Into Your Dreams...

Chapter 1: I am, are You?

It was just a normal week...or was it? I mean not of my journey into Equestria (and myself really), but just the week in general. I go back and just think of all the absolute SHIT I was going through. It wasn't even the divorce. No my parents had divorced last week. It was just what my father had said on his way out that haunts me. Looking back now it does't really bother me like it did then, but just the fact of calling my mother a "fucking whore," and, "Has a one way ticket to hell," totally calm on his way out just perturbed me for some reason then.

But that was only Monday.

I was Fifteen, a sophomore, 6' 4", and very easy going. I was different than others at my school, maybe even the entirety of my state. I was profoundly influenced by literature, music, movies, and influenced my mental development doing so. Whereas others in my neighborhood stopped using their lego and building blocks much before me, I preferred to keep my imagination at peak performance and continued to use them to that day.

Now, I had been more of the shy kind at my high school, taking into account that I had to build up a fair amount of courage and energy before even approaching someone I didn't know, and was so because of my experiences in my younger years. It was then in the second and third grade that I was picked on and bullied by one of the kids, most likely because I towered over him, and pretty much the entire class at the time. It made me stronger yes, but it set barriers in my heart forever. Moving on…as I said before, I didn't quite fit into my high school. As a result, I was excluded from most events and such, until THAT week.

It was the day after my father left in his 'unbecoming' fashion, and I was a little on edge because of it. This seemed to be the opportunity that the other students were waiting for. They have good sense, really. They can tell when someone let's their guard down, and immediately take the opportunity, as it comes, to humiliate whoever it is that gets their attention. Unfortunately, that was me.

They were a little nice, I suppose, leaving me alone until lunch, but that turned out to be to my disadvantage as well. Turns out, the pricks at my school have been keeping a close eye on me lately. They proceeded, at lunch, to come up to me, beckoning me into a fight. I had been so far gone at that moment, that I hadn't heard what he said, and he didn't repeat himself so I don't know what he actually said. Nevertheless, he did not like being ignored and told me to stand up once he thought he had my full attention. I did as he asked, and ended up seeing stars as he hit me with a solid right hook. I was still hazy, but that bit brought me back in a flash. He looked at my face as it flushed with rage, and started backing away. Too late. Two hits to his chest and an uppercut later he was laying on the floor, being dragged away by two of his friends in fear. I then promptly packed up my lunch and left the room, which had fallen silent after they had seen me cut loose.

And that was Tuesday.

I went to school the next day, still bottling up all my feelings from the past days, and months, and went about business as usual. That is…until I was requested to the office by a phone call to my teacher. As I walked, I thought, 'This must be about yesterday.' I had no idea. I finally got there, the royal blue door taunting me, no, daring me to go inside. Challenge accepted I guessed as I grasped the knob and walked inside. The woman at the front desk simply looked at me and pointed down the office's hall towards our vice principals room.

The meeting was a blur of miscommunications and accusations as the asshole from earlier started playing the baby to the vice principal. After he finished his blatant lie about me threatening him with a knife and his defense saving countless others, the VP looked to me and asked for my side. I told him what actually happened in the cafeteria and he nodded, knowing that the other guy was full of garbage as he started turning bright red when I told him how he socked me when I had been previously eating lunch.

The vice principal, upon my completing the story, leaned back and looked at the two of us. And said, "Two weeks suspension for both of you for fighting during school," then turned around and wrote out the slips, handed them two us saying, "you may go."

And to think I had loved Wednesdays.

That night is when it happened. My week already terrible, I went to my mom to talk. She wasn't available. So I texted one of my few true friends to see if they had time. They each seemed to be up to something. Track, homework, video games, they each seemed to have an excuse, that is, until I came across a number on my desk.

I had gone to the movies about two weeks ago alone to unwind some as my parents had started fighting again. I was an hour early, as I had gotten the hell out of there before the worst began( The movie theatre was about 2 miles from my house so I walked.) There, a girl had been sitting in the lobby, looking distraught. Normally, I would have gotten the hell out of there as well, but a strange heat filled my body. My nerves were firing and there was nothing I could do but Freak the fuck out. Suddenly, I did something weird. I went over to her and sat next to her, and asked her what was wrong.

She jumped a little at my voice and looked over, her silky blonde hair being whipped over her shoulder as she quickly looked over at where the voice came from. She eyed me for a moment, debating the legitimacy of the offer. "Joseph," I said putting out my hand. She looked at my hand, then back up, then back down and accepted the gesture looking back up at me, "Zoe," she responded.

"What's wrong Zoe? You look unhappy," I said, my heart pounding audibly as I worried if she could hear it.

"Well," she began, "I came here after I got into a fight with my mom, and needed to get out of the house. Unfortunately, I forgot to grab any money before leaving and now can't pay," She said with a sigh.

"Hmm…I know how you feel, sorta." I replied, almost to myself, adrenaline running out.

"Really?" She asked

"Yea, my parents are going through an ugly divorce and were getting into another fight, so I left."

Neither of us said anything, just looking in our own respective directions, not looking at anything, just not at each other, embarrassed.

"Umm…" I started, not sure how to break the silence, "I think I have enough money with me for the both of us…want to…go…with me?" my voice getting softer with each few words.

She looked over at me, smiling nervously her emerald green eyes meeting mine and replied, "That'd be nice."

So we went to the movie and had a good time talking afterward, and she gave me her number to text later. I had texted her a few times since but she hadn't responded.

'Eh…what the hell it's worth a shot,' I thought as I saw it on the desk next to my phone.
I texted her a short message saying hi and reminding her who I was and where we had met.
No response for ten minutes and I had moved onto my computer, looking for what to do for the rest of my suspension. It was at the exact moment that I had clicked on to watch some videos that my phone buzzed. Totally expecting another excuse from a friend, I didn't look at it for a minute, but then I remembered who I had just texted. I excitedly grabbed my phone and looked at the sender. It was her! I looked at the message, but all it said was, "Open your heart." I looked again and again, reading the message not once, but kept reading it until my eyes hurt from the backlight on the phone. 'Some fucked up joke,' I thought, but then suddenly recalled something Zoe said before she left the theatre. I had just told her about a youtube clip I had saw recently, and she claimed to have seen it, and had responded by telling me about a valentine's day video she had found with a friend. We watched it on her phone. Some girl opened up a heart-shaped card to a special message, but Zoe got a phone call and I didn't get to finish seeing the message on the inside of the card.
Yet now this cryptic message she sends me, could it have something to do with the video? I look around the room, and see a deep red heart-shaped card sitting on my bed. I jumped up and snatched it up to look at it. On the front it said, "Your Heart." I guess someone wanted the message known, but why? I looked at it again, and began to open it. Just then my mom called me downstairs to talk so I closed the card and went downstairs, leaving it on my desk.