The first dream came out of nowhere.
I woke up in the middle of the night, my heart pounding in my chest, the remnants of the dream clinging to me like a thick fog. I had been running, faster than I'd ever run before. The trees around me blurred into streaks of green and brown as my feet barely touched the ground. There was a wildness to it, something primal that I couldn't quite grasp. The power coursing through me was overwhelming, exhilarating, like electricity crackling under my skin. I could feel the forest in my bones, hear the rustling of leaves, smell the damp earth. It was as if I was one with everything around me.
But just as suddenly as the feeling had arrived, it was gone. I woke up gasping, sweat sticking to my skin as I stared at the dark ceiling of my room. For a moment, I thought I could still feel the echo of that raw power, a low hum beneath my ribs.
I shook it off. It was just a dream, I told myself. Nothing more. But the next night, it happened again.
This time, I was further into the forest, my senses sharp, almost painfully so. I could hear the heartbeat of some animal in the distance, the flutter of wings as a bird took flight overhead. I was faster, stronger, and the world felt... clearer. More alive. And then, just as before, I woke up with that same sense of disorientation, unsure of whether I was relieved or frustrated.
"Hey, Ethan, you okay?" Scott's voice broke through my thoughts, dragging me back to reality. He was sitting next to me on the couch, his eyebrows furrowed in concern. We were at the McCall house, just like most Saturday afternoons, wasting time and talking about nothing in particular. It was routine, comfortable—but I couldn't shake the feeling that something was lurking beneath the surface, just out of sight.
"Yeah, fine," I replied, trying to sound casual. "Just... bad dreams."
Scott didn't look convinced. "You've been acting weird lately. Like, spacing out or... staring at nothing. You sure you're alright?"
I gave him a reassuring smile, even though inside I was still shaken. "I'm good, Scott. Just got a lot on my mind."
It wasn't entirely a lie. The dreams were starting to pile up, and the more they came, the more I felt like I was on the edge of something—something big. But I wasn't about to tell Scott. Not yet. He had his own problems to deal with—his mom was pushing him to focus on college, and the whole "trying to be a normal kid" thing was wearing on him.
Plus, Scott hadn't had any dreams like mine. He was still oblivious to the strange things happening around us, stuck in the typical teenage loop of school, friends, and whatever the latest drama in Beacon Hills was. I could tell, though, that he felt the tension building in the air, even if he didn't know what it meant.
"Okay," he said slowly, his eyes narrowing just a bit. "But if you need to talk about it, you know where I am."
"Thanks, man," I muttered, half-smiling.
That night, the dream was more vivid than ever. I was standing at the edge of a cliff, looking out over a vast expanse of trees stretching endlessly into the horizon. The wind whipped through my hair, tugging at my clothes, but it didn't bother me. It felt right. Like I belonged in this place, this wild, untamed wilderness. The power in me was stronger now, surging through my veins with an intensity that nearly made me stumble.
Then, a low growl rumbled in the distance, and I whirled around, instinctively crouching as if ready to spring into action. The forest around me shifted, almost alive, like it was watching me.
I could feel something approaching—something big, powerful, and dangerous. The growl grew louder, closer.
Suddenly, I was no longer standing on the cliff. I was running through the forest again, faster than I could ever run in real life, my muscles burning with the exertion. The trees rushed past me, their branches reaching out like claws. I could hear the sound of footsteps behind me, getting closer. Whatever was chasing me was faster, but I was faster too.
I didn't know how, but I knew I had to keep running. I had to escape.
The dream ended abruptly, leaving me gasping for breath and drenched in sweat. My heart hammered in my chest, and I lay there in the dark, struggling to steady my breathing.
What was that? What was happening to me?
The next day, Scott was in his usual mood, distracted but trying to keep it together. "Mom's on my case again," he said, flopping down next to me on the couch as I tried to zone out. "She's got me looking at colleges already. It's like she wants me to leave or something."
I raised an eyebrow. "Aren't you supposed to look at colleges? It's senior year, Scott."
"Yeah, but she's acting like I'm leaving tomorrow," Scott groaned. "I don't know what to do. It's like everything's changing, and I'm just stuck here."
I could relate. Life was changing for both of us, but not in the same way. While Scott was dealing with the regular stresses of being a teenager, I was dealing with... something else. Something that was starting to feel less like a dream and more like a warning.
I didn't want to tell him about the dreams. I didn't even want to acknowledge them to myself. But deep down, I knew something was happening, something I wasn't ready to face. Maybe it was just stress from school or growing up or whatever it was teenagers went through. But part of me knew it was something more. Something ancient and untamable, like the power I'd felt in the dreams. Like it was waiting for me to understand it, to accept it.
"Maybe it's just the pressure of everything," I said, trying to offer some comfort. "You're figuring stuff out. We both are."
Scott gave me a half-smile. "Yeah, I guess so. But it doesn't make it any easier, you know?"
I nodded, but inside, I felt like the ground was shifting beneath me. Whatever this power was, it was growing stronger. And sooner or later, I'd have to face it.
That night, I tried to focus on the present, pushing the dreams to the back of my mind. But the whispers of the forest and the untamed power were there, lurking just beneath the surface. I couldn't outrun them. And, deep down, I knew I wasn't meant to.
As I closed my eyes, I couldn't help but wonder: what would happen when I finally stopped running?