Aven's Dream

by Alessa James

  “All right. See you in a couple of days.”

  He got up and started moving to the door.

  “Dad, I love you,” I said, feeling oddly emotional.

  He smiled.

  “I’ll call you tomorrow. I’m going to put Darcy in with you. I just fed him and let him out.”

  He whistled, and Darcy padded into the room, settling at the foot of the bed with a huff. I watched as my dad walked off. Then I dropped back into bed and stared at the ceiling. My limbs felt like lead weights, and my eyelids were like sandpaper. When I finally managed to sit up, my head pounded in protest. I swung my feet over the edge of the bed. Then, as I stood up, the oddest feeling gripped me. Like the cold hand of eternity stretching out into nothingness. Shaking my head at my tendency toward the melodramatic, I willed my body toward the bathroom.

  I heard the front door close behind my dad as I walked into the bathroom. Stripping out of my clothes, I turned on the shower and waited for the water to heat to a scalding temperature. I stepped into the shower and stayed under the spray, letting the water rush over me until I started feeling more human. When I finally got out, I caught sight of myself. I looked paler than usual, which just made my hair look even redder.

  After towel-drying my hair, I went back to my room and changed into sweats before opening the blinds. In a daze, I watched the rain pummel the glass for several minutes before realizing that I was starving. Grabbing my phone, I walked slowly downstairs to the kitchen, where I grabbed a bowl of cereal and some orange juice. While I crunched on my cereal, I pecked out a text that I wasn’t feeling good to the number Lizzie had given me the day before. She texted a sad face and said she and Sean were probably going to postpone their date until after the storm. That, she said, or she would end up looking like a drowned cat. I texted back that I owed her a rain check, literally.

  Finishing my cereal and juice, I headed back upstairs and reached for the Hemingway on my nightstand as I curled back into bed. It seemed like the perfect day to spend in bed getting through the rest of For Whom the Bell Tolls. I made it all the way to the last ten pages of the novel before my eyes welled up, tears running freely as I read the words. Dropping the book to the floor, I pressed my face into my pillow and sobbed. Clutching my breastbone, I tried to will away the pain. I knew it was stupid to be sobbing over the ending in a book, but I couldn’t help it. It was like my emotions had gone haywire, and suddenly I was exhausted again. Turning off the lamp on my nightstand, I closed my eyes.

  The woods closed in around me as I called out, my voice echoing before I was met with an unsettling silence. I clawed my way through the thickening brush, feeling the thorns cut at my hands. Up ahead, I saw a clearing and rushed forward. When I broke through the trees, I saw a figure at the far end of the space. He was facing away from me as I hurried toward him. He turned in the gloom and beckoned to me. I stopped as he stared at me with dead eyes. Then he smiled. I opened my mouth to scream, but no sound came as he took a step toward me.

  I woke with a start, the adrenaline still coursing painfully through my veins. It was dark again, and I stiffened in surprise when I felt a pair of arms wrap around me. Turning and reaching out blindly, I touched someone’s face. As I opened my mouth to scream, the arms wrapped tighter around me.

  “Aven, shhh,” a voice whispered in the dark.

  “Will?” I gasped.

  I was suddenly fully alert, my heart racing. One arm released me briefly, and the light on my nightstand clicked on. I blinked and looked around in a daze. I was in bed in the sweats I had put on after my shower. Turning again, I found myself leaning against Will, whose other arm still held me gently. I took a shaky breath in. I’m still dreaming, I told myself.

  “Okay. If this isn’t a dream, then what the hell are you doing in my room?” I demanded unsteadily.

  I looked up at the apparition that held me, the perfection of his face alarming in its nearness. My hallucination looked at me curiously and then smiled. When I struggled to sit up, he loosened his grip so that I could face him.

  “Are you saying that you dream of me?” he asked, his eyes gleaming.

  Panic burst through me as I realized this was real—and my dad was gone.

  “What the hell are you doing in my house?” I gasped again.

  Will reached out and moved a strand of hair from my face, and I shrank back.

  “I apologize. I was worried about you, and I wanted to make sure you were safe.” He paused, looking sheepish. “I didn’t think you would wake up,” he added dryly.

  “And that makes it okay to come into my house in the middle of the night? You are seriously insane! How did you get in?”

  Will didn’t answer, and I thought about the sticky kitchen door.

  “I didn’t mean to startle you,” he said apologetically.

  “You broke into my house!”

  “To be fair, I don’t think I’ve broken anything,” he answered, sounding amused.

  Shivering, I looked over at the window and then back at Will. This house didn’t have a ledge or convenient trellis for someone to climb up to the second floor.

  “Wait. Did you come in the window? What are you? An escaped circus performer?”

  He shrugged.

  “This isn’t funny!” I growled. “I should be terrified of you.”

  But even as I said this, I realized that one of my hands was still resting in his. Looking down at our hands, I shivered at the strange energy coursing between us, wondering if he could feel it, or if it was all in my head.

  “Are you? Terrified?” he asked, his expression suddenly apprehensive.

  I thought about it. I really should have been afraid of him after the past couple of days. But I wasn’t. I was afraid of what he made me feel.

  “Not as scared as I should be,” I admitted.

  Releasing me, Will stood up and walked over to my desk chair and sat down.

  “You should get some sleep.”

  I stared at him in disbelief.

  “You expect me to sleep with you here?” I asked.

  “I’m not leaving you alone.”

  His tone was firm.

  “I think I’ll decide whether I want a freaking psychotically moody stranger in my house while I sleep!”

  “Would you prefer it were someone else?” he asked.

  I shivered at his implication, thinking of the man from Mr. Blake’s classroom.

  “I would prefer that nobody break into my house in the middle of the damn night!”

  “Aven, please,” he said seriously. “I can’t leave you unprotected. You don’t understand the danger you’re in because of me.”

  “And this week? Last night? You were acting like a crazy psycho … because why?” I asked, my cheeks reddening.

  Will stood again and walked over to me. Putting his hand beneath my chin, he tilted my head until I was forced to look into his eyes.

  “I wasn’t as cautious as I should have been, perhaps because I hadn’t anticipated how much energy it would take to …” He stopped, frowning. “Aven, I’m sorry. I wanted to keep you safe. I wanted to be with you—perhaps more than I should have—but couldn’t trust myself. I couldn’t risk …”

  “What?” I asked, trying to keep in check the urge to interrogate him when he actually seemed like he was about to tell me something critical.

  I had never seen Will tongue-tied before, and it was unnerving—like seeing a parent cry. His expression was tortured as he studied me, and suddenly I wanted to reach out and comfort him. Yes, I wanted to comfort the person who had come into my house in the middle of the night—when what I should have been doing was calling the cops. But his tone was too sincere for me to question his motives. Will reached up and touched my cheek in a way that made it impossible to concentrate, despite the questions swimming in my head. Then I remembered something that made me sit up straight.

  “Darcy!”

  “I fed him, and he’s asleep at the foot of the bed,” Will said, laughing so
ftly at my confusion.

  “But he didn’t bark,” I whispered.

  I was suddenly overwhelmed by exhaustion, and Will’s response was barely audible as I drifted to sleep.

  “It wouldn’t be the first time,” he whispered.

  “How are you feeling?”

  My eyes flew open, and sitting up, I scanned my surroundings, squinting in the dim light. I could tell it was morning outside, but very little light—even less than the day before—filtered through the blinds as a steady rain beat down on the rooftop, joined by the howling wind, which rattled the windows every few seconds. My eyes focused on Will, who was sitting perfectly still at my computer, the screen glowing in the low light of the room. My heart skipped. Holy—last night wasn’t a dream! Will was here, flesh and blood. In my room.

  “You’re really here,” I said, sounding happier about that fact than I should have.

  “I’m here, yes,” Will responded. “Wait here.”

  Will disappeared from the room, and I leaned over the edge of the bed and retrieved a small mirror from my backpack, groaning in despair when I saw my reflection. My hair was wild, and I was just beginning to get some color back into my cheeks after whatever had ravaged me the day before. Before I could do anything about my hair, Will reappeared with a bowl of cereal and a glass of orange juice. I stared at him as he set the items on my nightstand and then walked back over to my desk.

  “You brought me breakfast in bed?” I asked, picking up the cereal and beginning to crunch away.

  “Would you like to take a drive with me this morning?”

  Mid-bite, I looked toward the window, dismayed by his apparent lack of concern about the storm, which sounded like it was tearing apart the roof. I swallowed.

  “You have noticed the weather, right?” I asked.

  “I’ve seen much worse.”

  “O-kay. And may I ask where we’re going?” I asked dryly.

  “It’s a surprise.”

  I debated as I continued eating my cereal.

  “I’ll go with you under one condition.”

  “And what might that be?” Will asked with a heart-melting smile.

  “You tell me the truth, no omissions. Deal?”

  My tone was serious—I wasn’t taking no for an answer. His smile disappeared.

  “Yes,” he said, his tone laced with enough regret that I shivered, wondering what he had been keeping from me that could be so terrible.

  “Now, can I at least have a hint about our destination? Like what I should wear? Poncho? Rain boots?”

  “Swimsuit?” he asked, a smile emerging on his lips again.

  I stared at him dumbly before shaking my head, still bewildered. Growing up near the beach, I had spent endless summers swimming in the turquoise waters of Laguna Beach. But I was pretty sure that Oregon’s coast didn’t offer the same swimming opportunities for someone used to seventy-degree water. Getting up, I walked to the dresser and sifted through the drawers until I found a modest one-piece jammed in a back corner.

  “Happy now?” I asked.

  “Quite,” Will said.

  “Mind if I take a shower?”

  “Please,” he nodded as he picked up my dishes.

  Will whistled for Darcy, who trotted after him, and I watched my dog in shock before collecting some fresh clothes and hurrying to the bathroom. I brushed my teeth while the shower warmed, studying myself again in the mirror. My hair was crazy, but I looked happy—exultant even. My cheeks were flushed, and my eyes were bright. It was such a glaring difference from the day before. I contemplated this shift as I stepped into the shower. I should have been afraid of anyone who had the nerve to sneak into my house in the middle of the night—there was no getting around that. Instead, I felt inescapably drawn to Will despite a nagging sensation that I should stay away from him. How could one person evoke such conflicting emotions?

  I showered, taking the time to shave, grateful that Will had at least told me in advance that I would be wearing a swimsuit. As soon as I was dressed, I rushed out of the bathroom with a jolt of adrenaline, expecting Will to have disappeared again. When I walked into my bedroom, I found my puffy coat, which had been in the downstairs closet, lying on my bed. Turning, I found Will watching me from the chair at my desk.

  “Storm watching?” I asked, gesturing toward the coat.

  “We will have a front row seat,” he smiled. “Are you ready?”

  I swallowed, a moment’s hesitation sweeping over me.

  “What about Darcy?”

  My dog looked up from where he was at Will’s feet.

  “He’s coming with us,” Will said easily.

  “In your car?”

  The thought of Darcy sliding around on the impeccable leather seats of Will’s car made me cringe.

  “Stop worrying,” Will commanded, smiling crookedly at my fretting.

  I picked up my coat and walked to my desk where Will sat. The open browser on the computer screen drew my attention to what looked like a newspaper’s site. I was about to read the headline when Will clicked the window shut and turned off the computer. He took my coat—and my bathing suit—and gestured for me to go ahead of him. When we reached the front door, Will stopped and held out my coat for me to slip on.

  “Stay here,” Will said.

  When he snapped his fingers, Darcy followed him outside into the howling wind, and moments later Will reemerged through the door without Darcy. Wrapping his arm around me as we stepped outside, Will sheltered me from the rain and howling wind. The gusts of wind were so strong that if he had let go, I probably would have fallen flat. I looked around for his car before noticing a black SUV idling at the curb. Will opened the passenger door and lifted me inside before appearing on the driver’s side a moment later.

  “I prefer mine, but I thought this would be more suitable.”

  I looked in back and saw Darcy secured in the vehicle’s back portion, beyond the back seat. The heater was already blasting hot air, and I gratefully slipped off my bulky jacket and glanced over at Will. He was like a different person than the one who had shown up to dinner on Friday.

  “Wait a second. If you didn’t think I was going to wake up and find you in my room, then how did you know to bring this monstrous vehicle?”

  “Maybe I was hoping you would find me,” Will said, making my stomach pitch with nerves.

  “And maybe you’re lucky I don’t own a stun gun.”

  He laughed.

  “Okay, so if I hadn’t found you lurking in my room in the middle of the night, what would you be doing right now?” I asked, trying to restrain the smile that was threatening to break out of my smirk.

  “I resent the term lurking,” Will smiled, casting me a sidelong glance. “And if you hadn’t woken, then I would most likely be outside watching you.”

  His admission left me breathless, and I turned to look out the window as the town blurred through the sheets of rain that cascaded around us. I didn’t see a single other vehicle as we traveled—because Will was obviously the only person in a fifty-mile radius crazy enough to drive toward the coast during a hurricane.

  Watching him as he drove, I noticed that Will seemed perfectly at ease. He truly was like a different person than the one who had fled my room Friday night. For a brief second, it occurred to me that I had slept all of Friday night, most of Saturday, and all of Saturday night. But it was flu season. When music started playing, I was startled to realize I recognized it. The last time I had heard it was on the radio when I had gone out to lunch with Sean—before Will had even shown up in school. The Diamond Sea. It was strange to hear it now, because I never heard it on the radio. Twice in such a short period of time was unlikely. But it was appropriate—because like the song said, I really did feel like I had jumped through the mirror into another world.

  Before I could open my mouth to comment, I caught sight of the needle on the speedometer. My eyes flashed to Will. With one hand on the wheel, he barely seemed to notice the road as w
e headed west, and despite the ceaseless rain and wind, he didn’t seem the least bit concerned that we might go flying into the trees lining the highway.

  Will looked over at me as I was white-knuckling the armrest and breathing shallowly. It was silly, and I knew it. I had been on a motorcycle with him—without the comfort of a seatbelt or airbags. On the other hand, how did I know he wasn’t one of those guys who thought he was indestructible? Feeling a subtle shift in the vehicle’s speed, I watched in relief as the needle of the speedometer fell a few notches.

  “You’re perfectly safe—from a vehicular standpoint,” he said mildly.

  “You don’t consider breaking a hundred miles an hour in the middle of a hurricane dangerous?” I asked, watching the twisty road blur by us.

  Will’s eyes flicked to mine again, but he didn’t say anything. With absolutely no idea where we were, I realized he could have been driving out into the middle of nowhere to bury my body. But if that was the case, then he had wasted a lot of time and energy on me up until this point, I reasoned. Another haunting song I had bought after finding it in my dad’s old CD collection came on, and I started to seriously contemplate the whole stalker idea. Soon, the music, the unbroken green of the scenery, and the steady purr of the engine began to lull me to sleep. I was startled when Will spoke again.

  “When is your birthday?”

  I frowned.

  “End of the school year,” I said. “Why?”

  “It must be very lonely being as old as you are, trapped in a seventeen-year-old body,” he said before returning his attention to the road.

  “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  “It means that you’re older than you appear.”

  “Yeah? Well, sometimes I feel like a kindergartener. Half a year shy of legal adulthood, and I hadn’t even kissed a guy until—”

  I stopped short and cringed, absolutely horrified by the implication of my statement. Will’s expression was pained as he turned toward me.

  “The other night was the first time you had been kissed?”

  The shock and regret in his tone made my cheeks burn, and suddenly jumping out of a speeding vehicle didn’t seem like such a bad idea. I bit my lip and didn’t say anything, choosing instead to stare out the window. The miles continued to pass in awkward silence. When I finally stole a cautious glance at Will, his expression remained preoccupied and distant. I wanted to go back in time and erase my confession.