Opening my eyes to the dreary and dismal blank space around me, I stared into the abyss around me and sigh heavily.

"This place really needs a change..."

Looking over to the mirror nearby, I take note of the golden pajamas I was wearing, the soft red sheets on my bed, and other random tidbits that caught my interest. But as soon as they became interesting, I yawned and rolled back to stare at the blank ceiling above me. Everywhere I looked, it was the same boring place as it had been the day before and the day before that. And as usual, I was growing bored. Very...very fast.

Finally making up my mind, I clap my hands and as if on cue, the room changed to something completely different. Sitting in it for a bit, I frowned and clapped my hands again and again until I finally liked the new look of the room; the walls had changed to a relaxing purple with little stars flying around here and there. The new decor finally appeased my tired mind and with a small smile on my lips, I got comfy and closed my eyes to enjoy the peace and quiet.

As soon as I fell asleep however, my eyes shot open as I felt an eerie feeling run through my brain; the same feeling that crosses your senses when you know there is danger close by or when someone is watching you from an unknown corner. Sitting up quickly, I felt my eyes widen at what they beheld: another me was standing near the end of my bed, but this one was wearing a purple shirt and had long, raven black hair and pale white skin. On top of its head were a pair of demonic horns that matched the equally demonically sharp smile it was giving me.

Time seemed to stand still as the two of us stared each other down, shock and surprise inhibiting me from acting quickly to get rid of this obvious threat. However, I was noticing that the room had begun to turn a dark red...as if the walls themselves were bleeding. Seeing the walls changing, even more panic started to seep into my being. So much so, that I barely noticed the demon version of me materialize a long knife out of its chest and leap at me with the blade pointing at my own torso.

Willing my body to move, I rolled off the bed and scooted myself back a few steps upon seeing the knife go cleanly through my mattress and red sheets. It's head quickly whipped to me and it slowly unsheathed its weapon from the mattress and stood up, eying me like a predator. Its steps were slow, and each one seemed to create a small puddle of red on my floor.

Each stalking advance that it took forward, I made one step backwards. Each step felt like its own inevitable end, as with each one, I felt a crawling on my back that shook my very core. After seven steps however, I realized that I had backed myself stupidly into a corner with no way out. The demon seemed to notice as well, the smile turning even more cruel as it readied the knife again.

My heartbeat was loud in my ears as the full terror of the situation took over and without thinking, I closed my eyes and held my hands up to try and at least stop the demon from immediately ending my existence. Hearing the demon take one last step forward, I began to feel strangely calm in the face of certain death; my body seeming to unwind itself and my heartbeat slowing down to almost a normal heart rate.

Just as it seemed like the end was actually going to transpire...something happened. A split second before the demon went to slice my chest open, two giant skeleton bones seemed to appear from out of thin air and block the attack head on. The sudden interruption and appearance of the bones seemed to surprise the demon as much myself, as both of us ended up blinking for a full few seconds before it jumped back and readied its knife again.

"You really want to try that again, buddy?" My voice cut through the dreaded silence, a bored expression seeming to overtake my once terrified one. "Cause I don't think you wanna have a bad time..."

The second that phrase escaped my lips, my eyes widened slightly as I seemed to return back to my normal, terrified self. What...had happened was beyond my own way of description; it felt like my body had been given a mind of its own and was taking over control of the situation; almost like a puppet being controlled by strings manipulated by some mysterious puppeteer. However, my voice had changed too, being replaced by a deep male one. Holding my head for a second, I realize something else had changed as well: my original golden pajamas had been transformed into a dark blue hoodie with a white shirt underneath, black shorts, and white house slippers that covered my feet.

Meanwhile, the demon had recovered from the strange occurrence earlier and shrieked at me as it ran towards my location. Swinging as quick as it could, the knife seemed to miss its mark as I sidestepped out of the way and jumped away from the corner so I had more space to maneuver.

"Seriously, that was a BONE-ified lame attack. I could see it from a mile away," the voice returned as my face smiled widely at the same time I gave the attacker a teasing wink. Its eyes narrowed to slits and it shrieked again as it went to attack once more, however it missed again and again. Each time it tried to hit me, my body moved and weaved with a deftness and agility I had never known before. And when my heart beat, it seemed as if two hearts were beating together in their own patterns to make a one unified chorus of rhythms and beats. It is as if...I was not alone for this fight.

Finding an opening to my enemy, I raised a hand above my head and was pleased to see the floor erupt with large spiked bones that made a cage around my attacker. The being shrieked more and more as it tried to escape, its knife striking the bones like a feral animal. Staring at the other me, I slowly leaned forward to investigate it further. But suddenly I felt something jerk my body backwards as if I was being forced out.

"Maximus, wake up! It's time for school!"

I hear my mom's mumbled voice behind the closed door of my room, making me sit up in bed and stretch before rubbing the sleep out of my still closed eyes. The dream from last night had been erasing itself from my mind like most dreams usually did, but I still remembered a few small details like the weird clothes and the bones…

Noting that my head was till feeling a bit fuzzy, I didn't let that stop me as I finally touched my feet on the ground and walked to my dresser. Passing the mirror on the way over, I almost shrieked as I saw a short skeleton staring at me instead of my own reflection, its clothes resembling what I had been wearing last night.

"Wh-what is going on?! This is just too creepy..." I asked aloud to myself as I keep staring at it, pulling one of my eyes down a bit and blinking when the skeleton seemed to do the same. For what seemed like at least ten minutes, I tried making faces and doing odd poses, and yet each time it seemed to then be copied to an exact detail by the skeleton on the other thinking it was just the sleep still kicked into my brain, I decided to ignore it and go get dressed. As I started to take my shirt off though, I looked over at the mirror and was surprised to see it just staring at me. Unlike before, it didn't move or say anything when I tried to get its attention; the empty sockets giving me an unblinking and focused stare.

Paying it no more attention, I slip into an outfit that consisted of a red and black plaid, a golden tee-shirt, and normal blue jeans. Not even looking to the mirror, I made sure everything was ready before I started to head out. However, as I went out the door, I finally turned my attention to the mirror and was quite surprised to see that the skeleton had disappeared. Taking a few extra seconds to make sure it actually was gone, I finally shake my head and close the door behind me as I made my way downstairs.

"Good morning dear, I have your stuff ready; it's by the front door, so grab it whenever you want to head out. Don't forget to stay out of trouble and to also stay determined." My mom smiled as I gave her a hug and a kiss on the cheek, grabbing the lunch she had prepared for me as I let go from the hug.

"I will, don't worry!" I nod happily, grabbing my things by the door as I also go to get my shoes on. "Oh, that reminds me: Travis and Matt may come over after school if they have time to hang out and play games. Anyways, see you later, mom!"