Crossed Dreams: Dreams Are Keys to Unlocking the Future

By Candace Woolum

Melissa begins dreaming about a handsome stranger. Is he a part of her imagination, like a secret desire, or are her dreams trying to show her something more? Maybe someone real?

Taejoon dreams of having a normal life, of being able to find someone who loves him for him and not just for his name. Can he have all this when a beautiful stranger appears in his dreams? Can he really have everything like he dreams of?

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Jul 8, 2019
• ISBN: 9781728318066

Candace Woolum

Candace Woolum graduated from Ohio University with a BA in geology. She is still trying to figure out her life and dreams. The only thing that she knows for certain is that she has always dreamed of creating a world where one can get lost in, and find an aspiration of their own and she hopes to achieve that through her writing.

Book preview

front.jpg

Prologue

Fall 2015

Melissa jogged up the stairs to the fourth floor and entered through the door that led into the mod. The room was painted to resemble a forest during the Autumn season. A setting sun was painted on the left wall while the rising moon was painted on the right. The area was carpeted in a rusty-red carpet and the furniture was a light beige pleather. Everything seemed tacky and as if it didn’t belong together. That’s why she had grown to like the room so much.

Kyle, the fourth floors’ RA was sitting on the couch with his legs crossed. His glasses hung low on his nose as he read the current book that had been assigned for his Women in Literature class. She remembered him telling her that the class would be easy points. There were no actual tests for the class but each month, the students had to read a book that the professor assigned and write a five-page paper on it about the point that the author was trying to convey to the readers.

The automatic lock clicked into place as the door closed on its own. The noise drew Kyle’s attention away from his book and to Melissa.

Are you going to the concert tonight? He asked in a dazed, sleep-filled voice.

No. I’m failing chemistry. Vortex was playing tonight at their campus and boy did she want to go. They were a Korean idol boy band that had caught her attention the previous year. Their music spoke to her soul and having the handsome yet adorable In-jae dancing around, usually shirtless, made her fall in love with them.

Her voice tinged with sorrow and the beginnings of regret. My final is on Monday and so I have decided to lock myself in my room to study.

The blonde boy shook his head, blue eyes showing their regard. I know how much you like them. I’ll take lots of videos for you. Pages fluttered then turned into a resounding clap as the book was slammed to a close. Good luck. He waved before disappearing through the door that she had just entered from a few moments before.

Melissa sighed before entering into the hallway that led to her room. She dropped her backpack onto the floor and sat down in front of her computer, readying herself for the long and painful journey of studying.

Six painfully long hours passed by. She had spent the entire time studying, not trusting herself to take a short break. After the fifth yawn, she decided that it was time to go to bed, where she would hopefully not dream about chemistry.

Melissa found herself surrounded by darkness. She tried to step forward but was unable to lift her foot up off of the ground.

She tried lifting her hands next. A pressure pushed against them weighing them down. It was official, she was unable to move from this spot.

A pinprick of light came into view. It grew into the size of a penny, then a quarter, then a baseball. It grew and kept on growing until she was surrounded by the blinding light.

She squeezed her eyelids tightly shut, wishing for the light to go away and for the darkness to come back. Her wish came true, sort of.

The light dimmed and no longer bled into her closed eyes. With caution, she slowly opened one of her eyes just a crack. Finding the pleasant, dull colors of the night, she opened her eyes.

She was standing on the far edge of a paved driveway. An oddly familiar building stood on the other side of it. Houses with padlocked doors were standing on the other side of the road that was to her right. It took a few moments for everything to sink in. She was on campus, just outside the building where Vortex had played earlier that night.

As if summoned by thoughts alone, the side doors to the building slammed opened with a metal creak. The six members that made up Vortex walked out. Their skin glistened with sweat and half of them were rubbing their shoulders and leg muscles, trying to lessen the soreness.

Melissa Wolfe! A voice boomed out of thin air. Looking at the guys told her that she was the only one who could hear the voice.

Finally able to move her head, she looked around her surroundings, only able to see a small portion of what was around her. Unable to locate the source of the imposing disembodied voice she looked up to the sky as a last resort. Just as she had guessed, there was no one up there.

The voice continued on as if it were unaware of her actions. You have given up the chance to be with your current bound soulmate. Because you did not attend the concert, he will now move on with his life, finding a new soulmate along the way, just as you will.

Melissa’s eyes widened in disbelief. She must have misheard the voice. There was no way that she had a soulmate, especially one that was in Vortex.

Through the shock and utter-disbelief, she found her voice. Soulmate? Vortex? How? The broken questions fell out. She was unable to form a coherent sentence with all of the questions that were swirling around inside her head.

She forcefully shook her head. Black tendrils of hair flew in front of her eyesight, whipping her in the face. How could she have a soulmate in Vortex? And what did the voice mean by a new soulmate? How could she find a new soulmate if one of the members was supposed to be it? None of this made any sense in her confused, fog-muddled brain.

One of the members, In-jae, better known by his stage name Jay, turned around. His tiger brown eyes glanced into hers. Longing danced in their golden depths, slowly being eaten away by the darker shadows of gloom. A sigh escaped from his pink painted lips.

Jae hyung! The energetic Tae-joon ran up and wrapped a slender arm around his band mate’s shoulders. Are you all right?

Waves of shock then confusion rolled through Melissa as she realized that she could understand them. It must be because of the dream. Somehow it was translating everything so that she could understand the conversation that was taking place before her very eyes.

In-jae nodded his head. He ruffled Tae-joon’s short, blonde hair before continuing on his path to where their tour bus waited for them on the side of the road. The other members had not waited for the youngest two to catch up and were now on the bus trying to get comfortable for the long ride ahead. Before In-jae entered onto the bus, he looked back in Melissa’s direction, seeing right through her.

In a tired, worn-out voice, he answered Tae-joon. Yeah, I’m fine. It just feels like I forgot something.

Although the words were quietly mumbled so that only Tae-joon could hear them, they floated over to where she stood as if carried by an invisible wind. A tear escaped from one of Melissa’s eyes without her consent.

Why would the universe show her this? Why would it show her probably the biggest mistake that she had ever made?

Rapidly shaking her head, she willed her body to move. Her legs felt as if they were filled with pins and needles. Slowly, she lifted one leaded foot after another and she ran. She ran into the darkness that now surrounded her, wanting nothing more than to be lost and consumed by it.

front.jpg

Chapter One

Spring 2017

Melissa opened the door to the apartment to find her flatmate Connor trying to lift a backpack filled with a change of clothes and shoes, and caving equipment that were spilling out onto the floor.

What are you trying to do? She laughed as he struggled to keep everything in the bag.

Since we’re leaving for our field trip tomorrow, I thought that I would get in a few parties before then. The bottom of the bag dragged against the floor as he tried to lift it onto his shoulders. I’m taking this with me so that I don’t have to come back here.

Umm… Melissa scratched her nose, seeing many things wrong with this plan. What if you, I don’t know, get so drunk that you leave your bag and yourself in one of these places and don’t show up tomorrow for the field trip that is worth twenty percent of our final grade. Her voice was tinged with sarcasm as she nagged him.

She felt like she had to since Emily wasn’t present. If Emily had been there she would have been furious with Connor.

Emily happened to be Melissa’s best friend and Connor’s little sister. And unlike Connor, she was at the top of the dean’s list with high honors.

I’ll be fine. I’m ending my party parade at Kayla’s and she promised that my bag and I will make it there in time for departure. Melissa had met Kayla before and had liked the girl. She seemed like someone who had a sensible head on their shoulders, even if she was one that lived for the party.

What if you forget your bag somewhere?

Connor looked Melissa in the eyes and with a confident voice that did nothing to help ease her worries he said. I got this.

Against her better judgment, she helped him repack so that everything would quit spilling out. To be on the safe side, she wrote Connor’s number onto a piece of paper and stuffed it into a side pocket. Just in case. She told him when she saw him looking.

After Connor left, Melissa grabbed a quick shower before sitting down in the living room to work on homework.

Melissa found herself floating