When the room went dark, she heard her name.
“Daphneee— Daphne…”
“Daphne, what are you doing? It’s time to get up.”
Daphne sat up, trying to rub the sleep and confusion from her eyes. She felt tired and panicky. Her throat felt like it was dry and scratchy. Her mother popped her head into her room, flicking on the light. She could have sworn she was already up and had started the day. She shook her hair back, pushing the heel of her palms against her eyes. There was a headache causing pressure to build behind her eyes. Why was she so scared?
”Are you feeling alright,” her mother looked concernedly at her, “do you feel flushed or something? You look a little pale.”
”No, no—I’m alright. I just had one of those dreams, where you feel like you woke up and got your day done,” Daphne said as she slowly swung her legs over the side of her bed, “I didn’t mean to sleep so late.”
”It’s alright, but get a shake on. It’s raining and I don’t want you to miss the bus today. Coffee’s in the pot for you, I gotta run. I love you dear.”
”Thanks mom, I love you too. You know, it rained in my dream too so at least I know what puddles to avoid already.”
“Now that’s getting ahead of the day,” she said with a laugh, “I’ll see you tonight.”
The strange feeling crept back, sending a shiver down her spine. Hopefully she really did know what puddles to avoid, something to make the freaky feeling worth it. As she got ready for school, she tried to remember more about her dream.
“Let’s see”, she muttered to herself as she poured her coffee, “it was raining. Check.”
She took a sip, the aroma of cinnamon and coffee brightening the cool weather for just a moment, “And then I stepped in gum at the bus stop. Someone asked me for directions. Oh and my mug broke!” She laughed looking down at the fully intact mug, her memories of the dream after that were foggy. “Dreams are weir-oh crap!”
The handle on her mug snapped, hot coffee spilling everywhere. The white socks of her school uniform now smelled like a coffee shop’s trash bin and were a shade of muddy brown to match.
“Noooo, now I’m going to be late!”
Daphne ran down the street, trying to dodge the puddles and pedestrians. Her stupid mug breaking set her back by twenty minutes and got all over her book bag as well as her socks. The bus was still at the stop at least. She could make it to school on time, fix her makeup again, and finish the reading for her literature test this afternoon. The day could still be good, this was just a small setback.
And the bus was pulling away.
“Wait, wait— wait noooooo!”
She tried to run faster, waving frantically to try and stop the driver. She stopped, it was pointless.
“Well that part wasn’t in my stupid dream,” she groaned, trying to kick at the litter on the ground but realized she stepped in a big, gooey wad of gum, “oh but that was!”
She sat on the bus stop bench, dreading the rest of the day. She put her face in her hands and tried to figure out what to do. It was either walk in the rain or take the subway.
“Well, glad to see I’m not the only one running late today.”
Daphne looked up from her hands to see the crest of the school embroidered on a pair of socks. Looking up the rest of the way, she saw the soaked face of Jordan from underneath a wind breaker.
Jordan was in a few of her classes, literature being one of them. They pushed a mop of bangs out of their face, failing to tuck them back under the hood of the windbreaker.
“Yeah, just a couple of rainy day peas in a pod,” Daphne said.
Jordan smiled while fiddling with a ring, “You ever have one of those mornings where you know it’s going to be a great day? And then the day actually starts and it goes to hell in the most minor of inconvenient ways?”
Daphne snorted. Jordan was always saying things that started out kind of elegant and deep, then finishing them off in a crude way that made the English teacher sigh like he was waiting for a dramatic ending that tapered out.
“So, subway or rainstorm?”
Jordan was looking at her like she was in charge.
”Oh,” she said as she stood back up, “well, the Loop should get us there faster but is crowded this time of morning. But if we walk, we can stop at the good bodega and get a coffee for the walk.”
They both looked at the clouds overhead. The rain was slowing, but the dark sky looked like it was just bidding its time, waiting for them to get far enough into their walk to drench them.
“Why don’t we split the difference, stop at the bad coffee cart and take the Loop?,” Jordan suggested.
”Perfect! Bad coffee and subway smell, the perfume of a successful day.”
They huddled under the coffee cart’s umbrella, trying to get a break from the downpour.
“Good thing we decided to Loop,” Daphne said, sprinkling more powdered creamer into her cup. The powdered form never gave her the right color of coffee, so she always got the ratio wrong.
“Uh, excuse me?” A family with a few maps was nervously standing behind them, looking very confused and soaked. Their ponchos gave them away as tourists unprepared for the city’s rainy season.
“I’m sorry, but could you tell us if we’re at the right stop. We’re- uh not from around here and trying to get to the museum downtown?” The man pointed at the maps and smiled sheepishly.
Daphne looked at the various maps, pointing out the stops they would need. The man looked grateful and the little kid high-fived Jordan.
“Thank you kids so much! I don’t know how we could have navigated this crazy web of stops.” the woman said.
“No problem, it can be a little overwhelming if you’re new to the system.”
As they shoved their way onto the crowded platform, Jordan caught Daphne’s smile.
“What? You love giving directions or something?”
“No, see, I had this dream about today but I can’t remember everything that happens.”
“Oh, yeah I’ve had those before. You didn’t happen to dream the answers to the history test I have to take today, did you?”
“I wish! But the last thing I remember was a guy asking me for directions, which just happened. But then it’s all foggy after that.”
“Damn, guess we’ll have to study and not use our dream powers for evil.” Jordan wiggled their fingers in a dramatic fashion.
As they waited, that strange feeling crept down Daphne’s spine again. She shivered, taking a long drink of coffee trying to chase that feeling away. It was bitter and did nothing to comfort her. The subway pulled to a stop, and people shuffled in and out.
“Daph, you coming?”
Daphne hesitated.
“Daphne, come on, you’re going to miss the subway.”
“Sorry, I just got a weird feeling in my stomach.”
“It’s all that powdered creamer,” Jordan laughed, making room in the aisle for her.
The car rattled along the tracks, jostling the crowd. Someone shoved into Daphne, causing her to slam into the pole. The track seemed extra rough, probably due to the storm. All the jerking made that horrible feeling worse. As the subway went into the tunnel, she felt her heart rate quicken.
“Daphne, are you ok? You look really pale.”
“The jerkiness of the train is bothering me. And I have this horrible sense of-.”
There was a high pitched squeal from the brakes, cutting her off. Everyone slammed into each other and Daphne lost her grip on the handle. She landed hard on her shoulder and her head bounced against the hard floor. Her vision blurred for a moment and she saw Jordan was struggling to stay up as well.
People were screaming as the crowd fell and the car tipped forward. Jordan lost their grip as a wave of people slid forward, knocking them on top of Daphne.
The subway tunnel collapsed, causing the train to crash. Smoke and dust streamed in through the broken windows. Daphne was pinned against the floor, looking into Jordan’s scared face. A piece of glass was embedded in their cheek and blood was streaming from the cut.
“Daphne? Daphne, i-it’s going to be ok. We’re going to be alright.”
Daphne reached out for Jordan, their hands finding each other in the mass of people. It hurt to squeeze Jordan’s hand, but that was the only thing keeping her from losing it. The dust and smoke from the accident was making it hard to see, and she was so dizzy from hitting her head.
“Daphne, please focus. Stay with me Daph.”
Jordan’s voice was cracking and seemed so far away. They were crying, begging for Daphne to focus on them. And she was but it was too dark to see anything. It was getting darker and darker in the car.
She knew why the rest of her dream was so damn foggy. They never should have got on the Loop.
When the room went dark, she heard her name.
“Daphneee— Daphne…”
“Daphne, what are you doing? It’s time to get up.”
The End
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