Clarity

Clarity is the fourth chapter of Season One.

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Ezra couldn't believe what was happening. As time had passed by, more elements from his dream were appearing in real life, and he was afraid he wouldn't soon be able to see the difference between his dreams and the reality. But how do I really know what is real? he thought to himself. How do I even know that people around me are real?

As he was thinking those thoughts, he reached his hand towards Dane and pinched him. „Ow!“ said Dane and looked at Ezra, his face annoyed. Well, at least I know that Dane is real, Ezra thought. „What is wrong with you lately?“ Dane whispered. „You are not the Ezra I once knew!“ Ezra wanted to explain himself, but before he could, he realised that his art teacher was once again standing before him and about to yell at him. „EZRA WHITE!“ she screamed at the top of his lungs, „Not only were you 35 minutes late today, but now you are also interrupting my class! This just won't do!“ She placed a pink paper which had the word 'detention' written on it with big letters on Ezra's easel. „Detention for a week!“ She said, a victorious smile on her face. Ezra definitely wasn't one of her favorite students and this wasn't the first time he had annoyed her.

„Make sure you are here each and every day after your classes! And being late or not appearing at all might make this week into a month!“ „As for you, mr. Young,“ mr Tanen said, turning her gaze towards Dane, „make your painting more minimalistic or you will suffer the same fate! Less colors, less emotion, more clean lines and clear structures!“ She made her way towards the front of the class where Muhammad was still standing. „Muhammad, please take a seat and take out your colors.“ she said. And before Ezra realised she had referred to the empty seat next to him, Muhammad had already sat there, and glared at him. Feeling the gaze of this strange boy on him, Ezra became more tense with each passing second.

It was hard to listen to miss Tanen speak, and soon Ezra didn't even pay attention to her dull voice. He was in thoughts, completely in his own world and it wasn't until Dane dropped his pencil case on the floor that he noticed again what was happening around him.

Others had already started painting again, and Dane was about to do the same as well. Ezra, however, had once again forgotten to bring his own set of colors to paint with. It was becoming an annoying habit for him. And he couldn't even imagine how he would be able to paint with his strange neighbour glaring at him, even if it wasn't all the time. „Dane,“ he whispered to his friend, who was already painting, „would you mind changing places? I can't really focus on my painting with this strange boy or man or whoever he is standing next to me.“

Dane looked at him. „Oh, and you think I'm able to do that?“ he whispered, his voice clearly showing how annoyed he was. „Dane, please,“ Ezra said, trying to do make the cutest impression he was able to do. „No!“ Dane said. „Good art cannot be born under pressure. And I don't really want to get in trouble with our beloved teacher as you always do.“

As he said those words, Dane looked at Ezra’s unfinished painting. „And you should start working on your canvas instead of worrying about your creepy neighbour!“ He added, and put the colors on a stool between them. „If miss Tanen had a problem with MY PAINTING, she most definitely won't like yours if it stays like this! So you should better start working instead of talking to me because I really don't want to get a certain pink note you just got!“ He gave Ezra an extra paintbrush and he started working. His friend's words had put him in a really bad mood, and he also couldn't stop thinking about Muhammad, as he was still looking at him. He quickly glanced at his neighbour himself, and found that not only did this boy look old for his age, but his dark brown eyes were filled with a lot of anger.

If looks could kill, he would definitely be dead already. As he was thinking these thoughts, he put his right hand to his pocket to check if his knife was still there. It was, and although it wouldn't have been much help if Muhammad was actually the terrorist from his dream, it still made him feel better that he had it. A few moments after that he put the knife back to his pocket and started painting. He wasn't really sure what miss Tanen wanted them to paint, since the task had been sadness, yet it using a lot of emotion wasn't really allowed.

I wonder how she became a teacher in the first place, Ezra thought, as he started to form one of his tears into a big cerulean box. I would send her back to college to study education. Still, the thought of her about 30-year-old and still single teacher back in college made him chuckle a bit. As the minutes passed and he continued painting, Ezra was finally pleased with the result. It was a painting which consisted of boxes that were all the same size and placed next to each other, all painted with one of the three blue colors he had used. It was clean, it was minimal and had some other qualities Ezra thought miss Tanen would like. „I'm finished.“ he said to Dane. „What do you think? “ „Well,“ said Dane after he had looked at his work for a few moments, „to be honest with you, it's the most boring painting I have ever set my eyes on, but it will probably please miss Tanen.“

And he was right as Ezra found out when he stayed after the class to help miss Tanen clean up the mess. When he headed home after that, Ezra felt a bit better, although his creepy new classmate had pretty much ruined his day. So had miss Tanen, who had not been very kind to him although his painting had been well done. As he was putting his books into the locker that evening, Ezra looked at the mirror and discovered that parts his dark brown hair were covered with ultramarine blue paint, as were some parts of his face and hands. The ultramarine color suited well with his striking blue eyes, and with the blue sweater he was wearing. Not wanting to be the object of attention once more, he closed his locker, and dashed into the toilet to wash the paint off. After that, he went home and straight to bed since he was really tired. As he was about to fall asleep, Ezra hoped that he would not see his classmate in his dreams again.

But his wish wasn't granted. Muhammad became a constant in his dreams, now appearing in every single one of them. For some reason, Ezra kept seeing him arrive at school with a big sports bag filled with guns which he then hid into his locker. As he woke up a few days after, Ezra made a decision: he had to check his locker to find out if his dreams had anything to do with real life or not. In order to avoid turning crazy, he knew he needed clarity, even if breaking into Muhammad’s locker might get him into a lot of trouble.

That same day, he spied at Muhammad to see which locker he was using. It was a located next to Dane's locker, which made it easily findable. When he was done with detention that day, Ezra went to the locker and opened it using his knife, a bit terrified what he might find inside. As he quietly opened it, he found a sports big identical to the one he had seen in his dreams. He took a quick peek inside the bag, and discovered it was indeed filled with guns as it had been in his dream.

When Ezra headed home that night, he felt terrified. He was now sure Muhammad was definitely up to no good and was planning something evil. Maybe a school shooting like the ones that had happened in Columbine and Virginia Tech? Ezra thought to himself as he was getting much closer to home. As he went to bed that evening, he was more than sure that he would see his new classmate there again. And so it was, only this time the dream was different. Muhammad wasn't hiding the sports bag in his locker anymore, but was now putting the guns in the inner pockets of his white trench coat. The pockets were located in the upper part of the coat, which he then covered up with a big black scarf. Then he headed towards their art class and after a few moments, Ezra could hear shooting and shouting coming from that room. He dashed towards the classroom but was too late: Muhammad had already killed most of his classmates. With horror, Ezra watched helplessly as he finished his evil work and ended the life of those still living. A smirk on his face, Muhammad once again pointed a gun at Ezra as he had done in the library. But before he pulled the trigger, Ezra woke up. He was now more certain than ever: Muhammad had to be stopped. And his knife had to be sharpened. And he needed to get a gun and a bulletproof vest. And this all made his head ache a little.

Characters

 * Ezra White
 * Dane Young
 * Miss Tanen
 * Muhammad Praveen

Trivia

 * This is the first episode when Ezra and Danes' surnames are identified.
 * It is also the first episode where Ezra's appearance is described.