I don't exactly remember how I got here at the moment, but I don't really care either. Today's class was another free day like any other. The only difference for today was that the temperature was a bit warm outside, so I have not been able to contact Lumina. These things happen, so I shrugged my shoulders and went about my day, just messing around by the time I reached this class.

And it was at this moment when a new student entered the gymnasium. I wasn't even paying attention to the doors anyway, but this moment created a bit of a commotion. Students don't normally pay too much attention to random details like this either. But what I noticed instead was the attention of half the entire class gawking and turning their heads silently in that direction.

I couldn't imagine what was so important, so I did the same too. As soon as I laid eyes on her, I realized why this one new student was getting popular simply by existing. Even I was blown away by the way she looked. Being a new student, she had no gym uniform, and was thus wearing the dress she picked out for herself. That, combined with her stunning face and beauty drew me into her eyes the same way it did for most everyone else in the gym. Most tried to continue their activity, playing it off and pretending not to drool over this random chick. I didn't know her name or what she was doing in this class. All I knew in the moment was how hot she was!

But I just as quickly got an unnerving feeling about her. That curly pitch black hair of hers works so well for her, and the black dress was just as amazing. I can presume her to be the hottest chick in this school; surely is she someone who wouldn't have issues finding a boyfriend. Almost everything about her is perfect... Almost everything.

For a split second, I thought this was actually Banarus or her twin sister. I can tell by a few tiny factors that she isn't Banarus or Britney. But the resemblance is astonishing! Banarus might be able to pull off such a look! They must be related or something.

Oh Banarus! She would be very cute too, if she had a slightly better personality. Plus, she dresses however she wants, usually in a cute way, but nothing like this. No, these two individuals are far apart on a scale of many things. Man, I could be so lucky if only I could get a chance to date her. I don't care if I've been through some rough patches, I can still dream it.

"Wait." I let out a nervous gasp when I realized what everyone else did. I was standing in the middle of the gym floor since basketball was not in use for once, but it was this stranger who made me nervous. She's walking in my direction! But I thought she was supposed to check in with the teachers first. I checked cautiously around me, assuming there must be somebody else right beside or behind me who she wants to be friends with. However, I was somewhat isolated among the crowd. She's walking in my direction, getting closer, and I don't have any idea as to why.

No! It can't be! Why is she coming towards me like this, with that enchanting smile on her face? I'm not even in the same league as her! She's probably just going to make fun of me or something, right? I wanted to know why, but my thoughts were melting away from her alluring body. I became that helpless-boy cliché everyone talks about, fighting not to lose my tongue in this moment.

"Hi! Haven't seen you before."

If I had any less training talking to girls than today, my mind would have exploded by now! I knew I was helplessly blushing, fumbling around in my brain to try and get some kind of words out. Who wouldn't be nervous talking to someone this good looking? I can't figure out why she would be talking to me like this, and especially in that flirtatious voice too. "Oh! Yeah! My name is Reed."

"My name is Reba Sound." Upon introducing herself, Reba did something nobody expected her to, and grabbed my hand with both of hers in a cute clasp. The gym was nearly silent now, all eyes were on the two of us. She stared directly into my eyes with that winning smile. "Want to dance with me?"

For a second, I couldn't answer, let alone move. I've never felt like this before! She's more assertive than anybody I've ever met, and now she's asking me to dance? Here?! Now?! This is all happening too fast! But I didn't dare pass up the chance to slip up with this one. Nodding my head with my mouth half agape, I let Reba lead me over to the empty center of the gym, close to where we were already standing.

About the same time she did that, music from those big speakers started playing, something a bit slow, but not too slow, of the dance variety. They play music from these speakers all the time, but I wasn't expecting to hear such music like this. If I weren't on the verge of panic right now, I would have questioned where this music came from, or how it was perfectly synchronized to play after I agreed to be with Reba Sound.

And for the next ten minutes, Reba and I were just casual dancing in the middle of gym, together, holding hands and spinning each other around. It all felt like something out of a movie, like something magical. I could think of nothing else. "So, Reba? Can you tell me a bit about yourself? You just transferred in, right?"

"You should know not to ask too many personal questions Reed. But you know, I wouldn't mind telling you everything about me, every little secret. We all have our secrets, right? I'll let you go first, if you want."

What is this? I only asked her a normal question. I feel like she's hinting at something else. "Of course. But, I was only asking to get to know you better." Maybe she misunderstood me.

"Can you do me a favor sweetie?" As if I could say no to that. "Stand right here for a moment. I want to have a picture of you." Reba stepped away from me, turning to get some distance so that the camera on her smartphone would canvas my whole body in with her frame.

I obliged her request with lusty eyes and a heavy heart. She must have fallen for me the same way I'm starting to fall for her. This might be the best day of my entire life. So I'll stand perfectly still, so that she can get the best picture. I tried my best to ignore the other students staring at us and whispering in jealousy of what's happening. I didn't question whether I found their behavior odd whatsoever. A few seconds from now, Reba Sound will take a picture of me to cherish forever.

Just a few seconds. Reba clicked the button on her phone, making the digital snapping picture sound that I waited for. But something was wrong. The moment right before I heard the camera snap, there was a different distinct noise, some kind of loud snap or something. The direction of the noise was different too.

I glanced up above me to investigate whatever that was despite my instructions to pose. And what I saw when I looked up freaked me out and snapped my mind awake immediately. The snapping sound I heard was a metal hinge on one of those ceiling light fixtures. It sounded like a snap because it actually did snap, separating from the frame in the ceiling fixture. From right above me, a huge lamp was about to drop in my exact location. There wasn't enough time to think about the severity of the situation any longer, so I reacted on instinct and jumped off one foot to my left side, as quickly as I could. I taught myself to dodge this way, after realizing that you can jump the most distance in a sudden life or death situation going sideways rather than jumping back, based on how the legs can move in that direction.

Before I knew it, I was on the floor, my mind muddied with the deafening crash of glass and steel on the polished wooden floor. Several shrieks and screams echoed out once others realized what happened. But I felt so relieved after feeling no pain at all. The fact that I'm still breathing and having these thoughts meant that I must still be alive.

I got a hold of myself, standing up again while investigating the damage beside me, literally right beside me. If I had reacted a split-second later, I would have just died! The hole that thing put into the ground wasn't too extensive, but it sure would have killed me if it collided with my head. How does something like this even happen? I found myself shaking in the aftershock of this realization. I don't know how else to feel. I was glad to have survived this, but what I heard next opened my eyes even wider.

"Dammit! I missed!"

Right before that thing was about to hit me, the fear I felt was of danger; in a fight or flight response, I didn't freeze up. But the terror resonating throughout me now had a different effect, one that made it impossible for me to move anything other than my face. I slowly turned my gaze to the girl who just said that. That voice, it didn't belong to any of the other students.

There she stood, Reba Sound, the most beautiful girl who transferred into Saffrin Middle, glaring at me with eyes of malice. Her body was so tense and distraught at her evaluation, between me and the broken fixture.

"What?" Say it isn't so! Reba Sound, this perfect girl, I know what I just heard from her mouth. What does she mean by she missed? Why does she look so angry, so vile, and so evil? I don't understand this, but did Reba Sound try to eliminate me? Is she responsible for that ceiling light falling to the ground the way it just did?

"Stop staring at me like that, you idiot! Haven't you figured out by now that I'm not who I appear to be?"

I've never had a girl talk to me like this before. I don't know what to do about it either. The teachers that were supposed to be monitoring gym class aren't actually around. None of the other students are brave enough to outcry at what was going on, less they understood it. I don't understand this. Why is she here? Why is this beautiful girl so evil inside, to want to target me and kill me? What have I done to her at all?

"So you think I'm evil, huh?"

What?! I wasn't saying anything out loud! Could this girl have telepathy too? No, that's not how this power works. Other humans can't use telepathy. It's impossible!

"It figures you wouldn't understand anything, as usual." Reba seemed to ease up in her tension, but only because she was preparing to do something she could never take back.

"Usual?" What the heck is this? Is this chick really a psycho or something? How many people has she done this to? And why isn't anybody getting a teacher? "What part of this is usual for you?" Is she some kind of secret spy? Maybe she's an insurgent who looks like an innocent middle school girl, but is actually an adult, the kind who is also a psycho killer.

"Shut up already. I don't have to explain everything to a shadow!"

What did she just call me?

"Besides, I have my orders. And my orders are to kill you, Reed. Prepare to die." She openly announced it, freaking most of the students out. Many ran away in fear, while others went off to find a teacher, too little too late. Reba whipped out a short sword, some kind I have seen before, even though I don't recall the name of it. I can't even believe she was hiding a blade in her dress like that at all.

But forget that! She just said she has orders to kill me! And I'm willing to bet she is wanting to use that weapon for real. "Wait a minute! You're going to kill me?" What am I saying? Of course she's going to kill me! She already tried it seconds ago. I can dodge a ceiling obstacle, but not a blade. I'm in real danger here!

"Don't worry. I'll try to make it quick."

"No! Don't kill him!" One of the random girls on the volleyball team was brave enough to shout back at Reba, but not enough to get close or intervene physically.

I knew Reba was preparing to launch herself at me and kill me with that sword. I have no defense against it whatsoever. And all things considered, I should be terrified enough to shit a brick and beg for mercy... But something's not exactly adding up here. Something about this entire set up has been bothering the back of my mind, or rather the dozens of background thoughts I always simultaneously have about every situation. I ignored them early because I wanted to dance with Reba. But now that I know she's a real threat, I can analyze the situation with more intended focus.

It's the reason I've noticed that there are too many discrepancies here. First, there are no teachers. That makes no sense under any circumstance. Where did they go? Why wasn't anyone here to stop this killer from entering? Secondly, if there were no teachers manning the music mixer, how did the music play earlier, only to stop short of my near death experience? It's deeper than that. Even some of the reactions from the students were not realistic. They would have reacted a bit differently with how Reba handled me; I know this because I've observed and remembered every single personality, interaction, and simulated response probability in all of them.

But the most perplexing issue is Reba Sound herself. No person would randomly infiltrate the school posing as somebody else, and go through all of this elaborate mess just to kill one person. If she wanted to be a professional killer, why not wait until I got off school and was more vulnerable? She's not an Altiri person. I know what they look and sound like, so I understand the difference in biology. Based on what I know to be true with telepathy, human to human telepathy and mind reading is not physically possible... That's it! That's the point about everything. None of this is physically possible! It isn't just Reba who is strange. Even I reacted in manners unlike myself. Everything about this situation is strange and impossible. And that can only lead to one conclusion; all of this is a dream. None of it is real. It has to be—

My eyes opened quickly, but at least this time I didn't roll or jump out of bed like last time. My mind felt so alert and on edge, and I was still shivering a bit from the experience. "Of course that wasn't real. It was only a dream." I remembered things from it a little too well.

I almost laughed at how ridiculous all of that was. And I believed it to be real for most of it. Of course, it's weird the way that just went down. I wasn't lucid for this dream. I haven't had a lucid dream ever since the purge finished its job. But right at the end, right before Reba could attack me, I somehow came to my senses, realizing I was dreaming within my own dream. And the moment that happened, it all came to a quick and sudden end.

I wonder how many people this happens to. When one discovers they are dreaming within their own dream, it somehow wakes up their consciousness. This usually has the effect of being forced out of the dream and shocked awake. It wasn't the case for me during the purge, but with that Altiri signal gone, I guess I dream normal dreams now...

Nothing about that was normal though. I mean, come on! Reba Sound? What kind of name is that? And her face looks way to much like Banarus. It's obvious my subconscious was grasping at straws for details this time around... But I wonder why I would have a dream about some hot chick wanting to murder me out of the blue. Despite know that it's just a dream, something about that girl gives me the maximum level of creeps.