The Dream Keeper

Chapter 5: Nap Time

Chapter 5: Nap Time

Parker’s stomach had knots in it ever since he left Kaelyn in the hallway. He couldn’t get her last words to him out of his head: “I dreamed about you last night.” At first he wanted to believe they had shared a dream, but that was impossible. Jason had to be right—she was a freak. Maybe what she said was the pure truth, she had dreamed about him. Parker was sure that a lot of people dreamed about other people, but it wasn’t something one publically announced. After all, Parker had dreamed about her last night too. He thought back, trying to remember the events of his dream, but it wasn’t so clear anymore. A stone wall, a purple skinned man in a dark trench coat, Kaelyn in a car crash . . . screaming—they were all just fragments, like a conversation he’d somehow forgotten. Dreams. He remembered the word Dreams—not as in sleeping, but as a place.

“Dude,” Jason whispered, snapping Parker out of his thoughts.

He looked up to see Mrs. Coleson staring him down like a hungry hawk after an exposed mouse. Parker looked from his red-eyed teacher to the white board, hoping there would be some clue as to what she had said, but it was blank. He glanced around the room, and all the students were staring at him. They were no help. Finally giving in, he asked the one question he absolutely knew Mrs. Coleson did not want to hear.

“What? I wasn’t—”

“Get out,” the teacher said in a cold flat tone.

Parker was confused. Was she telling him to leave class? What had he done? He looked back at her with a confused expression, hoping she would give a reason. But she just stared him down, her face tight and emotionless. Parker, after some hesitation, stood up and looked around. Jason, who was sitting behind him, was slumped in his seat and avoiding eye contact. Nice friend, thought Parker. He grabbed his bag and started moving for the door.

“Wait.” Mrs. Coleson went to her desk and pulled a pink slip from the drawer. After frantically scratching something over it with her ballpoint pen, she handed it and the librarian’s note to him. “Take both of these to the principal’s office.”

Parker took the two pieces of paper and quietly left the classroom. As soon as he shut the door behind him, he heard Mrs. Coleson start in on a lecture about the level of respect for teachers in their school. Parker walked a ways down the hall and then looked at the pink slip. At the top it read: Mrs. Coleson, Period 1, English. Date: 22 February. Student: Parker Bennett. Reason: Tardiness, and lack of respect to an educator. See attached drawing he tried to pass off as an excuse.

Parker turned over the pink slip and looked at the piece of paper he had given Mrs. Coleson. A crude drawing of what appeared to be a creature that was half donkey, half—was that supposed to be Mrs. Coleson? It could have been anyone except for the fact that the woman’s face had buck teeth and horn rimmed glasses. Parker thought the drawing was comical, but had no idea why the librarian would give him a drawing of …Wait, he remembered crashing into Kaelyn and stuff falling out of his bag. He must have grabbed one of Kaelyn’s drawings instead of his note.

This was just a horrible misunderstanding. Now he had to go to the principal’s office. Would they call his mom? She would totally flip out. He would be grounded from gaming for a week, maybe two. This, he knew, was what people called karma. What goes around comes around, or something like that. He had lied to his friends about beating Medieval Assassin and was a total jerk-head to Kaelyn, now the cosmos was punishing him for it. He stuffed the pink slip and drawing in his pocket and marched down the hallway. Ten steps later the bell rang and the hall filled with students.

Immediately Jason was at his side, asking what had just happened with Mrs. Coleson.

“I didn’t do it on purpose. The note got mixed up.”