Fall of the Dreamer Read online

  Fall of the Dreamer

  Dreamer Trilogy Book 2

  LJ Higgins

  All rights reserved.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and events are used fictitiously and any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons is entirely coincidental.

  Copyright © 2018 by LJ Higgins

  All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof

  may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review. Printed in the United States of America

  Cover by GermanCreative

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Rise of the Dreamer

  About the Author

  Also by LJ Higgins

  Acknowledgments

  Have you enjoyed this book?

  For my two amazing children, Logan and Tahlia. You teach me so much about who I am and who I want to be.

  Chapter One

  The rhythmic thud of his heart against his ribs roused me from my sleep. I rested my hand on his chest, feeling it rise and fall before nuzzling my cheek into his soft skin to hear the soothing beat more clearly. Breathing in his masculine scent, I opened my eyes. The room was awash with the bright yellow of the early morning sun.

  Running my hand up his bare chest, my touch ran along his jawline. He stirred, and I looked up into his rich brown eyes.

  “Morning, Amelia.” Joe’s crooked smile greeted me.

  “Morning,” I replied.

  I ran my hand back down his torso, searching. There it was, the scar that ran along his side. Flatter and smoother than the last time I’d felt it, but still a reminder of his brush with death, and the loss of his Aunt Dawn the year before.

  Beep, beep, beep…

  My alarm tore through the serenity of my dreamscape, and my eyes shot open. It was later in the morning than it’d been in my dream. The sun was creeping around the gaps in my curtain, and my small room was warm and stuffy. Staring at the ceiling, I shook my head, trying to remove the image of Joe and the blissful feeling I’d had lying with him from my memory.

  Throwing back the sheet, I climbed from my bed and wandered towards the bathroom. In my half-asleep daze, I slammed into a shirtless Joe. My mind becoming alert, I averted my eyes, and looked up to his face.

  “Good morning,” said Joe, his crooked smile and half-naked body a vivid reminder of the dream.

  I looked toward my destination, willing the doorway to move closer.

  “I must say, you look terrible this morning,” he said.

  I grunted at him and continued toward the bathroom. His calm demeanour and playful joke had put my mind at ease. At least he hadn’t actually been present in the dream too.

  It’d been a long time since Joe and I had shared a dream. The last one had been when I was in the Psychiatric Ward of the MultiMind Corporation. Although we’d destroyed the MMC only months before, it felt as though years had passed. And that dream had been the first time my subconscious had confused Cameron for Joe. After all the heartache and trouble I went through deciding who to be with, it was no wonder my subconscious was still confused.

  In the bathroom, I pushed the door closed behind me, peering at myself in the mirror. I still looked the same, as though the previous year hadn’t happened. My hair was a little longer, but still the same chocolate brown, and my dark blue eyes had seen much more in the last year than they had in their first nineteen years. But life had a way of moving on, no matter how bad a situation you’d endured. It didn’t have a pause button, although at times I wished it did. It was a continuous story, and it was your choice to either keep up or be left behind in the past. I’d definitely chosen to keep up, but something inside me had shifted. I was no longer the shadow I once was. Following Sarah around, coasting through life. I was now a strong woman who knew she could achieve anything if she put her mind to it, even help bring down a multi-million-dollar conglomerate like the MultiMind Corporation. After splashing my face and returning to my bedroom to get dressed, I trudged downstairs towards the smells of coffee and burnt toast.

  Sunlight poured through the large glass doors filling the room with a bright glow, energizing me, and reminding me why summer was my favourite season.

  “Morning,” sang Sarah.

  Sarah’s cheery attitude usually irritated me in the mornings. I’d never understood people who could wake up in such a happy mood. That morning, however, with the warmth of the sun filling the kitchen and lounge, I could understand just a little.

  “Morning.” I plonked myself onto a stool at the breakfast bar.

  It was just long enough for two to sit at and was a great vantage point to look into the small kitchen where Sarah was preparing breakfast.

  She pushed a plate with toast smothered in butter and vegemite towards me, which I accepted with a grateful, “Thanks.”

  “Tea?” She held up my favourite mug.

  “Yes, please.”

  I’d demolished my first piece of toast when Joe joined me at the breakfast bar, and Sarah slid us both a steaming mug of tea. She leaned forward on her elbows, chewing on her toast.

  “So, are you excited?” She took another bite.

  “What for?” I didn’t bother to look up at her.

  “Oh, I don’t know. Cameron’s coming to visit. It’s your birthday tomorrow?”

  “You’re kidding? It’s your birthday tomorrow?” Joe teased.

  “Yes, I’m excited, I guess. Nineteen though. One year closer to twenty.” I felt older, like I’d aged ten years in just twelve months.

  “Oh no, you’re so old. Soon you’ll spend your nights sitting up in your room reading books, drinking cups of tea. Oops too late.” Joe grinned.

  I scowled at him before a grin spread across my lips and I burst into laughter with both of them.

  I was grateful to be able to spend every day with my two best friends. Unfortunately, Rose and Cameron had chosen to live elsewhere. Rose and her son Ethan had spent Christmas with us at my mum and dad’s property in Monteville. We had an amazing week, eating feasts on the wide deck and watching Ethan enjoy the country life. But Rose insisted Ethan needed to have consistency in his life, and they headed back to Stonevale instead of joining the rest of us in Sandhaven.

  Cameron was in the city, just a thirty-minute bus ride away. But the week or two in between visits felt like months. When he was with us in Sandhaven, everything felt as it should, the way it was supposed to be. But he insisted he needed to stay in the city for his job and his family. He was going to arrive in Sandhaven the following day to help celebrate my birthday.

  I hadn’t met his family yet. I’d never grown the courage to ask why, and I was sure he’d introduce me when he was ready. To be honest, the thought of meeting them terrified me. Cameron’s father was a well-known doctor, who was proud of his son following somewhat in his footsteps. His mother was a stay-at-home wife, who was a bit snobby from the sound of it and loved the finer things in life. Those were Cameron’s descriptions, and they reminded me once again of how different the worlds we’d come from were. Could the guy from a high-class family really b
e suited to a middle-class country girl like me? The question nagged at me when we were apart. As soon as we were reunited, the doubt fell away, and I remembered how much he cared about me, and how happy and safe I felt with him.

  “I’m off to work. See you two later.” Sarah picked up her satchel, gave me a quick hug, and headed towards the front door.

  “I’d better head off too.” I picked my backpack up from the floor and swung it over my shoulder.

  “Hey, Amelia.” Joe called after me.

  “Yeah?”

  “How have you been sleeping?” he asked.

  I swallowed hard and my body went numb. Had he experienced the same dream and just hadn’t said anything? Had his joke outside the bathroom been a test to see if I’d been there as well?

  “Good, how come?” My heart raced in my chest.

  “I’ve been having some bad dreams lately, and I’m not sure what they mean,” he confided.

  My shoulders relaxed, and I inhaled a deep breath, a relieved smile spreading across my face. “You should drop by the shop today and talk to Harper. She’ll be able to help you.”

  “Yeah, I guess I could do that.” He turned back towards the kitchen, sadness in his eyes. “I’ll see how I go. I have some things to do today.”

  “See you later then.” As always, I didn’t know what to say. My awkwardness forced me through the back door.

  Joe had nothing to do since he didn’t work. He’d probably spend the day down at the beach or go hiking in the nearby bushland. The money he’d inherited from his Aunty Dawn’s farm had not only bought him the house we lived in, but also the freedom to do as he pleased. The cost of his new lifestyle was definitely not worth the price he’d paid though. And I knew Joe was still mourning the loss of his aunt in the house fire at her property the year before. Sometimes Sarah and I worried he was feeling lost and needed something to focus on, a purpose. I’d tried many times to get him to talk to Harper, but he always found an excuse. Although he’d let his anger and hatred go after losing Dawn, he still wasn’t ready to have someone else interpret his dreams. That was something special he’d had with his Aunt.

  When I’d started working for Harper at her small store, Dreamers Intuition, I’d taken some time before I let her interpret my dreams too. It felt as though, by letting her into my thoughts, I was admitting Dawn was truly gone. It felt like a betrayal to have someone else do it. One day I grew the courage to relay a dream in which I’d been on the beach. I’d begged a random guy I’d never even met to marry me. Harper told me the stranger was a part of me I didn’t know yet, and that the proposal revealed I was ready to merge my old and new self together. Although my nightmares had tapered off since the MMC had disappeared, just as Dawn had predicted, it was nice to have someone telling me what my dreams meant again. It reminded me of what we’d fought for. The right for our subconscious to create our own dreams and desires. The right to be a Dreamer.

  Walking towards the small cluster of shops that stood just past the Sandhaven Park and beach, I breathed in the salty coolness of the breeze that made the heat of the sun bearable. It quickened my pace with a new wave of energy and taking one last look at the clear blue sky above me, I stepped through the door of the Dreamers Intuition, followed by a round of jangling to announce my arrival.

  Stocking shelves on the left hand side of the small shop was Harper, her long dreadlocks woven with strands of blues, pinks and greens. Some of them were adorned with beads and various charms. She kept them from her face with a burnt orange headband, and her warm smile filled me with happiness as she turned to welcome me.

  “Amelia! How are you this morning?”

  “Good, thanks.” I never felt I could match the joy she radiated, but I was happy to bask in what she exuded.

  “Just good? It’s your birthday tomorrow. You should be excited.” She stood and held my shoulders, staring into my eyes. “What’s wrong?”

  “Nothing.” I tried to sound as though I meant it.

  “Have you had a bad dream? You look as though something has ruffled you.”

  “Just a strange dream, but I’m really not in the mood to talk about it today. Like you said, tomorrow’s my birthday. I should be excited. Cameron will be here, and you, Sarah, and Joe will be too. It’ll be great.”

  “That’s more like it. Now, can you please finish stocking these shelves so I can get ready for my first appointment? Mr Nolan is coming in for an interpretation and a crystal healing.”

  I breathed in her joy once more before she left through the door behind the counter that led out the back. The Dreamers Intuition was a small shop with grey carpeting and off-white walls. What made it special were the bright flags that hung from the ceiling, the wall hangings with inspiring and spiritual quotes, the smells of incense and herbs, and the collection of crystals. There was also a small wooden bookshelf filled with various books on dreaming, crystals and natural remedies. Other knickknacks lined the wall along the back of the shop, and a small Buddha sat on the tall counter that served as my desk when customers arrived. One of my favourite items was a large woven dreamcatcher that hung against the front window. It was the only shop in Sandhaven of its kind. Harper insisted it was important not to lose old-fashioned customer service, and to be able to touch and see a product before you bought it. She hated the concept of online shopping and didn’t accept payment by Wristochip. While the government had shut down the MMC and recalled Wristocuffs, the Wristochip was still used for identification and making purchases.

  I hadn’t turned into a free spirited hippie like Harper. I’d never been interested in those sorts of things. Merely curious. But after working for Harper for almost three months and listening to her talk about peace, love and spirituality, I’d become addicted to the positivity of it all. After all I’d experienced with dreams, it was hard to shrug off other possibilities.

  The doorbell chimed to announce Mr. Nolan’s arrival, and after greeting him I told him Harper wouldn’t be a moment. I entered through the doorway to Harper’s small room where she conducted her readings. When I’d first seen it, I’d almost laughed at how stereotypical it was. There was Harper with her baggy boho pants and white singlet, her dreadlocks tied in a mass behind her. The walls were adorned with various mandala sheets, and there was a multi-coloured wall hanging of a man with dreadlocks. Harper said his name was Bob Marley. When I’d told her I was unsure who he was, she’d laughed and told me to ask my grandmother. A small table with a purple cloth laid over it sat in the centre of a handmade rug woven of all shades of colours, and the smell of patchouli hung in the air. Whereas I looked awkward in such a room, Harper was at home. She was most certainly born in the wrong era.

  “Mr. Nolan is here to see you. He looks exceptionally happy and very well-dressed for a dream interpretation,” I teased.

  “Oh, I’m sure you’re just imagining it. He’s really sweet, but not my cup of tea. Too pretty in his suit and tie. I’ve actually been seeing someone who is more my type.” She smirked.

  “Really? And who would this lucky man be?”

  “I don’t want to jinx it, but his name is Wade. That’s all I’m telling you.”

  I raised my eyebrows and gave her a wink before leaving the room.

  After inviting Mr. Nolan to go through, I sat myself up on the stool at the counter. Resting on the desk was a dream interpretation book. I found my last spot marked with a torn piece of Post-It note paper and began reading.

  What had attracted me to the job initially was the ‘HELP WANTED’ sign on the window. As well as promising a job, it also suggested the successful applicant would be taught how to interpret dreams. It was almost as though Dawn herself had pushed me through the doorway. The first month I’d kept to myself, doing whatever Harper asked of me. But as her positivity and caring nature seeped inside me, I grew the courage to reveal my story.

  Over the next two months, she learned about how I’d met Cameron and Joe, how I’d found out about the MultiMind Corporation, the sad
passing of Dawn, and then our vendetta against the corporation who’d caused her death. She remembered the uproar when the truth about the MMC had been brought to light, and admitted she too was a Dreamer, although the term wasn’t used as much anymore.

  She was living up north before the Wristcuff was recalled and confessed a dream had given her the urge to move south. When she arrived at Sandhaven she’d felt right at home and purchased the little shop to perform her dream interpretations and sell merchandise. I enjoyed having someone interpret my dreams once again, although my dreams were far and few between, and offered very broad hints at what needed to happen in my life. Dawn had said my dreams would quieten down once I started listening to them, and to my delight, she was right. I may have fought hard to keep my ability to create my own dreams, but knowing they weren’t warning me of any danger was very comforting.

  Harper had held up her end of the bargain and begun teaching me to interpret dreams. Most of it was remembering the correct meanings for different symbols that appeared in a dream. Despite how much I read and studied, only the very basic interpretations stuck in my mind. The rest seemed to pass through one ear and out the other. Interpreting dreams may not have been my calling, but I’d convinced Harper if I were able to persuade Joe to study it with her, that he could do it instead of me. I didn’t mean to push it on him, but I had a feeling learning dream interpretation would help him take the last step in mourning Dawn, while still holding a piece of her close to his heart. I’d learned interpreting wasn’t something just anyone could do; it was a gift, just like being a Dreamer.