By: Olivia Ho

Have you ever read or seen an article that talked about someone who had memories from another lifetime? My name is Kayla Foren and I’m one of those people. I remember my first dream, but I never understood it, or any of the following dreams that were always the exact. Same. Thing. I wonder if I will ever have a normal dream, a dream where I’m not going to die.

On the last day of summer, I looked out the window of my room, it was dark. I saw two cars, one red car behind a blue car. I wanted to stop looking but my eyes wouldn’t budge. Suddenly the red car screeched to a stop only a few inches away from the blue car that had stopped for a stop sign. My eyes widened, I felt dizzy, then suddenly my head slammed onto my desk.

I seemed to be in a car, and I was next to a man who was looking at me. He had jet-black hair and wore glasses and a black suit. I tried to speak but was gagged. My hands were tied. A name appeared in my head. Christian. This person’s name was Christian. Who are you? I looked down at my hands that were bound by ropes. I looked into the rear mirror and saw that I had been crying because my eyes were red. Then I looked at Christian again, his eyes were glistening, and we were driving 90 miles per hour. I looked at the road that seemed to stop suddenly, then it dawned on me: we were driving off a cliff. I had started to cry, and my heart was beating rapidly and there was a pressure on my toes. I wanted to jump out of the car and run far, far away from the cliff. I felt like I was a wound-up spring. I turned to look at Christian, his eyes were dilated, and his hands were gripping the wheel so tightly his knuckles were white.

I screamed.

It was so loud that although I was gagged Christian heard. I suddenly realized that he wasn’t screaming, his face was relaxed. We fell for a long time; I wasn’t sure when it would end. I squeezed my eyes shut…

Then I woke up. My head was sweaty, and my heart was beating rapidly. My fingers were in fists, and it took time to unravel them. I looked at the clock on my desk, exactly seven o’clock. I got changed and walked into the bathroom. I quickly washed my face and brushed my teeth.

“Excited for your new school, Kayla?” my mom asked as she bustled around in our newly constructed kitchen. As she handed me my plate of scrambled eggs, I nodded and pulled on the strings of my hoodie. It would help me lay low when I was at school. I slowly ate my eggs hoping to delay going to school for as long as possible.

When I finished eating, I double checked that everything I needed was in my backpack and headed to the car outside. My dad was already waiting for me. As I sat in the front seat, memories of my dream resurfaced, I could still see the cliff. How many times had I had that same dream? What does it mean?

Last year, I got a strange feeling when I entered my dad’s car. As we started to drive, I closed my eyes, and that dream resurfaced. When I opened my eyes, I was already at school and was walking with my friends. What just happened? I looked around at the school hallway. From the classroom windows, I saw a reflection of someone. She was gagged, her eyes were red, and her hands were tied together. I looked closer at her, why was she walking with my friends?

“Kayla, Kayla, are you listening?” asked one of my friends. I ignored whoever was talking. The gagged and tied-up girl’s face was eerily familiar.

After that day, every time I had my dream, it was more realistic than the last. But that wasn’t the only that changed, I lost all my friends. First one friend, then another. Then, after one month, I was all alone.

“We’re here,” my dad said, pulling me back from my thoughts. I smiled at him and opened the door. I warily eyed the massive crowds of people trickling through the front gates. I shut the car door and put on my headphones. I was able to quickly navigate the school and successfully get to my classroom without having to socialize.

First period was English, the teacher smiled at me and pointed to the board where the seating chart was projected. I quickly found my name and went to my seat. I started to look at all the names on the chart and my heart started to thump as I saw who was assigned to sit next to me: Christian. I forced myself to calm down, there was no freaking wa- it’s him. A boy with jet-black hair sat down next to me, he looked exactly like the Christian who drove me off a cliff in my dream, just younger.

After sitting down he noticed me, a look of recognition flashed across his face and his hands gripped his desk.

“I know you.”