I jumped awake.

I still had the scent flames engraved into my mind as if they had actually burned themselves there.

My eyes hurt. So did my legs.

My legs hurt a million times more than they did yesterday.

I stood up. It didn't hurt to walk, it was just like I was... Floating...

Just like my dream...

I rubbed my eyes, not too harshly because I had a small fear that they'd roll out of my head.

I walked to the mirror in my room. I could still see my legs, thankfully. I turned away from the mirror and glided to my closet.

I didn't have practice today so I decided to wear a dark-ish blue dress. I wasn't like the one I wore in my dream last night. That one was almost like a ballgown. This one wasn't made from silk. It was a sort of rough material.

I put on light blue flats and walked out of my room and into the kitchen, this time remembering where my parents would be.

They sat at the table with pancakes.

"Wanna eat?" My dad asked.

"No, I'm gonna walk around a bit and then get some breakfast."

"Okay. Have fun!" My mother waved me out the door.

"Haha, I hope I do!" I called out as I stepped out the door.

I stopped when I closed the door.

What if Angelo finds me?

I shook my head. Who cares? It was only a dream.

As long as we didn't end up in the ballet studio together...

I shook my head again.

Stop being so paranoid.

I walked off of the steps in front of my house and walked a ways down the sidewalk. I decided to go into a small local bakery that I heard had great raspberry scones.

I opened the glass door and walked into the bakery. I was grateful that the incredible smell of baked goods replaced the haunting smell of smoke that had lingered in my nose from my dream. I smiled and walked up to the counter, ordering three scones. I paid for the sweets and walked to a little table near the entrance. I ate each scone one by one and thanked the lady behind the counter, then happily walked out.

I decided to go sit near the pond that was on the edge of town. People rarely went there, so I wouldn't have to face the glares from everyone who saw me or listen the whispers people barely tried to hide.

I walked the sidewalk. Well, I more of danced. I danced almost anywhere I was.

It was a long way to get to the pond since the town was pretty large. I finally got there and sat in the grass that surrounded it. I watched small fish flicker in and out of the water. I watched little ducks swim around so happily.

A little black dog came and sat next to me. Not entirely acknowledging me, but watching the pond just as calmly as I. The little dog inched forward towards the water on it's belly. It's tongue stuck out and gently touched the water. I laughed a little as fish jumped away from the small ripples in the water. The dog looked up at me and it seemed like it was smiling. It turned back to the water, making more ripples in it with it's tongue. It looked back at me, as if expecting me to laugh again.

I looked at the small puppy for a moment. I reached forward towards to the dog's face. It leaned it's entire face into my hand, looking up at me with sparkling eyes. The dog stood up suddenly. I watched it carefully. It looked at the pond, then back at me with a giant, stupid smile. It backed up a bit and then ran forward, Splashing into the pond. I started laughing and the dog looked happily at me from the shallow pond. It walked out of the water and backed away from me a bit so that it could shake away the water. Even though it was a little bit away from me, I still got water showered over me.

"I wonder who you belong to," I said to the dog.

The dog looked at me a little sadly, as if answering my question.

"No one?"

The dog shook it's tiny little head.

"Do you want to live with me?"

The dog snapped it's head up at me, looking serious for a moment before a giant smile came over it's slobbering mouth. It walked to me and then sat in my lap. It wasn't giant, but it wasn't super tiny, either. It was short, shimmering black fur. I started to pet the dog's back. It seemed to thank me by nuzzling my leg.

"Wanna go home?"

The dog looked at me again and then stood up, as if saying yes.

"Okay, let's go. You can just follow me."

I started walking back and looked behind me every so often to check that the dog was following me. I stopped looking back eventually because the dog was always there.

We got home and I picked up the dog. It licked my face.

"We're home."

I walked inside to see my parents eating lunch in the kitchen. They looked at me.

"I found this little puppy. Well, it more so found me. I was at the pond and it just came up to me and followed me home."

"If you're asking to keep it, go ahead,: my mother said.

I smiled and thanked her.

I set the dog down and it just sat next to my feet.

"Do you want to go to the pet store?"

It nodded it's head and smiled again.

"He's responsive," my father pointed out.

"Yeah, he's an awesome dog."

I walked back to the door, the dog following close behind. We walked out and I ran for aways down the sidewalk just to see if the dog would follow and sure did. We went into the pet store and some people looked at us oddly.

"Do you need a collar?" I asked the dog.

He shook his head.

"Yeah, you follow me anywhere I go. Maybe we should get one just in case, though."

The dog walked to the collar and leash section ahead of me and pulled down a black collar and black leash from the shelf.

"Haha, okay."

I took the items from his mouth and put them into the hand basket I had picked up when we entered.

"Want anything else?"

The dog walked to the toy section and pulled three toys from the shelves. I took them from his mouth and put them in the basket, too.

He led me to dog food and dog bowls, choosing whatever he wanted.

Then he led me to the treat section, poking his nose at a small box of bacon flavored treats. I took the box down and put it into the basket with everything else.

The dog led me to one of the registers up front.

"You sure you don't want anything else?"

The dog nodded.

"Okay then."

I paid for everything and we walked out together.

We raced each other home and he of course won. I gave him one of the bacon treats when we got to the door of our house. I opened the door and we walked inside.

"Get that dog somewhere to sleep," my father said.

"He'll sleep in bed with me," I replied happily.

"Okay, whatever. Eat some dinner and feed that dog."

"Will do."