Michael Bennett

Michael Bennett is a fictional character in the Dreams to Reality continuity who has appeared in all three forms of the series. He is generally regarded to be the main character of the entire story of the series in all three continuities. He is the oldest son of Victor and Shelley Bennett (in all continuities), and older brother to his adopted brother, Tobias Bennett (in the web series and novels continuities). The continuity of the three incarnations of the series has led to many changes in the character's personality, but overall, Michael is fairly well-liked among his peers, despite (or in some ways, perhaps because of) coming from the richest family in Eagle Creek, and is very unselfish. He is quick to jump to his friend's defense against any and all dangers, even at the risk of his own safety, earning him numerous people's respect. He develops superpowers throughout the course of all three series continuities, and is prophesied to be the world's best hope of surviving the supernatural events that soon become a normal way of life in Eagle Creek.

Character History (Web Series, 2000-2004)
Michael Bennett was surprised when his friend, Rocky Fronset, returns a school notebook to him with a note written by a supposed "secret admirer," but Rocky refuses to tell him who the admirer is despite the note making mention of wanting to go to an upcoming school dance with him. However, Michael has a crush on classmate Rachel McCarey, who in turn has similar feelings for him. Rocky would later ask Michael about his feelings for Rachel, but in order to prevent Rocky for telling Rachel about his feelings for her, claims to have a crush on another girl. When pressed for a description of this other girl he claims to have a crush on, Michael would state that this other girl was new to the school district, causing David Richards to falsely believe that Michael had feelings for Danielle Grayson, who, unbeknownst to Michael, also has a crush on him. When Rachel hears Michael talking about having a crush on someone, however, Michael decides that the time is right to privately inform her that he has a crush on her and asks her to the upcoming dance, despite not knowing who his supposed secret admirer is. Rachel gleefully accepts Michael's invitation to the dance, officially beginning a relationship that already faces adversity against a secret admirer, Rocky's nosiness, and Danielle's attempts to win Michael over herself with David's help (DtRW #1).

At the end of the school day, Michael asked Rachel when she wanted to meet on Friday. She told him 6:00, figuring the two of them could go to McDonald's or Dairy Queen for dinner before the dance at 7:00. Rachel revealed that she had a crush on Michael for months but was afraid that he wouldn't have the same feelings for her, and Michael admitted to having a big crush on her for months as well, and says he hadn't planned to tell her how he felt until he felt he knew she returned his feelings. Rachel asked him how he knew she had feelings for him, but Michael revealed that the only reason he asked her to the dance was because Rocky returned his notebook earlier with that note from his secret admirer, which he now believes to be fake, due to Rocky's history of antagonizing Michael for no good reason. Michael had decided that rather than risk Rocky's alleged secret admirer turning out to be a prank, Michael decided to hurry up and ask Rachel to the dance before learning who his secret admirer really is in case it turns out to be a legitimate person, meaning that should Michael and Rachel's relationship turn serious, it would be because of Rocky. Jack Brock, Jarrid Harlen, and Dustin Finley then inform Michael, Rachel, and a nearby Rocky that both Mark Shane and Nicole Halloway were injured earlier in the day and were both being taken to the hospital. Jarrid explained what they had learned from Brandon Danber about what had happened to Mark, and Jack told them about Nicole's fight with Melinda Flint during Mrs. Jackson's class, who had sent them to the principal's office. While they were on their way up the stairs, Melinda had attacked Nicole and pushed her down a flight of stairs, knocking her unconscious. A shocked Michael asked where they took Nicole, and learned that she was taken to Portage General Memorial Hospital. Michael made plans to go to the hospital to see Nicole with Jarrid and his mother before excusing himself to call his father to ask for permission. Michael called his father from a pay phone, where he explains what he had just learned about what happened to Mark and Nicole at school that day and asks if he can go to the hospital to see them right after school. Vic Bennett agreed to pick Michael up at the hospital after he gets off work that night, asking him to be ready to go home when Vic gets there, because Jeannette Learner, Vic's girlfriend, was cooking chicken that night, and Michael would soon note to his friends that Jeannette gets upset if she gets the impression that nobody wants to eat her cooking. Before leaving the school with Jarrid and Rachel to go to the hospital, Rocky stopped Michael to confront him about what is going on between him and Rachel. Rocky finally prods it out of Michael that he has a crush on Rachel, but Michael blamed Rocky for being responsible for Michael asking Rachel to the dance because he wouldn't tell him who his secret admirer was in order to guarantee that he had a date to the dance as he had begun to believe that Rocky was lying about there even being a secret admirer to begin with. Michael told Rocky to go tell his secret admirer that he already has a date to the dance before leaving Rocky to catch up with Jarrid and Rachel outside. Rocky, meanwhile, said that Becky wouldn't like this at all. Michael met up with Rachel, Jack, Dustin, Jarrid, and Jarrid's mother outside, where the group was shocked and terrified after having just had an arrow with a note attached to it shot into the side of Jarrid's mother's car from some nearby bushes. Jarrid was further upset to read a note attached to the arrow, and after Jack read the note himself, Michael would be handed the not to read aloud for everyone else, that the note, addressed to Jarrid, claimed that Nicole was dead and that he would be next if he got in the way. Michael vowed to find out who would do this. The teens would head to the hospital and meet up with David, Josh Poncek, Mandy Marin, and Travis Sirlon. Michael knew by this point that Josh would have confronted Melinda over her rold in Nicole's hospitalization, and Josh revealed that he had nearly pushed Melinda down a flight of stairs himself. Josh insisted that he was only trying to scare Melinda, and had succeeded, but Michael would tell them about Jarrid's ominous note and the scary way it was delivered. Josh was shocked to read the note but revealed to everyone that Nicole is still alive and that he had just seen her a couple of minutes prior. The spooky circumstances behind which the note was delivered to Jarrid leads to some speculation that there might be a dangerous psychopath stalking the streets of Eagle Creek and potentially targeting Nicole, with Michael being the one to point out that whoever shot the note at the group outside Jarrid's mother's car had no qualms about potentially harming any of them with it and possibly even had intended to hit one of them with the arrow rather than the car door. It was decided amongst the group to wait and see if any further incidents occur before involving the police, due to this still potentially being someone's idea of a sick joke. However, Nicole would soon scream from her room, causing Michael and Josh to rush to check on her. Nicole was upset about something she had seen in the room's window, but Michael and Josh arrived at the room too late to see what she was pointing at. Nicole explained to them that when she woke up, she looked out the window, and someone wearing a skull mask was looking in at her. She claimed she was sure that it wasn't a dream because she had just woken up from a dream about Melinda pushing her down the stairs at school before she saw the skull-masked man with a huge hook that he pointed at her with, causing her to think that this person wants to kill her. Michael and Josh quickly excused themselves to discuss this between themselves, with Michael noting that it can't be a coincidence, first the note to Jarrid, and now Nicole claiming to see serial killers in hr window threatening her. Josh pointed out that he'd never forgive himself if something were to happen to Nicole knowing what he knows now. Upon consulting the note further, Michael would point out that the note claimed that Nicole was already dead, and Nicole saw the guy in a skull mask threatening her with a hook and posits the theory that this guy, "Skullface," shot the note at Jarrid in Eagle Creek and then came to Ravenna to kill Nicole, assuming he would get there before Jarrid and the others could. Michael wanted to call the police at this point, but Josh talked him into waiting for a little while in order to keep Nicole in the dark about the note to Jarrid a little while longer so she could rest right now. Michael agreed, and the two went back into Nicole's room. Nicole would soon ask them where Melinda is, and Michael figured Melinda was off trying to find another way to try and fail to win Josh back. After Michael and Josh tell Nicole about Josh's confrontation with Melinda at the top of a staircase at school, Michael suddenly felt an odd sensation as his consciousness slipped out of reality and into a precognitive state for the first time in his life. The scene that came into focus for Michael was Nicole standing in front of him. Michael would ask her if she was all right before Nicole suddenly collapsed into his arms. As Michael lay Nicole down on the ground, Nicole quickly transformed into a shriveled mummy as the vision ended and Michael came back into reality, terrified. Nicole would ask Michael what was wrong, as Michael was unaware of what just happened to him and equally unaware that at the same exact time back in Eagle Creek, Skullface was burning a photograph of Nicole. (DtRW #2)

Precognition
Michael's first experience with his developing powers came on the afternoon of Wednesday, May 24, 2000, at Portage General Memorial Hospital in Ravenna, Ohio. While speaking with his friends Josh Poncek and Nicole Halloway, Michael's mind suddenly left this reality and entered a possible future in which Nicole would collapse in front of him and die, as recognized by Nicole quickly turning into a shriveled mummy upon collapsing. Unbeknownst to Michael, a mysterious person wearing a skull mask was targeting Nicole's life at the time, and during the same time Michael had this vision, the skull-masked man was burning a photograph of Nicole on a wood pile in Eagle Creek. (DtRW #2)

Becky Jansen
At the very beginning of the series, Michael's science notebook was returned to him by Rocky Fronset with a note written on the back of it, and Rocky claimed that a secret admirer had written it. When pressed for information about who wrote the note, Rocky would elaborate no further than that, which would in turn prompt Michael to actually move forward with his intentions to ask Rachel McCarey to the dance instead, fearing for who (if anyone) the secret admirer actually was. In fact, however, there was really a secret admirer despite Michael's suspcions to the contrary, and Rocky worried that Becky would not be happy about Michael asking Rachel to the dance because Rocky wouldn't tell Michael who the secret admirer was. (DtRW #1-2)

Rachel McCarey
At the very beginning of the web series, it was made clear that Michael had a crush on Rachel McCarey for some time prior to the beginning of the series, but was simply too shy to make any moves on her for fear of rejection. However, she also had a crush on him, and was not acting on these feelings in any way because of her own fear of rejection. When the time came for Michael to finally come clean about his crush on Rachel, she gleefully accepted his invititation of the upcoming school dance. However, the relationship began with a number of potential threats, including Michael's secret admirer (later revealed to be Becky Jansen), as well as the advances of Danielle Grayson, who also had a crush on Michael. Michael and Rachel planned to meet each other at 6:00 on the night of the school dance in order to have dinner before the dance started at 7:00. Michael revealed that he only came up with the courage to ask Rachel to the dance because Rocky wouldn't tell him who his secret admirer was, and Rachel was glad that Michael finally did ask her because she had been too shy to ask him to the dance herself despite her own feelings for him. (DtRW #1-2)

Danielle Grayson
Despite Michael's feelings for Rachel McCarey, Danielle Grayson hoped that Michael would take her to the dance. Though aware that Michael intended to ask Rachel, Danielle intended to ask Michael first in the hopes that he would take her to the dance and fall in love with her there. She dispatched her friend David Richards to find out whether or not Michael had asked Rachel to the dance yet, and planned to ask him herself at the end of that school day if he hadn't. With David in attendance, Michael claimed to Rocky Fronset that he had a crush on a student new to the school with brown hair and brown eyes, accurately describing Danielle. This led David to believe that Michael actually had a crush on Danielle instead of Rachel. David would report to an excited Danielle that he believes that Michael has a crush on her, so Danielle set about trying to track Michael down to ask him herself. However, Michael had already left the school building by the time she arrived at her locker and was told by Brandon Danber and Ashley Chamberlain that Michael would surely go to the hospital to check on Nicole Halloway, who had been pushed down a flight of stairs earlier in the day. Danielle went to Ravenna to Portage General in order to find Michael and ask him to the dance, but she first encountered Rachel, who happily told Danielle that Michael had asked her to the dance earlier that day. A devastated Danielle confronted David, who maintained that Michael described a girl matching Danielle's description as a girl that he had a crush on, and Danielle excused herself to cry in private. She would be found in an empty room by Brandon Danber soon thereafter and comforted by him as she told him that Michael asked Rachel to the dance and never had a crush on her at all. (DtRW #1-2)

Background Information & Trivia

 * Michael Bennett's family history is very loosely based on the author's own upbringing. The storyline involving his parents' divorce is inspired by the real-life divorce of his parents. In addition, the storyline in the novellas and web series depicting Michael receiving a note from a secret admirer on the back of a school notebook was based on a true event in the author's own life.
 * Michael has been the central character of the entire story that Dreams to Reality has become since its inception, and despite multiple additions to the cast, is notable for being intimately involved in nearly every major storyline in all three incarnations of the series.
 * In the novellas and in the first several episodes of the web series, it was never made clear that the Bennetts were especially rich or powerful. Over time in the web series, it is established that the Bennetts are very rich, but in the earlier episodes, there was no sign of such an extravagent upbringing for Michael. Those would begin to get worked in over time, but by the novel series, it is firmly established that the Bennetts are the most rich and powerful family in Eagle Creek.

Quotes
(Michael's transition from the discussion of Josh's confrontation with Melinda to a discussion about Jarrid's ominous note from Skullface):
 * "I think this may be the beginning of something beautiful." --Michael, in reference to Rachel accepting his invitation to the upcoming school dance (DtRW #1).
 * Michael: "On that wonderful note, Jarrid, Rachel, Jack, and Dustin about pissed their pants when this note here, attached to an arrow, was shot at them, landing in the side of Jarrid's mother's brand-new Pontiac Grand Am. She was quite ticked, but she got over it when she read what the note had to say." (DtRW #2)