I remember reading this back in elementary school I believe (around 3rd grade, 2007-ish to maybe 2012, but the book was a bit worn so it might have been older). I remember almost everything except character names, places, and of course the title and author. Google searches yielded nothing. I'm at my wits end here. Please help!
Here's what I know:
I know for a fact that the book had a female protagonist, spoken in first person.
There were at least three other characters involved in the main plot:
- A boy who dreamed of becoming a pilot/aviator
- A girl with a desire for attention, semi-typical cheerleader popular girl type
- A kinda nerdy boy with a severe phobia of bugs of all kinds
These kids were each abducted by aliens, but the abduction took the form of an apparent dream. Afterwards, the kids were returned to their beds but with some sort of technological implant injected into their outer thigh, put there by the aliens. This micro chip type thing messed with the kids' heads, and ultimately killed the other three before targeting the female protag.
Each kid died in a way associated with their greatest fear or desire:
- The boy who wanted to be a pilot believed he could actually fly like a bird, and jumps out a third or fourth story window of the school. He should have survived, but the brain scans showed literally nothing, and so he was pronounced brain dead. I remember a quote that the boy said, more or less. When the female protag tries to stop him, he says something along the lines of "Don't worry. I can fly." before jumping out the window.
- The popular girl was forced into a sleep walking state. She comes to school naked, and when questioned she simply says, "Shh. I'm dreaming." She always wanted more attention and this certainly got it for her, but her brain was constantly in dream mode and was never able to properly rest so eventually burned out, killing her in her sleep.
- The nerdy boy started hallucinating that there were thousands upon thousands of bugs crawling over his skin, bursting through the flesh in droves. He began frantically scratching at himself and screaming, "Can't you see them?!" before making a mad dash out into traffic in an effort to run from the bugs, which ended up getting him hit by one car, which threw him into the path of another car, which hit him and sent him flying onto the pavement on the side of the road.
The female protagonist is the last (I think) to be abducted, and her "hallucination" involves being some kind of princess of some sort, only she is able to see through the deception and fight back against the aliens.
It's at this point that the details get fuzzy. I'm unsure exactly how she fights the aliens or if she succeeds, but I do know that the book is NOT "Alien Education" or "Strange Days", and the cover art was done in dark colors like black and midnight blue, and on the back cover there was a summary of the book in white text on the dark background. It was a paperback book that could easily fit in my hands, about as big and thick as the book "Hatchet" but might be slightly bigger/thicker.
Please help me! I have looked everywhere for this book and can't find it anywhere!! I'm desperate!
Here's what I know:
I know for a fact that the book had a female protagonist, spoken in first person.
There were at least three other characters involved in the main plot:
- A boy who dreamed of becoming a pilot/aviator
- A girl with a desire for attention, semi-typical cheerleader popular girl type
- A kinda nerdy boy with a severe phobia of bugs of all kinds
These kids were each abducted by aliens, but the abduction took the form of an apparent dream. Afterwards, the kids were returned to their beds but with some sort of technological implant injected into their outer thigh, put there by the aliens. This micro chip type thing messed with the kids' heads, and ultimately killed the other three before targeting the female protag.
Each kid died in a way associated with their greatest fear or desire:
- The boy who wanted to be a pilot believed he could actually fly like a bird, and jumps out a third or fourth story window of the school. He should have survived, but the brain scans showed literally nothing, and so he was pronounced brain dead. I remember a quote that the boy said, more or less. When the female protag tries to stop him, he says something along the lines of "Don't worry. I can fly." before jumping out the window.
- The popular girl was forced into a sleep walking state. She comes to school naked, and when questioned she simply says, "Shh. I'm dreaming." She always wanted more attention and this certainly got it for her, but her brain was constantly in dream mode and was never able to properly rest so eventually burned out, killing her in her sleep.
- The nerdy boy started hallucinating that there were thousands upon thousands of bugs crawling over his skin, bursting through the flesh in droves. He began frantically scratching at himself and screaming, "Can't you see them?!" before making a mad dash out into traffic in an effort to run from the bugs, which ended up getting him hit by one car, which threw him into the path of another car, which hit him and sent him flying onto the pavement on the side of the road.
The female protagonist is the last (I think) to be abducted, and her "hallucination" involves being some kind of princess of some sort, only she is able to see through the deception and fight back against the aliens.
It's at this point that the details get fuzzy. I'm unsure exactly how she fights the aliens or if she succeeds, but I do know that the book is NOT "Alien Education" or "Strange Days", and the cover art was done in dark colors like black and midnight blue, and on the back cover there was a summary of the book in white text on the dark background. It was a paperback book that could easily fit in my hands, about as big and thick as the book "Hatchet" but might be slightly bigger/thicker.
Please help me! I have looked everywhere for this book and can't find it anywhere!! I'm desperate!
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