Stephan had just experienced a very strange dream. Not strange because of its content, not at all. In fact, it was pretty typical of a dream, sort of, because it was fairly incoherent. No, what separated it from normal dreams was its lucidity, how he felt the dream. It'd started off pretty normal, whatever normal for a dream was, but he began to realise a few things. First, he realised that he was in a field of grass he'd never seen, in front of a ghost girl he'd never met. He noticed the breeze blowing his skin, the sun shining down on him. He slowly noticed more and more before he finally noticed that he was noticing things. In a dream. Very strange.

When he finally tuned in to the girl, he found that she'd been talking. Even though he could barely understand it, Stephan found that he hadn't missed anything, despite her having talked for what seemed like a little while. Perhaps it was just an altered sense of time? The girl asked him something, but Stephan found that he couldn't respond.

Suddenly, like carbon dioxide escaping a freshly-opened can of soda, Stephan's ears were filled with the rushing of the breeze. His vision cleared and he saw the girl, certain he'd never seen her before.
"I need... wait... do... I'll... for you!" The girl said.
[color=darkgreen]"Wait, what?"[/color] Stephan asked, confused.

The 'dream' began to fade, and Stephan looked around in alarm. He desperately turned back to the girl and reached forward.
[color=darkgreen]"Wait a sec!"[/color] He yelled.
Before he could even take a step, his vision faded to black, and a dull ringing began to permeate his head.

Stephan's eyes snapped open, met by sight of his ceiling, as normal as it had ever been. As dark as usual, which he, as always, attributed to his waking habits. His alarm clock blared to the right uncontrollably, before he reached out with one arm to smack it into silence. With the other, Stephan massaged his brown eyes, confused by the night's events.
[color=darkgreen]"I wonder who that was."[/color] Stephan said.

No one was around to hear him, of course, but talking to himself was one of his daily rituals. It helped him to wake up, sort of, and reminded him that, for all the weirdness of the last few years, he was still himself, and he'd be that way for a long time. Not that he needed reminding, though.

Stephan rose slowly, sliding out of his bed, he let his blanket fall down to his bed, noting in his head that he'd fix it later. He looked out his window, confirming that he'd woken up on time. It was dark, but light enough to see. Approximately 4:00 am. Checking the alarm clock, however, he saw that it was actually 4:30 am.
[color=darkgreen]"Close enough."[/color] Stephan said, shrugging.

Stephan tiptoed out of his room, carrying a fresh change of underwear and his typical shirt-jeans-hoodie combo, sauntering towards the bathroom. As quietly as he could, he crept inside and began to prepare for the day ahead.

10 minutes later he was at his door, tying up his shoelaces. With that done, he got up and got to his feet carefully and stepped as lightly as he could with running shoes towards the door, ready to begin his paper run. He was stopped at the door, however, when he heard the creaking of a door and the signature light footsteps of a slow waker behind him.
"Are you going out, sweetie?" A soft voice spoke up.

Stephan stopped and turned around, revealing the untidy form of his half-asleep mother, apparently awoken by his morning routine. Sometimes it happened, sometimes it didn't. Stephan liked to avoid it though, because his mother needed the all sleep she could get.
[color=darkgreen]"Mhmm."[/color] Stephan responded, mindful of his mother's sleepy state. [color=darkgreen]"Just a normal paper run, be back normal time."[/color]

His mother steadied herself on the hall with one hand and stifled a yawn with the other.
"I'll cook breakfast for you, then." She said, smiling sleepily. "Take your helmet and be back soon, okay?"

Stephan glanced over at where the helmet, a black and blue affair, stood on the little used hat-stand his dad had bought from a yard sale. He debated whether or not to take it for a second since he didn't really need it so much, but relented and picked it up to make it easier for both of them.
[color=darkgreen]"Alright mom, see you soon."[/color] Stephan said, smiling. [color=darkgreen]"Be back in an hour-ish."[/color]

Stephan quietly opened the door and exited his house. Closing it carefully behind him, he turned around to survey the morning. Still dark, but becoming lighter quickly. The dark silhouettes of the houses contrasted with the lightening horizon, cloaking the street in sinister darkness. Though if Stephan was honest, he preferred it darker rather than half-lighter. Darkness you got used to, half-light laughed in your face if you tried and messed with your colours.

Stephan put his helmet on as he made his way to the garage, clipping the harness together to fix it in place. Thankfully, the garage had a door into it outside of the house, so he could spare its sleeping inhabitants. Opening the door to the side, he was met with darkness and dust. They hadn't cleaned in a little while, so that was to be expected. Stephan groped the wall closest to the door in darkness, searching for the light switch. His hand found the small lever and he flicked it upwards. Lights blinked to life above, illuminating a scattered collection of miscellaneous goods, unused furniture, the workbench, the two cars, and Stephan's bike.

Stephan walked to where his bike, a red and grey basketed thing, sat, next to his father's little-used workbench. Stephan's dad always had something about the image of a man, which Stephan found a little old fashioned. Stephan still loved the guy, of course, but he tended not to take his advice too seriously, and his dad knew that. Stephan took his bike from where it stood and guided it through the garage door he'd come from, careful not to scratch the cars. Guiding it out of the garage and into the driveway. Straddling the saddle, he checked that the bell was working (quietly, of course) and that the basket was attached properly. With that done, he rode off into the dark morning.