he's probably got the
signal to run by now.” Mitch glanced at me.

“Go, go!” I half-whispered, waving my arms wildly to no one outside. It wo
rked. With one warning look at both of us, the woman tore out of the ship to look around.

“Come on!” Mitch ran to the middle of the bus and jumped on the seat, ignoring the souls' protests. He wrenched open the emergency exit — that was not unlike the little windows on school buses — and touched the light. As soon as he vanished, I followed suit.

The woman's scream was still ringing in my ears as I rolled out of bed.