Mike came partly awake. feeling thick-headed and groggy. The door to his room suddenly swung open. "Wake up, sleepyhead!" He recognized his mother's voice and started in as she barged in and yanked the cover back. "Come on, Mikey. Bed stripped, washed up, and dressed! Breakfast in fifteen minutes!" She rolled her eyes as he struggled up to stare at her in confusion. "Honestly! I'm going to start sending you to be after dinner if you can't get up on time for school!" Then she leaned over and picked up a familiar-looking stuffed horse from the floor and grinned as she rubbed it gently over his chest. "Aaron doesn't like being thrown out of his stall!" Then she left the toy on the bed and headed out. "Hurry up!"
Mike stared at the open door, confused. Since when did his mom come barging in like that? And yanking the cover back... he blinked and suddenly looked down, aware of a smell of urine and a stain on the sheet over his crotch. Strip the bed. He'd wet the bed? As he stared at the sheet, the shape underneath looked wrong. Too small. He kicked the sheet back and stared at the slender, skinny body of a little boy. He was naked, and the bottom sheet was damp. He could feel plastic underneath. Even with all this, he couldn't quite get his thoughts clear, but he slid out of bed and looked around. It was his room - sort of. The pictures on the walls were kid stuff - cartoon racing cars and animals, and where his desk had been was a playbox with toys scattered around. Wait a minute. Aaron? He looked at the stuffed animal - it was a draft horse with the same coloration that the centaur had had back in his dream.
Mike's eyes widened and he stumbled over to the full-length mirror on the closet door. The homely red-haired boy reflected back was familiar, but not the image he expected. This was the kid from the dream! From the adventure that Tye and... Mike shook his head, having trouble concentrating. He felt slow-witted, like he was partly asleep. Mike felt a stab of fear. He was the dumb, ugly kid from the game, the little boy that Aaron had been! But now he was back home, and it seemed like he was still the same kid. He felt frustrated and scared, and slid a thumb into his mouth as he looked around. The dirty sheets. He padded over and pulled them off, carrying them to the plastic hamper that mommy had put there. Then he went out to the bathroom so he could wash up and not smell like pee when he went to school. Part of all this was new to Mike, but it was a lot easier to do things on automatic than try to figure them out right now.