3/23

"Lauren!" someone yelled from across the school's hallway.
The long, bare hallway looked endless. I was sweating in a panic. I couldn't recognize who was calling or where the call was coming from.
"Lauren!" I heard again.
The voice was coming closer and closer.
"Lauren," it called, "Lauren!"
"Stop," I yelled back, "stop!"
"Lauren," I heard as a felt a tap on my shoulder.
"What the -" I started as I turned around. But before I was finished the halls went black. Silence fell over the baron hall and my body fell numbly to the ground.

I jumped back up. I nervously reached for my glasses on the bed side table and put them on in a hurry. I looked around the room quickly to see where I was. The breeze from my fan hit my face hard and the sweat on my forehead froze.
"Lauren," someone called from downstairs.
Who is that? I thought.
"Mom," I whispered to myself.
I pulled the covers back and slid out of my bed. I put one floor down against the cold, hardwood floor and immediately pulled back.
I sighed. I put my food down again and tiptoed to my dresser. I opened the top drawer and pulled out the first two socks I saw.
I hopped back over to my bed and sat down on the edge. I put the socks down beside me as I pulled my leg up and rested it on my knee. I grabbed the dirty, white sock from beside me and started to pull it onto my foot.
"Ouch," I jumped as something hit against my toes.
I pulled the sock off quickly and heaved my hand into it. I gripped the little box tightly and pulled it out.I couldn't believe that I had found it.
I dropped the sock out of sock and watched it fall to the floor. I opened the little brown box.
"Lauren" my mother called again, "You'll be late for school!"
"I'm coming," I yelled back.
The perfect, untouched locket laid just like it had five years ago when my father gave it to me before he left. I only wore it once because it was a painful reminder of his absence.I pulled it out of the box and opened the little heart shaped locket. Staring back at me was the last picture I had taken with my father.
Suddenly, I realized the voice in the dream was my father's. He had tried to get in touch with me after he left, but it only scared me.
Tears formed in my eyes and I quickly wiped them away with my free hand.
"What's that?"
I jumped. I turned around to find my mother had walked in my room.
"Oh," I started, "the locket Dad gave me."
"Oh," she sighed, "Come on, now. You'd better start getting ready for school."
"Okay," I said as she walked back out of my room.I put the locket back in it's box and threw it onto my bedside table.
"Next time," I said to it, "I'll throw you out of the window."