How many days had it been since she last got a decent nights rest? It was hard for her to say. All her days had blurred together recently. Did her last debate event happen last week or last month? The drag of bad sleep was string to pile up on her. How was she going to get through this school year? Was she actually going to have to drop out f the debate club? 

Well, from a reasonable stand point that would be the logical solution, When it came to doing this she enjoyed it was unlikely that Maria would relent. She was just as likely to stop participating on the debate team as she was to stop helping at animal shelters. Besides, her team needed her. Having to find a last minute replace meant for one event was one thing, but leaving her team hanging for the entire year was unthinkable. 

Not that even that would do her much good if her sleep didn't get any better. She was hardly holding it together now in the last few minutes of her last class of the day. Lucky it was just a rather basic geography class. While nothing she was terrible interested in, it had never been a subject to cause her much trouble either so her occasional moments of drifting off due to fatigue weren't all the great of a problem here. 

Though, normally, she was better at making in through the school day than this. Perhaps she had spent a little to much time working on her latest project for debate, or maybe she should have started that paper for English sooner. If only the books her mom and her read would be ones she also had to read for class. That would make keeping up with English a lot easier. Well, regardless of what the particular cause was, She was fading fast.

Just a few more minutes, hold out. Sleeping in class was to disrespectful, and she was sure sleeping now would be just a rotten as sleeping later. maybe just closing her eyes for a second couldn't hurt...

it was like a trying to swim in a rushing river of oil, all the fears expressed in the nightmare she was having. Ever worst thought she had ever had made more real than any dream she had in her life baring down on her at once with the crushing weight of a certainty that rarely ever was nice enough to be present for a nice dream. 

Fitfully she twitched at her desk as the nightmare attacked her in her sleep. 

Until a very odd thing happened. For a second, the nightmare paused, and ten began to fad altogether. Maria, well the dream version of Maria, felt a very strange pull on her body as if she was being lifted and moved to someplace new. She saw a bright light and what looked like a figure of a...a...golden penguin? A voice, loud but pleasant spoke. "You have been chosen"

With a slight start caused by the final class bell ringing, Maria woke. She realized she had dozed off and quickly composed herself and prayed to god that no one had seen her do something so embarrassing. She gathered her things and began for the walk home, still pondering the oddity that had been her little dream just now.