Oxy had tried to survive the sleepiness. But she still had to stay in class. And when she fell asleep, she returned to the Cerebra dimension.
Helio welcomed her again.
"Morning," said Helio. "Apple?" He showed a bitten apple in his hand. "Oh, not this one. I still have plenty of apples." He shoved a fruit basket on the messy desk, which was cluttered with food wrappers and books.
Oxy got up from the sofa where she had woken up.
"Damn it, I don't want to wake up in this world again!" Oxy protested, looking so irritated.
"Have you met Mr. Dome?" Helio asked then took a bite of his apple.
"Tsk, It's confusing me." Oxy immediately sat on the chair. She took an apple from the basket and ate it. But she could taste anything from the fruit.
Oxy gasped when she heard screams in the distance.
"It's foggy out there..." Helio commented as he talked about the weather. "And Uron looking for their prey," Helio said.
"Is there anyone trapped here again?" Oxy asked worriedly. She remembered what happened to Mr. Folks yesterday.
"Sound like," Helio shrugged his shoulder. "Just hope they can hold it."
"Maybe I will die here too..." Oxy sighed, thinking about how tiring she was because she couldn't get much sleep.
"But you are safe here. You are lucky to found the Red Castle. Just hurry up to meet Mr. Dome. He will explain anything to you."
Oxy sighed. "Why do I feel less tired when I'm here?" She asked confused. Realized that she felt a little lighter.
"I think... It's because you only brought part of your body here," Helio guessed. "You passed it at the path of dreams gate. So I believe your body is not full went here."
"It's confusing... By the way, I remember what Mr. Dome said to us yesterday. If I can help you."
"Oh yeah, do you have any more ideas?" Helio shrugged nonchalantly. Sarcastic.
"He said you need help with this," said Oxy.
"Unfortunately, only me who can open and close the gate," Helio said.
"But you can not do anything in my dimension," Oxy said too.
Helio was silent for a moment. "Okay, I'll listen to your idea." He nodded at last.
"We must kill Urons. Maybe we could find some help from my world." Oxy explained her idea. She always had many ideas.
Helio chewed his apple briefly, swallowed, then tossed the rest of the apple into the full trash can.
"You made a mess of the principal's office," Oxy complained, who didn't like the messy office.
"This is not my cleaning schedule," said Helio, who didn't care about the trash. "Back to your brilliant idea. I appreciate it. You may indeed be able to help in your dimension. But that's up to you."
"You doubt me?" Asked Oxy. "But we have to stop Uron!"
"Okay, then how do you kill those creatures? We can't go out of the Red Castle at night."
"We can go out during the day. You said the fog made them hard to see."
"Not only Uron, but we'll also have a hard to see," Helio said.
Oxy sighed, and she bit her apple.
"Maybe I must see Mr. Dome first. You don't want to hear me anyway."
"Of course, I hear you, but I don't like your ideas." Helio sighed. "Mr. Dome must be waiting for you. And you already have so many brilliant-impossible ideas."
"Don't make fun of me. I just wanted to help," said Oxy irritably.
"Well, I don't mean it. I appreciate your concern."
"Of course, people will care about this danger. You don't know about the situation in my dimension. People are starting to panic. My adoptive father hasn't come home yet. My adoptive mother is very worried."
"Okay, in your dimension there are a lot of people. But here, it's just me and Uron."
Oxy frowned. "Are you sure? Are there no humans here beside you?"
"As long as I live here, I never meet humans except for Uron." Helio shrugged. "Mr. Dome said that I have to protect this world. Isn't that enough to show my concern for your dimension? I protected your dimension from Uron."
"Okay, you're right. And thank you."
"You're welcome."
"But you said yourself that humans could enter Cerebra, and Uron was after them. It's all out of your control."
"Yeah, it's been like that lately." Helio nodded doubtfully.
"You don't know what caused it?"
Helio nodded. "Earlier everything seemed safe. But then suddenly some humans appeared in the night. They were trapped here, and Uron was after them, chasing them. One by one they died. It was terrible." He retrieved the apples from the basket. "Mr. Dome said he will find some help."
Helio turned to look at Oxy.
"And you showed up. A girl at my age. That's not what I imagined." Helio snorted, looking very disappointed.
"You're looking down on me just because I'm a girl?" Oxy looked a bit offended.
"Aren't you also looking down on me because I'm just a boy?" Helio replied.
Oxy sighed in exasperation. "I want to go back. Talking to you wasting my time."
"So, go back to your dimension anyway!"
--
Oxy was woken up by the ringing of the bell. She rubbed her sleepy face. She felt very tired. Unlike when she was in the Cerebra dimension, she felt lighter there than to be here
She realized she was being watched. She turned her head, and found Darren with his gang, laughing at her.
"Geez, Darren. She's a girl, right? She's so messy." one of Darren's friends made fun of her.
"She slept during class. Terrible."
"She's the most terrible. Come on, let's go to the cafeteria." Darren went out of the class, followed by his gang.
Being called terrible irritated her. But Darren's gang wasn't a group she liked. So she tried to ignore anything they said.
Oxy walked out of class with a heavy head due to sleepiness and a tired body, caused by lack of rest. She stopped in front of the hallway window, she looked down, and saw one of the seniors who caught her attention.
That's Argen. One of the popular students that Oxy liked. Of course, Oxy was a normal girl too, who liked boys. And Argen was different from Darren, the senior was awesome.
Argen was sitting with his friends on a bench in the yard. Then Darren and his gang joined them.
Oxy sneered because of Darren. She turned away, continuing her steps towards the principal's office.
Oxy knocked on the principal's office door. She faintly heard the principal's voice, inviting her in.
"You've finally come here," Mr. Dome welcomed her. "Sit down," he said to Oxy.
Oxy sat hesitantly in the chair opposite Mr. dome. It seemed odd because she had just come from the Cerebra dimension, sitting in the same spot in the principal's office. But in her dimension actually, the principal's office was brightly lit by sunlight and everything was in order.
"You must be sleep-deprived," said Mr. Dome.
"What exactly is going on?" Asked Oxy. "People died and..."
"Shh," interrupted Mr. Dome. "You need to rest, Oxy."
Oxy blinked her eyes.
"Take this," Mr. Dome thrust
a green pill in front of Oxy. "Eat and you can lie down on the couch."
Oxy turned her head to the sofa where she was used to waking up in the Cerebre dimension. She turned back to Mr. Dome, she was a bit doubtful and scared.
"Don't be afraid, it's not a dangerous drug. You need to take a rest before you hear my explanation."
Oxy took a breath, and she took the pill, looking at it, still with a doubtful look.
"Is Helio really real?" she asked.
Mr. Dome nodded. "Yes, Of course. He's real. He's trapped in that dimension."
"Since when?" Asked Oxy.
"Since he was born. He can't get out of there. Unless someone saves him."
"Is he from here?" Asked Oxy.
"Oh yeah, Helio is an ordinary human just like us. So don't worry about Helio. He's fine. What I'm worried about is that you haven't rested since yesterday."
"So I just have to take this medicine then I can sleep?" Asked Oxy.
"Yes, my dear. And it's not just ordinary medicine. You won't find it in any pharmacy or hospital. It works like a sleeping pill but it's more than that. It will give you a lot of energy so you can stay awake longer."
"Re... Really?" Oxy was flabbergasted.
"Yeah, and once you wake up you can stay up for 48 hours."
Oxy sighed. It seemed there was nothing she could do. She wanted to hear Mr. Dome's explanation about Cerebra, but she was also very sleepy and tired.
"Okay."
"Go ahead. I won't bother you. But I'll be here, watching you."
Oxy nodded. She hoped this medicine would not kill her. But she could only trust Mr. Dome.
Oxy immediately left the chair, and she walked, carrying the drug on her finger. She sat on the sofa and felt the texture of the sofa which was the same as Cerebra's dimensions. She looked at Mr. Dome who looked busy at his desk now.
Oxy immediately swallowed the pill. For a moment she did not feel any effect. And after a minute had passed, she felt like she had lost his energy, she couldn't control her body anymore. She fell to the sofa. Her vision blurred and then became dark.
Finally, she could sleep, soundly.[]