Faded Encounters

by Elsy Green

  “It’s much worse than I thought.” I hold out a fancy flash drive, waiting for one of them to take it.

  “Riella!” I wake up in my hallway Sophie hovering over me. It’s becoming something of a habit. Me passing out and Sophie waking me up. I’ll have to tell her how grateful I am before this is all over. I don’t know what I would do without a friend like her. Especially now, it seems like she’s the only one keeping me sane.

  She sighs when she sees my eyes open and falls down on her butt besides me. “Where did you go?”

  “I’m not sure.” I rub my temples and wince. That was a lot more taxing than the other dreams. It feels like I was concentrating so hard that I gave myself a massive headache. Usually that doesn’t happen, usually I’m not concentrating at all, it’s just happening, taking over my body and mind.

  “I heard you talking to yourself and then I came out here and you were slumped over on the floor.”

  “Yeah, sorry. It came on fast.”

  “And your imaginary friend?” She raises her brows questioningly.

  “No imaginary friends,” I lie. “I just felt it coming on and didn’t want to go.” Sophie frowns, studying me intently before exhaling and dropping her gaze to the ground.

  “Okay. If you say so, but it’s going on the board.”

  “What is?”

  “You said you felt it coming on. You haven’t done that before. You usually wake up confused and delirious. This time it’s like you knew what was happening.”

  I stare down at my shaking hands, rubbing them together as I try to hide it from Sophie. I don’t need her to know how terrifying this is all becoming. Or that fact that I heard a voice, and that the voice took over. I don’t need to her to know any of it. Because there is only one cure for hearing voices and I’m not quite ready to admit that yet.

  “Yeah, maybe.” I force a smile. “How about that food now?” I clap my hands and jump to my feet forcing myself to forget the whole thing. Sophie watches me suspiciously frowning as she stands up and nods. We walk down the hall in silence her staring at the ground in deep thought as we turn to take the stairs. I stop and wait for her to look at me, dying to clarify something. I want to ignore this episode, I want everything to go back to normal, but I need to know something.

  “Soph? What did you call me when you were trying to wake me up?” Sophie bites down on her bottom lip hesitantly. “What? What is it?”

  “I called you Riella. I couldn’t wake you up so I called you by your dream name. I only did it once, but it worked. You woke up.”

  I stare at her skeptically, “that’s not possible.”

  “Are you sure?” The voice in my head answer back confirming every suspicion I was trying to ignore. Riella is a part of me, a voice that’s trying to escape.

  C.08

  “I’ve come up with some theories.” Sophie slides in next to me at our usual lunch table. I look over at with surprise. I didn’t expect to see her today. To say I’ve been avoiding her all morning is a bit of an understatement. It’s not like I’m mad at her or anything, it’s just I’m really overwhelmed with what the heck is going on in my head and having Sophie around only makes it worse. Mostly because she makes me admit the truth and I can’t admit the truth right now.

  She wants to talk through every single detail of every single dream. Don’t get me wrong I love that she is so willing to help me through this all, but part of me just needs time to process. Part of me needs to analyze everything and figure out if I really am going crazy, because I feel that way. I feel like I’m going crazy and there is no turning back.

  After Sophie left last night, I holed myself in my room doing everything I could to drowned out any voices or dreams. I had my headphones up so loud my mom yelled at me to turn down my music. I even tried to watch every single movie in our house in hopes that I would fall asleep and dream of that instead of these weird lucid dreams that plague my mind. But none of it worked. In the end I stared up at my ceiling for what must have been eight hours pinching myself so I wouldn’t fall asleep.

  “Earth to Allie.” Sophie snaps her fingers in front of me face.

  I blink and shake my head. “Sorry, zoning out. What were you saying?”

  “I have theories, well one in particular, as to who this Riella girl is.” I quickly scan the room making sure no one is within ear shot, I don’t need my weirdness getting out more than it already has.

  “Uh…theories?”

  “Yep. Riella is a spy.” She focuses on opening a sealed bag of apples and fails miserably. I reach over and open them for her hoping she’ll take my kind gesture as a trade for not continuing her theory. She doesn’t.

  “I’ve been thinking about it and the only conclusion I can come up with is that she was a spy of some sort. I mean think about it, you and Jaxon seem to always be on the run and then there are the white coats. Maybe Riella and Jaxon are partners sent on a mission together to take down blondie and her minions of white coats.”

  “Ryss,” I correct her reflexively. My eyes widen with surprise as I realize what I just did. Hoping Sophie won’t notice I stare down at my tray trying to look very engrossed in my food.

  “Ryss?” She somehow maneuvers her angry glare right in front of my face.

  I squeeze my eyes shut and cringe. “I’m sorry. I saw her again last night, in the hall. Apparently, her name is Ryss.”

  Sophie scoffs and shakes her head. “Were you going to tell me at some point or just keep it from me?”

  “I didn’t think it was relevant, besides I’m still trying to process it all. These dreams are getting jumbled together and really taking a toll on me Sophie. It’s not easy keeping them separate.”

  Sophie purses her lips into a thin line and lets out an irritated breath through her flared nostrils. She grabs her bag and scrambles through it pulling out a notepad and a pen. She then proceeds to scribbles down the name Ryss and the time and day of my dream.

  “It is relevant. You mentioned her in your park dream and now you meet her. I’m trying to help you, Allie. I can’t do that if you don’t tell me what’s going on.”

  “I know.” I slump my shoulders feeling guilty for not mentioning the others times I’ve seen her. I don’t like remembering those dreams, the ones with all those pent-up emotions. “I’ll do better.”

  “You will? Because it seems like you want to just keep it all to yourself lately.”

  “I don’t. I mean it’s just a lot. I’m dealing with a lot on top of the dreams, school, graduating. And sometimes I just don’t know where to start.” I cradle my head in my hands and Sophie lets out a long exhale next to me.

  “Oh Allie.” She throws an arm around me. “You don’t have to go through it alone. I’m here and I really am just trying to help you, but you have to want help too.”

  “I do.” I met her sympathetic stare. “I just need a little time to process it all.” She nods with understanding and releases me from her side hug. We silently turn back to our meals the chaos of the lunch room filling the awkward silence between us.

  “So… back to the spy theory.”

  She chuckles and nods. “Right, so, Riella and Jaxon are spies that work together. They were investigating Ryss and her minions when they were caught. I think she did some sort of experiments on them, thus resulting in the weird horrified dreams and the connection to stressful events. Maybe all you have to do is find a way to make peace with whatever Ryss was doing or one of her ancestors, that way Riella can rest peacefully. Maybe Riella never solved the case. Maybe you have to solve it.”

  “Huh. That doesn’t sound too far off, it kind of fits into everything I’ve seen. How would we even figure that out anyways?”

  Sophie turns to me with an apologetic face. “You’d have to go back in. Allow Riella to show you what she needs you to see.”

  “Who is Riella?” A tall shadow hovers over our table. I look up into a pair of familiar turquoise eyes that I’ve seen man
y times before, over and over again in my dreams. Ethan Miller. It’s amazing how much he really does look like Jaxon. It’s like he’s an exact replica. Silky honey-brown hair, strong square jaw, dark black eyelashes, and stunning turquoise eyes. The man is possibly the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen. Well technically I’ve seen him before, but that doesn’t really make any sense.

  “Sorry. I wasn’t trying to pry, I just overheard you and thought I recognized that name. It’s really pretty.” Sophie and I turn to each other with raised eyebrows. Her lips curve into a mischievous smile that I recognize all too well. She wants to involve him, she wants to divulge our deepest darkest secrets all because I said he looked somewhat like Jaxon.

  “It’s an ancestor of mine. A school project,” I interject before Sophie can say anything. “Hi, I’m Allie. I don’t think we’ve properly met.”

  He smiles a drop-dead gorgeous smile that has my heart doing summer salts in my chest. “Ethan Miller. I think you are in my biology class, right?”

  “Yep. That’s me.” I clear my throat awkwardly, hoping he won’t put the rest together.

  “Ms. Fay was pretty worried about you, everything okay?”

  He put it together alright, the entire scene. Me startling awake in class, calling him Jaxon and then racing out of class like a lunatic.

  “Oh, yeah.” I nod unsure what to say at this point. I need a good excuse, just use the first one that pops into your head.

  “You know how it is, girl stuff and all.” I wince as the words leave my mouth, instantly regretting using the first thing that pops into my head. Ethan’s eyebrows raise in surprise as he tries to find an appropriate response to my comment. There isn’t one. I kind of just broke the cardinal rule of high school, don’t talk about girl stuff to a gorgeous boy you’ve just met.

  “Sophie.” Sophie waves her hand next to me saving me from my ultimate doom. “I’m kind of Allie’s second half so you’ll probably see us together a lot.”

  “Nice to meet you Sophie.” He offers her his same drop-dead gorgeous smile obviously recovered from my girl stuff outburst.

  “Likewise, so, I hear you moved from up north. What brings you here?”

  “Uh… my dad’s work I guess.”

  “Huh, cool. Well we are the official certified tour guides of Greenville, so if you ever need anything just give us a ring.”

  I hide my face in my hands at her cheesy line and he just chuckles. “I’ll keep that in mind, you never know when you’ll need a good certified tour guide.”

  “You really don’t.”

  “Cool, well I just wanted to stop by and say hi, introduce myself and make sure I wasn’t the one that scared you from Ms. Fay’s class. I can sleep better now. And uh, sorry about the girl…things and what not.” He cringes bringing his finger up to his mouth and squinting an eye like he just realized what he said.

  I cover my mouth trying to hide the smile that is covering my face. I know I shouldn’t laugh, especially when I started it, but I can’t help it, his reaction is too adorable not to laugh at.

  “It’s all good.” I wave him off with a quiet giggle. He blows out a breath and shakes his head.

  “Well I’m going to go over there, to the table with all the men and testosterone and talk about men stuff. Because that’s what we talk about, manly stuff not girl stuff for longer than necessary.” He clears his throat and nods in affirmation. “See ya round.”

  I bite down on my bottom lip and nod. He turns and walks away without another word looking back over his shoulder with a bashful smile before finally making it to his destination.

  I’m surprised to see Sophie gawking at me when I turn my attention back to her.

  “What?”

  “You like him?”

  “No.”

  “You just giggled like a giddy school girl who just saw her crush for the first time. And your face is like uber red.”

  “It is not!” I touch my cheeks feeling the heat coming from them. Okay maybe she’s got a point.

  “You do!” Sophie gasps covering her hands with her mouth. My eyes reflexively dart to him to make sure he’s not looking over here.

  “Stop it.” I pull her hands from her mouth and give her a stern warning her to act normal. “He’s attractive and charismatic, you were there. I can’t help my body’s natural reaction.”

  “Natural reaction my butt.”

  “I’m serious. It’s weird that’s all, how much he looks like Jaxon, I think that’s what triggered my dreams.”

  “Which brings me to my second point. You never told me Jaxon was that hott.”

  “Oh. I thought I did.”

  “Noooo. Dish.”

  “There isn’t much more to say, he looks like Ethan, or Ethan looks like him. Insanely hott, the kind that makes your heart pitter patter and your palms get all sweaty. Like I said, weird.”

  “Oh my gosh! You are in love with Ethan!” she gasps.

  “I don’t even know him.” I roll my eyes.

  “Yeah, but your subconscious does. That’s why you are remembering Jaxon. He must be connected to Ethan. Maybe he’s your soul mate!”

  “Soul mate really? That’s a stretch even for you.” Sophie ignores me whipping out her notepad and writing down, Jaxon- hott, Ethan,-hott, doppleganger, twins? Soulmate?

  “Don’t put that in the notepad.” I reach for it but she’s too fast, moving it out of my reach.

  “It’s important. Jaxon may be a lover not a protector. Maybe you feel the way you do because that’s what Riella feels towards Jaxon. Or maybe he’s your soulmate, we have to work through all these things. Like is he a relative, is he reincarnated too…Ethan looking like Jaxon is kind of a game changer.”

  I sigh and shake my head. She’s not wrong, I think I knew that the minute he introduced himself in my class. That’s why I freaked, there is something about Ethan Miller that changes everything.

  “Or it’s just a coincidence Sophie, pure and simple.”

  She narrows her eyes at me like she’s trying to decode a secret message in my words. “What are you afraid of, Allie? Fate?”

  “Fate? No, fate doesn’t exist.”

  “So, you think it’s a coincidence that you are having dreams about a man and a woman that look exactly like the two of you and now Ethan shows up? Or that the night you slept walked you ended up at his house?”

  “What did you say?” I turned to her in shock.

  “After you slept walked, I went back to the house you said you woke up at. Turns out it belongs to Ethan.”

  “Why wouldn’t you tell me that?”

  “I didn’t think it was relevant until now.”

  “Why wouldn’t it be relevant Sohpie?” I feel myself getting upset for a reason undenounced to me.

  “Because I hadn’t seen the two of you together…or heard anything else about Ethan since that day. And with you not telling me much I didn’t think it was worth brining up.”

  I shake my head and blow out a breath finding it hard tobe mad at her. she’s not wrong, it’s not like I’ve mentioned anything else about my dreams or Ethan.

  “It makes sense now, you are soul mates, torn apart only to find each other years later?”

  “As our reincarnated selves?” I look over at her annoyed with this theory. I don’t believe it one bit, there is always a plausible reason for everything.

  “Exactly.”

  “Or what if it’s all coincidence. Maybe I saw Ethan somewhere before and placed him in my dreams. Maybe when I slept walked, I was just walking and I coincidently woke up near his home. This is probably just all one big coincidence.” I turn back to my food knowing the minute the words leave my mouth that that’s a lie.

  “That doesn’t explain Riella.”

  “She’s my alter ego.” I bite into a carrot completely convincing myself of this new narrative.

  “You’re alter ego? So, you’re going with that now? Completely disc
rediting reincarnation and fate?”

  “My theory is more plausible Sophie, simple as that.” Sophie shakes her head and goes back to scribbling her theories in her notepad ignoring me. She’s not going to have my new theories, she’s determined to prove I’m wrong. I don’t really care at this point, I’ve gone three hours without a dream, it’s progress. Maybe it’s more a mind over matter thing. If I can convince myself it’s all once big coincidence, maybe I can go back to a normal life.

  I look over my shoulder at that thought of a normal life, hoping to catch a peak at him. I’m thrown off guard when I find him doing the same. I bite down on my lip trying to hide my embarrassed smile as we lock eyes. He smirks lifting his chocolate milk to me in some sort of toast. I shake my head grinning from ear to ear as I turn back to my meal with burning cheeks.

  Sophie clears her throat and I look over to find her watching me. I wince internally realizing she just saw the entire exchange between Ethan and me.

  “Fate or not, Ethan Miller is a game changer Allie.”

  C.09

  “Why are you dragging me to this party again?” I moan as Sophie fuses with my hair.

  “You mean our senior party? The one- and only-party seniors dream about their entire high school existence? The party we have been waiting for since we were pathetic freshmen? The biggest event of the year? The party that is so legit it has its own bouncers? Real live bouncers Allie!”

  I roll my head back and moan. “Okay, okay. I get it. It’s the party of the year. That still doesn’t explain why I have to go. I might not even be graduating. I’m probably going to be invited to next year’s senior party too with the way things are going.”

  Sophie scowls at me in the mirror. “What are you talking about? You are going to graduate. You’re doing great. You’re passing your classes and you haven’t had a dream in two weeks. You are back to normal by some miracle; thus, we need to act normal.”

  “Yeah.” I sigh. She does have a point. It was like all of the sudden my dreams just stopped. One minute I’m fighting with a voice in my head and the next I’m fine. Sleeping through the night staying awake in class and passing high school. What ever was triggering me…it’s stopped.