Young Writers Society

Jess was standing on a stone floor. It was some kind of cave, made of gray stone. There were several pillars hanging down from the walls, with identical pillars coming up from the floor. Stalactites and stalagmites, she remembered after a moment. The sound of dripping echoed from somewhere deeper. There were several different tunnels in the back of the cave, one of which was glowing brightly.

Curious, Jess stepped toward the glowing tunnel, not at all frightened. The light wrapped around her, forming a blanket of soft yellow light. It warmed her inside, making her feel safe. She stepped into the tunnel, which led to a smaller version of the cave she had just left behind. The only difference was the pool of glowing blue water in the corner. The yellow glow pulsed suddenly, drawing her attention to the opposite corner where a large mirror stood propped on it's side. It was tall, one of those old body length mirrors without a stand. It was made out of a dark wood, decorated with etchings of silver leaves. The glass was glowing brightly, and Jess reached a hand out to touch it. The light pulsed once more and then winked out.

A growling at the back of the cave made her freeze. Forgetting the mirror, she turned around slowly. A large cat beast stood at the opening of the tunnel. It was bigger than any wild cat Jess had ever seen, with a mane like a lion, but fur as brown as mud. Its face was distorted and it took a moment for Jess to figure out why: it had no eyes. There was nothing but a large, brown nose and a huge mouth. It waved its head back and forth, sniffing at the air and growling loudly.

Suddenly, its head whipped around towards Jess and it roared, shaking the cave. Then, faster than she thought possible, it jumped forward. In one big bound, it was in front of her, roaring angrily. Jess screamed and fell back as the mouth opened above her, revealing large yellow fangs, dripping with saliva. Jess closed her eyes waiting for the teeth to bite...

Something small and furry jumped onto her head and began running a wet tongue over her face. Jess jerked up in her bed, stifling a scream, and looked down.

"Ginger!" she cried, more from relief than anything. "You scared me. Don't ever do that again."

A small, brown poodle looked up at her, mouth slightly open so it looked like it was smiling. Its tail wagged so furiously that its whole bottom waggled with it. Jess gave up trying to look severe and grinned. It was hard to act serious when the dog was around.

"All right, girl. I forgive you," Jess said, kissing the top of the dog's head.

Ginger gave a soft wuff, jumped off the bed, and went across the hall to wake up Jess' little brother, Tad. Jess grinned as she heard a cry from his room and got out of bed. It was six o'clock and the sun was just rising over the distant hills. School started at seven thrity, so there was no need to hurry. She pulled on a pair of blue jean shorts and a white blouse and looked in the mirror to check her hair.

It was a dark brown mass of curls, so tangled it looked worse than the deepest parts of a jungle in South America. Jess looked at it with disgust. The girls at school never seemed to have this problem. Their hair was always perfectly managed, without a hair out of place. They were never awkward either. Jess was always being awkward. She was sixteen but she was about as tall as a fifth grader, just under five feet, horribly skinny and creme colored, no matter how many hours under the sun she spent. She also had freckles, and, on her skin, they always stood out like dark blotches on her face.

Jess sighed and wished she could go on in happy oblivion like Ginger seemed to do. All the dog ever did was eat, sleep and use the bathroom. At least she didn't have to worry about her looks like Jess was always doing. Sighing, Jess pulled back her hair in a wild ponytail, slipped on some socks and went downstairs for breakfast.

"Morning, princess," said her mother as she came to he table.

She stood at the stove with her back to Jess, turning only to give her a smile before returning to breakfast. Lara Evans was every bit the beauty that Jess was not. She had long, light brown, wavy hair that fell over her shoulders like silk. Her skin, the same shade as Jess', didn't have any embarrassing freckles and was as soft as a baby's. When she smiled, she lit up the whole room and her bright green eyes always sparkled when she was excited.

"Breakfast will be done in a moment. Did you sleep well?"

Jess winced.

"Uh, yeah, fine, it was fine," Jess lied, remembering her dream.

With Ginger scaring her as badly as she had, Jess had completely forgotten about her nightmare. Now, when her mother mentioned sleep, it had all come rushing back to her. The roars of the large cat beast thing still echoed within the chambers of her head and she shivered inwardly. For the past few nights she had been having the same dream, sometimes in different places, always including the cat beast and the mirror. After the first night, she had written it off as bad food (her father had cooked), but when it occured twice more, including last night, she had to wonder if it was something else. She had never heard of anyone ever having recurring dreams like hers before.The same thing always happend. She would take in her surroundings, find the glowing mirror, and then the cat beast would show up and she would wake in a cold sweat. It scared her enough that she considered telling her parents, but they had enough on their plates without her adding to their problems.

"Here you go. Breakfast is served."

The voice cut through her thoughts and Jess looked down at the table as her mother placed a plate of eggs and bacon in front of her. Jess smiled up at her, giving her a silent thank you, but only picked at the food. Lara gave her a worried look.

"Are you alright?" she asked, reaching across the table to feel Jess' forehead. "You're not getting sick are you?"

Jess pushed away her hand. "No, mom. I'm fine. I just didn't sleep well last night. I'm tired, is all."

Lara frowned. "You shouldn't be staying up as late as I've been letting you. It's just that school is over in less than two weeks and I thought it wouldn't really make a difference." She paused and looked sideways at Jess and then said a little more softly, "Unless this has something to do with your father and me. I know things have been a little difficult lately. If there's anything you want to talk abou-"

"No, nothing," Jess said quickly, but firmly.

She didn't want to do this right now. Her mom looked worried but nodded. She opened her mouth as if to say more, but Tad came trudging down the steps grumbling about dogs. She gave Jess one last hesitant look before going to get Tad his breakfast. Jess was grateful for Tad's presence in the room. She bent her head to eat her breakfast and tried to banish thoughts of parental problems from her head.