Awaken (Awaken Series Book 1)

by Jaime Guerard

  The morning hours ticked by. Ten, eleven, twelve, one o’clock in the afternoon, and still there was no sign of Austin. No one had seen him since yesterday and I was running out of places he could’ve gone. I had searched everywhere from the bakery that he loved to the local diner, even work, but no trace of him.

  “He called in sick,” Jim said to me when I called our work. Even his mom and step-dad had no idea where he was, since he didn’t come home after the party. It took a little bit of convincing on my part for them not to get the police involved just yet. I had to omit a lot of little details about what happened, but gave them the basics as to why he disappeared.

  “He does get his feelings hurt quite easily, and he really does think the world of you,” Katherine took a slight pause, “but if I don’t hear from him in a few hours, then I’m calling the police.”

  Becka and I drove everywhere. We even had Stephanie call around to some of his friends to see if Austin had contacted any of them.

  “Beck, what if something bad has happened to him?” I worried, walking into the video store.

  “I’m sure he’s fine. He’s just heartbroken is all.”

  “Thanks, Beck,” I exhaled, closing the door behind me. That didn’t help me at all. I knew he was heartbroken. Now my heart was breaking because of it.

  “Well, I’d be hurt too if the person I loved rejected me,” she said.

  The pit in my stomach was becoming a huge, gaping hole. My worst fears about my secret relationship with Collin had come true. I should’ve told Austin, but I had to respect Collin’s wishes. He wanted to be the one to tell Austin.

  Rebecca walked up to the clerks and asked if anyone had seen Austin, while I tried calling him one more time. Like the last fifty times, it went straight to voice mail. Frustrated, I turned the phone off and thought really hard. If I were Austin, where would I go? But every place that I thought of had already been searched. It was beginning to look like we had wasted our time. I mean, he could’ve gone anywhere.

  “Did they see him?” I asked when Beck came up to me.

  She shook her head “no.”

  My insides sank. “I guess that’s it then. I don’t know where else he would’ve gone.”

  “Come on, there must be some place that you haven’t thought of?” Rebecca pushed. “Think, Bre.”

  “I don’t know…maybe the school.” I shrugged. “But I don’t know why. He doesn’t even like school that much. Maybe it would be a good place to be alone.”

  “Let’s just go look,” Becka said anyway.

  “Maybe he’s at the bench that we always meet at.” And then it came to me, “Wait!” My eyes widened.

  “What?” Becka stopped.

  “The bench! I know where he is!” I blurted. “I can’t believe I didn’t think of it before!”

  “Where is it?” Beck asked with anticipation.

  “Remember the time that he took me on that date and he took me to the park in

  Ashland?”

  She nodded. “Let’s get going then!”

  We headed out of the video store. “Beck, thanks for helping me, but can you take me to my car? I really need to talk to him alone.”

  “Sure no problem,” she replied.

  It didn’t take me long to reach the outskirts of Ashland. The anticipation of facing Austin was weighing down on me like a ton of bricks. I felt sick to my stomach and I prepared myself for the worst. If I were him, I’d never want to speak to me again. But I had to do this. I would apologize and beg for his forgiveness, again. If he didn’t accept it, then at least I tried, and I would have to live with it.

  There weren’t many people out. It was extremely cold, and no one was hanging around outside. I pulled into the parking lot and didn’t hesitate before jumping out, and running for the pond. My heart was pounding and all I could think about was Austin’s face when he saw the necklace.

  Rounding the last turn right before the pond, I slowed to a walk and peeked through the trees. Relief poured through me when I spotted Austin right where I'd guessed he would be. He was sitting on the same bench we'd shared before. His arms were folded and he was looking at the ground, deep in thought. I knew it was Austin because he was wearing the same clothes from the night before. He looked cold.

  I took a deep breath and began walking toward him. I didn’t think it was possible to be more nervous than I was the last time I had to confront him, but I was wrong.

  When I got to Austin’s side, leaves crunched beneath my feet, warning Austin of my arrival. When he noticed me, his tired face dropped, and he looked away out over the water.

  I sat down next to him. “Austin, before I start, I just want you to know I’m sorry for all of this. I never wanted to hurt you.”

  I could tell how much that statement hurt. He didn’t say anything. He just inhaled a deep breath clearing his throat.

  I kept going. “You have every right to be mad and hurt…We were going to tell you.”

  “Yeah? When? On your wedding day?” he snapped.

  Okay, I deserved that. I cleared my throat. “No,” I calmly said, “I wanted to tell you sooner, but it wasn’t ever the right time.” I paused. “We were going to tell you when Collin got back.”

  “Of all the people…out of everyone we know, you had to pick my brother?” His face was intense and I could see the veins in his neck bulging. I had never seen him look at me with so much disgust and scorn before.

  “I know. I didn’t plan for this. We didn’t plan for this,” I continued.

  “So when?” he cut me off. “When did you guys go behind my back? Up at the lodge? When he came back to live here?” His face was red.

  He was furious and it took everything in me not to start crying. “It was before all that,” I said.

  “It was before!” His fist tightened.

  “It happened before I even met him, before I knew he was your brother,” I said quickly.

  He frowned, not understanding.

  “Let me explain,” I exhaled, “I saw him before I even knew he existed.”

  “I can’t believe this,” he looked away, shaking his head. “I can’t believe you’re using that right now.”

  “No, Austin. Please listen.”

  “Why should I?”

  “Because, I’m telling you the truth,” I said, holding my ground.

  “Why should I believe anything you say?”

  I stopped and looked out over the water, feeling helpless. “I know you’re hurt,” I started to say.

  “You have no idea what I’m feeling right now,” he said coldly.

  I went on, turning to look at him again, “I know that whatever I say now will only sound like I’m lying, but please let me finish. Then you can say whatever you want.”

  He sat back, folded his arms and waited.

  “Months ago, before you and I started hanging out again, I had these dreams about this guy, someone I had never met before. I had no idea who he was. It took me awhile to realize that this dream might actually mean something, because it was happening a lot and I had no control over it. It was the same dream over and over again. That day that you took me to your house to meet him…I knew instinctively that I was supposed to be with him. You have no idea how hard it was for me because you and I were getting so close. It’s still hard and I know it’s hard for you, but can you put yourself in my shoes and see why it was so difficult to tell you?”

  “No, I can’t,” he snapped, almost glaring at me. “I can’t understand. You knew how I felt about you. You should’ve been open and honest with me.”

  “I was confused,” I said. My stomach was turning.

  “Confused about what? You either liked me, or you didn’t. It’s pretty simple,” he spoke bluntly.

  My sight dropped down to my hands in my lap. “I didn’t know what I wanted before I actually met Collin. I didn’t even know if he was real. Becka was messing with my head, telling me I needed to stop focusing on Collin because it was crazy. She said I should
…”

  He breathed out a non-humorous laugh. “Oh I see…you were just trying me out? Seeing if I could fill that void for a little while, is that it? Is that why you were hanging out with me?”

  “No! That’s not it at all!” I blurted out.

  “Then what? What am I to you?” His eyes didn’t blink. His body tilted slightly toward me as he waited for an answer.

  “You’re my friend,” I said softly, trying to calm him down.

  He sucked in a deep breath. “Then you should’ve told me about my brother right away.”

  “Yeah, right Austin. You’d rather I said I was in love with someone I’d never met before, a phantom of my dreams. How would I have explained that? I didn’t understand it myself.”

  He stared silently at me, his face flushed with hurt.

  “Austin, please say something?” I begged.

  “You love him?” he whispered as he hung his head.

  My stomach dropped.

  He ran his hand over his mouth. I had no answer for that.

  “You love him,” he murmured again to himself, and then he looked back at me, furrowing his eyebrows. “You didn’t even know him, and you loved him?”

  “I know…it doesn’t make any sense, but…” I wiped a tear from my face. “Yes. I loved him, before I even met him, and I love him now.”

  He just looked at me and another tear fell down my cheek.

  I placed my hand on his arm. “Austin, I love you too. You’re so important to me and I don’t want to lose you over this. I don’t know how I would live without you in my life. That’s why it was so hard for me to tell you.”

  “Please don’t say that.” He moved his arm away from my hand, his voice barely audible.

  “It’s true. I need you. You have to be in my life. You have to somehow be okay with this.”

  “Do you even know what you’re asking of me right now?” He started to get heated again. “You’re asking me to watch you, the person I want to be with the most in this entire world, and my brother…together?”

  As the silence fell, an older couple, maybe in their later sixties walked up to the pond across the way. They were holding hands and looked so sweet huddled up close to one another, trying to keep warm. Before they left, the old man leaned over and kissed the woman gently on her forehead. Considering the conversation we were having, watching their contentment was discomforting.

  “Bre…”

  “Yeah?” I questioned.

  “I know you want us to be fine, and you want me to tell you everything’s gonna be okay. But to be honest, I can’t promise that right now. I don’t know if I can be around the two of you. It hurts too much. It was bad enough when I knew you didn’t want to be with me. But seeing you with someone else, and knowing that someone else is my blood…I just…I can’t give you an answer right now. I’m sorry.”

  “Okay.” I looked at him as he looked out over the water. I felt numb, not because of the cold, but because of the pain. Would we ever work our way through this?

  We sat for a while in silence, overlooking the pond. We both had nothing to say at that moment and that was killing me.

  After what seemed like an eternity, Austin straightened. “I have one question,” Austin said, pausing before he continued, “What was the deal with Josh last night? Why did you need to talk with him? Was that some trick you were playing to make me think it was him?”

  “No,” I gasped. “No, it’s nothing like that at all. He...he’s next,” I stumbled over the words.

  “What do you mean?” Austin asked.

  I had to tell him. “I think something bad is going to happen to him, and soon.”

  “Why do you think that?”

  “I’ve started having visions again, and they’re linking to him.” I bit the inside of my cheek.

  “Really?” he sounded interested, a welcome change from before.

  “Yes. I don’t want what happened with the Andersons to happen again with Josh. I was so close to losing them that night. I just thought that maybe with the little bit of information I had, if I could ask him some questions, I might be able to put the pieces of the puzzle together. Maybe even figure out when it was going to happen so I’d be ready this time.”

  “Oh…” He looked away as he thought. “Well, I’m sorry I didn’t believe you when you said you weren’t interested in him.”

  “You don’t have to apologize,” I said.

  “No, I do. I should’ve believed you,” his voice trailed off. He didn’t have to say it. I knew what he was thinking. He was going to have a hard time believing anything I told him from now on.

  I was about to reply when my eyes started fogging, and I felt like I was swirling around like a feather in the wind. I was light-headed and felt like I was floating above my body, displaced from this world. My surroundings dimmed, and a whole new version of the world began to open up. I sat and waited for my questions to be answered.

  Austin’s mouth was moving but no sound was coming from it. This was it. This was what I was waiting for ― answers. I held up one finger, motioning for him to stop talking. Hopefully he could see by my expression that I was having another vision.

  A translucent screen appeared between us and started playing. I first saw the green and yellow, switching back and forth, and then the number twelve. The water flashed by again, only for a second, but then the picture became clearer. There was a huge stadium filled with thousands of screaming fans. It was a football game. It was a much larger arena than where our games were played. I looked closer at the people in the seats; most of them were wearing our school colors, green and yellow, but the difference was vividly clear. Many spectators had some type of duck apparel on. Some were wearing oversized webbed feet on their hands, some had painted their faces with the colors green and yellow, and some wore hats in the shape of a duck’s beak.

  Then it hit me. This wasn’t about Josh. What I was looking at was the Oregon Ducks, from the University of Oregon. But I didn’t know anyone who was going to the game, or even anyone who went to that college. And then my eyes shot wide open. My heart stopped, and for a split second I couldn’t breathe. My mind flashed back to a couple days ago when I was outside. Eve had said something that didn’t make sense at the time. Now I knew exactly what she meant. I replayed it in my head. “He’s wrong,” she said. “I can’t believe he was wrong.” She thought Collin was next, but I threw her off when I suggested it was Josh, because I thought it was Josh.

  The vision continued as it zoomed through the crowd, searching. Before I knew it, I was looking at Collin, Katie, Erik and the rest of the students who went there. Their faces were wide with excitement as the Ducks made a touchdown. Collin looked like he was having the time of his life. I felt my eyes blurring, filling up with helpless tears. I prayed this was some kind of sick joke and I wasn’t really watching this. I also noticed the jersey that Collin was wearing had the number twelve on it.

  Austin’s hand touched mine, but I didn’t take my eyes off the screen. Without warning, the picture switched to a taxicab. Collin and Katie were talking to Erik for a second before Erik walked off and they got into the car. It must’ve been right after the game because their faces were still painted and they had on the same clothes.

  “That was so awesome!” Katie said to Collin.

  “I know. I can’t believe that last play when the Ducks intercepted the ball and won the game,” Collin smiled.

  The taxi driver turned around. “So kids, where are we off to?”

  “Back to our hotel,” Collin said. “We’re staying at the Inn just around the corner from here.”

  “You got it,” the cab driver said as he pulled away from the curb.

  I was breathing so hard that I felt lightheaded.

  Katie turned to Collin. “What time is it?”

  Collin looked down to his watch, “About six-thirty.”

  “Wow, no wonder I’m so hungry. I didn’t eat anything all day. All I had was a banana this morning.”
>
  “Wanna stop somewhere?” He looked out the window. “There’re a bunch of places here. Why don’t we stop?”

  “No, I’m fine. I will just get something at that diner right by our hotel.”

  “You sure?” he asked.

  “Yeah I’m sure,” Katie replied.

  Collin looked down at his cell phone and sighed.

  “What is it?” Katie asked.

  “Oh, um,” he looked at it again, “Nothing.”

  “You sure?”

  “Oh yeah, it’s just, I don’t get that much reception up here,” he muttered.

  But I knew there was more. I could tell.

  “Did you?” he started to say, but then stopped.

  “Did I what?” Katie asked.

  “Oh nothing…nothing.”

  “Collin, are you alright?”

  “Yeah…sorry I’m fine,” Collin answered.

  “Oh, man!” the balding cab driver said, hitting his steering wheel.

  “What’s wrong?” Katie asked, looking ahead of her.

  “It looks like we are stuck on this bridge for awhile. Do you see that up ahead? It looks like a big accident, and I need to get home. It’s my little girl’s birthday party tonight.”

  “Oh no,” Katie said sympathetically. “Well, hopefully it isn’t too serious.”

  “Damn, I don’t have any reception here either,” he cussed. “Oops, sorry about my mouth.”

  “It’s alright. This situation sucks in general.” Collin sunk back in the seat.

  “I guess we should’ve stopped for dinner back there. Then maybe you could’ve taken a different route,” Katie spoke up.

  “No. When things like this happen it’s usually for a reason,” the cab driver said.

  “That’s one way to think about it.” Katie smiled.

  As she said that, the car started to shake. Katie screamed, grabbing the door handle, eyes flitting about the car. “What was that?”

  “I have no idea,” Collin breathed with heightened awareness.

  Then a big jolt hit the car again, throwing the cab driver into the other seat. Sitting up straight again, his face went white. Then I saw it. The road in front of them was rippling like waves. The bridge started to collapse into huge pieces, sending chunks of concrete hundreds of feet below into the water. I sat there watching all of them screaming, trying to get out of the car. Then within seconds, the bridge gave way, and their car plummeted into the water below.