The Land of Dreams
Page 13
“Hey, you okay?” Alec asked, his voice soft.
“Yeah,” I lied, my voice coming out too quick for anyone to believe. Thankfully, though, my eyes were shut so I wouldn’t double blink.
“I don’t believe you,” he said, even though I didn’t reveal my tell. And though I wasn’t looking at him, I could feel that he was looking at me. “But it’s okay, because I know a way to make you feel better.”
I pulled away from Alec so I could look up at him, and saw a wicked gleam in his eyes. I knew what his plan was, and just as he reached out to tickle me, I jumped up from the porch step and rushed to the side yard, Alec closely behind. Knowing I wouldn’t be able to outrun him, I spun around, making him nearly ram into me. I grabbed onto his sweatshirt just as he started to tip back from trying to quickly stop himself from slamming into me, and pulled him toward me, laughing.
“I think I’m falling in love with you, Jaqueline Morris,” Alec said, laying his forehead down on mine as he wrapped his arms around my waist.
“And I think I’m falling in love with you, too, Alec Griswald.” And I knew, as long as I had him, the painful memories of last night would slowly fade away. Not completely, but just enough that I could enjoy life and all of its ups and downs.
Even if only in my dreams.
Epilogue
I smiled as I looked down from where I was perched on the fluffy, white clouds, warm light shining from all around me. We had did it! We stopped wicked demons from trapping other unfortunate souls into a world of nightmares made to look like a world of dreams.
I couldn’t believe that things had turned out the way they did. After Jaqueline fled from my room, err, Kayla Berg’s room when I had been borrowing Kayla’s body, a note directed for Alec fell out from her pocket. I read it and that was how I knew that Jaqueline had been planning on giving herself up to the Land of Dreams that night. So, early in the night, I slipped out of Kayla’s body and dug around in other people’s dreams at a speed faster than light until I came upon Alec’s. That was how I was able to bring him to the Land of Dreams. Thankfully we got there just in time to touch her, transporting Alec and I to wherever she had planned on giving up her life in the World of Reality for the Land of Dreams.
I sighed dreamily as I watched Jaqueline and Alec walk hand-in-hand across the lawn to the busted up ’64 mustang, then pull out of the driveway and drive away down the road. Still smiling, I flopped over on the puffy white cloud and basked in the happiness that I felt.
“What are you doing?” a familiar male voice asked with a hint of laughter.
Rising up onto my elbows, I saw Paul looking down at me, his light brown–almost amber–eyes covered with his shaggy, sandy brown hair, and a smile on his face, revealing his dimples.
When my soul was finally released from the Land of Dreams, I discovered that Paul was here. A few years after I gave up my life, Paul had gotten into a fatal car accident after coming home from a party, which had brought him here. He looked a little different since the last time I saw him, older, but he was still Paul. My Paul.
“Oh, just watching the perfect beginning to a perfect day,” I replied dreamily.
Paul laughed and offered me his hand, which I took without hesitation. “So, when are you going to tell me where you’ve been for these last couple of decades?” he asked, pulling me up to my feet. We started to walk further into the warm light. “I’ve been searching all over for you since I’ve came here and realized that the you on earth wasn’t the real you.”
“It’s a long story,” I replied vaguely, swinging our arms dramatically back and forth.
Paul looked down at me, his eyes twinkling with happiness. “I’ve got time.”
I tilted my head back slightly and laughed, then started from the very beginning.
Acknowledgments
Some stuff in this book has really happened to me, and was a little hard to write about. In making J.J.’s character, I had tried to put the feelings I had felt during the situation into her. But I did change it up, so it isn’t entirely the same, and I had made J.J.’s character feelings and decisions a little more drastic. So for all you who do know the situation I am talking about, I had never once, came up with the decision that J.J. had.
Anyway, I want to thank the people who have helped me with this book: Mom, thank you so much for your encouragement. I know you will always be my number one fan.
And a shout-out to Alicia for helping me with the cover. Seriously, you’ve done so much for me, if there is anything that I can do for you, just let me know!
I also want to thank my family and friends for supporting me with not just my stories, but everything that I do.
And I want to thank my readers for being there. I hope you enjoyed J.J.’s story as much as I enjoyed writing it!
About the Author
Kira Moericke grew up in a small city in Wisconsin where her love of reading and writing blossomed. She’s currently attending UW Oshkosh to work on earning a bachelor’s degree in Journalism. She hopes to one day move out east with her Siamese snowshoe cat, Phoenix, and become a publisher/writer.