Dawson just wanted to sleep as he got out of the shower and slipped on a simple white shirt; it was already 11 pm, so he decided to just go straight to bed. Dawson fumbled around his messy room to turn the lights off. As he flopped on the bed and shuffled under the covers, he thought of Felix and the dream. How were they, two 17-year-old boys, supposed to stop an alien from destroying Earth? Dawson wouldn’t deny that he couldn’t fight an alien and Felix… he probably couldn’t fight in general; Dawson was getting worried. His stomach churned with fear as he turned on his side; he closed his eyes to sleep the scared somehow away.

Dawson opened his eyes to black nothingness, that was ok, but he couldn’t move. He assumed it was just his sleep paralysis, so he patiently waited for his sleep paralysis demon to come scare him, but it never came. He glanced to the side to witness the monster from his last dream, gripping Felix by the neck. Dawson’s eyes widened; he tried to get up to save Felix. But he still couldn’t move, luckily Felix looked unconscious. Dawson watched with fear in his eyes as the monster lifted its hand, which had a strange gray slime ball in its clutch. Felix’s mouth fell open as the beast forced the ball down his throat; Felix gagged and retched on it. His body spasmed, and the monster’s arm jammed its way in; Felix’s body being so unwilling caused more dry-heaving to erupt in the dark void. Dawson’s black hair fell over his eyes to hide the tears rolling down the side of his face; he felt like he just saw Felix’s body get violated and abused. The monster slowly turned his head to Dawson and spoke darkly. 

“This is his power.”

Dawson sat straight up immediately when he woke up; he felt like he saw his heart beating out of his chest. He looked at his alarm clock and saw it was only 6 am. School started at 7:40, but he was already dressed and running out of the house. Dawson felt a vein popping out of his neck; he had never been so scared for someone else's life. He doesn’t know what might happen to Felix, but his dreams never lie; they always come true. The dreams could look strange at first and then have a message behind them; Dawson had a feeling this was one of those times. He sat down on a rock in front of the school and waited; people looked at him weirdly, but he never got up. The next time he looked up, he saw Felix running to the school because the class was about to start.

“Felix!” Dawson ran up to him and grabbed his shoulders.

“Y...yes?” Felix stammered.

“Are.... are you ok? Did… anyone follow you? Did… someone do something to… you?” Dawson hesitated to continue.

“I don’t think so… wait, what are you talking about?” Felix questioned timidly.

“I had a dream that something happened to you. The monster put a gross ball thing in your mouth, and you were coughing, and….” Dawson stopped talking as he remembered what he had seen. “Oh! But it said that it was your power, although I have no clue what that means.”

“Like a superpower?” Felix asked, surprised. 

“I don’t know! That’s all it said before I woke up; maybe it meant-” the bell cut off Dawson; they were both tardy for class.

“Oh, sorry, I’ll see you during lunch?” Felix questioned, already running to class.

“Yeah, I guess….” Dawson mumbled as Felix ran away. Then, he realized he was also late, so he started into the school building too.

The teacher scolded him for being late when he walked in, but his mind was too busy to think about anything but the dream. Dawson slumped in his chair and thought, “What is his power? Is it slime being put down his throat? Or… having it come back up? Maybe he can turn into slime… yeah, that one is dumb. I can’t stop thinking about it; it’s driving me crazy! I need closure.” Dawson left after class to find Felix. He saw Felix leaving the bathroom; he stepped in front of him and said, “You… wanna skip class…? To talk about the dream, I had, of course.”

“ I guess I have a free bell right now. But, wait, don’t you have class?” Felix questioned as people started to disperse from the hall and enter their designated classrooms.

“Yeah, but it doesn’t matter.” Dawson shrugged as he grabbed Felix’s hand and dragged him outside.