Sarah
--- Debopreeta Bhattacharya
I woke up. Beads of sweat trickled down my face. I sat up panting. I must have screamed, because
my older brother Jeet sprinted in. “What’s wrong Dhuti?” he asked turning the light on. I finally
got a good look at my alarm clock. It was nearly 5:00 in the morning. “Just a bad dream,” I
replied. Rick trudged out the door grumbling. My name is Arundhuti by the way. I’m 11 years
old, and I live in Trenton, New Jersey. This bad dream was a horrible nightmare. I was on a train
in the night. Suddenly, I heard screams. We’re about to crash. I try to get out, but it’s too late. The
train is heading for a pole, and ………………..
“Wake up Dhuti!” My Mom’s voice rings in my ears. It was 9:30 a.m. I must have dozed off.
Sunlight flooded my purple room. I got dressed in a hooded sweatshirt and jeans. The dream must
have poisoned my mind, because the incident in the kitchen explained a lot. “It’s the middle of
June Dhuti. Why are you wearing winter clothing?” my mom wanted to know. I changed into a
skirt and a top. I let my mom do my hair.
After I finished the last bit of my chocolate milk and toast, my best friend Aarti came over. She
put her bags with her stuff in it at my room. (She was having a sleepover) I closed the door to my
room and told Aarti all about the dream. I had been having these dreams for a while know. Aarti
agreed that something could be going wrong. We went swimming. We had great fun because my
brother was very strong. So he would toss us into the pool and we would pop up laughing. We ate
our lunch. We took the watermelons and ice cream outside. But I wouldn’t eat. I had barely
finished my lunch. I usually love to eat. What was wrong with me? We also watched a movie. I
missed out my favorite parts because of the dream. Even with all the fun stuff going on, the dream
wouldn’t go away. My dad seemed to think that something was wrong. I assured him that
everything was alright. The dream’s like a dungeon. If you try to escape the dungeon, pain awaits
you. Pain is the guard. I didn’t touch my dinner of soup and fruit.
I was too full of anxiousness to eat. This dream just wouldn’t get lost! The fort we made out of
pillows was fun though. We had some Oreos and chocolate for a midnight snack in the fort. We
stayed up all night telling scary stories and eating. We also named as many constellations as we
could. Aarti also told me the news like how the mean girl at school was still sending rude notes to
everyone on her street. The next day after eating our cereal, Aarti and I went out for a walk.
Something strange happened on the walk. While we were walking, a man with blond hair, glasses
and blue eyes came up to us. We froze. The man threw me a smile. Then, the strangest thing
happened.
The man picked me up and said, “Hello Sarah dear. It’s been a long time.” Aarti stared stupidly at
us. “Sorry sir. But my name isn’t Sarah.” Still smiling, the man put me down and walked away.
“Whoa!” I exclaimed. “What was that all about?” “Look Dhuti.” Aarti pointed somewhere a few
feet away. On the spot lay a brown leather book. I picked it up the book and examined it. Then I