Don’t Cut The Strings

"Goodnight mom, I'll see you in the morning."

I walk upstairs to my room with a stomach filled with casserole. I jump into bed while I pull my glasses off, planting them on my dresser. My dark room is all a blur before closing my eyes.

I wake up in the place I've always felt at home. A place where things can be in the correct place.

My dreams.

I'm lying down in my usual spot, enjoying the landscape of my darkly beautiful, fantasies. My world is lightly tinted. Trees grow large as far as the eye can see, which here I can see pretty damn far.

I rub my face gently and feel only skin and I smile. Waterfalls rush across my land and every night I spend my time formulating my next day.

Because here, I'm the one that's in control.

"What the hell..."

I look over the distance and see a slim girl with long wavy hair. She's only wearing a ripped cloth and her eyes are golden brown. How did she get here?

She starts to approach me while smiling.

Theoretically, wouldn't seeing this girl here be impossible? I mean I've never seen anyone like her before.

I stand up from my spot and lock eyes with her as if to greet her.

"Hi, you must be Mason, I'm Mallory."

"H-how do you know my name, and how did you get here...do I know you??"

She closes her eyes and giggles.

"You sure ask a lot of questions. Which one should I answer first?"

She looks at me with a playful smile while twirling her brown hair. Damn...she's gorgeous.

"A-all of them," I say almost sternly.

She starts to play in my hair.

"I'm sure you're wondering how I just popped up here. Well.. I don't think that's really important, Mason."

"I need to know how you got he-."

"I lost my sister."

"Huh?"

"You have a gift, Mason."

"What, a gift? I'm just a dreamer."

She smiles.

"Mason, look at this place, you're it's creator. It's all so beautiful."

"Because it's a dream. Can't you dream too?"

"I can, I can. But you, Mason, you have the ability to create. To cultivate."

"What the hell are you saying?"

"My sister died in her sleep, and I need your help to bring her back."

I hear ringing outside my head.

"My alarm, I have to go to school."

"I know," she says while sitting Indian style.

"Where will you go," I ask with concern.

"Nowhere too far," she says before I abruptly wake up.

I'm covered in sweat and I'm confused as hell.

Where did that chick come from and what's gonna happen next?

I spit out my toothpaste and examine my frail eyes and blurry skin.

"Hurry up, Mason, you'll be late for school," my mom yells up the stairs to me.

"Got it, coming."

I slide through my clothes and place my glasses on before heading down the stairs.

We both jump in the car and head toward school. I occasionally look at each tree that passes the car window, comparing them to the lush trees of my world. What the hell is gonna happen the next time I go back there?

We pull up at the school and my mom parks the car in front of the school and looks at me with concern.

"Make sure you come straight home and get some sleep, Mason. Sleep during this year of high school is important, okay honey," my mom says.

"What do you mean, mom, I always get sleep."

She stumbles but catches herself rather quickly.

"Oh, I know, I just love you and want you to continue to get your rest."

I smile and return the gesture before leaving the car and heading toward the doors.

Kids' voices pop around me, like sizzling bacon with gossipy grease landing into each ear before I insert my earbuds.

I walk through the river of people flowing down each side of my body. Some are sliding into their lockers, like swiping a card a shopping mall. I head to my locker and begin to open it. I feel a slap on my shoulder. I look over and see my best friend, Lucas, moving his mouth rapidly. He pulls out one of my earbuds.

"Did you hear me, dude??"

"No, I didn't, what's up?"

"There's this new chick that apparently enrolled today." He points toward her direction without looking at her.

I look up at her and see that she has long brown hair and a slim body. Hm.

"Dude, stop looking at her, she'll notice."

I look down quickly.

"Awe, it looks like Mascy Wacy found his true love," he mocks with a goofy smile.

"Knock it off, man. She just looks kinda familiar somehow."

"Familiar?"

Right before I reply, the bell rings that signals the start of our 1st class.

We walk to class and sit inside the classroom shortly after the bell. I open my notebook and lie my pencil on the desk beside it.

"Hey, you think we'll be able to swipe our v cards this year?"

I look up at Lucas.

"How do you know I haven't already?"

"Dude, you have color coordinated notebooks for each class."

"Shut the fuck up," I whisper as we both snicker in quietness.

"Attention class, today I'd love to introduce you all to our new student. Today is her first day, so I would appreciate it if you would show her some extra kindness."

"Um, hello everyone. My name is Mallory and I'm glad to be here."

Wait, Mallory?? What the hell is going on. Did I dream about this person before meeting them? Not possible. It can't be.

"Dude, do you hear me??"

"Oh, uh, no. What'd you say?"

"Christ dude, I said little Lucas would love to meet her, you gotta pay attention because that was important information."

I pull off my glasses and wipe them clean. I place them back on my face and yep, this is actually still happening.

She walks past my desk, glancing at me briefly before taking her seat next to me.

The class moved on as usual and I past the time doodling in my notebook and looking up at Mallory.

The bell rings and we walk out of the classroom.

"Hey bro, I'll catch you tomorrow, my mom has to take me to the doctor, so I'll just probably text you."

"Doctor, what's up?"

"Eh, she said that I'm not getting enough sleep and she wanted me to see a doc. You should get more sleep too bro it'll keep you focused."

Lucas quickly gets up and takes off before I can respond.

I get up and walk out of the classroom. I head to my locker and pop in my books and after closing it, Mallory appears behind the locker door.

"Holy shit!"

"I'm sorry for scaring you," she says with a smile.

"Our teacher asked me to speak with you for help around the school."

"Oh, she told you to ask me that?"

"She did."

"Haha, well I'm not really sure I'm the bes-"

"Come on."

She pulls my hand and we head toward the outside of the school.

Shortly, we're on the roof area of the school where students normally come to study in private. But of course no one is here this time around.

"I'm sorry I had to come here like this, Mason."

"What the hell is going on, did I dream you last night?"

"Yes, this is what I'm talking about, Mason, you're special. The type of power you have is something that can bring her back.

"Okay, when the hell are you gonna start making sense?"

The bell rings for the next class.

"That was the bell, I'll see you again tonight, Mason."

She gets up and begins to walk away.

"Wait, when are you gonna explain this?"

She just ignores me.

I go through classes with the conversation still in my head. Who is this girl, really?

"Hey, son. How was school today," my mom eagerly asks me as I climb in the car.

"It was uh, it was cool."

We speed down the road toward the house.

"Now that we've ate dinner, I think you should go ahead and head to bed."

"Bed, but it's like 8:15?"

My mom gets up and begins to collect the dishes.

"Head to bed, honey," she says with a smile.

I get up and head upstairs to my room.

As soon as my body comes in contact with the bed, my eyes become heavy.

I wake up in my world. But it looks different than usual. The skies are white, like the aftermath of a torrential downpour. The trees are slumped over, like a drunken man, dehydrated. The grass is wilted.

I see someone in the distance. I approach the figure slowly and see a man with his head down, digging into the ground with a rock.

"Um, hello," I mutter in confusion.

The man stops his digging and looks up at me.

"What the hell..."

It's me!? The hair, the face, the body. What in the hell is happening?

"Oh, you're me," he says casually.

"Yeah, why, I mean, how are you here? Only I decide what's here."

"You haven't noticed, have you?"

"Noticed what exactly?"

"That you're not in control anymore."

A shock of pain slivers into the top of my skull. I hold my head and notice a scar in my double's head.

"Losing c-control?"

He sees me staring at his head.

"Oh, you're wondering where this scar came from, right?"

I say nothing as I grasp my face.

"This is a scar from your birth. It went away before you could remember seeing it. It's really just symbolism for why nothing in life really heals."

"But that's so Nihilistic, our bodies get hurt all the time, but we always heal from our wounds and get stronger."

He shakes his head and begins to dig again.

"Healing is a social construct. No matter how much time passes, your wounds will always be there, it's just a matter of more skin growing over it. It's repressive at best."

"I don't agree with any of thi-"

Mallory slaps my desk and I snap into reality.

"You fell asleep while I was telling you why I needed you, Mason. Please pay attention."

"I'm sorry, but I was just in bed."

"No, you fell asleep here. Come on, let's just continue this in the library before the next class comes in here."

We get up and head to the library, she's pulling my hand and I can't help but think about how crazy my life has been these past few days.

She practically throws me at a desk in the back of the library. There's already a book lying on the table, so I decide to open it.

"The subject's consciousness is weakening. I believe that we have him where we need him."

"No, we need more time, his power is still too strong."

Mallory slaps the table, while closing the book as well.

"Hehe, don't go reading things, Mason, we have things to discuss," she says with a crooked smile.

"Shit, sir that was close. Mason almost saw his body. Almost saw us"

"His power is much stronger than we once thought. We need to make Mallory more grounded in reality. Make her a love interest, someone that Mason can trust. His power is something that we can harvest, but it'll take time."

"But, sir, do you think he'll realize where he is?"

"Regardless of he does or not, he'll have no idea how to escape it."