~ 1K+ Writing Contest! ~<3 entry

Instructions

My dad once told me a joke that went like this: “I was standing in a field one day, and I was wondering why a ball was getting closer and closer...and then it hit me”. When the ball was coming towards my face I didn’t think anything at all. I’ll be completely honest, I’m not the best at sport or physical activity of any kind, but I guess you’ve figured it out by now. I didn’t have time to think, react, breathe, catch it or even move. I could only let it smash into my head and send me back into the wooden fence post that surrounds my school oval. Everything was black at first, like being in between awake and dreaming. I wasn’t even aware of anything, just a jellyfish in the ocean of the abyss. Then the dreams came. The feeling was so familiar, it was like walking back into your house after being on holiday for weeks. Two dreams were never the same, but they were always about the same person. Some nights were like looking into a rippling pond and seeing a person who looks almost exactly like me. His hair is shorter than mine, his gait and the weight of his shoulders is so much lighter, but yet, he has my straight nose, soft but defined jawline and eyes that turn golden when the light hits them. He was shimmery, glittery and alluring like a coin in the bottom of a fountain. He was colourful, like a chapel floor late in the afternoon when the sun shines through the stained glass windows. Who is this person? I could always feel a pull towards him, a strange desire to call his name or a want to find a way to get closer. He felt so different to me and yet I was almost looking in a mirror. I almost knew exactly who he was but I was scraping my mind for some hint of it like a weed barely clings to a cliff face. The feeling was strange though, it felt like when you forget something and you remember you forgot something but you are straining to remember what the original cause was. There was a connection, but I was grasping to find the meaning. I never told anyone about these dreams, I thought they were so bizarre. I knew some people would call me crazy so most of the time I just kept my thoughts to myself. It wasn’t until I was a much older child, after funny looks from my friends at the time, that most people didn’t have dreams about figures who were almost exactly like them but at the same time, a completely different stranger. I never found out enough about this individual through all my years of dreaming so I just learnt to let it go. They were too blurry and distant, I usually forgot about them anyway. I woke up in the nurse’s office. The school nurse was a lithe woman with a hooked nose and a bun tight enough to give you a headache. She looked at me, tilting her head to study me like a dog who heard something rustling in a bush nearby. “Noah, how are you feeling?” “My head hurts” I muttered “Is your vision alright? Do you remember what happened?” “I’m alright” The light above the bed put dark patches in my vision. I remembered exactly what happened. I was standing at the edge of the oval, waiting for a stray ball to be hit my way. It never happened, I usually spent the whole lesson picking dirt out from under my fingernails or thinking about my study plan for that afternoon. A boy and a girl were sitting under a tree nearby, chatting and laughing while waiting for the teams to rotate. “Did you hear about Chloe and Luna kissing at Aaqilah’s party?” “Them? Seriously? I thought Chloe would never have the gall, considering Luna is Mattias’ ex” “We could see it coming for a while though, right? Chloe had a crush on her long before she dated Mattias” “But it’s so weird though, like, can you imagine kissing your brother’s ex-girlfriend? Kinda icky if you ask me” “Dinner time at home must be awkward as hell” They burst into laughter again “Imagine breaking up with your girlfriend, only for her to go and make out with your sister!” "Power move" I was a good student. I always turned in my projects on time, always got a B in every test I did, always being polite to teachers and following the uniform policy without a fuss. Everyone in my school is so dramatic. Too much drama, too much gossip. I would never be apart of something like that, I wish everyone would have a little more self respect. It doesn’t matter though, I’ve learnt to tune them out. My classmates and their dramatics are just white noise to me now. “Noah! Don’t just stand there! Run! Move your feet!” My teacher called to me. I sighed, watching one of my sporty classmates grab the cricket bat and following the ball with my eyes as they hit it and it went in the opposite direction to me. I sighed again, looking back to my fingernails. The sun was too hot and the grass was itchy and dry. Ten more minutes and this class would be over. THWACK!