The Dream Inside the Darkness. Read online

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  Spinning all around in a state of distortion amongst hallucinations Jessie began to feel faint. A rustling of leaves blew all around him, then drops suddenly to the ground.

  Jude shoved Jessie playfully. "Dude, where were you? We're getting our finals back."

  "Where am I?" said Jessie.

  "Botany, Mrs. Turner's class. Does it ring a bell? Light your bulb?" asked Jude.

  Whatever happened I must have hit my head really hard, Jessie thought.

  Laying his head on his desk, he tried to remember what he had been doing last, searching for something, the answer to the riddle. He looked down at his desk to see if he could find any clues. There was a botany book on top of the tan colored desk, a pencil, a white sheet of paper containing past notes on the flowers.

  Mrs. Turner was going on about finals as well as extra credit. Ah! That's right! Jude and I had done a project together on the symbolism of flowers, but why would that be important?

  Jude interrupted Jessie's concentration. "I thought you said you were going to the lake this weekend? Your grandfather always said we could have the graduation party there."

  "This weekend," Jessie stammered. "What day is it?"

  "Monday. Don't you remember anything from the past twenty-four hours? It's our finals week. Everyone is graduating. You said you'd go check the place out, make sure it's ready. How long has it been since your grandfather has been gone, Jess? Two years now?"

  Jess sighed, finally remembering the deal he'd made. Jess was going to see what was going on, if the house needed a bit of tidying up before having friends there. It seemed like he was in a time warp. How did he get back from the mansion to his botany class?

  He looked at his desk where his final project lay. On a piece of paper, he read from it a list of flowers and their meaning: Amaryllis, Anemone, Lavender, Rhododendron, and Marigolds which symbolically meant: Dramatic, Fragile, Distrust, Beware, A Desire for Riches. He wasn't sure how it pertained to him unless a relationship he had might become fragile due to the need to have an extreme amount of money, or goods.

  A migraine started to form in his head that he couldn't push away. An undefined buzzing became louder surrounding him. A tip, tip, tap, tap, is heard as water drizzles down the walls.