 
### Two Lives...One Diary

" _The book my grandmother never wrote"_

by

J.M. Array

SMASHWORDS EDITION

* * * * *

PUBLISHED BY:

J.M. Array on Smashwords

Two Lives...One Diary

Copyright © 2011 by J.M. Array

Smashwords Edition License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you are reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

## Prologue

I will start where every good introduction starts, by introducing myself. That is always a smart thing to do before starting any conversation with anyone, just introduce yourself. Well, my name is Robert, and my last name I will keep private, not because I am afraid to be followed or what not, no. Just because I don't want to write my last name here that's all. I am in my last year of high-school as I write this and it has been kind of interesting thus far; nothing out of the ordinary. Not yet at least. What else? Hmm...well I love baseball. Has been my passion all my life, but that isn't really relevant to this, so I am just going to leave that out for now, maybe for another "diary"? Who knows? Oh yeah, that reminds me, I haven't explained what is this that I am doing.

Well, to make a long story short, I have never had a dream. Sad, I know. I am an eighteen year old and I haven't dreamt once. Yeah, those things you have at night that you barely remember during the day? Haven't had one. Not even a "nightmare". To be honest, I don't even know what a dream or a nightmare is. What I know of them is because I have heard people talk about them. If you come to think about it though, what most people probably know about dreams is because of what they have dreamt themselves, the experiences they have had. They know a few thing other things perhaps based on what a few people have told them here and there, but most of their "dream-knowledge" comes from their own experience.

For me it is worse though, I don't know crap about them. All I know is that you are supposed to have like visions or something while you sleep? Is that it? I don't know, for me, I just go to sleep and boom, I wake up and that is it. All I remember is pure blackness. To be honest, a night seems very short to me once I go to sleep. The transition between going to sleep and waking up seems almost instantaneous.

I remember when I was about six years old or so I asked my mom what was this thing my friends called "dreams" and she was like "you know the things you see at night?" and I was like "hmm no." and she kept on going trying to explain it, but I kept saying I didn't know what she was talking about. So she yelled at me and called me a liar. It is kind of weird but that memory comes to me on a daily basis, I am not joking. They say you dream things from your subconscious and I seriously wonder how come I haven't dreamt about this incident with my mom yet.

I have always wanted to dream. It has been my wish every single birthday I have had. You know when they tell you to blow the candle and make a wish? Well all my life my wish has been to have a dream, just one. It is a normal thing for everyone and many remember them with detailed perfection. For those out there who manage to remember every detail of it, great for them, they are dreamers, they get a muffin. For the other ones that don't remember much about their own dreams, but at least remember a little fraction, then congratulations to you too, you don't get a muffin but you are one step ahead of me.

Anyway, back to what I was saying. To my surprise, on my 18th birthday, my wish did come true. Yes, I had a dream, at last. And boy was it interesting. I don't know if it is like this with everyone else, but I have decided to write a little "dream-diary" (non private) for dreams sake. And today, I am proud to say, I start a diary of all my dreams...

Note: The date that appears in the entries, refer to when the events occurred, not when they were written.

## Chapter 1: Money?

January 5, 2007

Today I had my first dream. It was kind of surprising and unexpected. I don't know if this happens to everyone but in order to understand my dream in perfection, we first have to talk about my experience from that day.

It was a normal day; it started in a boring way to be honest. Everything was just a routine. I woke up, pretty early, brushed my teeth, got ready and headed off to school. When I got there my schoolmates were talking about going to the movies that night, it was a Friday...Friday is hanging out day you know, plus I think I forgot to mention, it was my birthday. I noticed they didn't know I had heard them so I just got there and said hi.

"Sup bro? Happy birthday!" Mike, my best friend, said.

"Not much just bored. And thank you." I answered.

"It is your birthday! And how can you be bored already? It is only eight AM man. You need some happy pills." He said while we walked away from the rest of the group. "Tell you what; we are going to the movies tonight, why don't you come?"

"That sounds fun. I have to check though; I don't think my parents will let me go." I replied, with great deception but it was the truth none the less.

"Oh come on man, you guys got money, plus it is your birthday, they have to let you go out!" Mike said, trying to cheer me up and give me some hopes on the matter.

"It being my birthday doesn't change a thing, you know them. And yes, we do have money, but not for this kind of things. Just for the things we truly need. " I replied but those weren't really words I meant with my heart, just words that my parents had repeated constantly over and over for as long as I can remember.

"Well you truly need to do some fun stuff or else you are going to end up killing yourself man." Mike said laughing, but there was some truth behind his words, I could sense he really meant it. Before I could talk again, the bell rang, so we went to class.

I was distracted on every class. All I could think about were the movies. I really wanted to go. So when it was time to leave school, I quickly rushed back to my house. When I got there my mother was preparing the table for dinner. I was ready to ask for her permission and I went right for it.

"Mom, Mike and some girls are going to the movies tonight. Could I go?" I asked in a really shy kind of way.

"You have the money for it?" My mom asked. I was afraid she was going to say that.

"No, I don't. All I have is the money I have been saving for college." I replied.

"Exactly. So there is your answer." My mom said.

"Can't you just lend me some money? It is not that much." I asked.

"No. I am sorry son. We really need the money for..." My mom was saying but I knew the rest so I continued her phrase even though she hated it when I did that.

"...the things that really matter. I know I know. This is not fair. I haven't had fun once in my whole life!" I said. I was starting to lose my temper.

"No? How about the rest of your birthdays?" My mom said.

"Not even those have been fun! My whole life has been boring. I don't even dream! Can you believe that?! I haven't dreamt once in my whole freaking life!!" I yelled at my mother while I was running towards my room. I shut the door close.

I laid down on my bed. A river was simply flowing out of my eyes. I was hurt, I was depressed; I was suffering. I didn't know what to do. I just wanted things to change. I wanted something to enlighten my life. I needed something different, something that would tell me "everything is going to be alright, Robert". I was in despair! And before I knew it, God knows how, I fell asleep. Not only did I fell asleep, but I was dreaming.

It was all kind of blurry at first. When I looked around me I noticed that I was still in my room. It was in the morning, so I thought at first that I had just slept the whole night. Yet, things were still blurry and weird, so I started to get a little bit suspicious. I just went with it. I brushed my teeth and when I went to change clothes I automatically chose the school uniform. It felt like a Friday for some reason. It is now, as I write this that I notice that if I had woken up from a night sleep, it would have been Saturday and not Friday, therefore I wouldn't have taken the school uniform.

Anyway, getting back to the dream, on top of my school uniform was a card that read "Happy Birthday From Mom and Dad" and inside it was a letter, that I won't write here about, but I will say this: it didn't sound like my parents at all. They were nice; I even thought it was a joke. But again, I went along with it.

Either way, after that I just went to school. When I got there the school looked different for some reason, but I didn't pay much attention to it. I just went directly towards my friend Mike, and there he was talking to a bunch of people about going to the movies that night. I said hi."Hey there, Robert." They all said; which I actually found amusing because they never notice me, much less know my name. Again, I didn't pay much attention to it. I took Mike apart from the group.

"How you doing?" I asked him.

"I am good. Happy B-Day bro! And why are we talking over here?" Mike asked.

"I don't know I feel weird talking in front of all those people I barely know." I said.

"You barely know? We know everyone here man...what is wrong with you?" Mike said. This was something that surprised me because we really didn't know many people at school. Once again, I didn't pay attention to it. Not good with paying attention thus far eh? I know.

"I am good. So, what are you doing tonight?" I asked to see if he would bring the movies topic up.

"We are all going to the movies remember?" Mike said.

"Right. I have to check about that, I don't think I will have the money for it." I said but Mike made a really funny face. He was extremely surprised.

"Money? What the heck is that? Some new alien word or something?" Mike said.

"I am serious man." I replied not understanding what he was talking about or why he was mocking me, that is...if he was mocking me.

"I am too. What the heck is wrong with you? First you claim you don't know anyone, now you are talking about 'Muney'". Mike said.

"Money." I said.

"Whatever. Potatoe, Potata." Mike replied.

"You don't know what money is?" I asked.

"Hmmm. I would say no." Mike said confused as the group approached the conversation.

"What you guys talking about? And happy birthday buddy!" A girl said and she kissed me on the cheek.

"Well Mr. Robert here is talking about some money thing...and that he doesn't recognize you all." Mike told her.

"You don't remember us? And what the heck is that money thing?" She asked.

"No, for some reason I get the feeling your name is Lisa." I said and she smiled. "So I guess it is Lisa then. But I don't know. It is all kind of confusing. What...do....what do you guys use to go to the movies?" I asked.

"Our legs." Mike replied and the whole group laughed. I gave a fake laugh trying to follow the little joke, but I really didn't get it.

"I mean, how do you enter it? How do you pay?" I asked.

"Pay? What are you talking about?" Lisa asked but right there the bell rang. We had to go to our classes.

For some reason the dream jumped the whole classes thing, would I love it for it to be like that in real life, man are they boring! Anyway, I was walking down the stairs, getting out of school, and they were all waiting for me out there. Lisa, Mike and some other people that I seemed to know but wasn't really sure why or how.

"Ready to go?" Mike asked.

"I have to go home first." I said.

"What for?" Mike asked.

"To get some money and to ask for permission." I said.

"The money thing again? I mean, really? And permission? We have been planning this for over a week now man, your parents know already." Mike said.

"But..." I said.

"Come on, we are going to be late." Lisa said before I could say anything else.

So I decided to go along with it. I wasn't really paying attention to anything around me; I was too confused of what was going on to really pay any attention at anything really. Not even at Lisa, and now that I remember she was a really pretty girl. Anyway, we got to the movies, which looked pretty awesome from the outside if you ask me, and when I say awesome I mean futuristic looking for some reason and just...clean. We entered the movie theater without paying for our tickets first or anything.

"Aren't we supposed to get like tickets or something?" I asked, confused.

"Dude what is wrong with you?" Mike asked. "Just...just follow us okay?"

"Alright then..." I said.

"Hey Steven, is it full yet?" Mike asked a guy that was standing in front of a red door. Apparently it was the door that leads the way into the theater section we wanted to go in.

"Yeah right! Come in. You crack me up Mike." Steven answered while laughing. While I was going by him he said, "hey happy birthday buddy! How has it been so far?"

"Confusing..." I said. Steven just smiled.

"Just enjoy the movie." He said with a wink. I don't know why he wasn't surprised when I said it was confusing. We went in and the dream jumped this part as well. Next thing I remember I was entering my house, which seemed different somehow but I couldn't place what was actually different. My mom and my dad greeted me.

"Happy birthday baby boy!" Mom said."Happy birthday son!" Dad said.

"Thank you guys." I replied.

"How was the movie?" Mom asked.

"Fun." I answered, without really remembering if it was fun...boring...or neither.

"So you want to get some cake or..." Mom said and then I woke up.

My first dream was definitely a weird experience. I couldn't place many of the things that I was seeing. How come we didn't have to pay for the movies? How come my mom and dad were so happy to see me and congratulate me? I don't know, but I definitely felt happy for the first time in eighteen years. All I do know is...I can't wait until I dream again.

## Chapter 2: Nice and Clean!

January 6, 2007

To my surprise I had another dream the very next night. Wow and I thought I wouldn't dream again for like a year or ever again to be honest. Boy was I happy to dream! Isn't it awesome, how you can go into a completely whole new world and just feel like you are part of it? I do like it. Where do they come from? Definitely a new question I have on my head, that's for sure. But enough with the chit-chat, let's get to the good stuff shall we?

As the last dream, in order to understand my dream we need to review what I did during the day.

It started out as a normal Saturday, I woke up pretty early, or what was early for me: 11:00 AM. I didn't wake up because I wanted to; mom came in and opened the curtains because I had to wake up already.

"Mom! It is Saturday, let me sleep!" I said.

"No you have to wake up. Your school is doing a cleanup remember?" She said.

"Oh damn...that's right. Arg!" I groaned but got up. My school was going to clean up one of the local streets; it was full of garbage all the time. Not to mention full of homeless and poor people as well.

I got up, with the help of God, and got ready. My mother took me to the street that we were going to work on. It was the one right next to my school, Kennedy Ave. Boy, was that a sad street. All the buildings were vandalized, there were like a hundred homeless people in this street which was only a mile long or less. It was really sad, a representation of the world itself, I would say. Anyway, I got off the car and there was Mike doing his little voluntary work.

"Hey there buddy, how are you?" Mike asked.

"Hey. Same as always I guess." I answered.

"You mean: Pissed off, sad and simply bored?" Mike said.

"Pretty much. But..." I said remembering an important fact that he didn't knew yet. "I dreamt!"

"No F-ing way! What did you dream?" Mike asked.

"It is kind of complicated, I wrote it all down though. You can read it later." I answered.

"Sounds good to me!" Mike answered.

"Hey what are you two little kids talking about?! Get to work!" Ms. Griffin said, our teacher. She was a real pain in the ass I tell you. Always mad, blaming everyone for the failure on her life. She just hated kids; plain hated them...and was a teacher, go figure.

"We better get to work mate." Mike whispered.

"I guess so." I said.

"Here you go." He said, handing me some sort of pole with a hook at the end in order to pick up the garbage. He also gave me a bag, to put all the garbage in. I looked around and a girl suddenly caught my attention. She looked like Lisa, the girl from the dream. She was crouched talking to a homeless guy, giving him some food. She smiled at him. Suddenly the guy took some sort of needle and stabbed her on the left arm. She screamed for her life and got away from the guy.

"Somebody help!" She kept screaming. I ran towards her.

"Hey are you alright?" I asked, very stupidly.

"No! I am not alright!" she said.

"Look, I am going to call an ambulance." I said. And so I did, they told me they were on their way but that I had to take the needle out. "They have informed me to take the needle out and to apply pressure on the wound or else you could die."

"No. Leave it there." She said.

"Listen to me..." I stopped because I didn't know her name.

"Lisa..." she answered. For a moment I was stunned but then I got to my senses.

"...I have to take it out or else you will die. Will you rather feel a little bit more pain or die?" I asked.

"Ah! Alright!" She answered.

"Okay, I am going to count to three and then I will pull it out, that way you will be ready, okay?" I said.

"Alright." She said clinging her teeth. She wasn't happy about this, at all.

"Alright. Here I go. one...two..." and I took it out.

"Ahh! You ass! You said you were going to do it on three." She screamed at me.

"This way it is less painful." I replied.

"Less painful my ass! Ah!" She said.

"You have to apply pressure on it." I ordered.

"No way!" She said.

"You are one stubborn little girl!" I said, losing my patience.

"Look! If you just knew how painful this actually is you would be saying the same stuff." She said. And she was probably right, but I had to follow instructions. I took my shirt off. "What the heck you doing?" she continued.

"Saving your ass." I said. I wrapped my shirt around her arm, to stop the bleeding.

"What is going on, Robert?" Mike asked.

"She got stung with a needle." I said while she laid on my lap.

"You called an ambulance?" Mike asked.

"Yeah dude." I said and that is when I noticed fifteen minutes had gone by already and the ambulance wasn't here yet. "Fifteen minutes ago actually..."

"I am feeling dizzy." She said.

"Hold on tight. Don't worry, they will be here any minute now." I said, not sure if I was either lying to her or to myself.

A whole hour went by when finally the ambulance appeared. Everyone cheered, but I was pissed off. They had taken too long for such a situation. They came and picked her up.

"Good job kid. If it wasn't because of you, she might have been dead by now." One of the paramedics said to me. I just smiled back; I didn't feel she was safe yet. And I was right. In a few hours after that we got a call that she had died on the way to the hospital. The needle had a poison on it that ran through her body and killed her. If they had gotten there earlier they would have saved her, but they didn't. So much for community service...

As soon as my mother gave me the news I went into my room. Not knowing what to do, if I should cry, get angry, throw some stuff, or what. I just decided to lie down on my bed and try to get relaxed for a minute. To my surprise...I fell asleep and was dreaming once again.

I was sleeping, in the dream, when suddenly something woke me up. It was 11:00 AM once again, but this time it wasn't my mother waking me up. It was my phone. I picked it up...it was Mike.

"Dude where the heck are you?" He asked.

"Sleeping." I said while I yawned.

"Get your butt over to Kennedy's Ave. dude, you were suppose to meet us here an hour ago remember?" he said.

"Again?" I asked thinking it was Sunday.

"Again? What the heck you talking about? Get your ass here before I kick it over to Mars!" He said but then laughed. "No, but really. We are waiting."

"I am on my way." I said. I got up and got ready. I was heading into the kitchen to ask my mom to drop me over at the street.

"What is wrong with your car?" She asked me.

"My car? Right...my car." I said.

"Anything wrong?" she asked.

"No. Nothing at all. Where are the keys though?" I asked.

"Where you always keep them; where we keep all the keys, kiddo." She said. I looked at her letting her know that what she just said wasn't really helping at all. "By the garage door."

"Thank you." I said and I headed out. I knew instantly which one were my keys, because they had a keychain that read "Robert". So it wasn't difficult to find them.

As soon as I opened the garage door my jaw almost dropped into the floor. There was a car, some sort of mix between Ferrari and BMW. Boy, was that car beautiful! It was weird though, had a futuristic touch to it, I couldn't quite place it either. I do remember it being kind of curvy, not too tall; I was probably taller than it. It had a pretty big windshield on the front, and the tail-lights were pretty amazing. That's about it.

After I was done admiring it, I got in. There was nothing in front of me, just a weird ass looking wheel, but definitely awesome. I turned the key and then a digital display came up on a hologram screen in front of me and a voice said: "Where to?" it took me by surprise so I looked around trying to see who was talking. "Where to Mr. Robert?" then I realized it was an Artificial Intelligence woman from the car.

"Uh...Kennedy Ave. please." I replied.

"Automatic or manual driving?" the female voice asked.

"Hm. Manual." I replied.

"Routing route." the female voice replied as a route was drawn in the hologram display in front of me.

I took the car out and when I looked up; although it was raining, I noticed that there was stuff moving in the air. At first I couldn't recognize them. But I noticed...they were flying cars! How come I hadn't notice that the last time? And there were also cars running on the ground, so I decided to stick to the grounds for now.

"Speed limit one hundred and ten miles per hour because of rain." the female voice said.

"One hundred and ten miles per hour! Because of rain! Lord!" I said.

"Yes sir, it is for your own security." The female voice replied.

"Okay..." I said, in a sarcastic way, one hundred and ten miles per hours seemed like a lot to me, even for a dry day.

"I can sense sarcasm on your tone of voice sir, is there something wrong?" The female voice said.

"No, nothing wrong. Sorry." I said after having mouthed the word "wow".

I got off and headed over to the Kennedy Ave. once and for all. This time I was finally paying attention, for some reason, to everything around me. It had stopped raining, so I could see everything with clarity. The whole city was completely clean and definitely better looking. It had a futuristic and nice touch to it; apparently everything here had that futuristic touch to it. Everything looked more advanced, everything looked as if it had been taken care of every single day, everything looked...awesome. It was just nice and clean. Plus, it didn't seem boring. Buildings actually had colors, some were red, others blue, others were green; others simply had a mix and match of different colors. They were extremely elevated as well, this weren't skyscrapers; they were more like spacecrapers. Not only that, but most of them were floating. Yeah, floating. I later learned that they were floating with anti-gravity technology, apparently the same one as the cars use. This was done in case there was an earthquake or something they wouldn't be affected. All in all thought, it was just a pretty sight.

"Speed limit is two hundred miles per hour, sunny." The female voice said.

"Thank you." I said, deciding to play along this time. I noticed I was going at fifty miles per hour at the moment though. I was just paying attention to everything around me that I hadn't notice I was going "slow". All the cars around me were going faster than a speeding bullet, or what seemed like it. I decided to step on the pedal and wow, this thing just stepped on it as if it was nothing. But the streets where designed so well that going at this speeds just seemed normal. It was a real joyride but before I knew it I was at Kennedy's Ave. already. There was Mike, Lisa and the rest of the guys waiting for me. I parked the car on a corner and got out. There were no homeless people and the street was clean and neat. Everything seemed new, just gotten out of the box if you will. This seemed to be the hang out spot for people my age, because there were lots and lots of teenagers walking around.

"About time dude!" Mike said.

"Hey there." Lisa said, winking.

"Hey." I said while I smiled. She was walking towards me when suddenly she tripped and fell. She hit her head and started bleeding. She had opened her forehead up.

"Oh my God. Call an ambulance." I told Mike. He took out his phone and called the ambulance.

"Come right away, she is bleeding bad." He said and hung up.

"What the heck, why didn't you tell them where we are at?" I asked.

"Because they know already." Mike said.

"How?" I asked.

"Dude you are acting so weird lately. GPS tracking on the DNAs of course." He answered. I was stunned by the answer and scared too. They could track anyone with that stuff? That couldn't be good, but everything here seems to be better so perhaps it isn't as bad. I mean it seemed to have worked pretty well here with the paramedics. But anyway back to the dream itself. I noticed that Lisa was starting to fall asleep.

"No, no." I said while I shook her. "You can't fall asleep it will be worse."

As she opened her eyes the ambulance arrived. Only a minute or so had gone by since we called and they were here already. I smiled in relieve. The paramedics got closer to her while we stepped back. They did some weird thing on her and she stood up. Her forehead was clear, no blood, no scar, nothing.

"Nice and clean." The paramedic said.

"What the heck..." I whispered and woke up.

## Chapter 3: History

January 16, 2007

It has been a while since I last had a dream. The thing is that after I woke up from my last dream, I thought Lisa had been saved. I was wrong of course; she was still dead. She had been saved because in my dream, the ambulance got there in time and did some magical thing that just cured her. That didn't happen in real life though, which just pissed me off. The feeling itself of waking up with hopes of the dream being real, just drove me crazy. I got so pissed that I didn't want to dream ever again; which is probably why it took me so long to dream again. Thankfully though, last night I had a dream and I am glad I did.

Like you would expect by now, in order to understand my dream, we have to review my events during the day. I really don't know if this is the way it works for everybody, but that is how it works for me. So from now on I will stop saying that we have to review the events from the day and it will be assumed that we have to do that to begin with. If anything changes, that the dream has nothing to do with the events of the day, I will note it.

It all started as a typical day of school once again, they are typically boring, but ever since the Lisa incident, everything has been quiet in school, people barely talk to me; it is not like they did before, but now it is worse somehow. I wasn't really sure how but it simply was. It felt like everyone blamed me for her death, or they felt sorry for me...or maybe both? I don't know and to be honest, I really couldn't care less.

Anyway, I went directly into my first class, History. Wow! Exciting right? Yeah, not really, it has been the most boring class in all history, no pun intended, and it will always be. At least that is exactly what went through my mind when I went into class that day, but things changed in my dream...I will explain that later on.

Unfortunately for you and me I have to explain what went inside the classroom in order to understand the dream. Mike was already there when I went in.

"How are you holding up?" Mike said. That is what he asks me when he sees me now. No 'what is up' or 'hey' no, it is always 'how are you holding up?'

"Same." I said. Only answer I can come up with, really. And what I meant with "same" was 'not so good, wishing I could go back in time to change some stuff.' And Mike already knew this.

"Oh, that bad, huh?" He replied knowing what it meant. All I did was nod along.

Before we knew it the class began. At first I really didn't understand what the teacher was saying. To be honest it wasn't that I couldn't understand what she was saying; I just saw her lips moving without words really coming out of them, because my mind was somewhere else. She said some keywords that made me pay attention.

"If it wasn't because of the money..." that right there, I just stopped thinking in whatever it was I was thinking and I looked right into her and I couldn't hear anything else but what she was saying "...many advances would have been achieved already. We would have a base on the moon; maybe we would have a base on Mars or something. But since it is too expensive, we haven't been able to achieve such things."

At the moment this words didn't seem important. I mean yeah, it was interesting and at the same time depressing to know that we hadn't achieved a lot of things because we didn't have enough money. I didn't really understand why, if the government is the one that controls the money, why don't they just make more of it or whatever. Of course, it was way more complicated than that and I didn't really care much for it.

The rest of the day isn't really important. I went through day without really caring about the rest of the classes. I was too depressed and too interested in other things to really care about them. At least for this few days I didn't. Anyway, I went back home after all the classes were over and I had some dinner with my family. We really didn't talk much. They just asked me how school was, I answered it was okay, they asked if I had any new grades to report, I said I didn't, and that was pretty much all we talked about. Then my parents got into a big fight because my mother wanted to buy something for the family room but my father fought back saying we didn't have the money and so on and so forth. Money just seems to be the source of all our problems doesn't it?

I just ignored their usual fight and went straight to my room. I went into the computer for a little while. I didn't have many people to chat with though; they were all out or something, or studying. I really don't know. I just checked my emails and went to sleep. To my surprise though, I had a dream. Yes, it still surprises me, to this very day that I can dream.

This dream started a little bit different from the other dreams since when the dream started, or at least from what I recall to be the beginning of the dream, I was already in school. Contrary to my real life school scenario, everyone in the dream was happy and cheerful. Lisa looked outstandingly beautiful and if I hadn't been there when she fell, I wouldn't have known she had opened her forehead up.

"Hey you." Lisa said in a flirtatious way.

"Hey." I said smiling back.

"How are you?" Lisa said.

"Hey buddy!" Mike said jumping from my behind before I could reply to Lisa's question. She just stood there smiling.

"Whoa, take it easy tiger. You are going to break my back or something." I said in a joking manner. "Don't worry, if that happens, we will just fix it back up." Mike said laughing and we all laughed alongside him. I don't know if we laughed because it was actually funny or just because we felt sorry for him.

"Like that is not going to hurt." I replied.

"Oh it does, it hurts like a bitch." Mike said while stretching his back. "But it doesn't kill you."

"That's good then, I guess." I replied while the bell rang.

"We better get to class or else we will be late." Lisa said. I was getting the feeling she was the responsible type. Apparently everyone around me was because everyone just rushed into their respective classrooms, in an orderly manner of course.

"History!" Mike said with excitement. "Don't you love that class?"

"You kidding me? I hate it." I said while walking towards the classroom.

"You serious?" Lisa said as we went inside. I noticed that the classroom was no typical classroom at all. For some reason the sits were positioned in a circle around a big table that was sitting in the middle. I found it odd and at the same time interesting, but at the moment I really didn't pay much attention to it. You know, teachers do this kind of stuff sometimes for special occasions.

"What are you talking about man? This class is one of the best ones, if not the best." Mike said as we sat down. I don't know how I didn't notice within the dream that I was dreaming because to hear Mike say that about History class was just jaw dropping to say the least. Now that I realize, I don't know how I didn't notice that it was a dream when I saw Lisa either. Oh well, I guess you aren't suppose to know that you are in a dream once you are in the dream, right?

"Good morning classroom." A young woman said while walking inside the room, she went through the sits and stood besides the table.

"Good morning Ms. Belaware." Everyone said, except for me of course, while she was checking something besides the table. I couldn't quite get a glance of it.

"Alright so only Tommy is missing. Anyone knows what is wrong with him?" Ms. Belaware said. Apparently she was checking the attendance on the table. How she checked it without asking names though? I am not sure. I am guessing she used the whole DNA thing like the ambulance did to know our location.

"He stayed all night last night working on his new project and was too tired to come over today. I will take notes for him and give them to him this afternoon." A young girl with beautiful eyes said.

"Well thank you Melanie. I am sure he will appreciate that. Let him know that we are eager to see his new project." Ms. Belaware said. I couldn't understand how she wasn't mad at the fact that a boy just missed class because he stayed up all night working on some project. Not only that but she was actually interested in hearing about this so-called project. I don't know, maybe he is the next Einstein or something, but still. Little bit of responsibility wouldn't be bad.

The teacher turned the table on. Yes, she turned the table on. A little holographic city showed up in the middle of it. My jaw almost dropped to the ground when I saw that thing. I couldn't believe my eyes and no wonder I couldn't, it was all a dream. Mike noticed my astonishment and obviously he reacted to it.

"You alright mate? You seem a little bit surprised there." Mike said but I noticed that for some reason I shouldn't be so surprised, so I came up with a little white lie.

"No. Well yeah a little bit. I am always surprised and astonished when she turns that thing on." I said, trying to cover my tracks.

"No you are not." Mike said noticing my white lie. What a smartass, he pays attention to every single detail, unlike me. I didn't know what to reply to that, but thank God Ms. Belaware saved me.

"Everything okay over there?" Ms. Belaware said talking to us. "Mike? Robert?"

"Everything is alright ma'am. Sorry." Mike said.

"No worries." Ms. Belaware replied. "Anyway, let's get started shall we?" She continued, with a big smile on her face. Everyone seemed pretty excited too.

The screen changed to the moon and a rocket going towards it. It was a like a little video, but it paused when the rocket reached the moon. All we could see was a rocket in the moon.

"Can anyone name this event?" Ms. Belaware asked.

"I know that is the moon, I don't understand why there is no base on it though." A kid said.

"That's Apollo eleven, first manned moon landing." I said.

"Good job, Robert." Ms. Belaware said. "Eric, to clarify your doubt, this was Apollo eleven as Robert said correctly. It was the first time humanity reached the moon." Everyone was amazed by this fact and for a moment I couldn't understand why.

"When was this?" another kid asked.

"July twentieth, nineteen-sixty-nine. Hundreds of years ago." Ms. Belaware said. I wasn't sure if I heard correctly, so yes, I asked.

"Hundreds of years ago, ma'am?" I asked.

"Correct Robert. Nineteen sixty-nine." She replied. So I had only one question in mind, what year was it? I hesitated and before I could ask it, it was too late. She had carried on. "But there was a problem. People said they hadn't really landed in that moment as the United States claimed they did."

"Why not?" Lisa asked. "Why would someone lie about such a thing? What could they gain?"

"I am glad you asked Lisa. By the time, there was a race between continents of who was going to get there first. It was mostly between Russia and the United States. So people claimed the United States hoaxed this event in order to let Russia believe that they had won the race." Ms. Belaware explained. I was surprised no one knew this; almost every kid my age knew that.

"Was there any proof? Could they prove that it was actually a hoax?" Mike asked.

"No. To this date no one has been able to prove whether it was actually a hoax or a real flight. But many based their theory on the fact that only a few more missions landed on the moon and no one else did until many years afterwards." Ms. Belaware continued.

"Why did it take them so long to return?" a kid asked.

"Because it cost them too much money and it was unnecessary. They couldn't really gain anything from going to the moon." Ms. Belaware explained. What I found interesting though, is that when she said 'money' everyone had a face of 'what the heck she just said'.

"Money? What is that?" A kid asked. I still couldn't understand how they didn't know what money was.

"Money. Well how do I explain this to you guys? Well, back in the day, people used this thing they called money in order to gain something. Let's say they wanted a new shirt, they exchanged this shirt for what they called money. People actually worked to gain money and the more money you had, the better way you lived, at least when it comes to owning material stuff, of course. That is why so many people starved for hunger and that is why so many people used to have better houses than others, etc etc. Because money stopped them from being able to get what they wanted and people simply worked for the money and not for the love of it." Ms. Belaware explained. Everyone was surprised at this answer, especially me. I had finally understood why I didn't need to pay for the movie theater in the other dream. I understood why no one knew what this word meant. Apparently money is something that doesn't exist here, money is something that is no longer available, no longer needed. The realization of this just placed a big smile in my face.

"You seem happy about that Robert." Mike said. Again, noticing everything. I just looked at him, placed my hands behind my head and replied:

"Yeah, actually I am. It is just that...History is so fascinating, don't you think?"

"Now that we don't have this money thing, it is no longer an impediment. Ever since then technology has advanced drastically. People thought that the times from the nineteen hundreds to the year two-thousand were of great advancements." Ms. Belaware said as everyone had a good laugh, even herself. "But they just didn't know what the limits were. Then again, we haven't reached our limits yet ourselves. We keep advancing technologically every single day to such a ratio that it is still outstanding."

I was starting to get curious. I couldn't hold it in any longer. So this time I didn't hesitate and I raised my hand. "Ma'am, sorry to interrupt." I said while lowering my hand.

"Yes, Robert?" Ms. Belaware asked.

"In what year are we?" I asked. Everyone looked at me really funny, even she did as well.

"Well that is a weird question. But we are in the year..." Ms. Belaware said but just as she was about to say the year, I woke up. I tried to go back to sleep, to see if I could continue the dream where I had left it, but it didn't work. I only got a few minutes of more sleep but with no dream. I guess I will just have to wait until I dream again.

## Chapter 4: No dreams

February 12, 2007

It has been a while since I have had a dream. I know I wanted to use this diary to report all my dreams and to keep a "diary", if you will, of all of them. But since I haven't had any dreams lately and I was sitting here in my room kind of bored, I just decided to write a little bit.

It is weird that I haven't had a dream though because I really loved the experience last time. Don't you just hate it when that happens? Every time you want something or that you are looking for something, you never find it? Yet, usually, when you stop looking for it, it just pops in front of you. I don't know about you, but it just happens to me all the time. I just have to stop searching some times in order to find what I want. I don't know if it is some trick God plays on us, or if there is actually a reason for all of it.

Now this might sound like a foolish idea, maybe a complicated one, and I don't know if I will be able to explain it clearly. But here is why I think it happens: First and foremost, it is said that we create our own reality. Meaning that everything we think, goes into the universe somehow, and it is created. For example, let just say I have a positive mind about a test. I am thinking I am going to get an A and I already feel like I have an A. So that thought, that feeling goes into the universe, and it returns as a reality a little bit later, when I do get the A. But when I get it, I feel the same way I used to before I took the test, because it is that feeling coming back, it is my creation.

So if any of this is actually true, it might also be true when we search for something. How? You are thinking you want it right? You are searching for it after all. But, the feeling you are sending to the universe is that of "I don't have it." Therefore, that feeling, that creation of "I don't have this or that" will come back to you in reality, of still not having it. Now when we stop searching for it, in the back of our heads we still want it, but we are not sending the feeling anymore that we don't have it. Therefore it comes later on.

Oh and remember, this entire thing works even if you don't believe in it. The mind is pretty powerful, whether you believe it or not. And this is not me writing more nonsense or craziness, the mind thing (about it being powerful) is actually scientifically proven. They have experimented with this. For example, there was this one time where they had ten patients in a hospital with the same condition. They said the same thing to all of them "We are going to operate." They operated on five of them and they didn't operate on the other five (although they thought they were, because they were taken to the E.R., etc etc.). Yet, by an act of "miracle", they were all cured.

I am not sure if I am making any sense here. Maybe I am just writing nonsense. If you come to think about it though, if you understood what I said, then it kind of has some logic behind it all. And don't blame me for writing such crazy things; when you are sitting in your room with no TV or anything, it is easy to let your mind wonder. Though, it is interesting that my mind wonders more now that I have dreamt than when I didn't dream at all...go figure.

## Chapter 5: Shopping...fun for girls not so much for us, except in my dreams.

February 17, 2007

I guess the title of this entry says it all, but I am going to elaborate on it of course. Before I do so, you girls need to learn that we do hate shopping. Oh don't get me wrong, we love going and buying some new stuff, but just doing that. Going into the store, buying what we want and off we go. No, we don't like walking the whole mall, looking at every single store, to then end up in the first store you visited because you didn't find anything better in the others. Yeah, surprisingly enough, it is not so fun.

So it all started as a normal Saturday. Yeah, all my days start normally, nothing too exciting really. It is kind of boring and monotonous, I won't lie to you, but at least I wake up under a roof and in a bed right? Yeah, we have to appreciate what we have. And no, that wasn't sarcastic, even though it sounded like it. Anyway, as I was saying, I woke up at around 1:00 PM. I wanted to continue sleeping, even though I hadn't really dreamt anything, but I felt really tired for some reason. Maybe the school week tired me out, Saint Valentines and all that. Having to sell flowers and balloons and all that for class funds, you know the drill.

When I really woke up, you know after changing clothes, cleaning my face and doing all the morning process, I noticed I really needed some new outfits. At first I felt weird, "what am I doing thinking about clothes". Then again, I only had one pair of pants and three different t-shirts, all of which I used for a five week long school time. Although I really didn't pay attention to what people said or thought, sometimes it felt kind of embarrassing to go to school on Thursday with the same clothes I had gone with on Monday. Plus, they were just plain old. So I decided buy some t-shirts, to have some variation.

After I ate some breakfast, and by breakfast I mean cereal and some orange juice, I went to my mother's room. She was laying there in bed with my father watching a movie.

"What do you want?" She asked. Some love huh? First time they see me in the day and that's the first four words I get from them. I have grown used to it though, sadly enough.

"I need some new clothes." I said in a shy way, expecting a scream or something.

"No you don't." My mom said. It wasn't a scream, but still a crappy response.

"I just have three t-shirts to go to school." I replied.

"That is why I clean them every Wednesday so you can re-use them the next two days." My mom said.

"It is embarrassing mother! Plus they are just...old." I replied.

"Embarrassing why son?" My dad asked.

"Because..." I replied. Only word I could actually say. I didn't feel like giving an explanation.

"Because what? Maybe you can give us a good explanation, or come up with a very good excuse, to convince us." My dad added.

"Well it just is. I mean going to school on a Thursday with the same shirt I went in on Monday, it just sucks." I replied.

"Well yeah, but that is why they invented washing machines son." My dad said, as if I was some stupid kid. But I tried to stay patient and cool.

"I know. I don't mind re-using my clothes. I just don't like re-using them so quickly. Shirts aren't that pricey anyway. They are pretty cheap." I replied.

"We know son, we are not dumb." My dad replied.

"Alright. I will give you some money." My mom said.

"What?" My dad said, talking to my mom, and at the same time I yelled "Yes!"

"But...but you will just buy two t-shirts, that way you can have one t-shirt for each day." My mom said. Although it was a low blow, it was good enough...I guess.

"Fine. Thanks." I said, as I picked up the money.

"Wait!" My mother yelled as I was walking out the room. "You forgot the change for the bus."

"Can't I borrow your car?" I asked, knowing the answer to that question already.

"Yeah right." My dad said sarcastically.

"You will be able to use a car when you have the money to buy your own. Now come here grab the change before I change my mind." My mom said. So I went and actually paused for a second before grabbing the change. "Now go on." I caved, picked up the change and off I went.

I really didn't like public buses, not only were they dirty 90% of the times but they were just 100% dirty. Although it was just interesting and sometimes annoying, to see all the variation of people that went into those buses. Soccer moms with their children, old men and old women, whom most people really didn't care about, they just plain ignored them, which was pretty rude in my opinion. Or the typical teenagers that take the bus to go to the shopping mall, just like me, except they were always in a group of four or six. Me? I was alone.

The bus ride was pretty eternal, or at least it seemed like it to me, but I had finally arrived at the shopping mall. This was a place I almost never went to. I really don't like shopping, at all. Actually, "don't like" is an understatement, I hate it, hence why I only have three t-shirts. I don't know why people love it so much, women especially. It is just too boring. Walking gazillion miles, looking at the same crap over and over again just in different places with different names. I don't know, I don't really get it.

As much as I hated it though, I had to do it, so I went right into the shopping mall because I didn't want to lose my precious time in this place, although it wasn't like I really had much to do with it, except for my chores and stuff of course. So I went in and went directly into the first clothing store I saw.

"Welcome, are you looking for clothes for your girlfriend?" A woman in the entrance asked me.

"No, I don't have a girlfriend." I said and she gave me a weird look.

"Oh." She said. "Okay." So I decided to keep looking around the store.

"What are you looking for sir?" The woman asked.

"Some shirts...where are the men shirts?" I asked and she covered her mouse to cover her laugh.

"This is a women only store, sir." She said as she kept holding her laugh.

"Oh. My bad, stupid me." I said trying to cover my embarrassment. "I don't come here a lot you know."

"Yeah, you don't say." She replied smiling. I just decided to walk away. "Come again." She added, as I exited. I also received a few weird looks from almost everyone outside the store.

I really didn't know what to do because to be honest, I don't even remember when was the last time I came to this place. I don't know where the stores are at and I sure as hell don't want to go through another stupid embarrassment, it was more than enough for the next ten years. So I decided to call Mike, he used to hang out here a lot. I don't know if he still does, but if anyone knows about the stores here it should be him, or at least he knows more than what I do, anyone does really.

"What's up buddy?" Mike said when he picked up the phone.

"I need some help." I said.

"What do you need?" Mike asked.

"I am at the mall right now and..." I said but Mike interrupted me.

"You are at the what?!" Mike asked surprised.

"At the shopping mall. I know, surprising." I said.

"Take a picture." Mike said, jokingly.

"Yeah, I will. I will also make sure to mail it you..." I replied sarcastically and he laughed.

"I will be waiting for it then." Mike replied and kept laughing.

"Anyway, dude, I don't know where the stores are at and I need to buy two shirts." I said.

"About time man." Mike said. "Anyway I was on my way back home but I guess I can stop there for a minute to help you out."

"I will really appreciate it. Thanks man." I replied.

"No problem. I will be there in ten minutes." Mike said.

"Alright, I will be by the main entrance." I said.

"There are like a million entrances, none of them are the main one." Mike replied.

"Well the one with the big arch or whatever in the front." I said.

"Oh yeah, by the women's store?" Mike asked.

"Yeah. That one." I said, still embarrassed.

I just sat down in one of those benches they have in the center of the halls, the one between stores. I sat looking towards that women's store. All I did was watch everyone go by really. It is surprising how many variations of human beings you can see. Not only physically per say, but the way they dress and act, it is surprising. There were a bunch of couples walking around and that just made me sick. Not in a "I have to throw up" way no, and don't get me wrong I have nothing against them being together and walking around holding hands and all happy, but it is just sad to see happy couples when you have nothing yourself, you know what I mean? I also noticed that not one single guy went into a store, which made me feel much more embarrassed than what I was before, that's for sure. But before I knew it, Mike was standing right beside me.

"Ready to go do something you haven't done since you were born?" Mike said jokingly.

"Ha...ha...really funny." I replied.

"Let me explain to you how this works." Mike started and I thought he was been serious. "You have to walk into the store, pick the shirt you want, and then you go to this cashier thing and then you pay them and they let you keep the shirt." He said jokingly and laughed.

"I am serious dude. Not funny." I replied getting pissed.

"My bad. Anyway, what are you looking for?" Mike asked.

"I don't know, any two shirts, good ones and preferably new." I said.

"They don't sell used shirts." Mike replied.

"I know that...just...just walk." I said.

"Okay okay." Mike said as he started walking. "Well they have good shirts over here at this one but they are kind of pricey."

"I have twenty bucks." I said.

"That's it?!" Mike asked.

"Yeah man." I replied.

"Wow. Well I guess that just leaves us with very few options." Mike said and stopped walking.

"What is wrong?" I asked.

"I am thinking, hold on." Mike said.

"Should I sit? I am sure this is going to take a while, you thinking and all that." I said jokingly.

"If I can't joke, you can't joke." Mike said and I just stopped smiling.

"Fair enough." I replied.

"I got it. Follow me." Mike said while he started walking, and pretty fast too.

"Okay, wait up." I said trying to catch up.

We walked for a little bit. I would say we walked for like an hour, but that would be exaggerating. It was actually like five minutes. I hadn't notice, nor did I know how big this thing actually was. I was just surprised at how big it all was. To tell you the truth, I still didn't like it. It just felt...cold.

"Here we are." Mike said as he went into a store.

This one was a men only store, it was noticeable from the moment you went in. I really don't get it why they make stores for only one kind of gender. I mean come on, safe some space and expand your audience, wouldn't you sell more? But whatever, it is not my problem I guess.

"Hello there. How can I help you gentlemen?" A beautiful blonde said as we went in.

"We are looking for some shirts for this guy over here." Mike said as he patted me on the back.

"Sure thing, what size?" The blonde asked.

"Hmm..I am not sure." I said smiling but she gave me a bad look and Mike saved me from yet another embarrassment.

"Medium, medium. He doesn't come here a lot." Mike said and the blonde just smiled, but still giving me that look, the one that you know that nothing good was going through her head.

"No problem. Follow me." She said. "Here you go these are our latest arrivals. They got here yesterday, they are totally on fashion right now and better yet, we have them on special. Buy two for twenty-five dollars."

"Damn. That's awesome. Thanks." Mike said.

"Sure. If you need anything else I will be right over there." She said pointing towards the counter.

"Alright, thanks." I replied and she smiled and left.

"Maybe I should get a couple of these shirts for myself as well." Mike said as he browsed through them.

"I don't have twenty-five bucks man. I am short by five" I said.

"Don't worry about that. You can borrow five bucks from me man." Mike said.

"I can't do that dude. I don't know how long it will be until I can pay you back." I said.

"Hey don't worry about it man. It is just five dollars; you just pick what you need alright?" Mike said.

"Thanks man." I said.

We started browsing through the shirts. I really couldn't understand why they were in such fashion because most of them were out-of-the-park ugly. I really don't get this 'fashion' thing either, it is like the media just tells you what to wear and what to like instead of you just picking out what you like because you simply like it, not because someone told you to like it.

"Whoa, this one is nice." Mike said picking one out and I actually liked it. "You should get this one, I already have two."

"Yeah. This one is nice." I said.

"Alright so one more to go for you right?" Mike said.

"Yes. I really don't like most of the ones that are here but I will see if I can find something." I said while Mike gave me a weird look and after a few seconds I knew why, when I noticed the blonde walking right past me. "Damn it dude. Let me know next time." I whispered.

"I tried man, but you wouldn't just shut up." Mike whispered back.

"Anyway, help me find a good one." I said as we kept browsing, and browsing, and browsing. Boy there was nothing good there. Then in that moment the blonde came towards us.

"Do you like this one?" She said showing me a very neat shirt.

"Actually I do." I said while grabbing it from her hands to get a better view. "Thanks."

"Not a problem." She said smiling at me and I had no choice but to smile back. Perhaps I miss-judged her or maybe she just wanted me to get the heck out of there. "So that would be all?"

"Yes ma'am." I said.

"Name is Laura." She said.

"Laura?" I asked.

"Yes." She said.

"Well nice to meet you Laura, I am Mike and this is Robert." Mike said.

"Well it is nice to meet you guys. Follow me." Laura said taking us to the cashier. "You guys paying together or apart?"

"Apart." I answered.

"Together." Mike said and she just gave us a look, letting us know that we needed to decide. "I will pay with my Credit Card and you give me the twenty bucks."

"Alright." I said taking out the $20 and handing them over.

"That would be fifty-seven dollars with sixty-eight cents please" Laura said.

"Here you go." Mike said.

"Identification please?" Laura asked.

"Sure thing." Mike said taking out his I.D. "Here you go."

"Thank you." Laura said while checking the I.D. "Alright that would be all. Thank you very much and I hope you guys enjoy those shirts.

"Why thank you Laura." Mike said.

"Thank you very much ma'am...I mean Laura." I said and she smiled at me.

"No problem, Robert." Laura said, still smiling. I smiled back as we walked away.

"Are you stupid?!" Mike said outside the store.

"What are you talking about?" I asked.

"She was totally hitting on you dude." Mike said.

"No she wasn't." I replied.

"Yes she was! I bet that if you go in there and ask for her number, she would give it to you." Mike said.

"I really doubt that." I said.

"Well you won't know if you don't try right?" Mike said.

"I won't do it man. Anyway I have a bus to catch; I will talk to you later." I said trying to change the subject.

"Come on man, don't be such a pussy. Go for it. If you don't, I will." Mike said.

"Forget about it man, let's go." I said.

"Fine, but you are not taking the bus. I can give you a ride, and before we leave let's get something to eat. I pay." Mike offered.

"No man, come on, I can't keep letting you do me favors. I already owe you too much." I replied.

"Dude chill. What are friends for? You don't owe me anything. Come on lets go." Mike said.

"Fine...thank you man. Thank you very much." I said.

Once we arrived at the eating plaza, where there were a bunch of fast food and a bunch of tables, it was pretty full. We went to Burger King and we stood in the line for about thirty minutes because I really didn't notice that there was another line moving way faster. Anyway, after we got our order we spent like ten minutes looking for sits. We finally found a table where we could sit down and eat. Once we were done, we left.

I got home in a matter of minutes really. Going in the car was way faster than on the bus, since we didn't have to make unnecessary stops. Plus, it was clean. As soon as I got home I went directly into my room. I didn't hear my parents, I wasn't even sure if they were home. I felt tired, maybe from a long day at the shopping mall, although I was there for like two hours or so. So I decided to lay down for a little bit, and before I knew it, I fell asleep.

To my surprise, I dreamt. Of course, right? If I hadn't dreamt I wouldn't be writing this entry, I know. Still, I had to write that just so you know that I am changing into dream mode. Or maybe I didn't? I don't know. It doesn't really matter, I wrote it already.

Anyway, once again the dream started with me waking up. I was in my room and for some reason I knew it was Saturday. So I went into my mother's bedroom, after I got ready, to ask for some money to go shopping. But she wasn't there. I went downstairs and there she was, eating breakfast with my father. And yes, she was eating real breakfast, eggs and bacon and all that breakfast stuff.

"Hey hun. Good morning." She said. "Or may I say, good afternoon." My dad gave a little laugh to mom's little joke. It was once again 1:00 PM. Which made me wonder why they were eating breakfast in the first place then, but I really didn't give it much thought.

"Morning." I said, not caring that it was the afternoon already, for me it was still morning.

"You want some breakfast? I will make you your favorite." Mom asked.

"Sure." I replied, wondering what she meant with 'your favorite'. I sat down besides my father, who was reading the newspaper.

"So, what you doing tonight son?" He asked.

"I am not sure. I was thinking about maybe going to the mall buy some new shirts." I said.

"Buy? Why you call it that? You mean pick them up?" My mom asked all the way from the kitchen.

"Yeah that. I am sorry, I am just still sleepy." I said, remembering that 'money' didn't exist in my dream world. Cool, huh? I know. I still don't know why that's the case exactly though. Suddenly my dad took a piece of the newspaper and ate it. Yes, he ate a piece of paper.

"Yum. This new burger tastes good." My dad said. "Taste it son." He added, as he gave me a piece. I decided to just go for it and see what he was talking about. To my surprise, that piece of paper, of newspaper, tasted like a burger and yes it was really good.

"Damn. That tastes good." I replied. "How they do that?"

"Do what?" Dad asked.

"You know making a paper taste like burger." I asked.

"Are you alright son?" Dad asked surprised at my ignorance. "They have done this for quite a while now."

"What is 'this' that you refer to?" I asked.

"Putting eatable paper that tastes like food; it is the best marketing ever invented." My dad said, still surprised. At first I couldn't believe what he saying, but after a couple of minutes of silence, I noticed he was definitely serious. Heck, I had tasted it myself.

"Breakfast is ready." Mom said.

"Lunch you mean?" Dad said and they both laughed.

"Ha...ha...very funny." I replied grabbing my plate. It did look delicious, whatever it was.

"Enjoy son." Mom said.

"Thanks." I said, while I started eating. It was as delicious as it looked. I couldn't get enough of it, but when I was done my phone rang. It said 'Lisa' on it. I didn't know what Lisa was calling me for, but whatever it was I didn't want to take the call in front of my parents. "Excuse me" I said while I stood up from the table to take the call. For some reason that seemed weird to my parents.

"Take the call here, son. You know we don't mind." Dad said. So I decided to sit back in the table and picked the phone up.

"Hello." I said while taking the phone to my ear.

"What are you doing?" Lisa said.

"I am eating. Why?" I replied.

"Take the phone off your ear sleepyhead." Lisa replied and as I took it away from my ear I noticed that it was a video-call.

"Oh. Sorry." I said smiling.

"So when are you picking me up?" Lisa asked. And before I continue, let me tell you, she looked beautiful. Problem was that I was astonished by her beauty and at the same time I just didn't know what to answer.

"Ahem. Where to again?" I asked.

"Wow you are really still asleep aren't you?" Lisa asked and I looked at my parents and they were laughing. "To the seeking mall silly."

"To the what?" I asked, not knowing what she really meant with 'seeking'.

"The seeking mall. You are still asleep, definitely." Lisa said.

"Oh we are going together?" I asked trying to follow her game.

"Duh! Of course. You would be a disaster with clothes if it wasn't for me." Lisa said and I am sure she was probably right.

"I will be there in ten minutes then." I said.

"Alright see you then. Bye bye." She said as she hung up.

"She is just a friend." I said, feeling forced to do so, you know as an explanation to my parents.

"Sure." Dad said smiling.

"Of course she is." Mom said smiling as well but there was of course some sense of sarcasm behind both of their comments and to be honest, perhaps I knew why.

I went into my room to get changed. Surprisingly enough, for me, I couldn't find my closet. I was going to scream out to my mother to see if she knew where my closet was. Before I did I saw a little screen in the wall. It was digital and touchable. There was a plastic tube right besides it. I really don't know how I didn't notice this before, but then again I didn't pay much attention to my surroundings in my previous dreams.

There were four squares in the screen, each with a word in it. They were: _headwear_ , _upper wear_ , _lower wear_ and _shoes_. I clicked first in upper wear. And three new squares popped up. They were: _fancy_ , _normal_ and _tropical_. I clicked normal. Then another two squares came up and they were: _Jackets_ and _shirts_. I clicked on _shirt_ and this time a picture of a shirt came up. It looked pretty cool too. I am sure Lisa was the one that picked that one up for me. But I decided to see what else I had in storage, so I clicked on the lower left arrow that appeared on the screen. I kept changing from shirts to shirts until I found the one I really wanted. Then it came right up into the plastic tube that was right besides the screen. I don't really remember picking out the rest of the clothing; I am just guessing it was pretty much the same process though.

After I was ready and all set I went to the car, my car. It was the same one as last time; I assume everything stays constant in the dream world apparently. As soon as I turned the car on the same female voice welcomed me.

"Welcome Robert. Where to, sir?" She said.

"I am going to Lisa's house, why?" I asked.

"Yes sir." She said as the car moved itself outside the house. Then I felt it was raising and it definitely was. Before I knew it I was in a flying car, the sensation was incredible. I won't lie to you though, it was scary as hell. I ducked a few times thinking the cars were coming right towards me, they were flying at outstanding speeds and my car was driving itself towards God knows where. "Lisa has been advised."

"About what?" I asked.

"That we are almost there." She said.

"Of course." I added.

We had arrived at Lisa's house. It was a pretty big house and not ordinary either. The first floor was mostly glassed yet you couldn't look into the inside. I couldn't make out from what material the second floor was made of but it didn't look like anything I had seen before.

"Are you staying in the car, sir?" She asked as Lisa was walking out of her house. So I decided to step out of the car. I couldn't believe how astonishing she looked. Her hair was glowing and she had the most amazing eyes I had ever seen. I don't know how I hadn't notice it before. She came right to me and kissed me on the cheek. Oh, and she smelled great too.

"Hey." Lisa said.

"Hey." I said kind of shy. I walked towards her door and opened it for her.

"Thank you." Lisa said smiling.

"Welcome Lisa." The female voice said. I went around the car and sat into my respective place.

"Where to, sir?" The female voice asked.

"Seeking mall." I said.

"Which one?" The female voice asked. "There are five thousand and ninety-four seeking malls in the area sir."

When she said this Lisa couldn't help but laugh and I couldn't help but join in as well. "Ernest Plaza, Izna." Lisa said.

"Is this correct, sir?" The female voice, apparently called Izna, asked me. I looked at Lisa because I really didn't know what to say, she just looked at me and nodded a _yes_ to me.

"Correct, Izna." I replied.

"Alright then. Off we go." Izna said.

I really don't remember the conversation we had on the way to the mall. I don't even know if we talked at all or not. To be honest I do remember an image of Lisa talking to me and laughing, but it just seems like those scenes in the movies where you see the scene but it is all without audio. Well it was something like that.

What I do remember is when we arrived at the mall, which I still couldn't understand why they called it "seeking mall" but anyway, I decided to play along as always. It was really outstanding because in the center of the mall, flying over it, were the words "Ernest Plaza" in hologram, blue colored. Then we descended into a platform with a screen on the left. My window, the driver's one, disappeared. Yes, it just disappeared instead of me rolling it down, it disappeared. Anyway, I did some stuff on the screen which right now I really don't remember and then a voice said "please step off your car." And so we did and walked away from the platform. When we were off the platform, my car disappeared. It didn't disappear per say, the platform took it down with her.

"Where did it go?!" I said.

"To the parking lot...Are you alright?" Lisa asked.

"I knew that. I was just kidding." I said trying to cover my ignorance, once again.

As we walked towards the entrance of the mall there were two holographic signs. The one in the left, in green, read "Traditional Seeking" with a couple of doors below it. The one on the right, in red, read "Fast Seeking" with only one door below it.

"Which one you want to use today?" Lisa asked.

"The Fast Seeking." I said for mere curiousness.

"Alright. We can always change while in there. Hold my hand" Lisa said.

As we went into the Fast Seeking doors, I had a weird sensation through my whole body, but I couldn't quite place it. I don't know if it was because I was holding Lisa's hand or what, but it was definitely weird. Once we were inside we stopped holding hands though.

Right in front of us stood a big black screen. It was touchable and it had many store names with their respective signs divided in two columns.

"Maybe we should start with this one." Lisa said as she touched it. When she touched it, the big black screen immediately changed into the entrance of the store. We walked into the store from it. I looked behind me and I couldn't see where we had come from. There was nothing but a door there now, and on top of it a sign that read "Fast Seeking", again in red. Besides it was what I have come to known as the traditional entrance, where you could see people walking in the mall. The store was pretty ordinary. Or at least it seemed like it at first.

"You should get this one." Lisa said pulling out a very nice green polo.

"I agree." I said being sure that I couldn't really argue with her. When we went to the cashier, I noticed there was really no cashier at all. There was just a girl standing there, with a screen before her.

"Hello, how you guys doing?" She greeted us.

"We are good. How are you Laura?" Lisa said.

"I am good thank you." Laura said. She was Laura too?! I know, that is the first thought that came into my mind as well. Freaky isn't it? They do say that you dream what you have in your subconscious, so maybe that was it. And now that I think of it, not only were they called the same, but they looked the same too.

"Please place your finger here, Robert." Laura said, pointing at a mini screen that was in the counter. Right after I did a picture of me appeared on the screen. "Alright you are good to go. You have two shirts left for this month. Enjoy."

"Two left?" I asked as Lisa pulled me out.

"Yes. You can only get two more until the month is over." Lisa said. "Are you still sleepy or simply having amnesia?"

"I don't know what is going on. I am not remembering a lot of stuff lately." I answered.

"You don't say." Lisa said sarcastically. "Anyway, Fast or Traditional?" and I actually thought about it but I just wanted to see how the mall looked.

"Traditional." I said.

"Really?" Lisa asked.

"Yeah. I feel like walking." I answered.

"Alright, then let's go grab something to eat because I am starving." Lisa said.

This time instead of going through the Fast Seeking door we went through the traditional ones. We were in the mall halls and damn that thing was huge. The roof was amazing. It had all this holographic signs on the very top and on the sides there were moving ads of different products that were available.

"Come to Ernest Specialties for the all new Xing-Four." One of them said with a moving white skateboard. Whatever it was, it sounded and looked awesome. I was just astonished looking at everything; it was just so amazing, so jaw-dropping. I wish everyone I knew could see what I saw.

Before I knew it we had arrived at the eating area. Right in front of us was a big screen with like a map of the whole thing. It said which tables were available and which weren't. Those that weren't available had a timer over them, letting us know for how long have the people been there and whether or not they had their food with them or not. Lisa just clicked on a table of two and she made me click on one of the chairs. We walked towards our table and I had to sit on the chair that I had previously touched in the map.

"It has a DNA recognition, remember?" Lisa explained. It meant that when I touched the sit back there in the map it had stored some DNA information from my body and I was the only one that could sit in that chair, that way no one could take it from me. I wondered what would happen if someone else sat on it though? Are they spanked or something? So I decided to risk looking foolish again, and asked Lisa.

"I kind of forgot this but, what happens to those that sit on the sits that they haven't reserved themselves." I asked.

"No one has actually done that. Why would you do that?" Lisa asked.

"I don't know, some people are just like that." I said.

"Who? Because I don't know anyone that would do something like that." Lisa said.

I wasn't sure in what perfect world she was living, but I just decided to drop the subject. So I guess I will never know.

Right in front of me there was a little screen. This one was, yes you guessed it, touchable as well. It had squares of all the restaurants/fast foods, along with their respective logos, in the screen. Beside them was a waiting time. It let us know how long the food would take if we ordered something from that specific place. I picked out Burger King just for fun, plus it was the longest waiting time: two minutes. When I clicked on Burger King a menu came up and alongside each meal was the picture of that respective meal. What I couldn't find, at the moment, were the prices. But then I remembered that there was no money here. So I just picked out a Whopper and clicked done and then the screen went under the table or something, but it just went away. Lisa had done the same with a little screen that was in front of her.

"Now we wait?" I asked.

"Yup. What else can you do?" Lisa said smiling. And I looked around me and I understood what she meant. I was surrounded by thousands of tables just like ours, some bigger of course. The whole place had glassed walls so we could see to the outside. I could see all the cars flying and the whole setting on the outside. We were pretty high too. It was, and I say this once again because I will never grow tired of saying it, simply awesome.

In exactly two minutes a slot in my table opened up and my food came right up and so did Lisa's. The food came right to us, without waitress or anything, it just appeared from below our table. How? I don't know but right before I could get a bite, I woke up.

## Chapter 6: Job(s)

February 19, 2007

Jobs. Isn't that a horrible word? Most of us hate it. They say there is a difference between those that have a job and those that have a career. I really couldn't care less because to me, they are both the same. They do say though, just to state the difference, that when someone has a job, they are just doing it for the money and they probably don't need any previous preparation or experience for it. Whereas when it comes to a career, people have to work their asses off for a few years before getting that job, within the career, and they are probably doing it because they love it, but in the end they are also doing it for the money, of course. In the end, we all work, or at least most of us do, because we need the money and not really because we want to.

Anyway, getting back to what is important, or semi-important. I am in senior year, so obviously this is a debate I have to deal with, pretty much on a daily basis now. The little good old days are gone. Where I could just sit down play with my Nintendo, ride my bike and worry about nothing but eating, having fun, and sleeping. Those were my worries back then. But now, although I do worry about those three things, I have to worry about what the heck I am going to do with my life after I am done with high-school. And I don't know if there are people out there like me, but to me this is a pretty tough choice to make. It is not because I really don't like anything, no, to the contrary. There are so many things I love doing and many things I am good at, that I really don't know which one to pick from. And to add to my little pressure, to my decision making process, there was a college fair today at school.

"Are you going to the college fair?" My mom asked, obviously. She is the one that has been asking more than anyone else what I am going to do after I graduate.

"I don't know." I answered, with all honesty. I didn't find any real reason to go to the stupid fair. I knew I wanted to do millions of things when I graduated and I couldn't do them all while being in a college or university, where they were going to just teach me stuff I already knew just to reassure my knowledge. And heck they weren't really going to reassure my knowledge they were just going to reassure how good of a memory I have because that is stuff I couldn't care crap about. I mean, Chemistry? Give me a break...

"What do you mean you don't know?" My mom asked.

"I don't know mom, I don't see the point." I said.

"You don't see the point? Are you crazy?" My mom said and she was starting to get loud and angry. I was about to answer with a "yes" but I decided not to, so I stood there silent to see if she had anything else to say in order to proof her point. And of course she did. "So you are telling me you want to end up in the streets? Like a bum?"

"No mom, of course not. It is just that there are so many things I want to do, that I haven't decided which one to go for." I answered.

"Well in the college fair they might help you decide." My mom said.

"Maybe. I don't know." I said.

"Well I am your mother and I am ordering you to go." She said.

"Fine." I answered. I really didn't have a choice. I knew if I fought back I would probably end up losing anyway. So I just gave up, because she might be right after all. She is my mother, might as well just listen to her once in a while.

"Good. There is money in the counter for the bus." She said. Now this pissed me off, I hated taking the bus and she knew it.

"The bus?" I asked.

"Yes, the bus." She said.

"Can't you just take me? Or lend me the car?" I asked.

"Haven't we had this discussion before? The answer was and still is, no. And don't expect it to change any time soon." She said.

"Why not? What is the big freaking deal?!" I said as I started to lose my temper.

"Once you get your own car, with your own money, you will be able to drive." My mom said, and it is the same answer I always get. I guess I lose nothing by asking over and over again right? I mean, they might grow tired some day and let me borrow the car, I don't know, that is probably just false hopes I have.

"That is unfair!" I said.

"That's life right there for you buddy." My mom said.

"What about you taking me?" I asked.

"Don't you see I am busy?" My mom said. And I guess she was, a little bit, she was just finishing the dishes. But I mean, come on, I am her son, can't she just spare a few minutes to take me to something SHE wants me to go after all?

Anyway, I just decided to stop fighting. I wasn't in the mood for it really. So I stepped away, took the money and got out of the house without saying good bye or anything. I rode the bus to school. The school was pretty empty to be honest. First of all the seniors, most of them, already knew where they wanted to go study. It was February already, so I was late myself. I expected to see Mike over there because he was in the same situation as me, he didn't know where to go study. He claimed he was going to play with the Yankees in the Major Leagues, but I didn't believe him. Although I had seen him play a few times and he was pretty good, I have heard it is pretty tough to play in the MLB.

Most of the people that were at the College Fair were eleven graders. There were really few of them though, because in all honesty, eleven graders still had a lot of time to decide where to go study and they all knew it. Even though I was late to apply to college I didn't want to come, so imaging eleven graders that have a lot of time to decide; if I were them, I wouldn't be here either.

I walked towards the first college booth, or the nearest one at least. In front of me there was this nerdy girl, wearing these big old glasses, the stereotypical type. She was listening to the woman from the booth.

"So all you have to do is fill this form and we will send you information about the university and the advantages of studying with us." The woman in the booth said while giving a paper to the nerdy girl. The nerdy girl turned around and got scared when she saw me, she hadn't noticed I was there.

"Are you in my grade?" the nerdy girl asked.

"I don't know. What grade are you in?" I asked. She gave me a weird look and fixed her glasses.

"Eleventh." She answered.

"I am a senior." I answered. I thought she had given me a weird look but boy I was wrong. The look she gave me after I said I was a senior was even weirder. If looks could kill, I swear I would have dropped dead right in that second.

"Senior? Aren't you a little bit...late?" She said.

"Well aren't you a little bit...obvious?" I said, completely mad and pushed her out of my way and walked towards the booth. The woman in the booth was laughing. I don't know if she was laughing at me, at my comment, or at the nerdy girl, but I didn't find any of the previous three funny. So that wasn't a good start.

"Hi my name is Nicole, how may I help you today?" The woman in the booth asked.

"Hi. I don't know, I am just looking for colleges where to go to. I realize I am a little bit late, but I need to go study somewhere." I replied.

"Well it is never late to study with us. We offer a great variety of degrees. What is your GPA?" Nicole asked. I wasn't sure what she meant with GPA but then I remembered it was like the average you have in high-school.

"Four point zero." I replied.

"Wow, that's great. And you haven't decided what to study yet? Usually someone with your GPA knows what he wants to do for the rest of his life." Nicole said.

"Usually, yeah." I answered. I don't know what she wanted me to say. I knew that, but I wasn't sure what I wanted to do.

"Okay. So what kind of things you like to do? What kind of things are you good with?" Nicole said.

"Girls?" I said joking and laughed but she didn't laugh so I tried to fix it as quick as possible. "No I am just kidding. Anyway, I am good with computers. I seem to find my way around them. I like to write from time to time too. Just little short stories, basically scripts too, you know movie scripts. And I like sports, especially baseball. I don't know. That's about it."

"Well you can actually do any of those in our college. Which one do you prefer?" Nicole asked.

"I do like movies and I would like to get to make movies one day. But I am better with computers and I simply love working with them and all that. So either way I go, will be just as fine with me." I replied.

"Right well, you have to decide for one. I will help you out though. Our college is well known for its engineering programs. You can study Computer Engineering." Nicole explained.

"Hmm, that sounds interesting. Tell me more." I said.

"In computer engineering, you can do basically anything you want related to computers. We teach you about both the software and the hardware and then you can specialize in whichever you prefer. But you will end up with basic and strong knowledge in both areas." Nicole explained and she went on for a little while explaining what I could and couldn't do while studying Computer Engineering. To be honest, I don't remember the things that I couldn't do while being a Computer Engineer because it just seemed like they taught them everything about computers and stuff.

I decided that was enough. That is all I had to hear from the college fair, the first college booth I visited and I came out happily enough. Knowing what I wanted to study for the rest of my life. I hear they make good money too, so that is definitely a good thing. I decided to call Mike, to see if he had decided what to do.

"Hey man. What's up?" Mike answered over the phone.

"Hey. It is all cool man. I just got out of the college fair." I answered.

"College fair? You went to that thing?" Mike asked.

"Yeah dude, my mom made me. And it was good I did really." I replied.

"Yeah?" Mike said.

"Yeah, I know what to do now. What I am going to study and what not." I replied.

"And what would that be? Sleepology?" Mike said and laughed.

"Aren't you the funny one? And you should study comedy." I replied.

"I know right? But no seriously, what are you going to study?" Mike asked all serious now.

"Computer Engineering." I replied, quite proud actually.

"Sounds geeky, but that's awesome then bro. I am glad to hear." Mike said.

"Geeky but interesting. Enough about me; how about you? What you up to? Got any ideas what to do with your lazy ass once you are off school?" I asked.

"Well yeah man, I have told you a thousand times. I am going to play in the MLB." Mike said.

"Don't get me wrong here but, what if you don't make it man?" I asked.

"Oh I will. But hey I got to go because dinner is ready alright? I will talk to you later." Mike said and before I could say bye he hung up. Boy, I hope he does get into the MLB, because if he doesn't, he is screwed for life.

When I got home mom was there waiting for me, to hear the news. I explained everything that they had explained to me over at the booth and the possibilities.

"That's great. I am glad. I hope you have the money to pay for it." My mom said. I was surprised to hear her reply.

"You are not going to help me if I don't?" I said.

"No. You have been saving all your life because of that. To go to the college you decide to go." My mom said.

"Yeah, but what if I don't have enough money?" I asked.

"Well you go to another one that you can afford." My mom said.

"This is unbelievable." I said smashing the papers I had from the college fair to the ground and started going towards my room.

"Hey young man! Pick up your stuff and don't treat your mother like that!" My dad screamed but I didn't care for what he or anyone said. I slammed the door and went to bed. My dad started knocking on the door madly.

"Robert! Open the door!" He screamed. "Open the damn door!" I just decided to ignore him, but it was really difficult. He was being really loud. Then I heard my mother screaming at him.

"Just leave him alone John. Let him be." I heard her say.

"Let him be? I am defending you and now you defend him?" I heard my father say, but his words just kept fading away until I couldn't listen to anything else.

I was in my room, lying in my bed thinking about my future. How life was sometimes unfair and I just couldn't deal with it. I guess everything happens for a reason, I have always firmly believed in that. Yet this time around, I really couldn't understand the reason. My mom seemed pretty interested in me going to college and all, but now that I have a college I want to go to, she doesn't care if I can pay for it or not. It just didn't make any sense to me. Before I knew it, before I could get more pissed off at life and everything related to it, I fell asleep.

To my surprise, I was dreaming. Yes, I am still surprise when I dream because it just doesn't happen that often. When the dream began, I was walking out of school and I remember, I looked at my watch but it didn't show the time, it didn't show anything at all really. So I started pressing buttons and then the time came up, in a holographic way, it stood out of the watch kind of. The time was exactly 2:00 PM. Lisa and Mike were walking besides me.

"Alright see you later guys." Lisa said and started to walk away from us.

"Wait, what are you guys going to do?" I asked.

"We are going to our respective workshops man." Mike said.

"What workshops?" I asked and they both gave me a weird look after looking at each other.

"You know. You to the writing workshop, Mike to the baseball one and me to the modeling one." Lisa said.

"Modeling? You? Seriously?" I said jokingly.

"Don't be silly." Lisa said smiling back.

"Don't you remember man?" Mike said.

"Yeah, I just forgot for a minute." I lied. Of course I didn't remember, I still didn't know what the heck they were talking about, but I couldn't look like a fool in front of them, not again.

"Okay. Well I will see you guys later then." Lisa said and she went towards Mike and gave him a kiss in the cheek then she came towards me and gave me one too. "Call me?" she said looking at me.

"Will do." I replied back and she smiled and walked away.

"Well well well, what is going on here?" Mike asked.

"What are you talking about?" I asked.

"What am I talking about?" Mike said. "Muah, call me?" he said, imitating Lisa.

"Don't be a fool. Go swing some bats and grab some balls, I am off to my writing workshop." I said, basically sending him to hell.

"Fine, but we got to talk!" Mike said while walking away.

"Yeah yeah." I said, smiling for some reason. I really didn't know what I was doing. I just decided to follow my instincts. They say that's a good thing to do, so I did. I started walking towards the left side of the school and to my surprise there was this huge building, a very colorful one to say the least, and it had a sign that read "Writers in the Making." So I figured that is where I had to go. When I went in, a small guy wearing the coolest glasses I had ever seen, greeted me.

"Robert, what's up my man?" He said.

"Hey..." I said kind of surprised, not knowing what to do or say at all.

"I started reading the first thirty pages of your script and man you are good. But there are some things we have to discuss, so let's get right to it alright?" He said as we walked towards a table with two chairs. I noticed there were many tables around with two chairs as well and many of them were occupied by other students and teachers. The table had a digital display, within the table itself. He clicked some stuff and brought a script up which apparently I had written because it had my name on it. Then he turned the digital pages of the script to page thirteen. "Ok in this page right here, where you use my name, thank you very much." I looked at the page, which wasn't really a page after all, but more like a digital display, and the only name I could see was David. So I figured David was his name.

"Hey no problem, David is a pretty cool name. And you are my mentor after all." I said, trying to make him believe I knew what the heck was going on.

"I am flattered." David said. "Well anyway, right here, you have to make the character come more to life. You introduce him pretty well, but some things are missing. He is too shallow. At first we think he is this tough guy, but then he is really sweet and tender. I mean, characters have their different moods, but this one jumps from moods too many times and we need him to be stable." And he kept on going, giving me instructions on how to fix my script. He didn't tell me exactly what to do, he said I needed to do that by myself, that way I was going to develop my skills, he just pointed out what he thought was wrong and what I could improve, so I could go from there.

"Anyway, deadline for the first draft is due at the end of this month, so you still have a little bit of time. But remember, we are shooting this thing by this summer, so get to it." David said. I couldn't believe my ears so I asked again.

"We are shooting it this summer?" I asked.

"Yeah, wasn't that what we agreed on?" David asked.

"Yeah, yeah. I am just still surprised with it that's all." I asked.

"What are you talking about? You have done this quite a few times before." David said.

"I know. It is just exciting every single time." I said, but I really didn't know at all. I didn't know I had made movies before.

"I will let you be so you can do some final touches and I will get back to you in a few minutes." David said.

"Alright. Thanks a lot man." I said.

"Not a problem, that's why I am here. Remember, just have fun." David said smiling.

"Will do." I said smiling back. I decided to take my time to learn how to use this digital table thing that was standing in front of me. While I was doing so I saw a file with my name on it, so I decided to open it. Apparently I had done over three other movies before this one. Each movie had its own folder. I opened one up and there was a trailer of the movie there. So I opened the trailer and when I was done watching it I realized my mouth was opened. I was astonished with what I had seen. I had witnessed an amazing movie trailer of a movie that I had written and directed. I couldn't believe it. I was so full of joy it was unbelievable. I just wanted to look for the whole thing and watch it, but instead I decided not to get distracted any longer and I started reading what I had wrote thus far for this script.

It was a very interesting piece, which I am not really going to discuss about here, but I was impressed with my own work. It was called "Beyond Extinction". I had taken David's words seriously and I applied them while editing the script. I felt like it was a solid piece once I was done with it. David came and he checked, he was pretty impressed as well.

"See? This is what I am talking about. Great job. I will see you in a couple of days. Do your homework." David said.

"Alright. See you around." I said walking away. Exactly the minute I step foot out of the workshop building my phone rang. It was my mother.

"Honey, where are you?" My mom said over the video-phone.

"I just got out of the workshop mom, why what's up?" I asked.

"Oh you stayed a little bit longer today?" She said and I looked at my watch, pressed the buttons so the time would show, and it was already 7:03 PM. _Wow, how time flies when you are doing something you love_ , I thought.

"Yeah mom, I am sorry. I just had a lot of work to do today." I said.

"Don't worry. I was just calling to make sure everything was ok. Remember we have to wake up early tomorrow to do our duty work." She said and I wasn't sure what she meant but I just went with it.

"Alright, mom. I am on my way back home." I said while I walked towards my car. I got into the car and said: "Home." I was getting used to this lifestyle. I loved it already. In my way home I called Lisa, like I promised.

"Hey! I thought you weren't going to call." Lisa said smiling.

"Oh come on, why wouldn't I?" I said jokingly.

"I don't know. I am just messing with you. What you doing?" She asked.

"I am on my way home, just got out of the workshop." I said.

"Wow, so late? I got out of mine like three hours ago." She said.

"Yeah, we had a lot of advancements today though. The story is getting pretty interesting." I said.

"Oh yeah? I bet it is. You are a wonderful writer." She said smiling.

"Thanks." I replied humbly. "So, how about you? How was your workshop?"

"Oh it was awesome. We did a new photo-shoot, the pictures came out amazing. Look." She said and sent one over. I opened it on my phone and boy she was right, she looked stunning. I couldn't stop staring at her. "Robert?"

"Ah? Yeah?" I said.

"You alright?" She said laughing.

"Yeah yeah. I am sorry, it is just...you look so...so gorgeous." I said. Still stunned about how beautiful she looked.

"Oh don't be silly, you are making me blush." She said.

"No I am serious. I mean. Wow." I said.

"Oh stop it." She said smiling and before I knew it, I had arrived at my place.

"Anyway, I just got home. I was just calling to say hi." I said.

"Alright then. I will see you tomorrow." She said.

"Okay. Sweet dreams." I said.

"You too. Good night." She said.

"Night." I said and we hung up.

That is all I remember of that day, the next thing I know I was eating breakfast at my house. I was still in the dream though. I am not sure what it was that I was eating, but it was really good. I am not a big fan of breakfast myself, but this was amazingly good.

"So you guys ready to work?" My mom asked. I wasn't sure what she meant still, so I just decided to ask.

"What are we doing today?" I asked.

"We are going to do some garbage recovery and we are going to paint and build some houses." My dad replied.

"Are you serious?" I asked not liking what I heard at all.

"Yeah. It is our turn today honey. You know that." My mom said.

"Yeah...I guess so." I said. So we finished our breakfasts and went out. When we got there, to the garbage recovery area, Mike was there with his family as well as Lisa and her family. I felt happy to see them, I felt happy to know I wasn't the only one doing this stuff. We divided ourselves into groups of three. Mike, Lisa and I were in one team, while the parents divided themselves into the remaining two groups.

We went in two different trucks through houses to pick up the garbage. Lisa was the one driving our truck, while Mike and I got off the truck to pick up the garbage and throw it into the truck. Amazingly enough, once we threw the garbage into the truck it would disintegrate and disappear into thin air. It looked amazing. Garbage wasn't burnt, it was just disintegrated.

We continued like that for a couple hours until we were pretty much done with a lot, and I do mean A LOT, of houses. Then we went to deliver the trucks back to its respective places, although there was no one there to receive them. While we walked out of the place, I noticed everyone in front of me placed their hands in a digital screen that hung besides the door.

"Thank you for your support." A female voice said, alongside the person's name, after they had placed their hand there. I really didn't know why they did this, or what the purpose was, but I decided to do it too. "Thank you for your support, Robert". I just smiled and thought "You welcome".

We decided to stop in an eating area. It was much like the area Lisa and I ate in the shopping, I mean, seeking mall. It had no area to really go and ask for your food. You just used a little screen and ordered, and so on and so forth.

"We really did that faster than ever." Mike's dad said while we were eating.

"We did, didn't we?" My dad said.

"Maybe people used less stuff this week." Mike said.

Conversations like that kept on going. Everyone liked everyone and nobody fought even once. Everyone was having fun, everyone looked happy and I couldn't help but stare and analyze each of them. For a second, I couldn't understand how they were so happy in such a day, we were picking up garbage and they didn't seem to care. Then I stopped to think and I realized that it didn't bother me either, I felt happy as well. Those two hours went by pretty quickly and I laughed like I hadn't laugh in my life.

"Alright, time to go." Lisa's dad said.

"Part two." My mom added.

We went into this deserted area. When I say deserted, I mean there wasn't really any civilization there. There were some houses half-done and others were already done. Our group, Lisa, Mike and I, started painting one of the houses while the other two groups kept building the half-built houses.

While we were painting Lisa painted my arm.

"Hey! I am not a wall." I said jokingly.

"Oh oops. You looked like one. My bad." She said laughing.

"Ha ha...real funny." I said and painted her back.

"Hey!" She said laughing and then she kept trying to paint me back but she couldn't. I manage to paint her some more but she failed to paint me. We went around like that for a couple of minutes when my parents interrupted us.

"Having fun?" My mom said smiling.

"Sorry mom." I said embarrassed. "We will get back to painting right away."

"Why are you sorry? That's part of this, to have some fun. Don't worry about it." Dad said but I really didn't know how to respond to that. They actually didn't care that we were fooling around.

"Anyway, we came here to tell you guys that it is your turn to build, our turn to paint." My mom said.

"Oh, alright." Lisa said. "Let's go."

Mike and I followed Lisa. My parents had done a fantastic and fast job in one of the houses. We just had to continue it. So we started where they left off. I couldn't believe how, in such an advanced time, we still had to build and paint with our own hands instead of using robots and stuff. So by the end of the day, I couldn't help but ask my parents.

"How come we have to do all this by hand? Isn't there some kind of technology that can do it faster?" I asked.

"Oh of course there is son. Only important buildings are done with those, though." Dad said.

"Why?" I asked.

"Because then we couldn't have none of this fun. Plus, to be honest, things get done better when they are manmade rather than robot made." My mom said while giving me a wink.

After both those answers I started analyzing the whole day and to be honest, there wasn't one single moment I wished I was somewhere else. I really did have fun doing those stuff that normally I would hate doing. I don't know why this was the case, maybe it was because I was with my loved ones. It definitely was fun. Not only that, but it did help our families bond even more. We were one huge family, doing one huge work, for one huge civilization and boy...it felt hugely great.

## Chapter 7: A birth...a change.

February 22, 2007

I was reading my previous entries and I noticed I hadn't mentioned an important fact in my life. Well, any normal person would see it as important, but then again it isn't directly related to me...not precisely. And apart from that, this little fact didn't have anything to do with any of the previous events that I have related already. After all, this is a journal for me, about me...no one and nothing else. I guess the time has come where this is needed to be mentioned, and that is that my mother had been pregnant for some time now, eight and a half months to be exact. Yet, for some complications that I will state below, she gave birth already. And this entry is about what happened, how it happened (not the exact details on the birth thing because that would be just gross) and what I dreamt about...you know, the usual entry type.

It all started around 7:00 AM yesterday. I was having my usual pop-tart before school and my mom was on the phone.

"No. But doc, I still have some weeks to go." She said on the phone while she robbed her belly. Around this same time my dad came into the room, kissed her on the forehead and walked towards the kitchen to grab his own breakfast. And again when I say breakfast, I mean cereal.

"I understand. Fine. We will be there. Thanks." My mom said in a sarcastic tone as she hung up.

"What's going on, hun?" My dad asked my mother while he sat on the table with his cereal and milk.

"Apparently I am giving birth today." My mom answered.

"Wait. What?" my dad asked surprised.

"Exactly what you heard." My mom replied kind of pissed. Here I thought she was supposed to be happy to give birth but she didn't seem like it and I wondered why. I didn't ask of course.

"But you aren't due 'till de tenth of next month." My dad replied. He was now serving his cereal. I know, now I notice that perhaps it isn't important the exact details of what he was doing, but it just seemed natural to do so.

"Yeah but Doctor Johnson is leaving tomorrow to God knows where, on vacation, and he won't be back for like a month. So he has to make me give birth now or else I will need to let another doctor take care of me." My mom explained.

"But isn't that like...dangerous?" I asked.

"Aha! Why do you think I am pissed?" My mom answered. I knew I shouldn't have asked.

"Sorry." I said, in a non-nice way.

"I agree with him Martha, I think it is too risky." My dad said. And I just realized that is the first time I wrote my mother's name in this journal. Well there you go, she is called Martha.

"Riskier than having some random doctor treat me? I don't think so." My mother said.

"I guess not. So when do we have to be there?" My dad asked.

"By nine AM." My mom replied.

"Alright Robert. You can't go to school then. You have to come with me and help me out with your mother." My dad ordered.

"Help you out how though?" I asked. I was all up for not going to school but I just didn't see the point.

"In case she needs anything while we are there. That way we don't leave her alone. You know what, don't ask questions. Just do what you are told. You are getting a free day off of school for crying out loud." My dad replied.

After this I changed my clothing to something a little bit more comfortable while my parents got ready doing God knows what. We left to the hospital around 8:30 AM more or less. We got there at precisely 9:00 AM, right on time. To my surprise the doctor was ready and waiting for us, he seemed in some sort of a hurry and I actually didn't have a good feeling about that.

"Hey doc. Here you have her." My dad said giving my mom, literally giving her, to the doctor.

"Thanks. Right this way Martha." Doctor Johnson said pointing towards a door in his left. "You guys can wait out here." He told us.

"Alright. Good luck hun." My dad said.

We had to sit in the hospital lobby while they treated my mother. It was a very nasty view to tell you the truth. We were surrounded by people with all kind of diseases. Sitting right next to me was a guy that had his....you know what? Never mind. It is just too gross to actually write. No need to go into details. But it was nasty.

For some reason, hours in hospitals seem to go slower. It is like they are stuck in some sort of special time-space quantum tunnel where time is non-existent within it. It seems like a few hours had gone by, but the truth was that only half an hour had gone by. I really don't know if I was just bored out of my mind or that I was nervous for my mother. Could it be? Could I have been anxious and nervous for my mother? I don't know. I am not sure really.

During this whole time my dad and I barely talked. He seemed more nervous than me, that is...if I was nervous. He kept moving his legs on the chair. It drove me nuts. He then stood up and walked around and then came back and sat down. So I just had to ask.

"Where you this much of a nerve wreck when I was born?" I asked.

"The problem is...never mind. I am just anxious that's all." My dad replied. I had the feeling he was hiding something from me. Later I learned that I was right. You see, my mother had actually gone a similar procedure when I was born. Although I was born when my mother was actually due, meaning that she was nine months pregnant, I was kind of forced like my little brother/sister was being forced at this time. There were some complications and I almost died. It was all good though, because I turned out just fine. I think.

After waiting for what seemed to be an eternity, like I mentioned earlier it is just hell waiting in this hospital, a nurse came out to give us the news.

"Mr. X" the nurse said. I wrote X and not the actual last name, because like I said earlier I am going to keep my last name private.

"Yes?" My dad replied. "Where is the doctor?"

"I am afraid he is gone already." The nurse asked.

"Gone? But wasn't he supposed to leave tomorrow?" My dad asked.

"Yeah. But he had some packing to do and what not." The nurse said. My dad didn't seem to like that and neither do I.

"Packing? What the...what kind of doctor is he? Leaving like that. Damn it. Anyway, how is my wife?" My dad asked.

"She...she is alright. For now. I...I don't know how to say this but.." the nurse replied.

"What? What is it?" My dad said, getting a little bit desperate.

"...sir. I am afraid...the baby is in critical conditions." The nurse said.

"What? No! Why? How? What the heck happened?" My dad asked filled with tears. My eyes started to water a little bit as well. I was looking forward to having a brother/sister and right now it seemed like the chances of that happening were pretty slim.

"We don't know sir." The nurse said but I don't think my dad listened much. He had dropped to the floor crying. "Sir, calm down. There is still a chance that she can survive." That's how we learned the sex of the baby, because the nurse was trying to calm us down. Not a really good way to learn the sex of a baby if you ask me, but a sister it was.

"Dad relax. It is going to be okay." I said crying and trying to hug him while he was on the floor.

"Can I see her? My daughter." He said while he stood up.

"I am afraid not sir. Your wife you can see though. She is in room eight fifteen." The nurse said. My dad walked towards the room and I was left behind.

"Nurse." I said as she was walking away. She turned around.

"Yes?"

"What really happened?" I asked.

"What do you mean?" The nursed asked kind of confused.

"You can't fool me. My dad is full of pain so he couldn't see it. But you are definitely hiding something. So tell me. What is it?" I asked.

"Ah. I am not sure what you are talking about kid." The nurse replied.

"Cut the crap lady. My sister could die because of what happened in there and I demand to know what the heck it was." I replied almost yelling.

"Fine, fine. Relax. Walk with me." She said as she started to walk. So I did; I walked with her. "You have to keep this between you and me alright?"

"Alright. Just tell me what the heck is going on." I said, starting to lose my patience.

"I don't think the doctor was paying much attention." The nurse said and I was completely in shock.

"What do you mean he was not paying attention?" I asked.

"Well he kept talking about his vacation trip and what not. He wasn't really focused in the operation as he should be." The nurse replied.

"Mother of...ah!" I said pissed off. "This is why the baby is delicate isn't it? He basically killed the baby."

"The baby isn't dead yet, but yes, that could have been why. And he didn't care much either. He just left the room and went to his house. He said, like I told your dad, that he needed to pack. He didn't show any kind of sensibility towards the baby or the situation. At all." The nurse explained.

"Son of a..." but right when I was about to finish my sentence we heard my dad scream.

"Need some help here. Please. Come quick!" My dad said coming out from my mother's room. The nurse ran towards him and I followed. My mom was shacking really hard. The nurse came in and took care of her and stabilized her pretty quickly.

"We need to keep her here for some days, this is not normal." The nurse explained. My dad was sitting right besides my mother; grabbing her hand.

"This is because of that damn doctor isn't it?" I whispered to the nurse as she walked pass me.

She looked at me and tried to avoid contact. She then looked back at my mother, looked back at me and let a big breath out. "I don't know. I really don't know." She finally said.

My mom stayed there for a few days. We had to sleep, uncomfortable, for a few nights as well, on a chair or a very hard sofa. They were the worst days of my life, not only I couldn't have my precious sleep but my mom was lying there very weak and the doctors didn't know what she had. Then suddenly the unexpected happened, the heart monitor started to beep rapidly. My mom didn't look good. Some doctors came in for her aid.

"What is going on?" My dad asked desperate.

"Need IV." One of the doctors said.

Then the thing went flat line. Her heart had stopped beating. My dad was going nuts grabbing his hair not knowing what to do. I just looked at the doctors, watching if they could do anything about it. They shocked her with the two metallic things; I really don't know what they call them. She jumped from the shock. But nothing happened. Thing kept flat lined. They kept trying for a few minutes but nothing.

"I am sorry." One of the doctors said. "Time of death, six thirty-four PM."

"Noo!" my dad said crying his heart out. He fell on her and kept crying. I swear some tears came out of my eye but not much. To contrary believe, because of the way she treated me, I did love my mother with my whole heart. So her departure definitely hurt a lot but I just didn't feel like expressing it with tears. My mom was gone and I am sure part of my dad and me were gone as well.

Then we went home and we were both very tired because we hadn't had a good night sleep for some days now. My dad didn't say a word. He just walked into his room and locked himself up in there. I didn't know how to make him feel better. I felt sorry for the guy and I was kind of sad as well. At least my sister did survive. I don't know if my dad will be able to pay attention to her without thinking about my mom's death but I do hope he treats her better than what he treated me. Anyway, I decided to go to my room and rest a little bit, it was 8:00 PM after all.

I was really tired but for some reason I managed to dream. You know, sometimes they say that when you are really tired you don't dream. Well, for some reason I did. And I am really glad I did.

Interestingly enough, it started pretty similar to my "real life" experience. I use the quote marks because as of lately, it has been kind of hard to distinguish between reality and my dreams. Anyway, I was sitting on the table eating my pop-tarts, or what seemed to be pop-tarts. To be honest, I am not quite sure what it was. It doesn't really matter, those it? Back to the dream: my mom was on the phone as well.

"No. That's ok doc. We will be there. Alright. Thanks. Bye." My mom said on the phone while she was robbing her belly again. The exact same scenario except for the fact that my mom didn't sound sarcastic.

"What's going on?" My dad said as he walked into the room. He kissed my mom "Morning Robert." He said as he grabbed his cereal.

"Morning, dad." I replied.

"Nothing honey. That was Doctor Johnson, he wants us to be there by nine AM." My mom explained. I started to get scared so I intervened before my dad could talk.

"But mom. You aren't due for like another two weeks or so." I said assuming that she had the same time of pregnancy as my mother in the real world.

"No babe. I have two days to go actually." My mom explained. "You okay? You knew this."

"Right. But if is two days, why are we going today?" I asked.

"Precisely because of that." My dad said. I don't know if he was trying to explain it to me or what, but I sure didn't understand. Luckily, my mom noticed and stepped up.

"They keep me there two days before birth so they can monitor everything. In case something happens." My mom explained.

"Oh I see. What about dad and me?" I asked.

"Well you are coming of course." My mom said.

"But I hate waiting at hospitals. They are so uncomfortable." I said and my mom and dad laughed. I looked at them strangely because I didn't see what was funny. "What?"

"You have a weird sense of humor kiddo." My mom replied.

"Okay." I said as I kept eating. I decided to ignore the whole subject; it seemed like the wisest thing to do in this situation.

After we were all done eating we headed to the hospital. We went on my dad's car. Or now that I think of it, I am not sure if it was my dad's car of my mom's. It was definitely better than mine though. Although mine was off the roof in coolness. This one had a more familiar sense to it. You see, it also had auto-pilot, but instead of being divided in the usual way. You know, the driver's sit, the passenger sit and behind it a row for three people or more, it was actually a circle inside. It was like a limousine now that I think of it; except it really had no driver's seat anywhere. We just sat down, buckled up and my dad said "Saint John's Hospital." And off we went.

In the middle there was a table, above that there was a plasma TV (or what seemed like a plasma TV to me, but I am pretty sure it was some other technology because it had a holographic look to it) that went around in circle. Basically it was a big TV that you could see from anywhere in the circle. We only turned it on for a few minutes though, and it was just to watch the news pretty quickly. We arrived at the hospital in no time.

I was impressed with the look of the hospital. It didn't seem old and boring. It was actually a multi-colored building; a huge one to say the least. People were coming in and out in a hurry, but most of them smiling. A pretty weird scenario for a hospital if you ask me.

When we went into the hospital a nurse greeted us. "Oh hello Martha. How are you today?"

"I am doing great thank you for asking Rosey." My mom said. I know, typical nurse name isn't it?

"We have your suite set and ready to go. Please follow me." Rosey said, so we did. We followed her. As you have probably guessed by now, we were taken to room 815.

What took me by surprise though was the fact that when we went in, it seemed as if we were in a hotel instead of a hospital room. _This must be wrong_ , I thought to myself. Not any hotel room mind you. It was actually a suite as Rosey had previously stated. There was a living room and a kitchen. I also had my own room, full of videogames and an amazing plasma TV (again it was actually a holographic TV, but bear with me). My mother had her own room and my dad did as well. My mom's room actually looked like a hospital room but much more cozy. It had a typical hospital bed, although the equipment that surrounded it seemed much more advanced, but the room was filled with colors and just simple joy.

"Doctor Johnson will be with you in a minute." Rosey explained.

"Thanks." My mom replied and smiled. Rosey smiled back as she walked away.

"Wow this is awesome." I said. Still impressed with what was surrounding me. My parents simply smiled.

For some reason I don't remember much of the details that went by during this two days. I am sure I spent much of my time with the videogames and locked up in my room. I hope I did remember though, because I am sure those videogames would have been pretty kick ass.

Anyway, the dream seemed to jump towards the having the baby part. Actually, my mom had already had the baby. We were in the room, and she had the baby in her arms. My dad was sitting right besides her, with one arm around her and the other one he used it to play with the baby.

"Hey Robert. Don't you want to say hi to your sister?" My dad said when he noticed that I was standing in the door.

"So it is a girl, huh?" I said as I walked towards her.

"Not any girl though. She is your sister." My mom said smiling.

"How are we going to call her?" I asked.

"Hm. I don't know. What do you think we should call her, hun?" My dad asked my mom.

"I don't know either. What do you think Robert?" my mom asked me. I was surprised by this and I really didn't know what to answer. I gave a good look at my sister, I noticed her big beautiful eyes, and the name just popped into my head.

"She looks like a Melanie to me." I replied.

"She does indeed." My dad said.

"Hi Melanie, I am your mom; this is your dad, and that boy right there, that is your big brother." My mom said talking to my newly born sister. I just stared at them with a smile that covered my whole face. It was my family.

"Welcome to the family little sister." I said and then...I woke up.

## Chapter 8: Another Perspective

February 24, 2007

I have barely enough time to write this down. There are many changes going on around here, some that I don't even want to talk about. I fear this might even be my last entry, for reasons that I can't explain right now. Hopefully I am wrong though.

My mother's funeral was held yesterday. It was definitely a sad moment and it might sound a little bit cliché but what they say is true: "You don't know what you have, until you lose it." I never realized how much I cared for my mother until yesterday; when she was surrounded by wood and being put down into the earth, where her body will lie forever. My father was holding my new born sister, because he was too cheap to pay for a baby sitter. He tried to hold his tears back, and even though he succeeded, a few tears still escaped his eyes. I tried to do the same, but I was a little bit weaker than him, since I pretty much broke down in tears. I guess it is better not to hold that anyway.

Once I got home though I went directly to my room. The house was way quieter now. For a moment I just wished my mother was there, even to fight with her about something. That is when it really hit me hard. In the end, I cried myself to sleep...and I dreamt.

In the dream someone had died too. I was not sure who it was, but we were home getting ready when my mom said "Come on, we are going to be late for Jack's funeral." Curiously enough though, they seemed pretty calmed about it so I assumed he wasn't close to us or something. My mom grabbed something from the table, it seemed like a gift but I couldn't quite tell what it was and then we exited the house.

The dream skipped to us arriving at the place. It looked like an amazing house from the outside, which seemed weird to me since I assumed we were going to a funeral not a house. Apparently, this is where the funeral was being held. When we got into the house it seemed like a party more than anything else. I was really shocked about that. My mom took her present and placed it under a picture of a guy, which is where I noticed who it was, it was Lisa's father. The family came to greet us shortly after and I gave her a hug and said I was sorry about her father's death.

"Sorry? Why would you be?" Lisa asked kind of surprised. I thought she was joking, but in case she wasn't I wanted to clarify my statement.

"Cause...He passed away." I said.

"And that is a bad thing because..." Lisa said as we were interrupted by our parents that dinner was ready.

In dinner everyone said what seemed to be a little prayer but most of them consisted of "I am glad you are back home." Or "let us know how it is" and stuff like that. I was really freaked out about it all and I didn't understand crap either. What did they mean with "back home"? And how could they all be so calm about it? I guess there was something I was missing, but I just couldn't quite place it.

Shortly after that I woke up. It was definitely refreshing to see a different aspect of death, where people just took it as something normal and pretty much just celebrated it. I guess we just suffer the death of our loved ones because of selfishness more than anything. We just can't accept the fact that we won't see them again. Instead, what we should do is accept that they are in a better place. Way better place...

## Chapter 9: Basic Training and A real Date

March 24, 2007

It has been exactly a month since my last entry. Perhaps twenty-four is my luck number, who knows. I wrote that last piece in a real hurry because of all the mess that was going around back home. Now I am a little bit calmer, writing from the bunk bed the Army gave me. Yeah, something that I never thought was actually going to happen, happened...I joined the Army of the United States. I didn't really join because I wanted to though; simply because I had to.

With the new born baby sister and with my mother gone, my father couldn't really afford a lot of stuff in the house, much less pay my tuition. Instead, since I am already eighteen, he decided I should leave to the Army. Thankfully though, although I am doing basic training, I will probably be working with computers and stuff instead of the actual field; at least that is what I hope.

I have only taken two weeks of training and it is already draining me out. I can't believe what it must be like when you are out there on the field for thirty days straight, with nothing really good to eat, and with almost no sleep at all since all you can really think about is the fact that on the next corner there will be an enemy waiting for you. This is really tense and now, more than ever, I wish my mother was still around.

Anyway, enough with the depressing bullshit, I am writing because I had a dream last night and it was a very awesome dream. For the first time though, I didn't dream anything related to something that had happened to me on that current day. All I did during my "actual reality" was train for almost five hours and the dream had nothing to do with that. I found this pretty interesting and I still don't understand why that happened. I am hoping I will be able to figure it out in the near future though.

In the dream I was already on the middle of a video-call with Lisa. Which took me by surprise but then again, I went with the flow of the conversation as if I had been there from the very beginning.

"I know, but then again, we can still make it to all of them. We can just go to the movies now, which will give us enough time to go to the game and after that we will keep rolling with Mike for his birthday party." Lisa said and I am glad I caught that part of the conversation. Thanks to that, I knew that it was Mike's birthday and if my calculations were right, he should be turning eighteen as well.

"That sounds good. Should I pick you up or should we meet there?" I asked her not sure if it was the right thing to do.

"Well they just installed the instant-teleport at the movies, so I think we should use that." Lisa suggested even though I wasn't sure what the instant-teleport was. Although I was guessing it was pretty much that, a teleporter that got you there...instantly.

"Is there an instant...whatever at the baseball stadium though?" I said. I am not sure how I knew it was a baseball stadium either, I simply assumed.

"No, we can simply teleport back to your house from the movies, and take the car there to the stadium." Lisa said and I felt stupid for not thinking about that. Then again, I am not used to the whole instant-teloportation thing.

"Right! Kind of stupid on my part. Alright well I will see ya there in..." I said and she continued my phrase with "five minutes will do." And then I added "Alright, see ya then."

"Bye." She added and gestured a kiss. I think I turned red or something when she did that, because she laughed before hanging up.

As I hung up, a call from Mike was coming in. I answered it and all I could see was his ear. "Robert? Are you there? I am freaking out. Man? You there?" Mike quickly said before I could say anything first.

"First of all get your ear away from the phone." I said and he just got the phone a little bit away from his ear. "Stare at the phone Mike. It is a video call." I added not knowing why he was acting like this.

Mike turned the phone towards him and when he did, he looked a little bit shocked and said "Woah! This is pretty awesome"

"Yeah. You have been using it all your life..." I said, kind of lost with Mike's attitude still.

"What are you talking about dude? We had always dreamt about this and now here we have it!" Mike said pretty excited. I thought he was just joking around.

"Anyway, why are you freaking out?" I asked.

"Why am I...dude everything is freaking different; so futuristic, so awesome. This phone for example, I am freaking seeing you as I talk to you. You look pretty darn ugly, but this is just madness." Mike said.

"Are you mocking me?" I asked wondering if he was just trying to make fun of the way I was weeks or months before. I really don't know how much time had passed in the _dream world._

"Eh no. I am serious dude. Aren't you seeing everything that is around you?" Mike said.

"Yeah I am and it is amazing, but I thought you were already used to it." I added.

"I am used to my Razr phone and a crappy car. What I am not used to, though, is a phone that looks like Apple from twenty-fifty invented and a car that just seems like a rocket ship." Mike explained and here I noticed that although he was a good imitator, he was definitely not that good of an actor. He was definitely as shock as I was at first when I started discovering everything from this world. I decided to test it out.

"How much do you think that phone costs?" I asked. If he knew about money he would answer this in a heartbeat, and he did.

"More than a million dollars, for sure. This is probably the kind of phone Bill Gates uses man or maybe Derek Jeter." Mike said. Here is where I was certain that he was going through the exact same phase as I was. Something I later noticed was that I started having this experiences on my eighteenth birthday as well. Something weird was going on, and I am not sure what it was.

Knowing that Mike was going through the same situation as I was, I decided to help him out a little bit but at the same time play as if I didn't know what the heck he was talking about or why he was acting that way. That is what people did with me anyway and it worked, so it should work with him as well.

"Anyway man, are you ready for tonight?" I asked.

"Tonight? What happens tonight?" Mike asked a little bit lost, which I expected.

"Your big game of course!" I added not being sure what else to say if he asked something else after that, but I just had to go with the flow.

"What big game? What the heck you talking about Robert?" Mike asked.

"Your Major League game with the Yanks bro! The game starts at seven PM so I am guessing you should be on your way already, for practice and whatever." I said and when I did, Mike stared at something in front of him. He was in shock.

"What is it Mike?" I added. He then turned the camera and showed me the Yankee Stadium. It looked pretty amazing; _Yankee Stadium_ was written in blue (obviously) in a holographic way.

"I guess that is why I am here then." Mike said as he kept pointing his camera towards the Yankee Stadium.

"You go in there. I will meet you there later. I have to go now." I said but didn't hear anything back from Mike. "Mike?" I added.

"Yeah?" Mike asked as he turned the phone around.

"I have to go so I will see you later tonight alright?" I said as if I was talking to a four year old.

"Yeah alright." Mike added and I hung up.

Now a big problem presented itself. I wasn't really sure how to use the instant-teleporter. I decided to play it through and let my instincts guide me. I walked towards the garage and there was a big cylinder on the far right hand corner. There, as I approached the cylinder, it opened up and said "Where to?" I decided to step inside and I said "Movies please". Before I could actually blink, I was at the movies. There she was, Lisa waiting for me to go inside.

"Took you long enough." She said smiling.

"Yeah, there was a lot of traffic sorry." I added and she laughed. "Guess I can't use that one can I?"

"Nope." She said as she grabbed me by the arm and we walked in.

I was hoping the dream wouldn't jump this part as it did last time and boy am I glad it didn't. When we walked into the movie theater there seemed to be hundreds if not thousands of seats there. I guess this is why the doorman laughed when Mike asked if it was full a few days ago. I couldn't quite understand how all this people could actually have a good sit to watch the movie but I decided to ignore that fact and just sit down. I don't remember exactly how we chose our sits because before I knew it we were already sitting.

For some reason my chair looked different from Lisa's. Her chair actually looked like a couch almost, but mine just looked plain and a little bit uncomfortable. She then asked "aren't you going to change your seat?"

I didn't want to look like a fool, once again, so I added "Of course I am." I tried to look around to see how I could do it. Yet I didn't find any kind of buttons or anything to deal with this thing. I looked at her and she was there eating her popcorn now.

"How the...where did you get that from?" I asked.

"What you mean?" She said.

"The popcorn." I stated. "Where did it come from?"

"Where it always comes from...the kitchen I guess?" Lisa said not knowing why I was asking.

I decided to concentrate on how to change the chair again and decided to forget about the popcorn for a minute. Then I thought _damn it, I just wish this looked like Lisa's chair._ And as I was finishing the sentence my chair suddenly changed to the exact same as Lisa's. Apparently it was thought-driven or something. I don't know how it worked, but to say it was really awesome is just an understatement. I decided to play around with it a little bit until it was comfortable enough for me.

Since the popcorn came out of nowhere as well, I decided to use the thought process again. _Hm, I am craving some chocolate._ And bam! A bar of chocolate appeared to my right. _How about some coke?_ And there it was as well, a pretty big glass of coke; jaw dropping indeed. How it worked? I have no idea. Then again, I don't know how my TV works either. I just know it does and that is all I care about.

Soon after that, the movie started. I won't write about the whole movie here though, because it would be like writing a book which I really don't want to do. The movie was pretty amazing though. I was impressed with it and I really couldn't get my eyes off of it even though I had Lisa on my left. The movie was simply so interesting and suspenseful, it was different to the usual crap and I loved it for it. Some scenes seemed a little bit familiar though and I didn't know why. That is...until the credits rolled. That is when I understood why the movie seemed a little bit familiar to me. The first words to appear after the movie finished were "Directed and Written by Robert" and my Last Name which, like I said, I won't mention here.

Apparently I had written and directed the damn thing and it was amazing! I couldn't believe it. Not only did I love it, but everyone else on the theater applauded after it was over. So I am guessing they loved it too. They loved something I had created and it just felt amazing.

After the movie was over we went to the Yankee Stadium to watch Mike play. There he was, playing second base for one of my favorite teams of all time. We were actually on a very neat spot, near first base; we could practically touch the grass if we wanted to. Mike looked pretty excited in there as well. The Stadium looked better than ever too, I had always loved the Yankee Stadium but this was just something else; something beyond my wild dreams.

The game was pretty awesome, Mike managed to hit a double and made a few good plays, but it was obvious he was pretty nervous. People then congratulated him after the game for playing so well on his first game. It was a really cool thing to presence. He even got a standing ovation from the stadium. Now that is something! What a birthday huh? And I guess the party hadn't started yet.

Shortly after the game, where the Yankees won 4-2 against the Red Sox by the way, we went to Mike's birthday party. Of this I have no recollection at all expect for one little detail. Mike, Lisa and I were talking when Mike just had to leave for a second. Then Lisa and I got to talk and I got pushed against her by someone that bumped with me. I was standing face to face with her, our noses barely touching. I looked at her straight at the eyes and I knew she was thinking the same thing as me. I leaned in and kissed her, softly and gently. I then pulled apart and I leaned my forehead against hers. I saw that she was smiling, with her eyes closed, and we kept kissing. Now that, to me, was the best part of the dream.

## Chapter 10: Some lessons learned

November 9, 2007

Wow it has been a while since I have written here. I just read my last entry and man that was an amazing dream indeed. I have been dreaming less lately, but I still have been dreaming. I haven't been able to write it all down though because I am now pretty much on war. My training went pretty well and they decided to send me as infantry. I am currently deployed in Iraq and I am writing this in one of our bases because I feel like I have to write some finals note downs. All I will do on this entry though is summarize a few things that I have learned from my past dreams, since I really don't remember them all in detail because some of them occurred months ago.

The first thing I learned is why I am not having dreams from my reality anymore. See, there are no wars in this _dream world_ of mine. Therefore, since I have been dealing with war stuff for the past few months, my dreams aren't related to my reality. All I dream about is random stuff that simply calm me down, or some really enlightening stuff.

Like, for example, I also learned that there is no government in this other world either. When I learned this I thought _how do they manage to keep control though?_ It seems like control isn't something that needs to be kept anymore. Everyone seems to know how to behave and they know what needs to be done; they know what is right and what is wrong. Not only that, but people don't seem to hurt others either. I remember one time, I accidently hit Mike on his right arm and for some reason my right arm hurt as well. There is when I learned why people don't hurt each other anymore: everyone is connected, if you hurt someone, you will be hurting yourself...literally.

Although they don't have a government they do have a group that keeps tabs on making decisions. It is consisted of only fifteen people, ranging from young teenagers to the elderly. This group is changed every three months, and it is said that everyone gets to participate once. Curiously enough though, the group that was currently in charge when I learned all this, had only dealt with three problems, and it was about how to deal with new technology or simple things like that. In the end they have to make important decisions, but they make smart choices and everyone trusts whoever is in that group. To me it seemed like an amazing way to deal with stuff. And yes, it is a group for the whole planet, since there are no divisions anymore.

The most important thing I actually learned is that there are no religions either. Religions in our present time just cause separation and fanatics. Not only that, but they are as much as a business as Playboy or Microsoft; no joke. In my _dream world_ everyone respects each other's believes. What seemed kind of interesting though, is that almost everyone seemed to have the same believe and it was simple: whatever you think heaven will be like, then that is how it will be. For those whom didn't think there was a heaven, who were actually the minority, a world similar to the one they were currently living in, was created for them on heaven. To me, it seemed like a pretty plausible idea. I don't know what to believe yet though.

Now to close up this entry, because they are turning the lights out in a few minutes, I learned something very important as well that could, perhaps, go with the religion stuff. I was introduced to _Gabrielle_ ; a very good looking female whom appeared to me on my room (the one I had back home, since on my _dream_ world I was still back home) a random night. She explained everything that was going on and who she was. I dreamt this last night, so I remember most of it and I will try to write it down.

"Hello Robert." She said.

"Woah! Who are you?" I said scared because she had appeared out of nowhere.

"My name is Gabrielle. You don't have to be afraid." She said.

"What are you doing here?" I asked.

"I am your spirit guide." She stated.

"My...my what?" I asked.

"Your spirit guide. I am here to guide you through life and to help you on your rough times. Although you don't seem to be having any, I am here to explain why the latest events have occurred as they have." She said.

"What latest events?" I asked.

"Why you couldn't understand this world at first. Why you started dreaming when you were eighteen; those events." She said.

"How do you know about that?" I asked and she smiled.

"Like I said. I am your spirit guide." She said.

"Okay. So explain." I said.

"I think you already know." She said.

"Didn't you say you were going to explain though?" I asked.

"Yes. The process works better if you try to explain it yourself. I am here because you are ready." She stated.

"Well. I am not quite sure really. As I see it, this is my future life or something and for some reason I am connected to it." I said.

"Actually, you got it in reverse." She said.

"This is a past life? How can it be?" I asked.

"No. This is your present life. The other life, the one where you are in the Army and where your mother died, that is a past life." She stated.

"I don't get it. Why don't I remember my life before I was eighteen here? And why is this happening to me?" I asked.

"It actually happens to everyone when they become eighteen years old here. We show them a past life, usually their worst, so they realize and learn how times were back then. That way they will keep living this life the correct way; the loving way, the way you have been living it thus far. And you will remember everything once it is all settled again. You will remember this experience and you will have your memories from before you were eighteen." Gabrielle explained.

"What do you mean when everything settles? And why is it that everyone here also exists in my past life? Almost everyone, at least." I asked

"When humans incarnate they decide to do so with the same circle of people as they have incarnated before. It makes them feel comfortable and it helps them solve any kind of past problems. New people join new circles from time to time though. It is their choice." She explained.

"That is pretty cool. That's how I thought it was going to be too. I guess I just knew, somehow." I said and she just smiled. "You didn't answer my first question though, what do you mean when you said 'when everything settles'?" As soon as I asked that she smiled again and a big white light covered her and I woke up.

_Damn it!_ I remember thinking. I hate waking up on those critical moments of my dreams. I guess I knew what she meant though. Everything suddenly makes sense and I am glad. It has been an amazing experience and I am glad this isn't my actual life. I am curious though, how will everything start to settle and if I will ever dream again.

I have to close it out now though; I am starting to hear some gunfire outside. I am glad I decided to write this journal and I will continue to do so because if the future is the way I have been dreaming, then this should definitely give people some [...]

## Epilogue

This journal was recovered on January 28, 2008 from a United Stated base in Iraq. The exact location cannot be discussed for obvious reasons. I managed to get my hands on this diary, which was going to be thrown away, and I read through it. To me it seemed pretty amazing.

Private Robert doesn't have any history of craziness or anything for that matter. I even asked the father, whom wasn't really cooperative about it. He just said that his son barely talked to him, which he is mad about because he didn't know his son as well as he would have wanted to.

I have always been a believer of many of the things Robert has stated here and I am not entirely sure if someone can have such a vast imagination to come up with so many of the things he has written about. Maybe I am wrong, I don't know. I just thought that the whole world should probably read this, or at least a few good people. I am sure it will arrive at the correct hands.

To close up, I must say that it is sad that he couldn't finish his last sentence. I have added [...] to let people know that it wasn't finished. Apparently he was killed while writing this journal. He died writing the truth, and I feel like it is my duty to help him finish it out. Help me and spread it with me.

I must add that this hasn't been edited at all. It has been spread as it was originally found. And to finish it up, I just want to say that I am sure he was about to write one last word and only one: _hope._

###

## About the author:

J.M. Array was born on July 2nd, 1989 in Santurce, Puerto Rico. He is currently studying Computer Science at the University of Puerto Rico, Mayagüez Campus. Writing might be a simple hobby for him, but definitely a great passion.

This is his first published book through eBook format. He will be publishing another book soon as well. So if you liked what you saw here, stay tuned for more.

**Connect with me online** :

If you liked what you read, feel free to let me know by sending me an email at jmarray9@gmail.com. (I read every single email, so please write to me. I WILL get back to you!)

Also if you have twitter feel free to follow me: @jmarray

And visit my blog to stay updated with whatever it is I am currently doing: http://www.jmarray.com
