Author's Note: Hello my dear readers. I know that I have on more chapter for iDon't Want to Wake Up and I want to thank you for the support with that story, but since this story is parallel to that story, I can go ahead and post the first chapter for it. I will try to update the last chapter for iDWtWU later today. For this story, I'm going to try for weekly updates on Fridays.

Happy Reading.

iWant to Wake Up

By OneHorseShay

Disclaimer: Don't own, don't sue. For God sakes, don't sue.

Rating: T Language, Possible Adult Themes and Violence

Pairings: Established AU Creddie and future Canon Creddie. Mentions of AU Sam/Brad.

Summary: Parallel story to iDon't Want to Wake Up. As an unexpected thunderstorm wakes up Carly into a very different world than she knows, the other Carly wakes up in hers.

Chapter 1

Shay Apartment
Saturday, August 20, 2011

Carly Taylor Shay grinned as she stared up at her bedroom ceiling after unexpectedly waking up about fifteen minutes ago. Sure, her bedside clock displayed with red digits that it was just approaching seven A.M. on a Saturday morning and she hadn't gotten much sleep after getting in late last night from her week long stay with her granddad, but she didn't mind one bit as she rested in her bed; her Freddie would be coming back in the next few hours after spending the last six weeks at his NERD Camp. The acronym still brought a hint of a smile to her face of its cukieness.

She had missed him the entire time, but knew that it had been worth it as it would guarantee that they would be admitted together to any college she was accepted and of course the fact that it had become one of his dreams to attend. She had to remind herself that nearly constantly (with the help of her mother) since they were missing spending about half their summer break together, especially their first summer together as a couple.

The brunette turned her head to her left to see the slowly passing dark clouds outside her window. She smiled even though she still couldn't see the sun, but she did see that the storm had passed from earlier in the night and that Freddie wouldn't have to travel in the downpour.

She watched the clouds roll by for a few more minutes then figured that she had tossed and turned long enough, so she thought she might as well get up to get her day started. She threw off her covers and planted her bare feet on the carpet to the right side of the bed then pushed off to head down the few steps down to the floor of her bedroom. She immediately set off to head for her bathroom. She passed by the door to her parents room. She didn't see a light on, but gave it no thought as she figured that her mother was still sleeping. If the storm had not subsided, she knew that her mother would have been up.

The brunette entered her bathroom and shut the door behind her to go about her business of using the bathroom and taking a shower.

Unlike when she took long showers when she was upset, this one was fairly quick and in no time she was out with her robe around her and towel in her hands. She walked to her sink and faced her mirror. She vigorously dried her hair with the towel for several seconds then threw it over her shoulder. She went about her normal routine as she did every morning of filling up her small purple cup resting on the sink with cold water then pulled out her vitamins from her medicine cabinet. After several quick pops of several fruity vitamins and sips of water between them, she turned back to her medicine cabinet to look for her other pills. She slightly frowned as she searched through the cabinet as she couldn't find them immediately.

"Now where did you go? I know I put you back when I got back," she mumbled to herself as her search was turning up fruitless. She snorted out with a bit of irritation as she did not want to have to waste anytime to go to the pharmacy today. She blew out a breath and gave up on her search. She'd just worry about getting some more on Monday as she closed the cabinet then headed out to go to her room.

The brunette quickly cut through her room to head for her closet to grab some clothes. However, just as she was reaching the glass covered door with the blue print of CS, she noticed a picture of Freddie she didn't recognize in her pink frame sitting on her banister. She picked up the picture and slightly frowned. She thought it was a cute and playful picture of Freddie holding his chin and looking at the camera, but she didn't have a clue where it could have come from and wondered what happened to her other picture of her and Freddie together since this was the frame that picture had been placed. She brushed that thought aside as she would just ask her mother about it later. She sat the frame back on the banister then turned to pick out her outfit for the day.

Once she picked out her clothes and dressed in a navy blue T-shirt with a silver US Air Force wings over the left breast of the shirt (more importantly over her heart) with a bigger symbol on the back and some light colored blue jeans, she had a seat at her desk and in front of the large monitor. She turned it on so she could brush and style her hair a bit. As she was fixing her hair to fall over her shoulders, she noticed that several pictures on her stick board to her left were missing, specifically several pictures over the years with Jade and one of her mother and father standing together.

The web-hostess obviously wondered what could have happened to them, especially as she could have sworn that they were there last night. She seriously doubted that her mother, Spencer or Sam would just take them down while she was gone. She shrugged her shoulders as she filed that way to ask them about it later then turned back to finish styling her hair.

About twenty minutes later, she came down the stairs and headed straight for the kitchen to get a morning cup of coffee before grabbing something to eat. She usually wouldn't put her coffee before her breakfast, she wasn't as bad as Jade when it came the need for her morning coffee, but she needed the caffeine to help her get through at least the morning.

She reached up to the cabinet and opened it. She pushed aside the container filled with coffee, but the brunette frowned after several seconds of digging through the cabinets to no avail. Spencer kept insisting on buying the decaffeinated coffee, but she knew her mother always hid away some of the good stuff. Her irritation grew as her mother's hiding spot was empty. She snorted out annoyed that apparently they had ran out of the good stuff and her mom hadn't gotten the chance to get some more.

After failing yet again to find something she was looking for, she settled in grabbing the decaf and closed the cabinet. She turned to the coffeemaker and opened the top to start preparing to brew the coffee. Once she went through the mechanics to get the coffee started, she waited patiently for a few minutes as the coffeemaker went about prepared the pot of coffee.

Just as the coffee pot was filled and she started pouring herself a cup into her favorite mug, Spencer yawned as he stretched his arms out and above his head and walked out of his room. He blew out a breath and scratched his stomach with his right hand as he cut through the living room on his way to the kitchen. As he crossed the threshold between the living room and kitchen in front of the freight elevator, he greeted his baby sister, "Morning kiddo, what are you doing up so early?"

The brunette shrugged a shoulder and answered with a playful smile, "Morning, I couldn't sleep. I guess I'm too anxious for Freddie to get back." She took a quick sip of her coffee as watched over the rim of her mug Spencer put a perplexed expression on his face.

"Waiting for Freddie to get back? Back from where?"

Carly blinked as pulled the rim of the cup away from her lips. "What do you mean from where? His camp he's been gone to for the last six weeks? Did you forget he's supposed to come back today?"

He asked with a higher than normal pitched voice, "Camp? Freddie didn't go to his NERD camp; Sam sabotaged his application… remember?"

Carly's mouth instantly closed shut as she held her coffee mug in her hands. She looked at her taller brother and watched as his face remained an expression of confusion as if what she had said was nonsense.

"WHAT?"

Spencer leaned back from her outburst.

Carly asked with a bit of disbelief, "Why on Earth would Sam do such a thing?"

The artist put on a crooked smile as he cautiously answered, "He didn't know what time it was?"

Carly's mouth dropped open for a moment in complete and utter shock at such an answer, but then a few moments later she closed her mouth and a grin formed on her pale face. She shook her head and let out a soft laugh then spoke with a bit of playfulness in her voice, "Very funny Spencer. Did mom say you could pull a prank on me?"

"Mom?"

Carly kept a half smile on her face as she answered, "Yeah, mom. Is mom up? I didn't see a light on from under her door."

Spencer blinked and his mouth hung open for a moment before he could finally form a word, "What?"

Carly wore a somewhat concerned expression on her face at seeing his unexpected facial expression. She asked slowly, "Mom? Is mom up?"

Spencer's brow furled as he answered with sharp tone, "That's not funny Carly."

The brunette slightly frowned as she gave Spencer a surprised expression from his nearly angry outburst. "What do you mean?"

"What do I mean? You're asking me where mom is," he answered with a curt tone.

The brunette nodded her head and asked slowly, "Yes, because I haven't seen her this morning."

The lanky artist put on a deep frown as she looked back at her. "I mean it Carly, this is not funny."

Carly sat her mug on the countertop of the island then looked to the artist with a concerned expression. "What are you talking about? I'm just asking you where mom's at? Did she make an early run to the I Heart Art or decided to go to school to start setting her classroom back up? Even on a Saturday." She broke eye contact with her brother and slightly rolled her eyes as she spoke mostly to herself, "I thought she'd at least wait 'til Wednesday, but—"

"Stop it right now!" the taller Shay snapped, but the worried and frightened expression on his face was quite jarring to the web-hostess.

Carly raised her hands and spoke with a calm voice, "Okay Spencer, what's going on?"

"What's going on? You're asking me where mom's at."

Carly put on a perplexed expression as she was becoming "What's the problem?" The web-hostess was becoming more bewildered and concerned with her brother's reaction as he started blinking and looking at her as if he was frightened of something… maybe her.

The artist opened his mouth and closed it several times as he tried to form words then whispered, "Mom… mom's dead."

Carly's face instantly fell and a chill went up her spine. "Now that's not funny Spencer," she answered with a cooled and offended tone.

"What you're doing isn't funny," he replied with a strange mixture of hurt and concern.

"Funny? You're the one saying that she's dead. That's not a funny prank to try to pull."

"It's not a prank, because she is dead and I don't appreciate you trying to joke around that she's alive. Is this some kind of delayed payback for all those pranks I pulled on you last year?"

"What pranks? Mom hasn't let you pull a prank since you were fourteen other than you turning my hair red velvet after me and Gibby used you as a guinea pig for our science experiment during the last lock-in at school."

Spencer raised his hands up and spoke in a rare tone that showed that he had ran out of patience with her, "Okay Carly this isn't funny. You need to stop right now,"

Carly's brow furled and took a step forward to meet her brother's gaze. "I'm not trying to be funny. How is she dead? I just saw her before I went to bed! What? Not six hours ago!"

Spencer blew out a breath. "She died ten years ago when you were seven from the leukemia, that's how she's dead."

Carly took a step back as his tone hit her heart and realized that something was seriously wrong. "What?"

"Mom died."

The brunette shook her head as she kept her eyes on her older brother.

"Mom? Mom!" she shouted out as she took her eyes off of her bother and looked around the first floor of the apartment. When she didn't hear a response, she ran past Spencer and headed for the stairs. Carly ran up the stairs as quickly as her feet would take her up and ignored Spencer's desperate shouting.

She finally stopped in front of her parents' room and threw open the door. The room was completely dark and she instinctively reached for the light switch by the door. The light instantly came on to illuminate the room.

Her face fell as she cautiously entered the room. She slowly walked around the perimeter of the room to examine the almost foreign environment. Nothing was unrecognizable as she saw the various knickknacks resting on the nightstand and belongings of her father set about the room, but as her eyes roamed over the walls and cabinets, her mother's presence in the room, the almost childlike quality of her expressionism was almost completely absent from the room. None of her paintings or sculptures was displayed about the room. She passed around the end of the bed then stopped at the other nightstand where she saw a picture of her mother and father together.

She picked up the picture and her hand instantly felt dirty as there was a thin layer of dust covering the frame and the glass over the picture. The dust was troubling enough, but it was the picture that bothered her: it wasn't a recent picture of them, but one that was years old… probably ten years olds or more if Spencer was correct.

As troubling as all she had seen, what was the most striking thing about examining the room was that no one seemed to live in this room. She swallowed hard as she felt what little contents that were left in her stomach from her last meal threaten to rise up.

Spencer had caught up with her, but remained at the threshold of the entrance to the bedroom

Carly gently sat the picture down in place then started pacing about the bedroom and wrapping her arms around herself. She blew out a breath and took a seat at the end of the bed. "Okay, I need to wake up. I'm just having a nightmare." She pinched herself and winced for a moment from the pain, but that was all she got for her troubles as she was still sitting on the foot of the bed with Spencer staring at her.

Spencer spoke with a tender and hopefully comforting voice, "Carly, I don't know what's going on, but you're awake and this is the real world."

The brunette snapped her head up and looked at the person that might be her bother. Her voice filled with her irritation and bit of fear as she retorted, "Real world? Mom's dead and looks like no one is bothering to take care of the room while he's gone while he's on his joint duty assignment. How in the world is this 'the real world'?"

Spencer opened his mouth, but no words would come out.

She snorted out a breath then put on an impassive expression as she stood up from the end of the bed. She spoke with a determined tone that broker no tolerance for being debated, "I want to see her grave."

The older Shay blinked at her statement. "You want to what?"

Carly narrowed her eyes as she stared at the image of her older brother and whispered in a challenging tone, "If our mother is dead, I want to see her grave."

Spencer swallowed down nervously and eyes widened open from the look she was giving him. The artist's mind flashed back to the times his mother had put her foot down with him when he was a teenager and knew he wasn't going to win any argument with his sister from the look she was giving him.

The artist finally whispered out, "Okay."