Passing Through (Dream Sequence)

By J'Anne Grenier

My Instinct was to turn and run.

I wasn't about to stand here and let whatever this was systematically drain the life out of me and my friends...But even if I wanted to move, I found that it was physically impossible. We were frozen in place and I couldn't tell if the light was holding us there or fear itself.

Charlotte LaRue had already seen her share of heartbreak and pain. Still she longed for change, an open door that might lead to something meaningful. What she didn't realize was that her dreams would guide her to a realm beyond what was imaginable.

• Language: English
• Publisher: J'Anne Grenier
• Release date: Oct 18, 2013
• ISBN: 9781301113422

J'Anne Grenier

Interested in anything out of the ordinary. Addicted to the paranormal, fantasy and science fiction. Motivated by freedom, self expression and creativity. Most happy when not bound by schedules, deadlines and bosses. I am a road warrior and travel nearly every week of the year. My favorite part is that I get to learn about different cultures and meeting so many personalities. What I have learned is that despite our so many differences, most people want other people to be happy and successful and most of all we just want to be loved for our individuality!

Book preview

Book One

Published by J’Anne Grenier

Copyright 2013 J’Anne Grenier

Smashwords Edition

All rights reserved.

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DEDICATION

For my family, my life, who encouraged and supported my efforts.

And to those who have the courage to make their dream a

reality, if only for one moment in time….

CHAPTER 1

I walked down a long hallway led by a girl in a pearl colored dress. She appeared to be about my age, maybe a year or two older. She was thin and the drop waist on her skirt made her look almost waifish. Her skin was so pale she seemed translucent and she had thick wavy hair that was done in a neat knot at the base of her neck. She seemed to be in a hurry, but I was slow as I took in my surroundings.

The house was magnificent and I was literally overwhelmed by the ornate furniture, decorative rugs and stained glass windows with so many shapes and colors I felt as if I was looking into a kaleidoscope.

One particular couch caught my eye because of its rich deep color. Inlaid throughout the fabric was fine black stitching that created patterns that I could only describe as the shapes of pears. The wood was a smooth dark mahogany that I ran my hand across and knew I would have never been allowed to sit on a couch like this as a child.

Across the hall was a beautiful hutch that contained an intricately patterned tea set. I started to head toward it until something else caught my eye. I looked up and the girl who was guiding me was waving frantically for me to follow her. She looked terrified and I quickly whipped my head around to see what she was afraid of. There was a man in some kind of uniform walking quickly toward me.

I started to run toward the girl and noticed that we were passing door after door. The hallway seemed to be stretching and getting longer with no end in sight as I ran, the girl was some distance away now. I could hear my feet pounding the floor and when I looked down, colors of deep blue, green and red blurred below my feet as I moved over the great tapestry rugs.

I thought I was getting closer to the girl when she made a quick right and disappeared. Wait, where are you? I yelled out loud. I strained my eyes to look, but she was gone. Don’t leave, I cried to empty air.

I felt the man close in behind me and I turned my head back to try and determine my proximity. He was only about twenty feet away and I noticed he was wearing a longish black coat. Two rows of gold buttons equal distance apart ran down the front of his jacket and there was a shiny gold badge on his chest. He wore a hat pulled down in the front mostly covering his face, but I saw that his arm was raised holding a black baton in his hand and it was clearly meant for me.

I shouted as loud as I could despite the fact that I was mostly out of breath, what do you want with me. Who are you?

But there was no response and I felt my heart quicken and the blood rush through my veins as he continued to close in on me.

His footsteps got louder and I knew he was getting closer. I tried to run faster, but I couldn’t and now it was like I was running in place.

Suddenly, I could hear his breathing in my ear, he was right behind me. I slowly turned around and looked up just as the baton was bearing down on me.

I crossed my arms in front of my face and braced myself for the onslaught, but a loud crash interrupted the scene and the man as well as the house dissipated into thin air.

I sat up with a start as the remnants of my bookshelf fell to the floor.

Damn it Pica! I meant for it to be a yell, but there was still sleep in my voice so it came out in more of a croak. However, I was thankful to be woken just in the nick of time.

Picasso sat on my dresser and looked at me like I owed him a treat for his unparalleled athletic ability. He jumped up on my bed purring and nudged my hand to pet him.

Stupid cat, you're lucky you are so cute and fuzzy.

I ran my hand across his cheek and looked at the off center white stripe that ran down the front of his face parting his soft grey fur. It reminded me of a piece of art that I saw at the Art Institute in Chicago when I was young.

I've had recurring dreams of houses for as long as I can remember.

The people in the dreams have varied and sometimes the house was a different shape, but all of them were old and contained doors of different shapes and sizes, most of which led to secret passages throughout the house.

I read in a book that dreaming about houses with a lot of doors meant that you were going to be offered many opportunities. I could honestly say that had not happened yet.

I looked at the stuff from my bookshelf scattered all over the floor, pictures, knick knacks and even some books along with one of the actual shelves and said to Pica, You are going to help me clean this up.

He looked at me with his eyes half closed as to say, Don't hold your breath human.

I got out of bed, tiptoed over the mess and headed for the bathroom.

As I brushed my teeth, I looked in the mirror and wondered if my body was ever going to fill out so I would look like an actual girl.

I washed my face and applied mascara and a little blush. I thought that was the best I could do since anytime I tried to put make up on my eyes they looked even smaller than they already were. Someday, if I started to care, I might go to the mall and have one of the girls in the cosmetics department teach me how to put it on the right way.

I looked in the mirror again and thought, okay pep talk time. You have a lot going for you; long straight ash blonde hair, gray blue eyes and hey I was only sixteen, plenty of time to fill out. I smiled to myself, yeah right.

My brother yelled at me from the other room, Hurry up we’re going to be late.

Who cares? I said looking at him with disgust as I walked out of my room and past him.

I didn't understand him, he loved high school.

Of course he was Mr. Popularity, everybody loved him and he was only a freshman. I remember in the beginning of the year some poor sap made the mistake of trying to bully him and I swear the entire school ganged up on that kid.

I, on the other hand, was officially known as Tyler's sister even though I was a year older than him!

I couldn't stand high school, my goal was to hurry up and get out so I could live in the real world. It just seemed that everyone was so fake and you had to try way too hard to be friends with people you would probably never see in ten years anyway. It also didn't help that I was painfully shy, but I refused to be someone I wasn't just to be popular.

We lived in a small suburb just south of Chicago. My parents divorced when I was three and my brother and I stayed with my dad. I always thought he did his best, I mean it had to be hard to be a single father.

I grew up going to Bear's football games in the dead of winter, watching the Cub's whole baseball seasons on TV and going camping for long weekends in the Wisconsin Dells. I loved camping. My father taught me how to put up a tent and gather kindling to build the right kind of fire that would last the entire night. We cooked marshmallows and like my dad I would light them on fire and eat them only when they were burnt to a crisp. He would play guitar and make up funny songs that made us laugh hysterically.

My mom wasn’t a big part of our lives during that time. I knew they were married very young and my mom had me when she was only nineteen and my brother a short eleven months later. I don't know why she and my dad divorced, but knowing both of them, I couldn't imagine them together.

When I was ten my dad was diagnosed with terminal cancer. I don't really remember too much, but a year later he died and my brother and I moved in with my mom. It was a difficult time for all of us, but I had to admit we found our way to a relatively peaceful living situation.

We jumped into the Toyota my mom gave me when she bought a new car and headed to school. It was an old car, but considering that my mom didn't make a lot of money I was lucky to have one at all.

The school we went to was in a really nice neighborhood and the majority of students had wealthy parents; most of them drove to school in BMW's and Mercedes.

The girls all wore the newest designer clothes and had their hair and nails done professionally on a weekly basis. I suppose that didn't help my cause much either, but I seemed to have a mutual understanding with them, they gave me dirty looks and I ignored them.

We pulled into the parking lot and my best friend Lindsay was waiting for me on the front steps of the school entrance.

Three thirty sharp Tyler, don't be late because I have to babysit tonight, I told my brother.

Bite me, he said and walked away laughing.

What a jerk, I thought, but smiled anyway because he really was one of the funniest people I knew when he wasn't insulting me.

CHAPTER 2

Lindsay ran over to me and gave me a big hug.

Charlie what took you so long to get here? Now we only have like ten minutes to catch up, she said.

My real name was Charlotte LaRue, but my dad always called me Charlie, probably because I was such a tomboy growing up. The only people who called me Charlotte now was my mom and brother when he was trying to irritate me.

Sorry, I apologized, but tell me what's going on?

Lindsay went to a different middle school so I didn't meet her until last year. We had an interesting beginning though, for whatever reason she could not stand me. Every time I walked past her, she would give me dirty looks and she constantly talked about me to everyone she knew. If she was standing by her locker and I came near her she would literally punch the door to her locker. Okay, I might be a little shy, but I wasn’t a chicken and I wasn't about to put up with that for the next three years.

So one day I walked right up to her and said, What is your problem?

She replied, I just don't like you.

So I asked, Why? You don't even know me.

She looked at me sort of stunned like she had no idea what to say and finally blurted out, I have no idea.

It was so stupid, I couldn't help but to start laughing, then she started laughing too and we had been friends ever since. It's kind of funny we've never really talked about it since then.

Lindsay grabbed my arm to get my attention. You are not going to believe this, my Aunt Kate moved to St. Augustine and wants me to go there for summer break, she said breathlessly.

Where is St. Augustine? I said and thought that it might be some city in Italy.

She looked at me like she couldn't believe I didn't know where it was. It’s in Florida, right on the beach.

When you grew up in Chicago, Florida seemed like some sort of fantasy land that only ducks and the luckiest of children got to visit.

Wow, that’s awesome Lindsay, but what am I going to do without you for the whole summer? I’m going to miss you so much.

What are you talking about? You are coming with me!

What? I said and let out a small gasp.

Yes, my aunt said she had plenty of room for me and a friend.

I stood there absolutely stunned not exactly knowing what to say.

Really? I managed to squeak out.

The bell rang and Lindsay let go of my arm.

We will talk more in second period, she said and literally skipped down the hall to her first class.

First period was completely uneventful. As a matter of fact, it was like it didn't even happen at all. I had no idea what we were supposed to be learning, only that it was English. My mind was so full with my imaginary trip to Florida I couldn't even remember what the teacher was talking about. I was lucky that she didn't call on me for something, she usually did. Maybe she could tell I needed a break that day.

Lindsay met me at the door in front of second period.

It was Science and the teacher was so absent-minded we knew we would be able to pass notes back and forth during the whole class and he wouldn't even notice. In fact, he was so clueless that every weekend the janitor had to clean the ceiling of paperclips that had been shot up with rubber bands by the students during the week. You would think the administration would notice and say something, but they never did.

The bell rang and we ran to take our seats, Lindsay sat right in front of me at the back of the class.

Immediately she wrote me a note:

Are you so excited about our trip?

I smiled, but then knit my brows together and wrote back:

I don't know how I’m going to go. You know I babysit three nights a week and work at the mall on the weekends. Also, I’m not sure that my mom will even let me go.

I passed the note back up to her and checked to make sure the teacher wasn't looking, old habit I guess.

Lindsay had obviously read the note because I heard a psst noise like the air being let out of a tire escape her lips. I heard her writing furiously and she passed the note back to me after kicking the bottom of my desk with the back of her foot to let me know it was ready. The note said:

First of all get Tyler to babysit, he needs a job and always fills in for you when you can't anyway. Second, I’m pretty sure the home goods department at Sears can live without you for eight weekends. Besides somehow you manage to sell more than even the full time people and they love you, they would hire you back in a second. And third, don't give me any crap about your mom. I have never once heard her say no to Charlie miss straight ‘A’ student. You are going and that is final!

I had to purse my lips to keep from laughing out loud.

I wrote back:

Ok freak

I handed the note back to her after I deliberately kicked her back that was showing through her seat to get her attention.

She turned around to look at me, crossed her eyes and stuck out her tongue then turned back around. Both of us had to hold our breath to suppress a fit of giggles.

I thought, wow, Florida! Maybe my dream wasn't so far off after all. Maybe the book was right and there were opportunities opening up for me.

CHAPTER 3

The rest of the morning went slowly as my mind still reeled from the Florida idea. At lunch I absentmindedly walked through the food line not really paying attention as I grabbed different foods and added them to my tray. Lindsay was on the debate team and they met during lunch, so I found an open table and sat down alone.

I was happily daydreaming when I heard a voice say, Slide over slinky.

I looked up right into the eyes of my second best friend in the world.

Hey Kieran, I said with a smile, what’s going on?

He nudged my arm to move over and said, You are babes.

I had known Kieran since I first moved in with my mom when I was eleven. Every day I would walk about a half a mile to the convenience store after school to buy a pop and bag of my favorite chips.

One day I left the store and walked about a half of block, when a man in a car pulled up next to me and asked if I needed a ride. When I told him no, I was okay to walk he pointed a gun at me and demanded that I get in the car. I didn't move completely paralyzed with fear.

He started repeating, Get in the car or I will drag you in, getting louder each time he said it.

Out of nowhere I felt an arm wrap around me and pull me away from the car. Run! said the person in a low voice.

I was fighting and screaming to try and get away, but it was useless and boy just kept running with his arm wrapped around me tightly. It all happened so fast I didn't even know who was holding on to me until we were in the backyard of some unknown person's house.

He pulled me down to the ground to sit on the grass and said in a calm but strained voice, You're alright, you're okay.

I noticed he had a strange accent. I looked directly at him and started shaking uncontrollably when I recognized him.

I know you, you go to my school, I said and immediately tears started streaming down my face.

Still out of breath, he nodded and said, "My name is Kieran we went to school together last year.

What happened? I asked. Did you know that guy?

No, he paused and we both sat for a long time until we were steady enough to get up and walk home.

Every day after that Kieran, who only lived a block away, walked me to and from school and the convenience store. We became great friends and were mostly inseparable until he went to high school when I was in eighth grade.

I never thought we were anything more than just friends until about a year after we met he walked me to my door one afternoon and kissed me sticking his tongue in my mouth. I pushed him away, smacked him across the face and ran in the house where I proceeded to cry for a long time.

That night I told my mom that Kieran kissed me and I could not understand why he would do that.

She smiled and hugged me and said, Oh honey, your first kiss.

I knew then what my limits for conversation would be with my mom.

I didn't talk to Kieran for week after that, but he refused to ever let me walk alone despite the fact that I completely ignored him the whole way. Eventually I forgave him, but told him if he ever did that again I would kick him so hard he wouldn't walk for a week. He laughed, but I thought deep down inside it really hurt him.

Even now I thought that he would like something more out of our relationship, but I just didn't like him that way. I loved him in my own way and would always feel indebted to him, but I valued our friendship and knew that if we did not work out I would lose him forever and was not willing to take that risk. Besides, it wasn't like he had a shortage of potential girlfriends.

He was born in Ireland and his family moved here when he was five. Though somewhat faint, he had kept his Irish accent or what his family referred to as Brogue. He was actually quite beautiful, with straight black hair that sort of stuck up all over the place, piercing green eyes, thick perfectly manicured black eyebrows and even though he was only seventeen, I swore he had a five o'clock shadow.

Oi, Kieran said breaking my concentration, where are ya today?