• Chapter 1: The Dream

    Dakota was sitting in a small room writing in his journal when the nearby clock struck 12 am in big, red numbers. He sighed not knowing when he was ever going to fall asleep. He hasn’t slept in two days, but what happened a week ago in his dream still haunted him to the day. He was scared to go to sleep. Sense that time, he had to act like he was and be happy as possible. He had no happiness left in him; it had drained out of him that night.
    He had previously moved away from his dad, who kicked him out, after a huge fight. They both had enough of each other and Dakota retreated as far as he could… he ended up in New Hampshire. He didn’t mind though, he loved to be around family (which involved his grandparents, sister, brother, his great-grandmother, and his mom). But every time the sun set, he would sulk in his room trying to figure out what to do with his life. Then he had that dream that scared him to his last nerve cell. He wasn’t sure what it meant because the dream didn’t happen before it. But the dream was real, that’s what scared him the most. Did it show the future? He didn’t know and he didn’t care as long as it didn’t happen.
    Dakota was walking down a street that was covered in flames. The faint sound of children crying and the sound of bombs exploding. He looked around and saw dead bodies everywhere. Some of them he recognized as friends and some, family. He was crying as he saw what was around him. It was too much to bear for him. He felt an overwhelming amount of rage and sadness grow inside him. Then, at the end of the street, he saw a clash of soldiers firing at big soldiers, but those guys weren’t firing, they were swinging at the firing soldiers... ‘Was this another world war between countries?’ That’s when he noticed that the war was on American territory. ‘Where in the U.S. was this?’ He didn’t know, but he recognized it. Dakota looked towards the big guys swinging at the Americans. They were covered in what looked like grass as camouflage. Dakota looked down in shame and noticed a newspaper by his feet. It wasn’t in perfect condition but none the less picked it up. On the cover it had picture of…. ‘Werewolves? How is that possible?’ He threw down the newspaper and walked over to one of the dead bodies. He didn’t recognize the guy at all. The man was covered in blood, scratches up in down his body. And one of them was a gush in his throat. No bullet holes, just claw marks. He looked up at the soldiers trying to kill the unknown visitors. Were they soldiers swinging at the Americans werewolves? He looked at the other bodies, it was the same. Barely able to recognize any of them. All of them covered in blood. But bullet holes, just deep claw marks on their bodies.
    The houses were still on fire around them, mostly on the top. Were they to blow up the werewolves? He looked in the direction where the small battle was taking place and saw, in the background, a tank that had been split into two. He had a shocked expression on his face but from the books he read about them, Dakota kind of expected something like that. He looked back the way he came and noticed a body laying in the middle of the road. It looked like one of the unknown visitors. Dakota walked towards it with caution in every step. Was it dead? Was it alive? He would soon find out. There was another explosion nearby that caused him to stumble over it. He slowly got up and looked at the visitor’s body and face. This unknown person was covered in bullet holes. One of which got him right in the head. The thing’s eyes were open but they were completely black. He looked at his hands and saw what he feared… claws. He looked closer at the thing’s face, which had its mouth open, and noticed his teeth were pointy and sharp. That’s when he noticed his nose was pointing outward like a… werewolf! He was frozen in fear as he looked up at the unknown visitors trying to kill the soldiers and winning. He noticed the same thing on them. Dark eyes and the pointy nose. Dakota looked at the figure before him and saw in horror, it was looking at him and saw the rage in his face. Dakota took a step back in fear as the figure got up. It wasn’t camouflage on him… it was hair. He was a werewolf! Dakota started to turn and run but was thrown off balance by the werewolf. He came up and swung one of his claws right for Dakota’s throat.
    The dream burned his heart and it only encouraged his fear. ‘It couldn’t be a dream, could it’ I felt the pain, I heard everything around me… it was too realistic.” Dakota thought to himself. All of a sudden, tiredness took over and he fell asleep unwillingly just to have the same dream again.
    When he awoke, it was around 7 am. He slapped himself for letting his guard down. He was in cold sweat and he laid there listening. There was no sound except for the sound of his breathing. He slowly got out of bed to go change. It was Monday morning and eight hours of boredom hung heavy in the air. Dakota went downstairs and got himself an instant breakfast drink. He went out into the living and saw his grandmother, or Nanny as Dakota calls her.”Good morning, Nanny.” I said politely. She was the one that had saved him from being stuck him the hell hole in South Carolina. And they had said time and time again that it wasn’t a favor but he felt like he owed them a lot for doing what they did.

    Nanny was reading a book when Dakota walked into the living room. She had a warm, gray blanket around her and glasses on to help her read. She looked up at me with a warm smile. She was a tolerable woman with gray hair and dark eyes, Dakota thinks. She knew when something was wrong and she is always worried or stressed out over the tiniest thing. She thinks education is very important and she takes care of all the business in the house. No wonder she’s always stressed out about something, Dakota thought at one point in the middle of a “Nanny Breakdown.” But she was fun to be around, easy to please, and she always did the best to spoil the grandchildren of the house; Dakota, Kaydee, and Derek.
    Derek in somewhat grasping hold of life slowly. He is a smart and funny guy with an awesome car. He’s been through hell like Dakota but in a different way so it was easy for Derek and Dakota to talk to each other. He works at a Dunkin Donuts as an assistant manager. He wants to go back to high school to finish it and then entire the military, even though Nanny hates the idea.
    Kaydee is going into her final year in high school. She is 17, but Dakota and Derek think she acts like a baby at times. She is very smart but doesn’t quite use it to her potential. She was in a relationship that last for about a year and a half in which Nanny and Bum (grandfather) hated so much. It turned Kaydee into a careless person that caused her grades to slip for a time. But then it all ended in a sudden day that made everyone but her happy. She cried that day but not after. She still as problems with him but handles it a lot better. Dakota, when he was there, tried to talk to her out of her depression. Sometimes it worked, sometimes not. But in the end, she pulled through for everybody. She was always good natured in her own way but was a completely blonde. Nanny says no shoes, she gets shoes. It makes me laugh sometimes when I hear her sneeze.
    Bum was the grandfather of the house who was a priest at the local church. He loved reading about history and politics. He was a funny guy at age 62 who goes out for runs every day for exercise. Other than running the church, he does an early morning talk show which leaves him beat when he gets home. He loved cooking for Nanny and doing his best to keep the peace in the house.
    Dakota, however, was different. He used to be a good natured guy who loved school and loved being with his friends. But that year had passed without question that his life would change. He soon started to change with him and his dad fighting a lot. It soon drove him crazy and ended up in rehab where he actually loved to be. He made friends and didn’t want to leave. But a week past he left and after a few months, he left as his dad had enough and so had he. He slowly changed back to himself but got upset when his dad or South Carolina was brought up into conversation. But other than that, Dakota was, too, good natured.

    “Good morning, Dakota.” She said with a smile on her face.” I hope you have your homework done.” That was his grandma alright.
    This wasn’t entirely true. He had a habit of stalling and never doing it. He knew it was a bad habit and he needed to work on it. But here, Nanny could easily find out the truth by going onto what is called “Power school” and it allowed parents to check on their kids’ grades. It was rather unfair to Dakota that he couldn’t get away with anything. But he made a joke of it and so did Nanny. But she does use Power school for Kaydee, and soon, Dakota.
    “Kaydee needs to be down soon if she wants to make it to school on time.” Nanny always had a fit about Kaydee getting up. Kaydee was always tired and seemed really slow to open her eyes. After a few minutes, Kaydee walked into the room looking tired as usually. And Nanny got up as she entered and we left.
    Dakota got out of the car after about fifteen minutes later. Nanny waved good-bye and drove off. I entered the school feeling a great deal of tingling in my stomach. Something was definitely going to go wrong.