The forest was twisted every which way, gnarled tree branches snaking around, seeming to move forward to grasp at any inch of anything they could find. The sky was pitch black, with no light to guide anyone or anything. There was no moon, no stars. The howling of animals pierced through the silent air. A rumbling sound took over the night. A cloud of darkness and smoke, intermingled with flashes of bloodred, had appeared. A thunderstorm, it seemed, had rumbled down to the earth. Out of the darkness leapt a girl.  The girl ran faster than ever, her heart thundering in her chest as she struggled to breathe. Even she did not know why she ran.
  
  The darkness rolled over the land like waves of an ocean. The girl pumped her arms back and forth, trying to escape the riptide, the current of darkness. Tears rolled down her face in her desperation to flee to safety. Or perhaps, anywhere but the darkness. She sprinted forwards, gulping for breath as she choked on the flood of her tears. She flew through the trees,  turning sharply every way the darkness overcame her...

  The girl looked up, and a wave of horror passed over her. A few steps ahead, the edge of a cliff loomed in the air, spiraling down into a chasm of darkness. There was no way around it- she had to jump, pray she could make it to safety on the other side of the canyon, just a few feet away...

  Suddenly, out of the smoke on the other side emerged a boy. His eyes were shocking blue, his hair fading from brown to the same color, his build strong yet sleek. He reached out his hand- she picked up speed- then she jumped. Time slowed down as she flew towards the boy. Her hand stretched out, fingers spread apart in a desperate grasp. Her hand, his hand- they reached to each other with a final, desperate cry, as the darkness began to swallow her-

Her hand missed his. Right before he grasped her, she missed. He shouted her name without sound, the noise lost in the air. "Cedar!" The darkness began to swallow her...

  "Shit!"

  The girl woke up screaming. She gasped for breath and furiously wiped away tears. She had been haunted by the same dream for the past few weeks. Every night, the same boy. She had begun to go crazy. No sleep anymore, she promised herself. It was too dangerous. Her heartbeat slowed down- it felt like it was beating out of her chest. She felt trapped in her dreams- so she refused to return to them.

  Cedar forced herself out of bed, though she was exhausted, and dragged herself to her mirror. It was time to get ready for school. She took in her own appearance in the mirror. Her hazel eyes were bloodshot and tired; her cheeks were sunken and defined; her hair was layered and wavy, dyed ombré from her dark brown roots to ashy blonde at the tips, which reached down nearly to her elbows. She was five-foot-seven(and quite uncoordinated at times) and swam on her high school's swim team.

  She sighed as her alarm clock finally went off, and pulled on her black swimsuit. Cedar yanked her hair up in a bun and pulled a jacked and sweatpants over the suit. Flip-flops on, goggles slung over her arm, earbuds in. She grabbed her backpack and her athletics bag with her clothes in it.

  Cedar shook up a protein shake, risked a sip of coffee from a mug on the table, and headed out. At sixteen years old, she was able to drive, and pulled out of the driveway. Her head spun and her limbs ached from the previous night. She couldn't seem to understand. How could she be trapped in her dreams? Dreams were supposed to be good, supposed to be pleasant. This was a repetition of nightmares.

  Cedar shook her head and listened to her favorite song, hoping it could get her mind off of the recurring nightmares. She pulled her car into the school's half-empty parking lot. When she finally rushed to the pool, her coach greeted her.

  "Hey, Cedar. Whoa, you look exhausted," the short, stocky female coach pointed out.

  "I guess I didn't sleep too well, Coach Miller."

  Coach Miller raised a hand to her burgundy hair, tied up in a tight bun. She looked down at her bright pink clipboard, making a mark in her signature blue pen, as teal as the pool she loved so dearly.

  "Hey, Ced? We've got to get your 100 Breaststroke under two minutes. You're my best shot at beating Johnson Creek this year," the coach said, mentioning the prestigious neighboring high school that dominated in all sports.

  "Sure, Coach."

  Cedar hopped in the chilly water, fresh goosebumps sprinkling over her skin as she popped up on the surface next to her friend Emma. Emma looked over Cesar's tired face with her blue-green eyes, her normally blonde hair a shade darker after having been submerged before Cedar.

  "Ced, you look terrible!" Emma exclaimed, splashing some water at Cedar's face, which she didn't appreciate.

  "Good morning to you too, Em," Cedar grumbled under her breath, pulling her goggles over her black rubber swim cap.

  "Someone's grumpy. Did you have one of those nightmares where you're running from something? The ones you feel like you can't wake up from?"

  Cedar looked up, horrified. Did Emma read her mind? Did she know what Cedar was going through? Was Emma going through the same things? Could Emma possibly be having the same dreams? Cedar's mind spun in a whirlwind of questions. Emma wasn't done speaking.

  "God, I hate those. I've had one or two, but I still remember them," she shuddered, "It's like one of those running games where you have to jump and roll and dodge the barriers and killer monkeys. Maybe it's just that one game, whatever it's called."

  Cedar looked up, relieved. "Have you ever had the same dream more than once? Like, the exact same dream. For weeks, over and over again?"

  Emma adjusted her swim cap. "Is that even possible? Maybe it's some mental condition. I think I've heard of something similar. My parents were talking about some guy or something like that."

  Instantly Cedar wanted to know more. "Who? What guy? Who were they talking about?"

  "I dunno, just some guy. I guess he did that. Had the same dreams, I mean."

  "What was his name?"

  "I have no idea. But I glanced at a picture they were looking at. I think he had dyed blue hair. Or was it green? No, it was definitely blue. I think."

  Instantly a shiver went down Cedar's spine. Her body actually shook, the picture of his strangely embracing blue eyes still fresh in her mind.

  "Hey! Girls! I want a 300 Freestyle warm-up! I'll make it 400 if you don't get moving now," Coach Miller said firmly, breaking Cedar from her almost painful trance. Emma took of like a shot, while Cedar waited to kick off the wall. Her stomach was turning, making her feel sick.

  "Coach, I'm not feeling so well. May I see the nurse?"

  Coach Miller's hazel eyes peered over Cedar, as if trying to find any trace of excuses in her eyes. Apparently she couldn't find anything, and she leaned back, saying, "Okay, Cedar. I hope you'll feel alright later."

  Cedar's lungs filled and emptied as she desperately tried to breathe. She quickly changed into jeans and a T-shirt and brought her belongings to the nurse's office. The nurse, a tall skinny woman named Miss Schue, frowned down at Cedar after she confessed to not feeling well.

  "You don't have a fever, but you certainly don't look too good. Have you been sleeping well?"

  "Truthfully, no. I haven't slept at all in days."

  "I suppose you need to go home, then. I prescribe sleep," Miss Schue said, chuckling. Cedar nodded, knowing full well she couldn't let that happen. She asked, "Could your mother pick you up?"

  "She's at work. My car is in the parking lot."

  "I'll write a pass and let you go. Have a good day,  Miss Williams. I hope you feel better tomorrow."

  Cedar nodded and left the building. The day dragged on. Cedar spent her time doing homework, reading, and mostly just trying not to fall asleep.

  Her mother finally opened Cedar's door, after driving home from her corporate job. She immediately hurried to Cedar's side, hugging her daughter close. Her long brown hair tumbled down her shoulders as she unclipped it from the tight bun it had been in. A fresh wave of lavender and jasmine enveloped Cedar, calming her state of anxiety.

  Cedar's mother was a beautiful woman with dimples and a model's figure. Cedar was nearly a carbon copy of her mother, except one detail- her eyes. Cedar's mother's eyes were chocolate-brown, darker than night, while Cedar's eyes were hazel- more green than brown- with what seemed like flecks of gold in between. Cedar's eyes surely came from her unnamed father, of whom her mother refused to talk about. Cedar's mother grasped her daughter's face, cupping it with both hands.

  "Do you feel okay? I got your text saying you left school. Do you have a fever?" She pressed her cheek against Cedar's forehead.

  "No, Mom, I don't. I just didn't sleep well."

  "You need to get to bed earlier, honey."

  Cedar looked into her mom's dark eyes, seeing her reflection through them. She considered confessing her dreams, then decided against it. Her mother was stressed enough with work; Cedar didn't want to make her any more upset.

  Suddenly, her mom tilted her chin up, searching Cedar's face with a desperate look in her eyes. "Are you having strange nightmares?"

For just a moment, Cedar once again questioned: Did her mother know? The look in her mother's eyes suggested that she knew. But she couldn't have known- could she?

  "Why are you asking?" Cedar questioned, praying her mother knew what to do.

  "Your fa- I mean, no reason. Silly me, I shouldn't have asked. Anyways, I'm cooking pork chops for dinner tonight. It's a nice alternative to pizza every night."

  Her mother straightened and walked out. The look in her eyes had passed so quickly Cedar wasn't sure she saw it in the first place. But Cedar could still sense something was wrong in her mother's voice. Something about the way she rushed out, as if she had let something slip and didn't want Cedar to catch it... She had a sneaking suspicion that her mother knew more than she was willing to admit- and something she knew was definitely connected to someone Cedar had never met; someone her mother never mentioned or talked about. 

  Cedar's mother certainly knew something- and Cedar had a horrible suspicion it had to do with her unnamed father.