Up on the Roof(open)

[William Saxton]

William climbed out of his bedroom window and up the wall to reach the roof. The roof wasn't that far and it wasn't much of a climb. He just wanted to get out of his room.

He went up higher to get a better view of the moon. He was above the tree lines now and could bee seen from the driveway. He didn't care as long as the headmaster didn't come out. And hey even if he did, what was the worst he could do?

He laid down on the roof and looked up. The moon was full and no clouds filled the sky. The stars were bright. The first time in a long time he felt at peace.

[Crystal Dinaia]

No matter what Crystal did that night, she couldn’t find the urge to sleep. Tossing, tangling herself up inside her sheets, she felt entirely uncomfortable and soon found herself padding barefooted around the room. Her roommate stirred, waking up slightly and the girl immediately felt guilty for waking her up. She gathered a fleece blanket and took to the hallways, only to get a stern talking to by the art professor who spotted her there. The confines of the school just seemed unnatural tonight and as she plodded around unhappily she noticed the full moon and became entranced. Silver light radiated out gloriously, filling the entire world below her floor with a supernatural glow. Crystal almost gasped at the way the world lit up below her, far more accustomed to sleeping through the night rather than experiencing it in all of its glory. There was something splendid about the world at this hour and that brightened her mood, nightmare or no nightmare. She was thinking of it again. Thinking of him again. She shivered despite the blanket wrapped around her shoulders and continued walking toward the moon, up the stairs to the attic and out of the door at the very end of the storage area, an exit that led her out to a safe, flat plane on the roof.

The roof was formatted so that she was positioned on a type of widow’s walk, a type of roof sidewalk that made her feel as if she wouldn’t find herself in a crumbled pile on the ground below. Crystal felt empowered, close to the night sky even though it was far above her. As she stood there for a few minutes, her eyes adjusted to the night, only to realize that there was someone else lounging on the roof. She believed that she had seen him at least a few times during the year, in one or two of her classes during her senior year. He was vaguely familiar, though she couldn’t say she had ever learned his name. Then again, Crys had never been very good at remembering names at all.

She felt daring. Stepping over the low railing at the top of the roof, she slowly made her way down the roof. Sitting down a fair distance across from him, she first folded her blanket in half, then in half again and made it into a nifty cushion to shield her against the rough shingles on the roof. Crystal crossed her legs as she sat down, short gray pajama shorts and a hip-length t-shirt making her legs look longer than they already did. Her hair had been braided the moment she had washed it that evening, but the braid had loosened, strands slipping out to frame her face. Looking up into the sky, stars reflected in her crystal-like eyes as she spoke, her voice piercing the quiet night and then fading back into the velvet silence. “Have you starting thinking about what happens after we leave here? It’s not too long now and I must admit, I’m getting scared.”

[William Saxton]

Will was looking up at the silver moon. He wasn't concentrated on it but it was something to look at. He was really thinking. He was thinking about his father. When he was a boy he wold climb up on the roof and look up at the moon. His father would come up and look at it with him. It was the only real relationship he had with his father. With the memory of his father a tear came to his eye. Quickly he wiped it away and regained composer.

He had wiped away the tear just in time. He heard footsteps coming his way. He turned his head to face the noise. It was the silhouette of a girl. She had a something around her shoulders, a blanket he thought. As she came closer he seemed to recognize her. He thought he had seen her in a few of his classes. She was a senior like himself. he didn't know her name but then again he had never bothered with it.

He sat up and offered her a seat next to him but she had already sat down. "Of course I've thought about it," he looked back up at the sky. "I'm terrified to leave here." He laid back down, his eyes on the moon. "I don't want to go home after this. But where else am I going to go?" The thought of having to go home was a horror story. He didn't want to go back to being teased by his brother, shunned by his father, and worried about his mother. That wasn't the life he wanted. At least here he could be open and even if people didn't know he felt like he belonged. "This place is home to me."

[Crystal Dinaia]

“Home...” Crystal laughed shortly, more of a coarse exasperated sound than a true laugh. She hadn’t talked to her father in more than a year and hadn’t even heard from her mother in over four. The house they had all lived in together was gone now, sold to another family who could better fill the three story wonder. Going home would mean returning to a California condo with a father who didn’t even know her anymore, a step-mother who barely spoke English, and a little sister named Shai who had never seen her. She truly didn’t have a home any longer aside from the one she had built at Somnium, so she completely understood how he felt. Then again, leaving Somnium would help her escape from the duality of the world here and would return sleep to just sleep and nightmares to only nightmares. She sighed softly, then spoke after a long awkward silence in which she was wrapped up in her own thoughts. “Wouldn’t it be nice if college classes were offered here?” She had already started looking into universities in England and having had residence in the country for several years, she figured that she would be able to easily go to university. Then again, moving to another college would mean leaving behind another home. The wind drifted across the roof and stirred her hair a little as she pulled her knees to her chest, resting her chin on top of them.

“I’m Crystal... I don’t know if I’ve ever introduced myself to you but right now, it just feels right.” Looking up into the night sky, she examined the stars, wondering if they had ever seemed this bright back in the states. She loved this place and how it was offset from the rest of the world, away from traffic unless the cars were coming to the school. It was peaceful here, a sanctuary in its own right and she was glad to have been here. As she thought about it, she felt her emotions overcome her even though she preferred to be emotional in private. She quickly brushed tears away from her eyes, wiping her hands on the blanket beneath her. “I suppose I could always try to get a job at The Weeping Goat or some other little shop in town, that way I could at least be near here. I don’t know... Somehow that doesn’t feel like it’s enough.” Often for Crystal Dinaia, nothing ever felt like it was enough.

[William Saxton]

Will listened to her. He wasn't about to ignore her like most people would if they got the chance. He didn't turn people away as if they weren't important enough to talk to. Nope he cared about, or just about, everyone. There were a few people who he just wanted to fall of the face of the earth.

"I just don't want to leave," he sighed. He wasn't going to show the sorrow he was feeling of having to go. He wasn't going to show her that he was weak on the inside. He didn't show anyone that.

"Oh I'm William but you can call me Will," he gave a fake smile to her. "I think I have a class with you." He looked back at the stars.

[Crystal Dinaia]

Crystal smiled softly, “Is it Somnium you don’t want to leave or the rooftop tonight? I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many stars in my life.” She laid down, enjoying the feeling of her stomach muscles pulling tight in this position. For a moment, the notion of working out or going for a run crossed her mind, but she quickly neglected it, deciding to diet rather than exercise. There was a part of her that simply hated to sweat and that burning feeling in her calves tended to drive her crazy. “It’s nice to meet you Will, do you have English with me maybe? Or is is psychology? I’ve been in such a blur in those classes for the past few weeks, so I’ll beg that you forgive my memory.”

She hated to pry, but curiosity got the best of her soon in the dark silence. “Have you had a nightmare in the Dream World yet?” Crystal was the type to speak in slight riddles and veil her thoughts when speaking of something that she felt was private, and to her, the Dream World was immensely private. Though, she wondered if her meeting with the fox-like creature that had struck such terror into her had been a creation of her own mind or if others had met him as well. For some reason, though they all went to this school for the same reason, though they all visited the same realms while they slept, the students here didn’t often talk about the other world. She shivered slightly and lifted her bottom to grab the blanket she sat on, quickly spreading it over her body and marveling over the gritty feeling of shingles beneath her slightly bare back. Had she ever known that shingles were gritty before this? “You don’t have to answer, of course.” Crystal murmured, “It’s completely up to you.”

[William Saxton]

Will sat up on a elbow. He face with no emotion as he looked at her. She shivered and he started to take off his jacket. She had the blanket but he was being kind. He offered her the jacket. For the first time he noticed how chilly the night air was. It was a nice chill though.

"I don't want to leave both," he laid back down on his left elbow. "It is my one escape from my own home." He sighed and looked back up. His eyes sparkled with the moonlight hitting them.

After a painful silence she asked him a question. About the dream world. "Yeah I have had a nightmare," he laughed at it. It was the weirdest one he had yet. Maybe he couldn't call it a nightmare. He found his heart in a glass box, then he got attacked from behind by a bloody cat. But to top everything off he ended up meeting a man that ran a book shop and tried to kill him. "It was the weirdest dream I have ever had. Well to the dream world anyway." He smiled at her. "I don't mind telling anybody about it." He thought of ways to tell her. But couldn't find any. "I assume you have had one. If it had anything to do with a cat/fox thing I feel for ya. Or a guy that runs a book shop. That guy is crazy."

[Crystal Dinaia]

“I don’t know if it was a nightmare exactly... I can’t remember the end of it. I just remember being scared, then breathless, which is scary in itself. There’s a boy-killing-man in a bookstore in the Dream World?” Crystal questioned his statement, slightly confused by the implications of that very thing. Could one die in a dream in the Dream World? Growing up she had heard the rumor that if one died in their dream, it meant a part of them was dying in the real world. The thought gave her the willies, making her shiver once again, the hair on the back of her neck standing up. Had anyone ever asked the headmaster if such a thing could happen? She hadn’t talked to the man very often, though she’d heard the whispers about his mental state. Perhaps she’d ask the school nurse, he wad medically inclined so he had to know, didn’t he? What a strange question to ask a man like him, she wondered if he would recommend that she go back to the psychiatrist she’d been seeing after her first year at Somnium Academy if she asked that.

“I haven’t done much exploring in the Dream World to be honest. I often just hang around and melt into corners when I’m there, just waiting for it to be over. It unnerves me that there’s another world, even though I’ve experienced it for so long. I don’t know if I like the me that lives there. Do you think that our Dream Form disappears when we wake up or if it just lies around lifeless while we’re alive in this world?” Her questions were strange, but she hadn’t yet met anyone at this academy that was exactly keen on discussing the Dream World with her, but Will seemed open and so far had been understanding and sweet, which was more than she could say for quite a few people here.

[William Saxton]

Will looked up at the stars once more. His eyes flickered with the light. Little sparks flowed through his eyes with the twinkling of the stars. His hair moved slightly with the breeze. "I don't know what happens when we leave the dream world," he sighed. "I do know how ever I feel whole when I leave."

He looked at her. His curiosity growing inside him. He was curious as to what her dream form was. He was curious on if he would ever see her in the dream world. She wasn't like most people. She didn't shy away when they talked about the dream world, no she talked about it. "I don't know what happens in the unknown world of the dream world," he smiled. "But sometimes I don't want to know. Some things are best left a mystery."

"Do you search for something in the dream world," he asked not really sure if he wanted the answer himself. He was always searching for his heart, the missing piece. The one thing that scared him most was finding it in the hands of a nightmare. He didn't want to have his heart die in front of him, no matter how ironic it would be. "You don't have to answer of course. I'm simply curious because I'm always looking for something."

[Crystal Dinaia]

"I don't necessarily search for anything in the Dream World. I more of just try to avoid everything." Crystal sighed gently and crossed her arms over her chest, rubbing her chin with one hand. "I guess you could call me a coward of sorts. I just enter the Dream World to make the dreams pass by. I didn't ask for the whole 'dream thing' but Somnium was basically my only choice and somehow, I fit into it. The Dream World... The Dream World scares me, but not enough to make me not sleep. Sometimes I think it should." Crystal couldn't figure out what to do with her hands and grew antsy after she spoke about it. First and foremost, the girl was southern and the Dream World ranked on her list of things that you don't talk about until someone is either in the family or engaged, alongside politics, sex, and religion. It always made her feel awkward and restless when she spoke of the other place she happened to dream in, but in Will's case, curiosity had gotten the best of her. That didn't mean expressing her mind was any easier, especially in a realm in which she didn't understand well.

"What do you search for?" The question might have been prying, but because she didn't know what he looked like, therefore she couldn't have identified him easily. Perhaps if they met in the Dream World, she would know him, but then again, upon recognizing him she would almost certainly reveal her identity - if only by accident. The question was prying, certainly, but if he felt it was too encroaching, he could simply lie. It was easy to lie to people, and students did it fairly easily when talking about the Dream World. She had once overheard a group of girls fighting in the girls' bathrooms when it became apparent that one of them had been lying about her Dream Form. "I wish I had a purpose for going there.. Maybe I do, I just don't know what it is."

[William Saxton]

The dream world had never really given him any enjoyment. nine out of ten times it was horrible. it would lead to some dark roads and paths.

"I'm searching for my heart," he looked at her. "It is always missing it when I get there." He lightly touched his heart with his fingertips. He could feel it beating lightly under his skin. It was there but in the dream world it was gone. "I have come close to fining it but never getting it."

If that was his purpose then so be it. He didn't mind, it kept him from being bored. It was something he could do there and nearly wanted to. He just didn't know why his heart was missing. Maybe it was being away from Jack and not having his touch. Maybe it was being away from someone he cared about. Maybe it was leaving someone behind all these years. His heart was just gone.

"My heart is just gone and I don't know why," he looked at her. Fear crossed his eyes in a flicker but then vanished. "I want to find it but I'm afraid that someone has it and is trying to kill me."

[Crystal Dinaia]

"Who wants to kill people in their sleep? It sounds like something out of a Freddy Kruger movie." Crystal let out a deep sigh and her hands stole to her side, rubbing the places on her body where his nails had pierced her dream flesh. That night had scared her deeply when she woke up, knowing that someone in the dream world had actually tried to kill her, a creature who didn't even know her from Eve. It terrified her to recall that dream, especially after dark, and she feared that the dream would become reoccurring.

"I don't think things can kill us in our dreams, Will. At least, I hope they can't..." Crystal shivered a little, thinking of the old wives' tale she had heard when she was young. Some had said that if you have a "falling dream" where you hit the ground at the bottom and die in the dream, you can also die in real life because your heart stops due to the imagined fear. She had a tendency to be superstitious and that sometimes got her more freaked out than she should have been. Crystal was the type of girl who believed ghost stories and screamed at horror flicks and was startled easily when the toast popped out of the toaster. "Were you ready for this when they told you about the Dream World the first day?"

[William Saxton]

(OCC: Are you going to post more?)

"Evil beings," he sighed. That was the only reason he could come up with. The person he met didn't seemed to care. It looked like a game to him. But a writer willing to kill? Maybe it was a scam to get something. But he didn't think so. He was pretty sure it didn't involve sharp things.

"And no I wasn't ready for the dream world," he sighed. "I didn't know what to expect. It was scary at first but now I'm use to it." He looked at her. "You?"

[Crystal Dinaia]

"I don't think I'll ever get used to the Dream World. In a way.. It feels like Purgatory to me, but that's just superstition talking. I honestly wish I understood the mechanics of it better. Is it really another world? If that’s true, why aren’t scientists crawling all over this school trying to find the source of it? I just get the feeling that we’re not supposed to talk about it to the public.. Then again, if we were to do so, who would believe any one of us?” Crystal was babbling now and she knew it, her voice was just a little strained - though she tried to laugh it off when she was done talking. What was the purpose of them all sleeping and going into the Dream World? She had never been told that in the four years that she had been here, but then again, she had never asked. Was it all one big group study on sleep disorders?

“Have you ever heard of anyone here at Somnium that couldn’t see the Dream World?” The thought had never occurred to her until now, but while she was talking about it, it had suddenly sprung into her mind.

[William Saxton]

"I'm thinking that it is another world," he sighed. He curled his jacket around his shoulders at the light breeze. "If it wasn't then the people we meet there that don't know about this world couldn't exist." He shifted to where he was sitting up. "And this place is the source. Get rid of this school and no connection."

He sighed lightly. That was the truth. The school was what connected it. He had looked it up in the library more then once. He was looking for why his heart was always missing. "No I haven't heard about someone not being able to."

[Crystal Dinaia]

Crystal sat up suddenly, knocking her blanket off in the process. Her shock of long hair fell down, cascading over her knees when she did so. The braid had some how come out, her hair must have been plotting against her to escape all along, she decided. The night air was chilly on her bare legs and feet, but for the moment she didn't care. She scooted closer to where William was sitting so that she was sure she had heard him correctly. This place was the only place where people could go into the dream world? Perhaps she had missed that part of the little speech one of the teachers had given her when she began attending the school. The idea mystified her a little more than she cared to notice, but also gave her a little hope. That meant without this school, there would no longer be a demon. When she left here, she would escape him forever. That, at least, was comforting.

“Ahh.. Well. As confusing and as strange as this place is, at least it’s better than being at home.” The comment could have meant a million things, that Crystal and her mother didn’t get along, that she was simply independent for her age. She preferred to keep her comments about things impersonal so that none of them came back against her in a bad way. Crystal hated being the subject of gossip, so she attempted to keep her personal life as quiet as possible. “Have you been here all four years of high school Will?” Her question was innocent, but she was feeling nostalgic tonight. Her first year at Somnium, she had been in a car accident that had claimed the life of the driver, a boy she had taken a shine to quickly after meeting him. She wondered if Will knew his name, it was one she didn’t say often, simply to avoid the pain of it all. Crystal smiled softly, remembering her thing for bad boys that had quickly evaporated after he had passed. It hadn’t been love, just a crush, but she still thought of him from time to time.

[William Saxton]

She moved closer to him. What he said was true in a way but also not. But only once had he reached the dream world from home. It was brief but it was true. But after he asked it was unlikely that it would happen again. It was something that didn't happen very often.

She made a comment. He moved closer to her so that they were almost touching. Her hair was over her knees. He figured she would get cold eventually. "This place is better then home by far," he smiled. He meant that home was some where he didn't want to be. His brother was the perfect child, his dad hated him, and him mum couldn't understand why he was gay. And he still had bares on his window. "No I haven't been here all four years," he answered. "I wish I could have been though. I came in year 12. Have you been here all four years?"

[Crystal Dinaia]

“Yes.. I’ve been here since I was fourteen. I actually haven’t been back to the States since I came here.” Somnium students often went home during the school vacations, but Crystal herself hadn’t had any desire to get stuffed in a condo with a messy four year old and a woman who she was supposed to call mom. Not figuring that her father would want her to mess up his new, “honest,” life, she simply stayed out of it. And her mom.. The only person that had held the concept of home together had disappeared altogether. No calls, no letters, no anything in the past four years. Sometimes, though it pained the girl, she wondered if her mother was even still alive. Had she restarted her life like her father had - or had she just given up? Jealousy flashed through it as she thought about it, wondering if her mother and father loved their new phantom children more than they loved her. Crystal, in some ways, was still a spoiled only child at heart and was unwilling to give up her title as her parents’ only favorite. Then again, she also didn’t like to think about the way he lift had changed in the past four years.

“You know how it is though, parents tend to suck.” She honestly hoped he didn’t know and that he had a happy family to return to around the Christmas tree this December. “Mine especially..”

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[William Saxton]

He wanted to hug her but restrained himself. Her family life must be bad if she said her parents sucked. His did too but his had a reason for being that way. He was gay, the didn't approve of it.

He scooted closer just in case she did want a hug. He would give her one if she wanted, he didn't mind. Hugs normally made things so much better. "I haven't seen my parents since I got here," he gave a light laugh, "I've seen my brother, he is the only in the family okay with me. To bad he is deployed." His brother had come to say that he was going to be in France for a year. And that he would write, he did, and to say that he missed Will. Truth be told Will missed him at times too.

"Parents do suck but deep down you know they love you," he smiled at her. "They just sometimes have a hard time showing it." That was the lie he told himself and a lie told enough becomes the truth.

[Crystal Dinaia]

“He’s deployed? That’s pretty neat.. What branch is he in?” Crystal had lived in an Air Force town for most of her life and her parents had always had large connections with the military, so she understood the importance of the men and women who served. Though she hadn’t experienced the military lifestyle herself, she had developed friendships with many students who had and almost envied them in a way. Though things were different from the way she was raised, she almost desired the rigidity the service provided, especially now that her own family unit was broken up.

“If my parents love me, they sure have a funny way of showing it. Well, it’s actually more like not showing it at all. I haven’t even seen my mom in five years… I don’t even know if she’s alive.” Her voice was pretty but bitter as she spoke and for a moment, she had the strongest desire for a cigarette and a beer. Those things went together well, she only smoked when she drank and she only drank when she smoked. It only then occurred to her that it was that mentality that had gotten her into so much trouble her first year at the Academy, the drinking and smoking seemed to be directly related to the void left by her mother.

[/size]

[William Saxton]

"I'm not sure what branch he is in," he looked out to the sky. His brother never really talked about it that much. When it was just him and his brother they spent most of the time talking about dad and mum. They never really talked about life and whatnot. They avoided the conversation about gayness and boyfriends and girlfriends. His brother had never grown use to the idea.

"I know my parents are alive," he looked back at her. "I get a letter from them about once a month sending me stuff I don't care about. I'm not sure what they think it will do. Just becasue I don't like girls doesn't mean they have to basically disown me." he wasn't really talking to her now, more himself then anything. It was one of the few things he did. It was the normal rant he went on about his parents and how they didn't care at all. Of course deep down he knew they cared but they were just having a hard time with the while my son is gay thing. Most patents did so he knew it wasn't just his. "Sorry I went on a little rant there."