a/n: (it's weird not to write a disclaimer) Hey, everyone. My name is jandl and this is my first story, so please be kind. It won't make sense at first, I don't think, but please bear with me, this is nothing like fan fiction and I've never done it before, so I'm not sure if I'm any good….well, here goes nothing.
The Dream Sliders.
Chapter One: The First Dream
"Emma! Emma! Emma Marie Wilds, if you don't get up right this minute, I'm going to have to come up there after you and it's not going to be pretty!" came the voice of Emma's mother from up the stairwell.
"Coming, Mom!" Emma yelled back, sleepily. She rolled over onto her back and drew her soft sheets further up her body, savoring the warmth. She took a deep breath, savoring the smell of her freshly cleaned sheets from the night before. She loved the smell of fabric softener. It brought the smell of Spring, which always provided a sense that all was right with the world. It was a nice illusion…a lie…but a nice one.
"Emma!" she heard her mother call again. Emma sat up, aggravated. If she didn't get up now, there'd be hell to pay with her mother.
She slowly lowered her feet to the floor, hissing slightly as her feet made contact with the cold wood. What she wouldn't give for a carpet. She slowly ambled across her room, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes, and looked through her drawers for something to wear. She decided not to be too picky since she was running late, and settled for a pair of jeans and a loose t-shirt. She pulled her shoulder-length, brown hair into a messy ponytail and left her room, hastily pulling her shoes on as she went. There would be no time for a shower today, regretfully. This meant her hair was going to look really stringy and she was going to be in a really bad mood all day. So far her day was going great.
"Finally, sleeping beauty is awake," mimicked her younger sister, Andrea.
"Shut, up, retard!"
"Don't be so mean to your sister, Emma. Now, eat up, you'll be late for school."
Emma grudgingly sat down at the table. What a way to cheer her up. She had just had to mention the hell-hole that was school. Meadowbrook High school in Queens. What fun…
She slowly picked up a sausage and bit into it, savoring the greasy taste that burst into her mouth. She loved sausage! She loved the way the juice dribbled down her chin, leaving a faint trace of the taste on her lips. It made her feel primitive; predatorily primitive. It was the only time she felt in control.
She watched as her mother checker her watch, grabbed Emma's plate from out in front of her, and placed it in the sink. "Emma, you need to go or you'll be late."
"You say that like it's a bad thing," Emma muttered, gathering her many school books and headed out the door. She took a deep breath of fresh air and coughed. Exhaust. Oh, the wonders of downtown New York.
She slowly started to walk the ten block trail it took to get to her school. As she did, she nervously fiddled with her ponytail, and let her hair down. Who cared if her hair was stringy? It would make her less noticeable. With her hair in front of her face, she could be a nobody. That was the way she liked it. No attachments, no heartaches, no fights, no feeling lonely after high school. She was leaving after this year, and that would be that. At least, she wouldn't have to worry about anyone but her family.
She walked through the front doors of Meadowbrook High School, nervously flattening her hair in front of her face. 'Just hurry to your locker and get to class. No one will see you; they never have, they never will,' she thought to herself. Ever since she had been a small child, she had worked her hardest not to be noticed. She wasn't sure why, but she just never felt like she wanted to stick out. After all, most geniuses weren't "people persons."
She wasn't quite sure yet, but she was briefly considering becoming more social when she went to Sweet Briar University. If she got accepted, that is. She wanted to go there to become a writer and study drama. She didn't want any major roles, since that would cause *too much* social life, but she wanted to try a hand at acting. She'd always had a flare for it, and she was dying to play Eponine in Les Miserables just once in her life. She always did have a flare for the tragic, depressing roles.
'I guess that's mainly Daddy's fault,' she began to think, and then stopped herself. She wasn't going to waste her time thinking of that loser. She didn't want to enter another depression; that would just cause her mother more stress.
She hurried to her locker, and quickly opened it, turning in the combination she had learned by heart-- 24-06-01. She threw the books that she had taken home inside her locker, and grabbed her Physics book. She sighed. What a way to start the day: Going to Physics class. She rolled her eyes sarcastically. What fun.
She hurried toward her classroom, her head bent and her eyes aimed toward her feet, walking directly next to the wall, as though it could shelter her from the world. The world tilted slightly when she walked right into someone.
"Hey, watch where you're going!" yelled the person in front of her. Emma knew that voice. It was the voice that had plagued her childhood existence; that made her dread school. The voice of Carol Shepards.
"I'm sorry," Emma muttered, not lifting her head. She couldn't deal with Carol. Not today, not any day.
"I don't want apologies. I want you to move out of my way, geek," Carol retorted, shoving Emma hard against the wall. "Gosh, she's such a loser," Emma heard Carol mutter to her friends, as she walked away, tossing her long hair behind her.
Emma took a deep breath to calm her nerves. 'Just concentrate on getting through the day,' she coached herself. 'Worry about your spazziness when you get home.'
She took a deep breath to gather her energy, lifted her chin, and walked into the classroom, taking her usual seat at the back of the class, hiding herself behind the lab equipment. She hated Science, any form of it. It was boring and it could never seem to stay inside her head. She supposed it was because it was all facts and figures and it had no made up places or romantic insinuations. It was just theories and principles and laws. Things that tied you down and made it impossible for you to dream of a world where those laws didn't apply. Science killed the imagination.
She opened her book and tapped her pencil against the paper, absent mindedly staring out of the window, her mind wandering. She imagined she was somewhere else--she was in Austria studying music and how to be an opera singer. She was the best singer in all of Vienna. Even Mozart would have been proud of her; her voice was ringing through the music hall with the precision of a dart, and the audience was giving her a standing ovation. The Emperor was handing her a thing of roses and she was happy, smiling a supermodel smile. She smiled to herself, but was jerked back to reality when she discovered Mr. Whitfield, the Physics teacher, was yelling at her.
"Ms. Wilds!"
"Yes, sir?"
"Were you listening to anything that just happened in this classroom?"
"Yes, sir," she answered automatically.
"Okay then, explain to me Newton's Theory of Relativity."
"Newton's Theory of Relativity? Ummm….well, it states that something could be moving so fast, that it seems as though everything else has stopped, but it hasn't, you're just moving faster than everything else."
"Very good, Ms. Wilds. A bit redundant of an answer, but correct nonetheless. Now, try to pay attention."
"Yes, sir."
Regardless of her promise to pay attention, Emma felt her eyes begin to get heavy. She slowly felt her relaxation begin to get deeper and deeper and pretty soon, she knew she was falling fast asleep…fading into darkness….
She was in a field of poppies. 'Welcome to Oz,' she joked to herself. She glanced around. The field seemed endless, stretching on like a sea in front of her eyes. A sea of poppies with no hint of a poppy-free land. She heard a sharp giggle just to her left, and looked around. There on the ground was a small fairy.
Emma gave a small gasp and leaned in closer for a look. The fairy came closer and looked at Emma in a curious way. The fairy reached up and touched Emma's hair. Emma gave a small shriek of pain when the fairy suddenly pulled it…hard, taking a clump of hair with her hand.
"Ow!"
Suddenly, she was surrounded by fairies, all of them pulling her hair, and biting her fingers and nose. She even felt one pulling on her ear.
"Hey, let me go!" she yelled. She threw her arms around, thrashing wildly.
She took off running, hoping the fairies would leave her alone, but they just kept following her. Suddenly, she spotted a figure ahead of her.
"Hey, hey, can you help me?!" she yelled out, desperate for some assistance.
The figure glanced at her for a second, and then disappeared. Emma watched, stunned, and then started screaming again as the fairies attacked once more, biting and pulling. She was just about to swat one when--
RING!!! RING!!!!!!
Emma snapped awake, knocking her books onto the floor. It had all been a dream. The fairies. The figure. The weird sea of poppies. All a dream. She leaned down to pick up her books and winced. Her scalp hurt, as did her arms and fingers. She looked down at her fingers and saw a slight tinge of red. Blood. Maybe it wasn't so much of a dream after all….
~*~
Well, tell me if you want more.
Lots of love,
jandl
The Dream Sliders.
Chapter One: The First Dream
"Emma! Emma! Emma Marie Wilds, if you don't get up right this minute, I'm going to have to come up there after you and it's not going to be pretty!" came the voice of Emma's mother from up the stairwell.
"Coming, Mom!" Emma yelled back, sleepily. She rolled over onto her back and drew her soft sheets further up her body, savoring the warmth. She took a deep breath, savoring the smell of her freshly cleaned sheets from the night before. She loved the smell of fabric softener. It brought the smell of Spring, which always provided a sense that all was right with the world. It was a nice illusion…a lie…but a nice one.
"Emma!" she heard her mother call again. Emma sat up, aggravated. If she didn't get up now, there'd be hell to pay with her mother.
She slowly lowered her feet to the floor, hissing slightly as her feet made contact with the cold wood. What she wouldn't give for a carpet. She slowly ambled across her room, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes, and looked through her drawers for something to wear. She decided not to be too picky since she was running late, and settled for a pair of jeans and a loose t-shirt. She pulled her shoulder-length, brown hair into a messy ponytail and left her room, hastily pulling her shoes on as she went. There would be no time for a shower today, regretfully. This meant her hair was going to look really stringy and she was going to be in a really bad mood all day. So far her day was going great.
"Finally, sleeping beauty is awake," mimicked her younger sister, Andrea.
"Shut, up, retard!"
"Don't be so mean to your sister, Emma. Now, eat up, you'll be late for school."
Emma grudgingly sat down at the table. What a way to cheer her up. She had just had to mention the hell-hole that was school. Meadowbrook High school in Queens. What fun…
She slowly picked up a sausage and bit into it, savoring the greasy taste that burst into her mouth. She loved sausage! She loved the way the juice dribbled down her chin, leaving a faint trace of the taste on her lips. It made her feel primitive; predatorily primitive. It was the only time she felt in control.
She watched as her mother checker her watch, grabbed Emma's plate from out in front of her, and placed it in the sink. "Emma, you need to go or you'll be late."
"You say that like it's a bad thing," Emma muttered, gathering her many school books and headed out the door. She took a deep breath of fresh air and coughed. Exhaust. Oh, the wonders of downtown New York.
She slowly started to walk the ten block trail it took to get to her school. As she did, she nervously fiddled with her ponytail, and let her hair down. Who cared if her hair was stringy? It would make her less noticeable. With her hair in front of her face, she could be a nobody. That was the way she liked it. No attachments, no heartaches, no fights, no feeling lonely after high school. She was leaving after this year, and that would be that. At least, she wouldn't have to worry about anyone but her family.
She walked through the front doors of Meadowbrook High School, nervously flattening her hair in front of her face. 'Just hurry to your locker and get to class. No one will see you; they never have, they never will,' she thought to herself. Ever since she had been a small child, she had worked her hardest not to be noticed. She wasn't sure why, but she just never felt like she wanted to stick out. After all, most geniuses weren't "people persons."
She wasn't quite sure yet, but she was briefly considering becoming more social when she went to Sweet Briar University. If she got accepted, that is. She wanted to go there to become a writer and study drama. She didn't want any major roles, since that would cause *too much* social life, but she wanted to try a hand at acting. She'd always had a flare for it, and she was dying to play Eponine in Les Miserables just once in her life. She always did have a flare for the tragic, depressing roles.
'I guess that's mainly Daddy's fault,' she began to think, and then stopped herself. She wasn't going to waste her time thinking of that loser. She didn't want to enter another depression; that would just cause her mother more stress.
She hurried to her locker, and quickly opened it, turning in the combination she had learned by heart-- 24-06-01. She threw the books that she had taken home inside her locker, and grabbed her Physics book. She sighed. What a way to start the day: Going to Physics class. She rolled her eyes sarcastically. What fun.
She hurried toward her classroom, her head bent and her eyes aimed toward her feet, walking directly next to the wall, as though it could shelter her from the world. The world tilted slightly when she walked right into someone.
"Hey, watch where you're going!" yelled the person in front of her. Emma knew that voice. It was the voice that had plagued her childhood existence; that made her dread school. The voice of Carol Shepards.
"I'm sorry," Emma muttered, not lifting her head. She couldn't deal with Carol. Not today, not any day.
"I don't want apologies. I want you to move out of my way, geek," Carol retorted, shoving Emma hard against the wall. "Gosh, she's such a loser," Emma heard Carol mutter to her friends, as she walked away, tossing her long hair behind her.
Emma took a deep breath to calm her nerves. 'Just concentrate on getting through the day,' she coached herself. 'Worry about your spazziness when you get home.'
She took a deep breath to gather her energy, lifted her chin, and walked into the classroom, taking her usual seat at the back of the class, hiding herself behind the lab equipment. She hated Science, any form of it. It was boring and it could never seem to stay inside her head. She supposed it was because it was all facts and figures and it had no made up places or romantic insinuations. It was just theories and principles and laws. Things that tied you down and made it impossible for you to dream of a world where those laws didn't apply. Science killed the imagination.
She opened her book and tapped her pencil against the paper, absent mindedly staring out of the window, her mind wandering. She imagined she was somewhere else--she was in Austria studying music and how to be an opera singer. She was the best singer in all of Vienna. Even Mozart would have been proud of her; her voice was ringing through the music hall with the precision of a dart, and the audience was giving her a standing ovation. The Emperor was handing her a thing of roses and she was happy, smiling a supermodel smile. She smiled to herself, but was jerked back to reality when she discovered Mr. Whitfield, the Physics teacher, was yelling at her.
"Ms. Wilds!"
"Yes, sir?"
"Were you listening to anything that just happened in this classroom?"
"Yes, sir," she answered automatically.
"Okay then, explain to me Newton's Theory of Relativity."
"Newton's Theory of Relativity? Ummm….well, it states that something could be moving so fast, that it seems as though everything else has stopped, but it hasn't, you're just moving faster than everything else."
"Very good, Ms. Wilds. A bit redundant of an answer, but correct nonetheless. Now, try to pay attention."
"Yes, sir."
Regardless of her promise to pay attention, Emma felt her eyes begin to get heavy. She slowly felt her relaxation begin to get deeper and deeper and pretty soon, she knew she was falling fast asleep…fading into darkness….
She was in a field of poppies. 'Welcome to Oz,' she joked to herself. She glanced around. The field seemed endless, stretching on like a sea in front of her eyes. A sea of poppies with no hint of a poppy-free land. She heard a sharp giggle just to her left, and looked around. There on the ground was a small fairy.
Emma gave a small gasp and leaned in closer for a look. The fairy came closer and looked at Emma in a curious way. The fairy reached up and touched Emma's hair. Emma gave a small shriek of pain when the fairy suddenly pulled it…hard, taking a clump of hair with her hand.
"Ow!"
Suddenly, she was surrounded by fairies, all of them pulling her hair, and biting her fingers and nose. She even felt one pulling on her ear.
"Hey, let me go!" she yelled. She threw her arms around, thrashing wildly.
She took off running, hoping the fairies would leave her alone, but they just kept following her. Suddenly, she spotted a figure ahead of her.
"Hey, hey, can you help me?!" she yelled out, desperate for some assistance.
The figure glanced at her for a second, and then disappeared. Emma watched, stunned, and then started screaming again as the fairies attacked once more, biting and pulling. She was just about to swat one when--
RING!!! RING!!!!!!
Emma snapped awake, knocking her books onto the floor. It had all been a dream. The fairies. The figure. The weird sea of poppies. All a dream. She leaned down to pick up her books and winced. Her scalp hurt, as did her arms and fingers. She looked down at her fingers and saw a slight tinge of red. Blood. Maybe it wasn't so much of a dream after all….
~*~
Well, tell me if you want more.
Lots of love,
jandl