I wake up from a nightmare to find I am still living in one.

I wake up in my tree house and look at my phone, it's 3:00 pm. Crap.

  I think as I realize I needed to be home at 2:00 pm. 

 The thing is, it's a Saturday but my parents still think I need to be at their beck and call all the time. I mean, they always tell me “zollon, if you have no school then you are here!” it gets really annoying. If I go outside for too long I get in trouble. I'm not talking about just getting yelled at, I mean getting harshly grounded. I can't do anything without their permission. So every once in a while (when I have the chance that is) I go here. In my tree house.

My tree house is nothing fancy. I mean I didn't build it with an adult or anything. I mean I Didn't even build it. I found it in the woods one day and went in. then I slowly fixed it up myself. That was 6 yrs ago now. I just hang out here and read to get away from everyone.

 The place is nothing fancy, but I like it. It has a short ladder leading to a tall door frame with a blue sheet that was mine when I was little that acts like a door. Inside it has a small table that goes up to my knee. The cool thing about this place is that I can stand in it. This place is like 7 feet tall, and I am 6’2. There's also a pink shag rug, and a bean bag with a small throw pillow on it.

 I heard someone calling my phone. It was my older sister.

 “Hello?” I say as I answer my phone.

 “Where the heck are you!" she yells at me worried.

 “Sorry I am on my way now,  I lost track of time” I say finishing with a yawn. 

 “Well, mom and dad are freaking out on me. And I can't stall any longer. So get here now!” 

 “Okay I'm like 5 minutes away, but I will be right there.”

 “Okay bye.” my sister said almost defeatedly.

 “Bye.” I say as I cut off the call. 

 I tiredly get up and start heading towards the mile walk ahead of me.

#

It's Monday now. I was told that I had to be home right away. Well little do they know school gets out at 2:45 but they think it gets out at 4:00. I told them that so I could go to the tree house after school. And it works because Katie (my older sister) goes to her friends after school. And Saturday you know how I got grounded? Ya, they must have really been in a mood, cause I am grounded till the end of the year and have to go to the grocery store every week. It’s august. So ya, now I really can’t do anything.

 When I get home I can tell my dad is in an off mood today. 

 “Boy, get over here!” my father yells and I am instantly scared.

 “Yes?” I ask

 “Where were you?! I told you to get right after school!” my dad is properly drunk, oh no.

 “What do you mean?” I ask, trying not to get on his nerves. 

 “What do I mean!?” he yells then slaps my face. “What I mean is, school got out 12 minutes ago!” he yells

 “Yes and I had to walk home, so it took 12 minutes.” I say calmly trying not to get slapped again.

 “What do you mean you have a driver's license so you should have been here 15 minutes ago!” 

 “Katie has a license, not me” what is he going on?

 “No. you do. And don’t back talk me young man!” he sounds confused. But trys to hide i through anger,

 “Okay, sorry, I will be faster tomorrow “ 

 “Better, now go get me a beer.”

 I sigh and go get one. I would say that this was not normal, but that would be a lie. This happens almost every day. And I’m just lucky it was only a slap in the face. Normally it would be alot worse.

 After a bit I was done cleaning the house and I went upstairs to do my homework.

 “Where are you going young man?” my mom calls from the living room.

 “I am going upstarts to do my homework.” I respon.

 “Did I say you go up there? you still need to clean.” she tells me as if she didn’t just yell at me to clean right.

  “But I just did.” I say trying to not sound annoyed, and failing to do so.

 “Watch your tone young man” my mom says sharply  

“Sorry I will go clean now.” I say almost definitely. 

 “Did i say you could go?” she is getting weird, I'm now worried.

 “Sorry, can I go clean ma’am?” i ask 

 “No” she says sharply “you can stay here till your father gets back” she told me proudly.

 “What should i do till then? He is out hunting and that can take a few hours.” I'm trying to not sound too harsh or questing, but failing.

 “What did I say?” she snapped, “ I told you to stay there till your father gets back!” she yells and throws her drink against the wall. Things were going to get serious.

#

  An hour later my father came home, and the whole time I was standing there my mom was yelling at me. And what for you may ask? Well everything that was wrong in her life. And told me I ruined everything for them. When he got here he immediately hit me. 

 And another hour later it only consisted of yelling at me and hitting me. I ended up in my room and they told me, and I quote “you have been misbehaving for too long, you do not get to eat for the rest of the week.” I am used to it. I mean this happens at least once a month.

 But I am sick of this. I mean every time I heal from very severe injuries I get them back the next day. I mean I was just healing from a broken leg, now I have a black eye, bruised ribs, and a sprained elbow to match. And when I say I am sick of this I mean it. I am planning on running away.

 I would like to say, I have run away before, 15 times in fact, they just caught me. Every. Single. Time. So this time i'm going to do it for real. I am not going to a friend's house, or stopping somewhere where my parents' friends are. I'm going to my treehouse. 

 So on my way to the tree house I took the long way to make sure no one could see me. And on this road I see some stairs. And I am not talking stairs up to a house, I am talking random stars that lead to nowhere.

 They were cool looking. They had a classic banister that was white and brown. The steps were not steep, in fact they were the perfect length and with. I had nothing better to do so I went up to them.

  out of nowhere I was thrown somewhere. Whoa, I instantly thought. Not only was this nothing you would think but wow. When I went up there I was transported to another world. Everywhere there was sand it was like I was on a weird beach. I think, I mean I have never been to the beach.

 But anyway, there is a canopy of tall trees around the beach. They were so tall that you couldn't see the topps. But somehow you could see the sky perfectly. And the waves, oh my gosh. They are breathtakingly blue and gorgust green. It is just like those fairy tales everyone says are fake. I could not move. I was so shocked at the gorgeousness.

 But soon the shock wore off. and I realized I had no clue where I was. I had no way to know either because I forgot to get my phone from the safe. Shit. I thought as now I will never get it back. Oh well, I will just walk around. not like there is much on it.

#

 After walking around for who knows how long, I needed to sit down. So I found a spot with no branches and sat. Looking at the water I realized how fun it would be to swim around. 

 So I got up and took all of my clothes off, well except my underwear. And I got in with a big splash. I swam around and out of nowhere it started to get really warm. Now it was getting boiling hot, but it was not painful hot it was like sweaty and happy? I never knew a temperature could make me happy. And this was like I was covered in hot happiness.

 Next thing I know I can't see. I don’t start to feel panic. If anything it is calming, then when my vision starts to return I look around and something is off.  I look down and see that there is a gorgeous tail. I am talking about a 5 feet long tail with 5 wispy fins on each side. It is a gradient of blue till green with a massive flipper at the end.