That night, everyone who had been directly changed by The Cloud had very unusual dreams. In fact, they weren't really dreams at all, but rather the repressed memories of their previous lives. They all still possessed their original memories, but they were all so far down in their subconscious that they couldn't directly access them, unless they were asleep, as they were now.
Molly dreamed about playing with dollies. That wasn't so unusual, though. She did play with dollies when she was younger, but the thing that was unusual was the fact that she grew older in the dream, suddenly becoming a teenager. Then there was something about chasing after a reality-changing cloud. It was one of the most vivid dreams she had ever had. It almost seemed like a memory. But something like that couldn't happen, could it?
Melony dreamed about going to high school, which was strange, because she was only six. Except, in the dream, she was a lot older. She was talking to other girls, flirting with some guys, and in class listening to teachers talking about things like Trigonometry and Physics. Also in the dream, she saw herself (in this teenage body) talking to her parents. But they weren't her parents. They were her babysitter's parents. It was a very odd dream, but there seemed to almost be something very familiar about it.
Melony's (new) parents had odd dreams as well. They dreamt that they had a 6-year old daughter named Molly, not Melony. And in the dream, which seemed very vivid, Melony's father had a recollection of something that she had said to him. Something about not wanting to play "Let's Pretend" with Molly anymore and saying that she was actually a big girl and Molly was supposed to be a little girl. That memory got inserted into his dream, suddenly making him aware that something peculiar really was going on, as his dream became almost lucid.
Sarah dreamed about being the most popular girl at school, head cheerleader, and dating the star quarterback of the football team Biff Meadows (strange that Biff had her last name and that she had his). It was all so strange and mixed up. Being a nerd, though, Sarah was interested in those sorts of things. Sort of a "what if" scenario. But this dream, unlike others that she (becoming a "he" as she slept) had, seemed so vivid. Almost like they were her memories, or maybe if she saw a movie with these scenes. Both theories were ridiculous. No way would she ever live a life like that. And a movie starring a bunch of people she knew from school? Yeah, impossible. But still ... something bothered her about the dream. It did feel really real. She just couldn't explain it. It certainly couldn't have been a fantasy. As far as she could remember, she never fantasized about being a girl. So why did the events of the dream seem so familiar to her?
Biff dreamed about being the most popular guy at school, star quarterback of the football team, and dating the head cheerleader Sarah McMillan. It was all so weird and mixed up. Sarah was a girl and she had his last name. Furthermore, this version of Sarah seemed a lot like his mother. Almost like her "clone". What weirded him out most, though, was that the whole dream seemed familiar to him, like he (becoming a "she" as he slept) had experienced it before. But that couldn't be, right? They don't let girls play football. Soccer, volleyball, softball, and basketball, most likely. But not football. But in the dream, he wasn't a girl. He was a boy. A jock, actually. Like Jay. Except, Jay wasn't in the dream. Biff saw a lot of jocks, but Jay wasn't there. And even so, it all felt so real. He just couldn't explain it. It certainly couldn't have been a fantasy. As far as he could remember, he had never fantasized about being a boy, especially a boy like Jay Duncan. So why did the events of the dream seem to familiar to him?
Jay had a strange dream. He dreamed that he was actually a nerd and not a jock. Furthermore, he dreamed that Biff McMillan, that nerd that he had given a ride to earlier that night, was a jock named Biff Meadows and that he routinely bullied Jay. No one would dare bully Jay. That's why it was so strange. And Biff was a boy in his dream. That might have been the weirdest thing of all.
Kyla had a very weird dream. She dreamed that she was a timid nerd who barely had any friends, except for maybe Jay, who was also nerd in her dream. She wasn't a cheerleader or anything. She was barely even noticed by people, except for the ones in the geek and nerd crowds. The losers, in other words. She tried to take control of this nightmare, but found that she couldn't. The whole thing played out like a movie. She could only sit back and watch as girls she thought of as her friends were making fun of her, calling her things like "dweeb" and "loser". Her heart sank, hearing those people say that to her. She wanted to scream at them that this wasn't her. But the thing was, it really felt like it was. And that scared her even more than what she was seeing. It scared her that deep down she actually was an awkward and shy nerd.
Mel, Andy, and Eric also had strange dreams. In them, they saw themselves as girls and as cheerleaders. They were best friends of Sarah McMillan. But that couldn't be, right? The Sarah they saw in their dream was Sarah Meadows, that nerd from school, the one that Andy and Eric gave a ride home to. But in the dream, she was hot girl. Not nerdy in the slightest. It was very strange.
And everyone else directly affected by the cloud (the bookstore/movie theater teenagers and the mall security guard-turned-yogurt shop girl, for example) all had similar strange dreams as well.
