Life Is but a Dream Read Online Free

he’ll look at me with strange eyes the way Kayliegh sometimes does when I say things that are different. He’s not though. The way he stares at me lets me know that he does understand.
    — Sounds okay to me — he says. — Let’s make a deal. You show me what you see and I tell you what I see. Deal? —
    Once we step into the fresh air, I feel free—better than I’ve felt in a long time. I rush out onto the grass, smiling up at the sky. I don’t look behind me. I know he’s following me.
    I run until I reach the little tree that isn’t much more than a sapling. Still, it’s taller than me and I wrap my hand around the skinny trunk, spinning around to face Alec. The tree’s branches reach down and tickle my hair and I laugh just once before letting go to join him on our walk.
    I have more energy than I really know what to do with so I start to wrap the string of my sweatshirt hood around my wrist, only to unwrap it and start over again. I keep forgetting he’s new here—that he hasn’t been here the whole time I have and isn’t used to anything yet.
    — Have they started your routine yet? — I ask him.
    — I guess. I mean, they have me scheduled for things all day — he says. — I still don’t understand the point of any of it though. I don’t belong here, so I don’t know what it’s supposed to do for me. Whatever. It’s all a waste of time. —
    — Why? — I ask, because sometimes I wonder the same thing.
    — Because there’s nothing wrong with me — Alec says. — You know what it is? Our society is so screwed up, from top to bottom, everything about it, that it’s become impossible to fix. It’s easier to change people and make them fit into something that’s broken. Know what I mean? —
    I’ve seen cracks in the sky and people swallowed up inside of them.
    I’ve seen computers steal souls a little bit at a time.
    — Yeah, I think I do — I say. — I think I know exactly what you mean. —
    — And it’s insane, right? — Alec says. — But the worst part about it is that they try to convince us that we’re the defects. We’re not defects. It’s the whole world that’s gone off the rails. We’re just victims of the Modern Age and being in here is our punishment. —
    — It’s not so bad — I say. — I don’t mind it here most of the time. —
    — But you’d rather not be here, right? — he asks. — I bet you got like a million friends or whatever. I’m sure you’d rather be with them. Unless of course you have the wrong kind of friends and that’s why you’re in a place like this? —
    I place the end of my sleeve in my mouth and keep it there for a second before shaking my head. — Not really. I mean, I don’t really have a ton of friends. Not swarms of them anyway. —
    — Yeah? Why not? —
    — I don’t know — I say. — I have some friends. I never had to walk to class by myself or sit alone at lunch or anything like that. I was just never popular because to be like that you have to be a girl who doesn’t draw fairies on the outside of book covers. —
    — Do you really draw fairies on your books? — he asks, and I nod shyly. — Fairies can be kind of wicked and evil. They’re pretty awesome. —
    — My friends think they’re for little kids — I say.
    — What do they know? They’re probably all into vampires — Alec says, shaking his head. — Isn’t it stupid how one thing can be cool and the other isn’t just because the Pop Culture Police say so? I never did understand that. But I guess that’s why you have to be a bit brain-dead to be popular. —
    — Being popular doesn’t matter that much to me — I say.
    — Me either — Alec says. — I went to this private school and it’s all these kids from Brentwood or wherever. I didn’t want to be part of that crowd. It’s all about money and name-dropping famous people and getting into the right parties with the right people. I guess being who I am was always more