Dream Seeker

I didn't ever expect for anything extraordinary from my life. I was a typical girl growing up in rural Western Washington. My parents are well off, and I can honestly say that I never wanted for anything. I roamed the woods I combed the beaches. I would spend hours running from my house to the beach with books and shells, and even crabs and fish. I threw starfish back into the water. I had tea parties with shells. A washed up stump was my spaceship. I often visited far away planets. My shell tea set was buried under some rocks by my spaceship. I had the same one for a year. One summer I swam in Case Inlet every day from May to October, and in May the water temperature is only about 50 degrees. One winter day a storm came and took my spaceship away, I was sad, but I hoped that it was off seeking another child to play with. I would play around the old World War II pontoon boat that had sunk by the boat ramp. By the entrance to the development that I grew up in I had a fort. It was an area under a group of trees. The floor of my fort was covered with thick moss. I really did grow up in a magical place. When I was 16 we moved to Lakeland Village. Here there were different adventures. I would go to the gravel pit and watch the frogs make the earth look like it was moving under me. I learned to golf. I took walks to the lake and read by its shores. I took bike rides around the lake. Around 14 I began to leave my childhood behind and started to grow up. I had had boyfriends, and boys continued to be my best friends. I had one best girlfriend named Maddy. I had 2 guys who I considered my best guy friends, Joseph, and Brayden. I had a steady boyfriend named Adam. When Adam was not around, Brayden was. At least until my Sr. year of high school. It was then that the three of them graduated. Joseph went to Arizona, Brayden went to Pullman, Adam hung around and I went back to Bellarmine, but it was not like it used to be. Maddy and I spent time together, but nothing really filled the void that their leaving created. It was as if overnight my life changed. There was no going back. Little did I know, it did. And there really was no going back. *******

Raiquen listened through the wall. Abbie was sleeping. He could hear her breathing. Long even breaths. She took in a little gasp. Could she tell that he was there? No, there was no way for her to know that. He had made no sound when he had entered the house and stepped across the floorboards that he knew made noise with the pressure of weight. Even if his weight was almost nonexistent when he was moving at his normal speed. There was no way. He put his hand on the doorknob and turned it to open the door just enough to enter her room. He had already been in her parents room and spread sound Sleep over them, ensuring them a good night sleep. He had noticed right away that they were not sound sleepers, he figured that he would at least allow for them to get good nights of sleep while he was in their house. He looked at Abbie. He saw her brow furrow as she was dreaming. He imagined her dreaming of the first few times she had seen him. Her eyelids fluttered almost as if she were waking up. He quickly blended into the background. Her eye movements slowed down and her dream quickly changed to another. He did not know how she could sleep with her music on repeat all night long. That would have made him insane. He usually left with some lyric running through his head. He now knew all of Bon Jovi's lyrics by heart, and he had

never listened to Bon Jovi before a month ago.Life as Normal

That was a memory from what seemed a lifetime ago. Tonight Abbie was dreaming about the day "No, I want to go to the beach" Abbie said in her sleep. Raiquen could picture her with her mom in the kitchen having a battle. Her mom had wanted to go into town and do some errands. Abbie had wanted to go to her beach and read for the day. Her mom had won,(with a compromise) and the two of them had gone into town early for errands before her dad needed to be picked up. "I hate going into town," Abbie said in her sleep again. Raiquen smiled. He could also hear her parents' asleep two rooms over. The Sleep was working. The neighbors were having a birthday party, and he could hear some teens on their back porch saying that it was late and they wanted to go home. He could also hear someone on the driving range. They weren't supposed to be there, the driving range closed at dusk, and it was now midnight. He believed that his hearing was getting better by the hour. This was a plus.

Raiquen had only seen Abbie for the first time today. He was wondering through Thriftway's parking lot when he had spied her and her mother. They had been on their way into the grocery store for some bread, cat food, and a few supplies for dinner. It all seemed like a normal day to Raiquen, until he and Abbie had locked eyes. Electric currents passed from her eyes to his. He had known that this would happen when he had found the one.

There was a legend that lived among his kind. He was destined to walk the earth until he found the one. She was definitely the one. Her eyes and his, locked together for a few brief seconds that seemed to last forever. She broke her gaze first, and when she looked back it was with a perplexed look in her eyes. She had definitely felt it. What was he supposed to do now? There were no rules to this. How did this work? Did he go up to her and speak to her? No, he could not do that looking like he did now, nor could he do that with her mom around. No, he must wait until he was not anywhere near her. He must bide his time until it was right. There were things that would need to be cleared up before she could really know who he was. He caught sight of himself in a car's mirror. He was dirty, he had the worst 9 o'clock shadow, making it look more like a 12 o'clock shadow. His clothes were ill fitting, and they too were dirty. What she must be thinking, to have that feeling created by a man such as he? She was 17 years old, he at the moment looked about 30. He entered the grocery store and grabbed a cart. He pulled out a piece of paper and suddenly a list of necessities appeared upon it. Bread, Brayden, onions, hamburger, coffee, creamer, tea, paper plates, and a few more items that he would have to hunt down in this unfamiliar store. He began to walk from isle to isle. He grabbed each item as he came to it, and crossed it off the list with his mind. As he looked at the word, a hash mark appeared over it. He came across the girl 2 times in the store, he made sure that there was no eye contact between them. It would be too strange to her. She would never understand it. He would scare her away, and she would not listen to anyone. He was strongly affected by her aura every time he passed her. Her confusion was thick in the air around her. He could feel doubt float from her and once in a while he could feel Fear. He really hoped that he had not created Fear within her that she could not get over. He was relying on time to provide him with the right path.

Walking up and down the aisles with my mom I ran into the man again and again. was in the store with her mom, she was walking back and forth with her mom up and down the aisles. It was weird that she kept running into the man that she had seen in the parking lot. He seemed to be following her, to a certain extent, but not really. She could not explain it. There was something in him that had her thinking about him. However, what was it, she could not figure it out. He was dirty, he could be her father, or at least close to it. She should be repulsed by it, but she wasn't. "Here mom, we need butter" Abbie said as she choose a tub of butter off of the shelf and placed it into the cart. "can we also get some guava juice?" This took him off guard. He was not used to hearing one persons voice so clearly. He could hear all of the other noises in the grocery store, but Abby's voice seemed to be in his head, just as if it were his own thoughts.

"Sure Abbie, go get it, I will meet you on the next aisle"

"Mom, can I ask you something"

"Of course you can, what is it?"

"Did you see that man over there?" This startled him, she was talking about him.

"No, not really, why?"

"Oh, I don't know, he seems familiar to me, but I don't know where I have seen him before, is he one of your patients?"

"I don't believe that he is, let me take a closer look as we pass him again....No, I don't believe that I know him."

"O.K., just curious."

They were in the cat food aisle now, they needed to get food for Tribbles. "I'll grab the food mom." Abbie said. "We need both wet and dry food, don't we?"

"Yes."

They finished up with the grocery shopping and then took the groceries to the car. They put the bags in the trunk and got in and drove to the drive through coffee stand.

"Hey there guys" said Ginny Marie, " The usual?"

"Yes, the usual, and two muffins, one banana nut and one poppy seed."

"What are you up to today?"

"We are just grocery shopping and going home." Mom said.

"Oh, maybe I will stop by on the way home from work."

"Sounds good to me, see you later." Abbie said as the drinks were passed through the window and change was given.

"Don't forget the punch card!"

The three miles home were driven in silence. We took the groceries into the kitchen and unpacked them.

"I think we forgot the sour cream, will you go and get some, we are having tacos for dinner, and we are completely out." Mom asked while looking through the fridge. . I would have to drive to the bottom of the hill to the little grocery store where they had a small variety of necessities.

"Sure mom, do we need anything else?"

"I don't think so, maybe some soda for your dad."

"OK, be back soon." Abbie got into her little red Honda Civic, started it up and backed out of the driveway. She pulled onto the road, waved to the neighbor, and drove down the hill to the store. She pulled into the parking lot and had to park down by the post office.

Allyn is a small town with a population of 1623. It has a True Value hardware store, a hair salon, a post office, a local restaurant called the Allyn Inn, a small steepled church, a bar called Leonard K's, and a tourist shop that houses a collection of chainsaw cut animals. On the outskirts of town is a drive through coffee shop. There is a town park with a large dock for fishing and parking boats while in town. Above Allyn is Lakeland Village. Lakeland Village is a golf course community it has 18 holes with another 9 holes planned for the near future. I play golf with my dad occasionally. I like it all right, but I am no Tiger Woods. I really like swimming better. I like to read too. I got out of the car, grabbed my purse and shut the door. I locked it and walked toward the store. I suddenly got the feeling that there was someone watching me. I looked around and saw the same man crossing the parking lot. I turned my eyes back toward the store and continued on. Who was this man? I felt like he was following me. In the store I went and grabbed the sour cream and got some Cherry 7Up for my dad and me to share. I jumped when I turned and saw the man next to me reaching into the cooler and getting a Pepsi. I drew in my breath. There was a strange feeling that seemed to pass from him to me. That was the weirdest feeling I had ever experienced. This man really creeped me out. I tried to smile at him and get myself away from him, but it wasn't as easy as it should have been. I lifted my foot and tried to take a step forward, I found that my feet were unwilling to cooperate. He was looking down at me with the most peculiar look on his face. It seemed to me that he felt like we should know each other. I did not know him, and as far as I was concerned I didn't want to know him. I turned my head quickly feeling that the spell was broken when my friend Ronnell called my name.

"Hi Ronnell, what's up?" I was able to move away from the man at the moment that she spoke to me.

"Boy am I glad to see you. I feel like that man is following me. I saw him in Belfair this morning and then when I got here he was in the parking lot. It is like he knows exactly where I am going to be."

"I don't recognize him, maybe he is new to town."

"Well, whatever he is, he is creepy, and I want him to leave me alone. I wouldn't mind it if he just disappeared. I got the weirdest feeling when he was close to me. It felt like a bunch of electric shocks. When he looked at me it felt like he was reading my eyes."

"I'll walk you to your car and make sure you lock your doors. You should be safe enough"

"Thanks, that will make me feel better."

We walked to my car and I got in. We looked around and did not see the man. That is good news I thought to myself. I locked the door and rolled down the window. "Thanks" I said again. "I'll see you around, I'll give you a call sometime in the next week." She waved by and I began to back up. I turned to the other side and there he was walking out of the store with a bag of groceries. This time he didn't turn and look at me. He just continued to walk across the parking lot. Maybe I was imagining things. I thought to myself.

So the concession was I would go run the errands with mom this morning and then I would get to go to the beach and read while Mom went into Bremerton to pick up Dad. When I got back home I put the sour cream away and grabbed my book and a bottle of water. "Mom, I'm going to the beach now. I will be back at 4:30."

"Ok, have fun, are you meeting any friends there?"

"No, just me, I want to finish reading Eclipse and then I have Breaking Dawn to read too."

"All right, see you later."

I grabbed my tote bag and threw the book, water and my phone into it and grabbed my keys on the way out. There wasn't anything than I loved better than sitting on the beach reading on a summer day. It was 76 degrees out and there were hardly any clouds in the sky. It was my favorite time of the year. I drove down the hill once again and this time turned left at the Brayden of the hill and drove toward the little waterfront park. I pulled into the parking lot and parked the car. I grabbed my bag and the blanket from the trunk, locked the doors, and looked around. I really didn't want to run into anyone today. I was afraid that if I did I wouldn't get to finish my book. I saw some of my classmates jumping off of the dock to the right. They waved, I waved back. I then turned and walked left. I walked for about 2 minutes and got to my favorite reading spot. I put my bag down on the rocks, spread out the blanket and pulled out my book.