“EW! GET AWAY FROM ME YOU FREAK! AH!”

I quickly picked up my tray and started to pick up the food off the floor. Evelyn Steven screamed as she grabbed her white Gucci shirt that was stained with red sauce.

“Whoa, calm down babe. It’s not that bad. Just go change.”

Tristan Morgan, our school’s quarterback, was a rich kid who moved here a few years ago because his mom left his father and he is the boyfriend of Evelyn.

“ CALM DOWN? CALM DOWN? DON’T …YOU…DARE TELL ME TO CALM DOWN, THIS WAS A VERY EXPENSIVE SHIRT!”

I couldn’t stop the next words that came out of my mouth.

“Your sugar daddy probably paid for it.”

Everyone went silent, I slowly looked up. and everyone was looking at me. My face slowly paled and my stomach started to turn. I started playing with a bracelet my brother made for me out of beads that says.” I love you bear.” He loved that nickname for me; he came up with it because when I was little, I always used to have a little teddy bear wherever I went; I couldn’t go anywhere without it. 

“What did you just say?”

I snapped back to reality, and I looked at Evenly confused. I remembered what I said, and my eyes widened. I quickly tried to get up and run away, but Evelyn had different ideas. She grabbed my shoulder with her ice cold and freshly manicured hand and pushed me down on my knees. I kept my head down, not wanting to see everyone looking at me even though I can feel their eyes.

“Eat it.”

I looked up confused, not knowing what she was talking about.

“Eat it off the floor.”

“Don’t make her do it.” Tristan said, looking sorry for me.

“Shut up.”

I looked up with tears in my eyes. 

“She is really making me eat off the floor in front of everyone? My dad always said that I needed to keep my mouth shut.” I thought.

I looked up again and she was holding a fork. I grabbed it and looked around. Everyone was looking at me in disgust, sympathy, some even looked like they were gonna laugh. My face reddened, and my heart started to beat faster and I slowly looked back at Evelyn. She was looking at me with a smirk, and her arms were crossed, and she nodded her head to the ground. I shook my head and slowly picked up the spaghetti off the ground and ate it. Everyone either gagged or laughed. I ran to the trash can and threw up. I gave everyone one last look before I grabbed my book bag and ran all the way home. By the time I got home, I was full on sobbing. I was embarrassed and ashamed. 

“ Hey, what happened?”

Quickly, I wiped my tears as I looked at my brother who looked like he just came from his “lab.” Which is a little shed that my dad built in the backyard.

“ Nothing. Just watched a really sad video.”

He narrowed his eyes at me and nodded.

“ So, I have been working on this new thing. Wanna hear about it?”

I didn’t get a chance to say no before he grabbed my hand and pulled me to the shed.

“ Okay, so this IV goes in your arm, and it’ll put you to sleep. You go to this whole new world that you can create.”

I zoned out and thought about what he said about the whole new world. ‘I can finally go somewhere, where people won’t pick on me, and I can finally get my parents back.’ 

“Rose?”

I zoned back in when I heard my name.

“Rose? Did you hear anything I said.”

I just nodded and walked back into the house and went to my room. As I was doing homework my phone kept going off. I grabbed it and looked at the notifications that were from Twitter. I clicked them and my face went pale. It was a video of me eating off the floor and Evelyn was looking at me laughing. The caption said: “What a worthless feak!” Tears filled my eyes as I looked at the comments, big mistake.

“EW, That’s so gross. She needs to learn manners.”

“What is wrong with her?”

“What is she, an animal?”

“She deserved it.”

“No wonder her parents left her.”

I quickly turned my phone off and buried my face in my pillow. I looked up as I remembered my brother’s new project. I got up, grabbed my sweatshirt, white tennis shoes, and ran down the stairs as fast as I could. I got to the old, worn down looking shed and looked through the window, making sure my brother wasn’t in there. I opened up the door, and I closed and locked it. I went over to the dentist looking chair that was placed in the corner of the room, I didn’t even bother to look around for directions, layed down, and put the IV in my arm. I fell into a deep dark sleep. 

I slowly opened my eyes, and I looked around. I was laying in a sunflower field. I slowly sat up, and I saw no sign of anyone. ‘Did it work?’ I thought as I looked around. Then I closed my eyes and  imagined my parents sitting at the dinner table, telling us the story about how they met for the hundredth time. They loved telling that story.

“Hey honey. Nice of you to join us. Dinner is almost ready.” I opened my eyes and 

I looked in disbelief. ‘They can see me. They really can see me.’ Tears slowly fell down my face.

I got up and walked up stairs. This was my old house back in Texas. I walked in my room and closed my eyes, thinking of Evelyn and Tristan in my room talking and laughing. I opened my eyes, and there they were. Sitting next to each other on my bed in their pjs, talking, laughing.

“ Hey girl, we have been waiting for you. Get your pjs on so we can tell scary stories but not too scary. We don’t want Tristan to scream like a little girl and run to mommy.” She laughed while saying the last part.

“ As if. I’m the man here, if anyone is getting scared it will be you.”

They laughed together and I just looked at them and smiled. I can finally be happy and make the world I want. I can make my perfect guy and my perfect family and friends. I never want to wake up. 

Back home Caden, Rose’s brother, walked into his shed to finish his project that he is going to call. “Replicate.” As he walked in, he grabbed his jacket, gloves, and safety glasses. He turned around and dropped his stuff as his heart stopped and rushed over to his sister who was laying in the chair with the IV sticking out of her arm. He starts to shake her trying to wake her up. He wouldn’t be panicked if he was done. He had to finish one little part. The waking up part. Caden hasn’t figured out how to wake the person up from their “Sleep.” He panicked as he violently shook his sister as tears blurred his vision.

His eyes lit up as he got the best idea ever. He ran over to his sister and layed on the floor, he grabbed the IV and stuck it in his arm and fell asleep. Caden woke up in an old abandoned playground he and Rose went to when they were kids. They walked there all the time after school seeing how the playground wasn’t far from their house and the school. He sat up and rubbed his head as a headache started to form. He walked out of the park and looked around, and smiled. He missed this place, he didn’t want to move anywhere, he thought it would be best for Rose to get out of this town. You see, their parents died in a really bad car accident when they were kids and they had no other family left. Their grandparents didn’t like how Rose’s and Caden’s parents had Caden at a young age and left to live in Canada. Caden graduated from high school, got a job, packed up and moved to Mississippi. He looked around, looking for his old house. He knew she would be there. Rose was close with their parents. She missed them a lot and always talked about them to her friends. As he walked down the sidewalk, he found the house and all the memories came back, playing hide and go-seek, tag, all the birthday parties. He tried to hold back the tears as he thought about them. 

“Here goes nothing.” He said, sighing.

He walked up the driveway slowly wanting to stall, too scared to see his parents. He took a deep breath and raised his shaky hand to knock on the door, but the door opened before he could. His eyes filled with tears as he looked at his mother who was standing in front of him, dressed in a long old time dress with her hair up in a messy bun, white pearls around her neck, pearl earrings, a “Kiss the cook” apron, her makeup done and she was wearing bright red lipstick. She smiled at him.

“Hey honey. You’re back already? Doesn’t matter, come on in. It’s freezing out there. Dinner’s almost ready.”

He smiled at her, tears streaming down his face, Caden ran in and hugged her.

“Whoa, calm down. You were only gone for an hour.”

He pulled away as he heard laughter that sounded familiar. Caden walked in and went up the stairs slowly, he reached his old room and walked in. It’s just like he remembered, everything was in the right place. His walls were black and blue stripes. His bed was in the middle of his room with dark blue sheets and a blanket. His nightstand and dresser was black and his nightstand had a little white lamp on it. He had a walk-in closet with all his old clothes in it and had his very own bathroom. 

He walked down the hall and saw all the pictures on the wall, him and Rose at the beach, his parents’ wedding day, their honeymoon, school pictures. The laughter got louder as he approached Rose’s old room. He peered in and what he saw warmed his heart. His sister was smiling and laughing with two people he didn’t know. He knew that she wanted to stay there by the look on her face and eyes. He knew she wasn’t happy, but he could never get her to talk to him. She always said;

“Everything is fine.”

“I’m okay.”

“I’m just tired.”

He knew she was lying but gave her space. He smiled with tears in his eyes. He made a promise to his parents that he’ll keep her happy, and her being here was making her happy.

“I’ll be right back guys.”

He quickly ran in the bathroom as he saw Rose walk past him and down the stairs. He followed her and watched as she went outside. He stood at the door as she walked out in the rain and looked up.

“I DID IT GUYS!” She screamed. Tears filled his eyes. “I MADE IT!” He smiled at her and covered his mouth. “I made it to the other side..”