Dream of Me: Book 1 The Dream Makers Series (2 page)

Serenity had a smile that could make a man want to move mountains for her. It was all innocence and joy wrapped up and surrounded by love. She was a girl who truly knew how to love without strings attached and that love came bursting through when she smiled.

“I want to make you smile like that,” Dair told her. There was no response and his heart broke a little more, just as it had done each day he had returned. The life she represented was not for him and being near her only made him want it more. He needed to leave her, but as he listened to her laugh and saw the life that danced in her eyes, he didn’t know if leaving was something he could do. The idea of never seeing her again, of not being able to be a part of her life, caused such pain that he didn’t know how to cope. Dair was so unexperienced with the emotions running through him, there were times when they threatened to overwhelm him. The only thing keeping him grounded was Serenity’s calm demeanor. As he finally stood to go, he walked over to her, leaned down, and pressed a kiss to the top of her head. It was the second time he dared to do it, and he found that he would endure many horrific things just for one real touch. For one touch that she could feel from him, and one that he could feel from her, he would face any punishment that would be sure to come his way.

“Goodnight, Sarah Serenity,” he said gently as he walked to the closed window and began to step through it as if it were open to the outside world. He looked back one more time at the girl who held him captive. “I wish you could dream of me. I would dream of you if I were capable of such a thing.”   

Chapter 1

“
Indeed God speaks once, or twice, yet no one notices it.
In a dream, in a vision of the night, when sound sleep falls on men while they slumber in their beds, then He opens the ears of men, and seals their instruction.
” Job 33:14-16

S
erenity stared out of her window as she watched the sun begin to break over the horizon—the reminder that once again she hadn’t been able to sleep past sunrise. The disturbing dream had started four nights ago. Well,
disturbing
wasn’t really the right word. There was nothing disturbing about the actual content of the dream. There were no monsters or terrible falls or anything like that. Rather, in the dream, Serenity was nineteen, though how she knew that little fact she didn’t have a clue, but she was sure of it. Despite being nineteen, she was
still
living in Yellville, Arkansas, the tiny town of 1,204 people nestled in the Ozark Mountains. This disturbed her greatly. It wasn’t that she didn’t
like
the town. It was just that she felt as though the rest of the world was moving on, growing, and changing while she stayed stuck in the little quaint town in the middle of nowhere. She was eighteen and only five months from graduating from high school. And regardless of the persistent dream, she had no intentions of staying. There was a part of her that felt so very guilty for leaving when she had so many responsibilities, most of which she had yet to relinquish. She was attempting to prepare not only herself but also those in the community for her departure.

Serenity had not come to the decision to leave easily. She hated to leave her Aunt Darla and Uncle Wayne. They had raised her since she was nine after her parent’s death, and they had been nothing short of amazing. She worked a part time job to help them make ends meet because there weren’t a whole lot of riches to be had in Yellville unless you came to it with your pockets already lined. Serenity didn’t want to put them in a tight spot by leaving, but she also didn’t think she could spend the rest of her life in the small town. She wanted to see the world, to experience things that she never would in the mountains of Arkansas. Her attention was drawn away from the golden rays of the morning sun when she felt Mr. Whitherby, her obnoxious albeit strangely comforting cat, winding himself around her legs. She looked down at him and couldn’t help but smile at the huge fuzz ball.

“Another day in paradise, Mr. W,” Serenity told him as she reached down and scratched behind his ears. He made a swipe for her hand when she pulled away but, being clawless, caused no harm. “I can’t sit around and pamper you all day no matter how much attitude you give me. I’ve got things to do, people to see.” Her cat plopped down on his haunches and stared up at her with an almost bored expression. She laughed. “Okay, so maybe there isn’t really much to do, but I do have school and then work, so make yourself useful and go fix me some breakfast.” Of course, he didn’t do anything other than yawn and flop over on his side, making it perfectly clear just how unimportant her day was to him. Serenity shook her head at the defiant little beast and headed for the shower.

“Made your favorite,” Aunt Darla said as Serenity entered the eat-in kitchen―showered, clean and dressed―way too early if she did so say herself. “Cheese and ham croissants. Your uncle is already gone; he’s going to help hunt down a mountain lion that is killing the Thompson’s goats. They’ve planned to be out overnight and then go to Bill’s house for supplies before they head out again.” During the summer months, Wayne was a guide on the White river. But not just a guide, he was one of the best. Wealthy people from all over the world came to Cotter Trout dock to get to spend a few days on the river in hopes of catching
the big one
with Uncle Wayne. She’d been out with him a couple of times, and though some girls her age might think being on a fishing boat for hours on end would be boring and tedious, it was anything but with Uncle Wayne as the guide. He was one of those people that could make anyone feel at ease. His easy going attitude and ability to talk to just about anyone made him very likable. Not to mention he had a certain love of dirty jokes and was eager to share his material on new, unsuspecting victims. Serenity was beginning to believe he liked the shock factor as much as he liked delivering the punch line. During the winter months, when the fishing season slowed down, he did odd jobs. Sometimes he cut firewood or helped others with their goat or cattle herds. He stayed busy to be sure.

“So they’re going to be out in the cold overnight?” Serenity asked.

“They gotta do whatever they can to kill whatever is killing off his goats. That’s the Thompson’s livelihood; every goat killed represents bills not paid,” Darla told her. “I’m going to get dressed; don’t leave without saying goodbye.”

Serenity gave her a ‘thumbs up’ as she filled her plate with the wonderful goodness that was her aunt’s cooking, too focused on her food to turn and look up at her. She was amazed that they weren’t all severely overweight because her aunt was a firm believer in feeding anyone and everyone as often as possible. Homemade food was her version of a hug and it didn’t hurt that she was a fantastic cook. Twenty minutes later Darla reemerged dressed as cave woman.

“Story time today?” Serenity asked around a bite of croissant.

Darla nodded. “Favorite day of the week.” She smiled warmly and Serenity loved knowing that her aunt enjoyed her job so much. She had worked multiple jobs most of her life, not having any time for herself. But since she had begun working at the Marion County Library, she had been able to quit her other jobs, and Serenity had seen a distinct change in her aunt’s demeanor. Suddenly, she was bright and eager for the day because she truly enjoyed her job―not just because it was the only way she could get through the long days.

“What’s the story today?”

Darla began washing the dishes left over from making breakfast as she spoke. “It’s a book version of the Disney movie,
The Croods
. Have you seen that movie? It’s so hilarious.”

“No, I haven’t seen that one, but I’ve heard it’s good,” Serenity admitted.

Darla turned and looked at her as she wiped her hands off with the dish towel. “You work too hard for someone your age, Sarah Serenity.” Her aunt had a habit of calling her by her first and middle name. Serenity had decided it was a Southern thing. “Why don’t you cut back on your hours at the vet clinic? I know you think we can’t get by without the money that you contribute, but we’ll be alright.”

Serenity shook her head. “I don’t want to cut back on my hours. I love working with the animals. There’s no drama with animals and they love unconditionally.”

“I imagine that college boy that just started working there isn’t hard on the eyes either,” Darla said with a grin.

“Please,” she huffed. “I don’t have time for the nonsense called boys.”

The look Darla gave her told her that she didn’t quite believe her. In truth, Serenity just hadn’t found anyone that she would want to put the energy into that a relationship takes. Sure she noticed good looking guys, and Darla was right, Jackson, who had started working two months ago at the vet clinic where she worked, was definitely easy on the eyes. But other than that, he did nothing for her. She wasn’t willing to give her heart to anyone who didn’t make mountains move for her. She wanted the heart pounding, toe tingling, stomach dropping kind of attraction that took her breath away every time he walked into the room. Until that happened, she was not available for any type of relationship with the opposite sex.

“Okay well, have a good day and be safe.” Darla gave her a quick hug before heading out.

“Have fun being a Crood,” she hollered over her shoulder.  Serenity glanced at her phone for the time and saw that she still had an hour to kill before she would need to leave for school. She let out a low sigh as she slumped down in her chair. She was tired. The lack of sleep caused by the dream was definitely beginning to catch up with her. But she didn’t know how to make it go away. She’d never given much thought to dreams and whether or not they actually meant something or were simply the result of an unconscious mind being given free reign during slumber. Perhaps, it was time to do some research on dreams. She did know there were many religions that believed very firmly in the idea that dreams could be prophetic. Even in the Bible she read dreams had often been a message from God to his people. She’d been raised with a Christian background, and while she was still attempting to find where she stood in her own faith, she figured a book that had been around for a couple thousand years might have something important to say about the subject. She decided she would include it in her research along with some other sources. Unfortunately, she would have to wait until she could use the internet at the school or library because her aunt and uncle’s house was far enough out that the only internet they could get was dial up. She snorted out a laugh as she considered her aunt doing the cave woman look and how appropriate it was considering the distance their house was from civilization. It often made her feel like they lived in the Stone Ages.

S
erenity pulled into the parking lot of the high school and sat staring as her classmates filed into the school. The bitter cold of the mountain December was enough to keep her from wanting to leave the comfy warmth of her car. She had five months until she graduated—five more months of teachers, high school drama, and terrible cafeteria food, though that was her own fault because she was too lazy to make her own lunch and unwilling to let her aunt make it for her. She was eighteen for cripes sake; it would make her feel like a bum if her aunt was making her lunches. Serenity rubbed her eyes, attempting to push away the drowsiness, still battling the sleepiness that threatened to overtake her. The warm air blowing from the car vents wasn’t helping. Finally with a resigned sigh, she grabbed her book bag and climbed out into the frosty winter air. It stung her lungs and immediately did the job of waking her up. She knew she had better have her wits about her if she wanted to navigate the ice covered parking lot without ending up as the morning entertainment. It never failed that at least once or twice a week one of the students ended up on their backsides like an overturned turtle with their limbs flailing in the air as they skidded across the ice. Most took the good natured ribbing given by their classmates pretty well, laughing along with them. Frankly, when your tailbone hit that ice it was either laugh or cry because you instantly felt a distinct kind of pain, which was often accompanied by a string of curse words.

As she entered the building, having made an uneventful trek through the parking lot, Serenity headed for her locker nodding to several of her friends. She hadn’t grown very close to any of them because her time had been so limited over the course of her high school career. As soon as she had learned to drive she had started working, volunteering, and helping as much as possible. Deep down she thought her desire to help others was her penance, a debt owed because of the death of her parents. She wondered if they had been taken from her so soon before their time because of something she’d done, or not done. Perhaps, God was punishing her for not being good enough, for not obeying more, or for not being the model daughter she could have been. Because of her lack of involvement at her school, she didn’t have a best friend that went to her school. Her best friend had already graduated and was now twenty-two years old and working at the local tourist-attracting restaurant called The Fireside Restaurant and Mountain Store. Serenity had met Glorious Day, and yes that was really her name, one day at the library when Glory had been looking for books on Multiple Sclerosis. Her mother had been diagnosed with the devastating disease and Glory and her father were her caretakers. Glory and she had immediately hit it off despite the four year age difference. Since then they had hung out as often as possible and texted relentlessly. With Glory she had finally found someone she could be completely herself with. Glory accepted her no matter what. Serenity knew her aunt and uncle did as well but it was different with them. She felt like they had to love her because they were sort of her parents, and didn’t parents have to love their children unconditionally? But Glory didn’t have to, yet she did anyway. Although she loved Glory like a sister, she also desperately wanted to escape the fate that had been given to her best friend. Glory was stuck. She would live in Yellville probably for the rest of her life. The idea made Serenity feel trapped and if she thought about it too long, she would begin to feel like the walls were closing in around her. Serenity never mentioned it to Glory because she didn’t want to hurt her, but every now and then she would see the sadness in her friend because she too knew that she wouldn’t be going on any grand adventures. Glory didn’t hold it against her mother. She loved her mom and was completely willing to help take care of her, but Serenity knew that it still wasn’t enough to take the sting away from the lack of a future ahead of Glorious.