It was exactly 5 o’clock when Lucas Daniels and I walked to the park. The stop was only a few blocks away from our school, by the kindergarten classes. It wasn’t our first time, everyday we’d venture to the giant willow tree to chew on snacks, jam to our own trashy music, write stories, and create dreams. We sucked at reality, so we created our own. Him and I were complete nerds who ran around in the rain and talked for hours about astronomy. Sometimes the kids walking past would stare at us the same way those mean girls and those jock boys did. We knew we were odd, so we embraced it. However, today was different.

Lucas wasn’t the same. He’d just gotten punched in the eye by that jerk, Bryant Caraway during lunch. He told me he could barely see out of it, and it was bruised, bad. I ushered him to walk home, but he resisted because he knew his dad was drunk. His father drunk, was a hundred times worse than Bryant. There was always some sort of injury that Lucas had, and with each bruising his innocence faded, his dreams started to dissolve. The world was breaking him, slowly. I hated watching it, heck sometimes the thought of it made me cry at night.

Lucas wasn’t no ugly boy either. He was absolutely beautiful, the girls swooned at the sight of him. He made the guys at school jealous, and he never fought back because he didn’t ever wanna hurt anybody. Lucas always had a sweet soul, and I loved him for that, but sometimes they did him so horribly wrong, that even I offered to fight for him, and I’m not even tuff. I’m a stick of a girl who reads books in the back of the classroom. Bet one of those kids could snap me like a stick, but I would fight. I’d always fight for Lucas, because he was always there for me.

“You think there’s another dimension out there somewhere, Sandy?” Lucas inquired as I studied his watering eye, the other wide and curious, him but halfway. “Yeah sure, why?” I asked anticipating his mind-bending ideas, like always.

“I was wondering if there was some type of way we could travel to different worlds. Explore the secrets you know, all that we dream of!”

I paused at the thought, it excited yet concerned me. “Lucas, that’d be amazing, but don’t you go hurting yourself or nothin.” I warned.

“Look at me Sandy! There’s not much more I can do. My eye was just basically bashed into my brain a few hours ago, my back purple and black, I can’t even walk the way I used to because my dad broke my leg punchin me around. Nobody ever took me to the doctor. I just wanna go Sandy! This world ain’t for me.”

“Where do you wanna go?” I listened with undying curiosity.

Lucas turned to me with a smirk. “I don’t know, maybe like the one we created.” Lucas continued to watch me as my eyes lightened up with anticipation.

“THE ONE WITH GALAXIES AND FLYING TREES!!!”

“Yeah, I wanna go there, maybe there’s a dimension out there that exists like our world. I’d just have to find it.”

“Wow! I’d love to come, but what do you mean, find it?”Lucas paused, turned to me, and grabbed my hands with a gigantic smile.

“Run away with me Sandy! I’ll take you somewhere beyond your wildest dreams!”

“Hahaha Lucas I’d love to run around by our tree? We can pretend like we’ve gone to another dimension, run around and touch stars!”

“Yes yes, sure but it’s better!”

“Meaning?”

“Meaning that your just gonna have to meet me in three hours by the willow!”

And with that he got up and walked off, I watched in awe, what did he know that I didn’t?

To be continued....