1 Prologue

A young child rolled along the crystal floor breathing heavily, with every breath a pain coursed through his body likely due to his broken ribs.

The boy looked up locking eyes with the man before him, the man narrowed his eyes in anger a crowbar was in his left hand.

His body was covered in shadow.

He walked forward and rose his crowbar into the air ready to swing it down upon the child's head.

Dreamscape Rewritten.

Crimson eyes opened to see a wooden ceiling, a hand reached up to greet the world, only for it to fall flat back onto the bedside.

The head that those eyes belonged to turned to face a blaring sound from an object on the desk.

The fallen hand reached out and pressed a button silencing the nuisance.

He then slowly moved out of bed. The clock that he just silenced read 5:30 AM, it was early, but the child didn't mind.

If he wasn't awake early in the morning, then he couldn't put in his effort later.

He walked up to his closet and looked to his hung up clothes. He had many outfits of many variants.

Some looked nice, and others looked ugly. It didn't matter, for he mostly wore the outfit in the center.

A simple black t-shirt and blue jeans.

The child smiled, putting on that outfit and grabbing his red jacket from the coat rack there was a phoenix symbol on the back. Some said it fit him well, he was well known for coming back with double the force when he was knocked down.

He simpled at the memory and then opened the wooden door and walked into a hallway.

A simple wooden floor, with three other doors leading to a staircase.

The child walked forward and ignored all the doors walking down those stairs as silently as he could manage.

He turned the corner as soon as he could and made his way into the kitchen, he reached to the center of the room that held a counter and grabbed an apple.

It was sweet and crunchy as he bit into it; the juices poured into his mouth.

He reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone, powering it on.

As soon as it went past the initial boot up, it began ringing. The child rolled his eyes swallowing the apple in his mouth before uttering, "Right on cue." He clicked the green button and put the phone up to his ear, "You know you might lose a friend with these early morning calls Chris." The boy commented, taking another bite out of his apple.

On the other end, a boy let out an audible sigh, "Every morning with this shit, and you know full well why I'm calling." Chris accused the young boy.

The boy raised a single brow, speaking with his mouth full, "Do I?"

Chris, of course, groaned in irritation, "The group project! Do you have your part done?"

I swallowed my bite of the apple and rolled my eyes, "I've been done with my part for some time Chris. I think your referring to the rest of the group"

"Don't get smart with me! Did you do it or not?" Chris yelled in the mic, causing me to wince, pulling it away from my ear.

I sighed, putting it back up, "Course I did… I'll send it to you later. I have to go." I stated that sentence Chris said something to interject, but I hung up quickly.

I sigh powering my phone off, I then walk back into the wooden hallway and look at a single door opening it.

Beep.

Beep.

Beep.

The simple sounds of a heart monitor filled the room. On a small bed, a young girl no more than the age of eight laid sleeping.

The boy smiled solemnly, pulling up a chair to the bed, the curtains in the room are pulled back just enough to let the sunlight touch her skin.

"Happy birthday Lily." The boy uttered, "Wish you were awake to celebrate it with us…" the boy visited this room every day for the past three years, and yet her condition never improved.

The boy sighed getting out of his chair and walking out the door, only for a hand to make contact with his forehead, "Bah, it's just you." An elderly woman spoke out, "What the hell are you doing up!?!" The lady questioned.

"What am I doing up?!? Why the hell are you going around slapping people in the morning you old bat!" I countered only to promptly receive another slap to the cheek.

The woman put a hand on her hips and leaned in looking into the open door, "...Nine years old right?"

I blinked and nodded, "I'm going to head out for a bit Granny." I started walking towards the front door.

"Huh?!? Your bus will be here soon. Where could you be off to?!?"

I waved, opening the door, "Just grabbing a drink." it wasn't a lie, I made it part of my routine to walk to the gas station every morning to grab a coffee or a soda, perhaps it was overpriced but it was close and that's all that mattered to me.

Soon along those endless lines of squares I made my way to the clean shine of the gas station doors and pulled one of them open.

"Oh! Mj good morning!" A man in a uniform greeted me eagerly, "Same as usual today?" He questioned as I made my walk to the back of the store.

"Course it is." I shot back, "Actually. Got any liquid cake?" I wondered.

The man frowned, "Liquid… Is somebody you know under Stasis?" He questioned as I brought my coffee up to the front.

I rose a brow, "Stasis?"

"You know… The disease that's been running around for years, where people just fall asleep outta nowhere and never wake up!" The man explained it to me.

"I'm aware of the concept, I just wasn't aware people were calling it Stasis…" I muttered as he rang up all my items, "I'm assuming that's a no on that cake then?"

"Fraid not, you'll have to make a stop by the supermarket to get something like that." The man handed me my drink and waved me off.

I sighed opening my drink and taking a sip out of it, the bitter taste made contact with my tongue causing my face to scrunch up in annoyance but it helped me stay awake.

Then I made a turn.

...And light entered my vision.

Headlights?

A semi-truck entered my view, my eyes widened and my body froze, it was out of control.

I could see the driver yelling something but I couldn't hear it.

Death.

It all came to me at that moment if I didn't move I was going to die. No

It didn't matter if I did or not I was going to die.

. . . Am I Dead?