Let Her Sleep (Dream Walker Chronicles #1)

Chapter 4

The strange boy was true to his word and showed up the next night…and the next and the one after that.  For a whole week he took the starring role in Cordy’s dreams.  They laughed and teased like they had been best friends forever, talking about everything and nothing all at once.  As much as she enjoyed it, she wondered if it was normal.  Does everyone dream like this, or is it just me?  Maybe I’m still dealing with the tail end of stopping my meds?  Her heart gave a painful squeeze at the thought that he might be a hallucination…not that the alternative was much better, but somehow the idea that her subconscious had created the perfect guy for her was oddly comforting, slightly disturbing, but comforting. 

She could be herself with him in her dreams.  All the witty things she always thought of after the fact rolled easily off her tongue.  She laughed at all his jokes and flirted like she never did in real life.  In return he smiled and laughed at her comebacks.  He was just so nice…almost too nice.  If he’d been real she would have questioned his motives.

He was so much nicer than any of the boys at school; it reminded her of a quote she saw on a t-shirt once: Boys are just better in books.  And though this wasn’t one of her many books, he felt exactly like one of the brooding mythological creatures or hunky heartthrobs that filled their pages.  All that seemed to be missing was either a pair of wings or a set of fangs. 

As he showed up night after night, she became startlingly aware of an even more worrisome idea: she was falling for him.  How is it possible to fall in love with someone that doesn’t exist, she wondered, but then remembered how her heart ached for the tragic heroes in all her books, feeling their pain like it was her own and they were merely words on a page.  It troubled her that she couldn’t wait for bed time, turning her light off earlier and earlier each night.  Effie noticed and mentioned something about mono.

Cordy’s last session with Dr. Barnes, her psychiatrist, had been awkwardly stilted as she searched for any topic that wouldn’t lead to her addiction to the subconscious figment of her imagination.

“So, how are you sleeping?”  Dr. Barnes sat back in her small club chair, legs crossed, a pad of paper balanced on one knee and a pen in one hand.  She gave Cordy an appraising look over her reading glasses.  Cordy tried to keep a straight face.

“Great!”  Her voice was overdone though and Dr. Barnes’s eyes narrowed. 

“Have you had any disturbing dreams?”  Her pen was now poised over her note pad, ready to jot down anything suspicious.

Oh, you mean like a gorgeous boy visiting me each night and making me fall in love with him?  “Nope.  I had some the first few nights but not since then.”  Not since he showed up.

Dr. Barnes made a small note but seemed disappointed.  Honestly, you’d think she wanted me to be a basket case.  She glanced up from her writing and asked, “So nothing unusual at all, anything that stands out?  Even the smallest detail could mean something.”

Cordy froze, Dr. Barnes wasn’t usually this pushy about something…not since her mother’s death, when she’d forced her to recount everything that had happened.  She’d said it would be cathartic.  It had been traumatizing.  “No, why?”

Dr. Barnes forced a smile and leaned back again.  “Just worried about you dear, of course.”  A small timer dinged.  “Well, time’s up!  I’ll see you next session.”  She flipped her notepad shut and moved towards her desk.

“Dr. Barnes, about that.  Don’t you think I could cut down to one session a month?  I spoke to my father and he said that would be fine as long as you were okay with it.”