Fresh Cut: Rising Sun Saga book 2

By Kayette la Mane

Fresh Cut: Rising Sun Saga book 2

Two weeks. Two destinations. Another realm full of possibilities...

Kira wonders if she’s just imagining things, but as her dreams become more detailed and she encounters angels in real life and not just in her dreams, she presses on to search for the truth… but are angels in human form actually closer to her than she realises?

Naturally set over two weeks, Kira continues her intriguing journey of finding out if there is a supernatural realm that exists, and as she flies out to Milan for a fashion expo, and then to Tahiti for a surfing competition with her friends, she discovers that angels and dark shadows are materialising all over the world and not just in Los Angeles!

Then as a battle between the two supernatural forces starts to brew in Tahiti it also leaves Kira wondering who will save her, and what this all has to do with her…

Will Abe, the love of her life that Kira has actually found, find a way to keep her safe, and are there really angels that exist to protect her?

Fresh Cut — an illuminating sequel to One Wish, the captivating first book in the Rising Sun Saga.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Dream Be Publishing
• Release date: May 22, 2019
• ISBN: 9780473475277

Book preview

Revelation

Week One

The last two weeks were bliss.

It felt like I was living in a dream come true. Far beyond the imagination of someone who already has everything in life that most people believe makes you happy. This feeling was real. Love. Not adoration from being famous. Love in its essence of intensity and what I hoped is truth. It was illuming into every part of my being, that people are more important than what we can acquire in life.

In this total, all encompassing, adorning feeling of love from having met the love of my life and having gratitude for those things in life that are more real, I almost felt complete.

However, I was still upset with BJ, that even though he was my best guy friend, he hadn’t told me he had a twin brother. But it was slightly hard to stay upset with him, considering I was now in love with his twin Abe…

***

The distant yet thunderous sound of waves crashing on the beach outside my home, pulled me slightly out of my nudging thoughts. I picked my phone up off the table in the living room and remembered who I wanted to call before I was swept away in the current of time that went so fast when I was with him.

Babe! Sandy answered.

Honey…oh my gosh! I replied, letting her know by the excitement in my tone that I had big news.

Abe? she replied.

My elation immediately disappeared. Yes, how did you know?

Sandy paused. I don’t think you want to know.

I wanted to be the first to tell you it’s official. Who told you?

"Honey, it’s in the Central Goss mag..."

Argh, I exclaimed, protesting, before she finished.

There’s a photo of you, Abe and Alezmé walking along the beach not far from your place.

I took in a deep breath. I had learned over time to relax and ignore the paparazzi. There wasn’t much one could do after the photos were in print. I came to realize that even though they were invading your privacy, they still couldn’t, didn’t know you and there was only so much they could photograph when you were out in public. The door of your home, and your heart, could still be closed to your private life.

Of course. My breath whooshed out. A mysterious guy I was with that was unknown to the public, is certainly going to be lavish news for them. Does Britten know?

Not that I know of, she replied.

Good, I want to let her know too.

Don’t worry ’bout it Kitty. I could hear her smiling through the phone. There’s more exciting things to think about like Abe…and you taking me to Milan. She laughed.

I gushed over his name in my mind and just the sound of his name made me feel a little dizzy.

Yeah, you’re right. I smiled, switching my phone to the other ear so I could see Abe sitting on the sofa beside me more clearly. I really didn’t want Abe to have to be put in that situation, but I guess it’s inevitable, I thought.

Milan. Definitely, I agreed and laughed with her, offering myself a distraction.

Catchup soon babe.

Cool. I closed the phone and stared into his eyes as he took my hand. I still remember how that small, significant moment that we had shared had felt, when Abe had first taken my hand, even a few weeks later.

I was about to explain to him all about the magazine photos, but he smiled, looking more relaxed than I was as if it didn’t even affect him.

As long as I’m always with you… He smiled again and breathed, relaxing. He was so confident I wondered if he already knew about the photos or had seen the magazine in a shop, and either didn’t care or if stuff like that just didn’t rattle him.

Perfect.

Coffee? he asked, jumping off the couch…smirking as he knew he had asked before I had.

Please. I smiled back. I better call Britten too. I had to make sure my two best girlfriends were both in the know.

Wassup?! Britten answered on the first ring.

Hey girl. We’re just chilling out…you?

Was just thinking of going for a surf tomorrow morning, keen?

Keen!

Zuma sound good? I’ll text Sandy.

Sweet, I replied, but then a pang of panic shot through me. Abe hadn’t seen me surf before. But it would be a good opportunity to see the apparent lack of surfing skills Abe said he had. I didn’t quite believe that he couldn’t surf well, as he’s BJ’s twin brother and BJ is a legend surfer. I then tried to quickly recall what time his flight was, back to Arizona tomorrow.

Oh and I have some news for you! I distracted myself from my thoughts and emphasized excitement in my tone.

Can I guess?

Of course!

You and Abe?

Oh…I wanted to tell you first. I’m presuming you saw the magazine photos?

Yep, she replied bluntly. I loved that she was so black and white about things.

But ignore the media, babe, and I kinda guessed anyway. You’ve gone all gushy lately, ha ha.

Ha ha. I haven’t, have I?

"Just a little." She then laughed.

Oh no. I laughed with her and watched Alezmé walk into the living room and sit next to me.

Who you talking to? she interrupted.

Aunty B. I laughed again.

Can I talk to her? she pleaded, with a sweet look in her eyes that would melt any heart.

Sure. Hey Britt, Lee Lee wants to say hi. Text me what time you wanna go?

Sweet! See ya later.

I handed Alezmé the phone and she walked off with it, happily chatting away.

Abe walked back into the living area and placed a cup of hot, freshly brewed coffee on the table. I smiled in response, then realized he hadn’t made a cup for himself nor had he sat back down on the sofa again.

I let him read the confusion in my eyes, then the realization that the time of night had come, when he needed to go.

After the first few days that Abe and I had spent time together two weeks ago, it had now become unimaginable to think of us apart. The thought of not ever having met before was excruciating to think of, as it was hard to be separated even for a day or night, especially when he stayed with BJ in Montebello.

Abe took my hand and guided me to the front door. I felt like I was melting, my reluctance to walk in that direction dissolving at his touch like melted white chocolate, now relishing the minute time we had left together today.

Miss you already, he whispered with a depth of sincerity in his tone.

Same. See you tomorrow… I replied, trying not to shake as he lightly brushed my cheek with his hand and then kissed the back of my hand that was held in his other.

Say bye to Alezmé for me?

Yes of course. I looked up to meet his eyes but he was already gone. His quick escape was becoming the only way both of us could now cope with the separation between times of seeing each other.

This moment alone was now painful. I wasn’t sure how I was going to cope with his absence over the next two weeks, while he went back to Arizona. How I desperately wished he lived closer in Santa Monica, rather than Arizona, but I wasn’t yet sure how to bring up that sort of conversation. I wouldn’t want to leave my friends here, or the new life away from my parents’ fame that I had built by setting up Exquizit, the jewelry and accessory store I owned here.

And of course Alezmé. I couldn’t leave her, or be too far away from my family for her sake as well. I couldn’t yet think of a solution but could only dream that things would somehow work out.

***

I shook my head as I closed the door, trying to shake off the distractions but I was already wondering how Abe was as he traveled to Montebello.

I picked up my coffee and took a couple of sips, inhaling the refreshing aroma on the way to the kitchen, trying to think of what to make for dinner as a distraction.

Oh! I gasped in surprise, seeing a note on the kitchen table.

Oooo. Alezmé raced up behind me and tried to swipe the note. I lifted it up high so she couldn’t reach.

What’s it say? What’s it say? Alezmé pleaded. Is it from Abe?

…It’s you. I read out, not understanding at first.

It’s who?

It’s for me. I smiled at Alezmé, and then raced, note clutched tightly to my chest, to my room. I sat down on my bed and reminisced for just a moment, breathing in the words on the note. In just two simple words, Abe had swept me up into a world of feeling those same emotions I had felt, when I had heard the very first words he had spoken to me, when we had first met...

‘It’s you’.

At the time, and I now realized in thinking about it, that I hadn’t known exactly why he had said that. But when we first met, I had repeated those same words in reply as well, in realization as I had just seen for the first time, with my own eyes, the guy that had only appeared in my dreams at night. The one who I knew then in my dreams, and who now is the love of my life.

I took a breath in, gently folded the note and placed it in the side table drawer next to my bed. I breathed out again as I left the room, knowing that if I had breathed in his cologne that lingered on the note, I may not have been able to move very far from where I sat, out of intoxication from his most perfect, attractive, manly scent.

After dinner I retired to bed, giving up on staying up late just to mull over the fact that Abe was leaving tomorrow. Hopefully I will see him in my dreams…

I realized my dreams have changed since meeting Abe. Abe was still there, and I almost didn’t cringe at the thought of having those dreams, knowing now who the mysterious guy was there, that stood from a distance by the same lake. One thing I wasn’t sure about yet though was seeing angels in my dreams. And after I thought I had encountered some in real life a couple of weeks ago, I’m nearly positive that they could be real.

But why was there one familiar-looking angel in particular in my dreams? It was often there, sword drawn, huge, wide, white wings spread out as it flew through the air above the house and the same lake that was in my dreams. Now and again a dark shadow would appear by the lake too, searching, creeping, and even though an angel was there as well, it still had me on edge during those dreams.

Maybe this was why I was still on edge for some unexplained reason? I wondered. I had met the man of my dreams, I was totally and completely in love, but there was just something that was still not right. Was it me? Was it Abe? It was like there was a tiny percent of the wholeness that comes from being happy that felt like it needed to be filled, like pieces of a puzzle I needed to fit altogether.

Interactions

Why did it feel like something other than my own dream-thoughts was present here, as it felt like I was sinking uncontrollably from one high to an unusual low? Like something was taunting me to think down a certain track. But no matter how much I debated this, these strange thoughts just wouldn’t go away like dark tar stuck to a road…

Was I dreaming…?

Pain is good. This thought resonated time and time, over and over as I stared into the mirror. I knew emotional pain was a feeling of realness that could allow me to have feelings, as I can feel when something’s hurt, and then the emotion that surfaces from that that begins to form, direct and take hold. But maybe if it was physically possible for me to cry, then I could also feel the release with my thoughts, feelings and emotions that apparently comes when tears are naturally flowing, as I’ve never yet ever shed a single tear.

A grey haze floated over the mirror glass. I put my hands to my face to hold them in a place of comfort but also felt the strain as my fingers began to tighten their grasp. Why won’t the tears fall…why can’t I feel the…I paused and breathed in…the realness of emotion when one can cry and shed tears?

To have this immaculate release of emotion would mean more than words can say.

The haze faded and I could now see my reflection more clearly in the mirror. I gasped and my hands flew back up to my face and began searching, gripping, trying any form of action…anything to feel what my eyes were seeing…

The tears were flowing beautifully on the face in the reflection in the mirror. I gave up the anxiousness in my searching to feel the tears on my own cheeks. Instead I brushed my hands down under my eyes, across my cheekbones and then looked down at my dry palms.

I scrunched my eyes shut and felt the inner turmoil of pain within me burn like fire. I could see the face in the mirror again in my imagination, but it only brought me further despair.

The tears gracefully rolling and streaming were beautiful, like tears of happiness.

I yearned to see that again, even if I couldn’t actualize it; to see myself cry for the first time in all my existence. I opened my eyes and reached forward to place my hand on the mirror connecting the two images together, to really feel like it was real. But my hand stopped just short of the glass’s surface when my eyes met those in the mirror and saw the same pained expression as my own. I could clearly see into the mirror and then realized the haze was now completely gone and I was now aware that I was standing in a room looking into a mirror on a dresser.

I placed a hand on my arm, the pressure of contact making me realize that I had just had a dream about looking in the mirror…and was now…awake.

Was this dream letting me know of a possible future, in that maybe one day I could feel real tears fall down my cheeks...or was it coming from desperation in needing some release emotionally or in my heart? I mused.

This was yet another dream I’d had over the last few weeks that was different and new. What was going on in my life that was affecting my dreams and causing them to be enriched in an almost deep, vivid demonstration of the inner turmoil and happiness from the depth of my soul?

I snuggled back into my duvet and drifted back to sleep feeling completely numb in not wanting to anticipate seeing tears again, but also out of sheer exhaustion from the intensity of everything. Subconsciously I was also aware that Abe was leaving again for Arizona and we only had some of today to go…

The tears gracefully rolling and streaming were beautiful, like tears of happiness. Yes, they were there as I began to realize I was dreaming again.

I stared into the mirror and saw the tears fall with speed down my cheeks in my reflection, like rivers of release. I raised my fingers up to my cheeks again but just before I made contact I jumped at the sight of seeing Abe standing there in the mirror’s reflection. I jolted awake and sat up with a start but then feeling the weight of sleep begging me back to my dream, I let myself be pulled back into the intenseness that was in the imagery. I got a second jolt of shock when the dream replayed and Abe appeared behind me again. I didn’t turn around but could see he was looking at me with only a fullness of love and gentle passion in his expression, just as if we were having a face to face moment of special interaction that only we understood in its communication.

I looked back at him and he looked so content. He was holding a small black book in his hand that had a pattern of a key engraved on the cover. I was intrigued by the book and the picture of a key, but I couldn’t hide my unsure expression. Had he seen the pain, the tears, felt the waves of emotion from me that soared through my everything as I engaged and also observed the actual tears that the person in the mirror had? I wondered. Who was this girl that could shed tears? They had said…I breathed in…this wasn’t physically possible for me…

This was…something only a miracle could bring about…to be healed.

Time

There’s no time! He pulled my hand, tugging me in the direction of the vehicle as we started half running towards it.

Our hands held tighter as we neared the vehicle.

"Please… I stopped short, forcing him to face me. Please don’t go."

Abe held my gaze and I could see the strain forcing memories to the front of his mind, but then he broke away, opening the front door for me to climb in.

We sat in silence the entire way, aching and almost hurting in this short moment of not being able to be close to each other.

I didn’t want to even think about how much it may hurt…even more so, soon.

Finally, after all his bags were checked in at the airport terminal, we tightly wrapped our arms back around each other, once again taking the time to remember the last embrace.

I heard him breathe in and then exhale with a quiet mmm. This was becoming a small gesture…something that let me know he was just as engaged with my everything just as I was with his.

I reluctantly pulled away from the embrace to gaze into his eyes to remember the beautiful, rich green and dark blue infused colors that set his face alight, even when he was trying to speak in a serious tone. Like now.

I have to, for now, he answered my earlier question.

There was so much I wanted to say and yet saying nothing at all could mean more. He could read my emotions and expressions like no one ever could. Even more so than Benja had, and still does.

But there was just a little uneasy feeling that was niggling at me…something I just couldn’t put my finger on. I couldn’t ask Abe what it was, or could be, as I didn’t know what to ask. Even though I knew I could tell him anything, I didn’t want to appear over-exaggerated in my emotions. Especially in this early time for us that was so wonderful and what I could only describe as lovely yet intense, and so much more that I could barely put to words.

I settled for biting my lip and let him read my expression as I melted into his gaze.

It wasn’t until reality wound in, when I could feel something being placed in my hand, that I hesitantly tore my eyes from him to look down.

Just a lil’ something, he said shyly, his tone speeding up as I turned over a small crisp white envelope in my hand. As the card turned over I smelt a whiff of a gorgeous familiar aroma.

You didn’t?

Yes, he replied, a small smirk stretching on his lips. Cheesy right?

Oh, I stammered. It’s perfect, really. Not finding the right words to really tell him how perfect it was, wishing I could have done the same. Not cheesy at all. I breathed in, taking the card to my nose to really soak in the aroma of his cologne that could stay with me.

Read it later, he whispered, before kissing my cheek lightly and then disappearing into the crowds of people.

We didn’t say goodbye. That was something we understood without communicating it out loud, as we knew we were going to see each other again.

***

It’s just two weeks. It’s just two weeks, I repeated, pressing redial on my phone. Please pick up, I thought, desperately waiting.

Besides I had more pressing things to think about, remembering the up and coming fashion expo that Exquizit was debuting at in Milan, and that we were flying out on a connecting flight to France first thing tomorrow.

I closed the phone call. Still no answer.

I sat in BJ’s jeep at the airport, waiting for just one more moment before driving off. I tried again... Still no answer.

Sitting in BJ’s luxurious new jeep was quite different to sitting in mine. I breathed in, loving the new car smell mixed with the leather seat aroma and of course BJ and Abe’s manly scents were also lingering in the mix. Hmm, I often wondered if I should upgrade my Cherokee, as I had the means to but I loved having a familiar, older SUV that felt like home. It was the little things like the homey worn look of the seats that had been sat in many a time, that made it so much more comforting. Sandy was one step ahead of me though. She certainly could afford to buy a flash new car as well, but instead drove around in her old-school Chevy that looked like a real surfer’s car. I set my phone on hands-free and reluctantly pulled out of the airport parking lot.

Turning on the radio I was intrigued to see what station BJ listened to. Ha, of course it would be the same station as I listened to. It was usually pumping out the latest pop or hip hop tracks, almost always guaranteeing a good mood setting. But not today. I liked this song, usually. Was it as if everything was now turning in the opposite direction just because he