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Its 12:00 in the afternoon. At a local school in a different town. A boy named Chris, who is 18 years old, sits at a desk doing his math homework. He knows his physics teacher will ask him tomorrow, so better get it done now. One problem, out of his book is not enough. He is trying to finish his work as fast as he can, but he just sits there staring at the same problem.

After a few minutes of waiting for him to finish his math homework I was tired of waiting. I sent him a couple of text messages to see if he was okay and he replied back with simple answers.

I sighed, it seems I knew something was wrong. So I walked over to see him there.

''Hey Chris, is everything okay?'' I asked.

He turned his head to me for a brief second then he went back to his work. After a minute he finally replied back to me.

''Sorry. I didn't mean to ignore you. I was trying to finish this problem.'' He said.

''Well, we still have time before physics.'' I said.

''It's okay. I still have some time. I don't need to finish this before I start.'' He smiled and then he went back to his work.

''Well, can you ask your girlfriend to come over sometime soon?'' I asked.

''Why? Aren't I boring?'' A look of fear filled his face as he said those words.

I thought he was kidding but he looked kind of serious.

''No, you aren't boring, that's not what I meant. I meant, the girl doesn't have a TV. So are you gonna try to bring her over to watch something?'' I asked.

''Well, I have a couple of things I was planning to bring over. I can call to her and see if she would like to join us.'' he said.

''Great. I would love to see her.'' I said.

Chris then started to organize his stuff and I left as he continued to work.

I noticed the red light again. It flashes a few times then disappears. I didn't feel like looking into it again today, so I kept walking.

About 10 minutes later I saw a girl walking down the street. I could tell she was strangely dressed. I am not sure but I thought she looked a bit like a leprechaun. She stood out like a sore thumb to me, everyone else was dressed more or less the same. She was not looking at anything. She wasn't even looking into the street. She was just walking to meet someone.

''AOL?'' I said, as she walked past me.

A few seconds later, she realized she walked past me. Her eyes grew wide as she turned to look at me. She was so shocked that she didn't say a word.

''Excuse me, um, can you hold on for a second?'' I said.

I took out my cell phone and called her number. She picked up. I waited for her to answer a word, but she didn't. ''Hello?'' I said.

I was about to hang up, but before I did, she finally said something. Her voice was both scared and excited.

''This isn't a phone call. This isn't the this phone. I am afraid that this isn't happening. I am afraid I am going to fall asleep and not wake up. I cant see you. I cant see anything. And I don't know who this phone call is from.'' Her voice sounded very frightened.

''Can you just take a look around the room for a second? Try to pay attention to where you are?'' I said.

''Please help me, I can't see anything. And I just want to wake up. I don't know why but I need to wake up.''

''Okay, okay. I will help you. Just listen, you have to count the light switches. Just look around your room and look for a light switch. First one you see is the one you want to use to turn on the light. There should be a switch in the door you went in, and then one on the wall as well. Just look around carefully.''

I heard her voice from the other end of the line, begging for me to do something.

''Okay, okay. I found the first light switch, now count till you see me again. You have to wake up. Now say hello.''

''Hello?'' she said.

As I hung up, I walked up to the red light. I looked through it again. I saw flashing lights but nothing out of the ordinary. I looked through it a couple more times but still nothing.

I got up and went back home.

Later that night I couldn't fall asleep. I kept thinking about the girl that I met that day. I started to think about the conversation we had. I knew she needed to wake up. As I thought about what was happening I just felt helpless. Eventually I started to hear a voice. I looked around and I saw nothing.

''Excuse me, um, can you hold on for a bit?'' I saw her.

''Okay.'' I said.

''Hello?'' she said.

I hung up the phone.

''I am so confused. I am going crazy. I have been looking at that red light on my phone for two days now. I don't know why but I am too focused on it. It is in my face as I am sleeping. It is in my face as I am typing letters. It has been there for days now, it is everywhere.'' She said.

''That phone is called AOL. You don't need to keep looking at it. It is just a small glass tube with light coming out of it.'' I said.

''I think I am going crazy. I want to wake up. But I cant. I don't know what to do.'' She said, the panic getting closer.

''You can wake up. You can do anything you want. You just need to think of a solution.'' I said.

''Really?''

''Yes. There is no problem. You want to wake up, and you have this desire right now. So there is no problem. You just need to focus on the solution.'' I said.

I saw the girl start to look around her room. She looked everywhere but the red light. She got up to look at it again but there was nothing.

''Ok, look at the red light. Do you see it?'' I asked.

She didn't turn around this time. She kept looking around her room. I could see her movement through the window, she was looking at something.

''What is wrong?'' I asked.

''There is something in my eyes.'' she said.

''In your eyes? How do you know?'' I asked.

''I can see it, I can see it through the window. It is bright.'' She said with fear in her voice.

''Can you open your eyes?'' I asked.

Her eyes opened slowly. I could see she was freaking out. Her eyes stared for a couple of seconds.

''There it is. There it is. Get it away, get it away.'' I laughed.

She also laughed.

''It is all in your head. It is not actually in your eyes. It is just the light. It's no big deal. I will help you.'' I said.

I saw her eyes move away. She moved away from the window. I could see she was still looking around her room.

''Who are you?'' Her voice was quiet.

''My name is Richard. Why you are here? I just helped you solve the problem. Now you can fall asleep. You have to fall asleep right away. I will help you.'' I said.

She was quiet.

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