Dreamer Chapter 3

Lorrianna awoke, tired and a tad confused as she had the strangest dream but she couldn't recall what it was, only that it was strange.

She pulled the covers off her, instantly regretting it as the cold air touched her barren skin that she was protected from because of her blankets. She instantly covered up once more, shivering as she didn't like mornings very much. She always felt cold unless the heat was on, and being summer it was too hot to turn the heat on.

She stayed in bed, not moving for a short moment before shifting and wrapping them around her and sat up. She opened the window that was by her bed that spilled light into the room when she pulled the curtains.

The heat washed over her, letting her feel warmer, mostly just her face as it seemed to be another clear day. She looked around her room groggily, her room sort of a mess, as she had clothes all over the floor that she needed to sort and a few plastic bottles she needed to throw away.

She groaned tiredly, shifting to the edge of her bed, she abandoning her red and gold colored comforter and pulled her black on one side with blue designs and the reverse on the other blanket. The black side facing out as she wrapped it around her naked form and stepped onto her plain carpeted tan floor and walked past her computer that was against the wall with the window to avoid the glare when she used it to game.

She moved to the bathroom and started brushing her teeth, looking at herself in the mirror blankly, noting her hair was a mess and would need to brush it once she was done. She left the water running when she brushed her teeth, the sound comforting her as the sound of water always made her feel that way.

Once she finished brushing her teeth, she rinsed her mouth and grabbed the argon oil on the counter and got a palm full of it and put it all over her hair, mostly onto the scalp and ends until it was all over her hair before brushing it, which made it easier until it looked decent enough to go outside in if she chose to leave the house today.

She moved out of the bathroom, looking to the air conditioning so she could turn it off. Then went back to her room to put on a clean pair of panties, pants, and a bra before going back out of her room and to the kitchen after grabbing her phone to check the time, seeing it was 1 P.M.

“I really should go to bed at a decent time instead of gaming so late...” She stated aloud to herself but knew she would just do the same thing anyways.

She walked downstairs and into the kitchen and straight to the freezer to see if there was anything she could eat by throwing into the microwave, happy to see the meat and bean burritos her mother made and had individually wrapped in the freeze in a gallon sized zip lock bag.

She pulled one of them out of the bag and put the rest in the freezer, grabbing a clean plate that was on the counter and unwrapped the burrito, placing it on the small plate and into the microwave to cook for one minute.

She turned to look at the kitchen as she waited, hearing the hum of the microwave behind her that was above the stove top. Then to her right at the kitchen sink was empty as her mother always did the dishes, she remembering that she shouldn't keep making a mess for her mother to clean up after.

All the recently cleaned and dishes on the rack on the right side of the sink while the rest were put away in the multiple cupboards behind her above the microwave and beside it. I should be productive today, Lorri thought, unsure of what she was doing with her life in general so unsure of what productive thing she should even do.

Beeeeeep.

She turned and opened the microwave and flipped over the burrito and left it in there to cook for another minute. She turned back to the kitchen, hands on her hips, as being home alone was always fine when she first woke up. Mom can't criticize her for waking up so late if she didn't know she got up so late because she's at work.

Lorri walked towards the archway in front of her past the island in the center with granite tops and into the living room to the window, walking past the sofa that was against the wall of the archway to her right.

Another sofa right across from it, against the wall with the windows, and where she could look outside once she pulled the curtains to the side. She took a seat, it feeling soft and comfortable as she stared outside, wondering what to do but mind just wanders to how pretty it was outside, looking at the small garden her mom had that had some flowers.

There was no one in sight of the neighborhood, she always enjoying that fact. It was quiet and her introverted nature made her enjoy even further.

Beeeeeep.

She got up and headed back to the kitchen to grab her burrito from the microwave.

Today was likely to be a lazy day if she let it, but decided to send her mom a quick text to see how work was going before she went upstairs back to her room with her tasty burrito and turned on her computer.

She logged in her fairly long password and once it loaded up she started playing music and began working on a project. She decided make whatever her project will be story based, maybe a game or visual novel. She enjoyed horror but doubted anyone would enjoy it too much so perhaps a romance, seemed like a safe choice with all the romance she has been exposed to as a kid. At least that was how she saw the movies with princesses that people liked so much.

Maybe an adventure one instead..., she thought and at that moment she heard her phone.

“Hey! Liston!” it notified her, as she had it set to Navi the fairy tone from The Legend of Zelda: the Ocarina of Time that she got from an application she was suggested some years ago. She kept this notification tone on every new phone she received when she was due for an upgrade.

She looked at her notifications, seeing it was a text message from an unknown number with the same area code as her own.

She looked at the text, reading 'Hello Stranger.'

She stared at the number for a while, seeing if she could place it, knowing full well that she could not. She only remembered her number and her mother’s number, she didn't bother to memorize anyone else.

'Hello.' She texted back, setting the phone down quite curiously.

'How are you? It's been a little while.'

'Fine, how are things with you?' Lorri replied still trying to figure out who this was, hoping to receive a little hint as to who it is so she wouldn't have to awkwardly ask who they were.

'Fine? That's all you've got for me? Been an unknown amount of time and all you have to say is fine? Tell me the details little one.'

“Little one?” She asked herself out loud, puzzled. The only time she remembered being called 'little one' was when her friends online would say that. Mainly because she was shorter than them when they found out her height.

'I don't know what to say, my life is uneventful. I finished High school and am waiting on responses from my college applications.'

'Is that all? Doesn't your school exploding count?'

She paused again, not really wanting to ask but she doesn't have a choice in the matter. They clearly knew more about her than expected.

'I'm sorry, who is this? I don't recognize your number at all.' She leaned back, resting her back against the seat, waiting as she stared at her phone puzzled and with a little bit of intensity.

'Vlad.' The reply was swift.

‘That rings a bell but I can’t recall, sorry.’ She wondered if it was short for a full name, like Vladimir something.

‘Oh? Well that’s alright, maybe we can start over. It’s probably been ages for you since we last spoke, I did kind of disappear off the face of the world for a time but I haven’t forgotten you. Helped me out quite a bit with getting my life together.’

Lorri shifted her head to the side, staring at her phone rather confused but didn’t contradict what he said. She didn’t remember doing anything particularly special.

‘Well that’s good to hear that you remember me in a good way, I’m sorry I don’t remember you however.’

‘It’s quite alright, I’m sure after some talking you may remember me, but until then we shall start over as friends and move on from there.’

‘Sounds good to me.’

‘Are you still okay with me calling you Lorri?’

‘Yeah, of course. I mean if we were friends I don’t see a reason to take that back.’

‘Excellent, glad to hear this. Anyways, I just wanted to see how you are doing and I’m glad to hear you are alright, last I had remembered you were being bullied. I hope that isn’t a problem no longer?’

‘Oh, no I’m fine thanks for asking.’ She thought of the ones who were bullying her, which were those that were at the bus stop. ‘I got them to stop bullying me on my own, though they went missing I believe like a lot of the others after the explosion at the school last I had checked.’

‘How interesting, isn’t it a little weird that the school exploding didn’t get any coverage on anything besides local news though? It’s quite odd to me.’

‘Did it not? I didn’t know it didn’t, was too busy being there to pay attention to what the news was saying lol. Was rather scary.’ She didn’t think about it very much surprisingly but talking about it, things were a bit fuzzy. Was told it was because of the shock of it all and was thought that she was seeing things that weren’t there, like the giant dog in her dream.

‘That is fair, at least you are safe though. I’d be rather sad and disappointed if anything happened to you.’

Interesting to be disappointed though don’t know why. She thought to herself as she wrote her reply back to Vlad. ‘You wouldn’t know if I died or something though, we weren’t communicating during that time it seems.’

‘Indeed not, but a lack of response might have given me the idea that something might have happened to you during that time.’

‘Maybe, but then again it’s possible that I could have just ignored your text, weird to get a message from a number you don’t have saved on your phone, you know?’

‘Quite possible, but who wouldn’t want to respond besides those who aren’t very curious. I’d wonder who messaged from an unknown number, unless solicitors start resorting to texting. If I were a betting man, I’d wager that you are a curious girl. Do correct me if I am wrong in that however.’

‘You aren’t wrong, but if you were it could have been the case.’

‘Indeed it could have, but lucky me I know you well enough to know it isn’t the case.’

‘Meh, fair enough Vlad.’ She smiled slightly and saved his number into her contacts. She didn’t have anyone in there besides her mom, dad, brother and now Vlad. She use to have others but they were all found dead after the explosion at the school and she had to replace her phone and add the contacts manually since it went missing during the chaos but she had no one else to add.

‘Just to be sure however, you are alright correct? Not saying you are alright to hide the fact you aren’t entirely alright?’

She looked at the question and hesitated some before responding. ‘I can’t say that I’m amazing but I am fine. I get a little depressed at times since I have no one to talk to but I’m fine. I wasn’t that close to anyone anyways.’

‘You weren’t close to anyone, or no one was close to you?’

She paused again, thinking before responding. ‘Both.’

‘Well, I guess that is a good thing, but being so solitary isn’t going to help. What happened to all your online friends? I recall you use to have more of those in comparison to your RL ones. You had a close knit group for a time.’

‘I don’t know.’ She answered honestly. ‘I guess after a point we all drifted apart and they are all living their lives.’ Despite her words she felt herself become a little sad at remembering, it made her feel lonelier than she wanted to admit.

‘I see, well that sounds depressing. Where are all your friends?’

‘I don’t have any... besides you I guess.’ She reluctantly admitted.

She set her phone down, looking at her computer screen at the blank document she had opened up to start writing but wasn’t in the mood to write anymore. She looked towards her window, out at the sky that was still shining brightly as she wondered if she should go outside instead.

The phone notified her of a text but she didn’t look, at least not immediately. Simply thinking of what to do right now besides texting but nothing came to mind.

‘Guess we’ll have to fix that one day.' She read.

'Maybe.'

She placed the phone in her pocket and decided she needed some fresh air, she was down and going outside might help with that.

She found a shirt that was on the floor but was still clean, a long sleeved thin and plain black shirt and headed downstairs and to the front door. She stepped outside, taking a deep breath of surprisingly chilly air. Very strange for it to be so chilly when it was summer but it didn't bother her any, she preferred the cold.

She shifted and stood more directly under the sunlight, crossing her arms and adjusting her sleeves so her fingers were inside them. She looked about, leaning against the pillar of the front porch. She looked at what she could in the neighborhood.

Was pretty friendly looking place, green grass and a few trees in each lawn. The houses were pretty large in her opinion but still nice. She shifted to the small bench on the front of her porch and sat down and crossed her right leg over her left. Leaning back, she rested her head back onto the back edge of the bench, looking up at the sky.

She listened to the still air of the day, closing her eyes, enjoying the peace and quiet before she noticed it. She lifted her head up, looking around and noticed there was no cars on driveways or on the side of the roads. There was also silence, no birds or barking of the neighbor’s dogs.

She stood up, unsure if she was being paranoid or if it's always been like this. She looked around a moment more before she decided to turn and head back inside. She went back upstairs and decided she would just wait till her mom came home before freaking out.

She sent another text to her mom however, asking what she was doing in addition to the one she had sent earlier telling her good morning. It was a little strange however, as normally her mother would have responded by now.

She went back to texting Vlad who hadn't responded back. She couldn't blame him though, was hard to respond to a one word reply. She felt a little bit bad about that but it was a topic she didn't really want to talk about.

'I noticed you have the same area code as me, did we ever meet in person before?' She asked curiously.

'No, we did not but I did hope to meet in person one day when we become better acquainted.'

'That's fair, did we meet online or something similar?'

'We met through a mutual friend, I'm not sure if you remember him however.'

'What is his name?'

'Jericho.'

Lorri thought for a second, the name rung a bell but she couldn't place it. She remembered Jericho, but from what?

'It sounds familiar, have I met him before?'

'I imagine you have but I cannot say... pardon this strange question but have you seen anyone in town today?'

'I haven’t been anywhere outside my neighborhood but I oddly haven't heard anything, like my neighbor's dogs. Where are you?'

'The middle of town, there is no one around.'

'Define no one.'

'There are no people, or animals or anything. It's completely empty of life besides me.'

'I want to say that you are likely joking but my neighborhood is the same way,' she replied, heart picking up as she started to feel rather anxious. Once she sent her response she dialed her mother’s number and called, however what she heard wasn't what she was expecting.

“The number you have dialed is not in service-” She hung up and tried again, being sure she dialed it correctly but received the same auto voice message.

'Can you get a hold of anyone?' She asked, wondering if her mother was alright. Please be okay mom, she thought to herself.

After a moment she got reply. 'Other than you, no I can't.'

She thought for a moment, hesitating. 'Do you want to meet up? It's creepy that no one seems to be around except us.'

'If you want, where at?'

'My place, I'll text you the address.' She typed up the address and sent it to him, shifting to her bed and sat down, looking at the window. It appeared to be a normal and nice day but it seemed like it was anything but normal.

'Be there soon,' he replied.

She placed the phone on her desk and sighed heavily, feeling tired again and very tense.

What's going on here? She thought, not understanding the situation. People were suddenly gone, her mother as well and someone she has never met is coming over which added to her anxiety. Maybe she was being too paranoid and should tell him not come.

She shook her head, Get a hold of yourself Lorri. She laid down and grabbed a hold of her pillow and clung to her, resting her head on it and closed her eyes. She felt she was much more tired than she thought as she hoped that this was honestly a dream.

“Jericho...” she said aloud, sleep already threatening to take her. She shifted up again, grabbing her phone and placing it in front of her on her bed before laying back down on her pillow, thinking and trying to remember who Jericho was. “Jericho...”

She liked the name admittedly but why couldn't she remember.

'Go to sleep.' She heard a voice, or thought she did whisper in her ear, making her feel heavier than she already did with sleep. Her eye lids closed halfway while she reached for her phone to send a message before falling asleep once again.