Prolouge

In the deep darkness of the night one of two things can occur. Either a person's mind slows and falls into a calm surrender or it accelerates and jumps in and out of itself in hyper drive. Most of the world's population experiences the calm, or at least they believe they do. They think that way because they can't recall anything of significance from their dreams or their calm time during sleep.

In truth, buried within the confines of a cluttered mind is a wealth of secrets pertaining to subconscious understanding of things the person is fully unaware of when awake. These secrets can be as unclear or as perfectly mapped out as possible, and often are of the first calabere. But what happens when the secrets hidden in a person's mind are so profoundly massive that they encompass an entire lifetime or more?

Then things start to get very very interesting. Especially when the secrets are unveiled.

Chapter 1

Early morning's gentle breeze made its way into an open window creating a swoosh sound as it touched the blue and green tinted glass and bead strands that completed the owner's room décor. Light softly reflected off the tiny pieces of glass onto the nearby bed and its occupant causing the figure to flip over in slumber taking the heavy royal blue comforter with it.

"Mnnn…" A rather unhappy moan came from the heap under the comforter and then a dragging sigh as a teenage girl popped her head out of the covers and glanced at the window with squinted eyes. "It's to early…" Charet grudgingly threw back the covers and swung her legs over the side of the bed, leaning forward to snatch her watch off of the top of a marble pedistal with a sheer blue fabric drapped over it. "Uh oh… late.." The girl moved across the room for the adjacent bathroom, stripping out of her sleep wear on the way.

The sound of running water echoed off the forest green walls as her shower began to work on her senses and wake her up. What was today again? Tuesday? She massaged shampoo into her shoulder length brown hair and tried to remember her dream.

This one had been real intense with a plot right out a typical teen movie but with more grit and emotion than could be found on celluloid. And that boy. She had heard of manifesting oneself or friends and family into your dreams but somehow it didn't fit. That boy may have looked like a few of her friends and had similar mannerisms but it wasn't any of them. She felt that with more certainty than she had ever felt anything before.

And the location. It seemed so familiar. That street. Those beautiful houses like miniature mansions. And that non-descript poolhouse. Just seeing the lay of that place had generated a kickstart to her dream self's hormones. She remembered that feeling more than anything because she knew it well. It was an intense need for gratification of a certain sort.

Charet stepped out of the shower and wrapped a towel around herself leaving her thoughts for another time. She had school in half an hour. Another late mark meant dentention and that was one thing she really did not need today. "Where's that other boot?" Great. Of all the things she could have misplaced this morning it had to be her other shoe. Wonderful.

A flicker of black caught her eye across the room and she wrenched open her closet door. "There you are!" Charet nabbed the boot like a releived parent who had just found its wayward child and pulled it on. She took her ankle length black skirt off the hanger and slipped it up over her hips, then riffled through her tops for a suitable choice. After a minute, she settled on a dark green tank top with wide straps and a scooping neckline. "Perfectly workable as always." She tugged a black leather, over the shoulder bag onto her arm and headed out, grabbing her black book bag on the way down the stairs and out the front door.

The boy from the dream popped back into her mind as she drove her old jeep to school. She shook her head to clear the image so she could focus. Where was this turnoff again? To the left? She flicked her blinker on and made her turn into what looked like a huge beige mansion. "This is school? Wow…"

Charet exited her car and surveyed the area with wide blue-green eyes. The place was huge. There was a courtyard like area and a big parking lot and a large stone stairway leading up to the school. She read the marquee and sighed. "Welcome to Harbor. Yeah, I feel real welcome." She cast a glance upward and trudged up the stairway.

"Hey! You in the way out of season outfit!" With a glance to her right, Charet saw a sprightly blond with bouncing curls and a bright smile coming toward her. "Yeah, You."

"Can I help you?"

The girl looked her over and sighed dramatically. "It's you who needs the help. I'm Sara. And you need some serious fashion coaching." She grabbed Charet's arm and began dragging her toward a door marked Women. "Ok. First, do you own make up?"

Charet blinked. "Excuse me?"

Sara smiled as she pulled her own see-through make up bag out of her D&B purse. "Unless you want to get absolutely humiliated by the label wearers, You need some."

"Will it get me through the day without being bothered if I consent to powder and eye-shadow?" Charet looked at herself in the mirror as she spoke. Maybe a little make up would be a good idea. Hide some of those red spots at least.

Sara nodded. "Totally. You come from anywhere special?"

"Well, actually. I'm a transfer from Newport Union. Some stuff happened and my parents decided to ship me and my perfect academic record elsewhere." Charet stole a sideways glance back to Sara. "We just bought this beautiful house over the summer. Actually, we got lucky. It was the Model Home for our neighborhood. Should have been a lot more than we paid for it."

Sara tilted her hand up to Charet's eye and proceeded to apply a blue eye shadow lightly. "I think I know why. You bought the catastrophe mcmansion."

"The what?"

"It's the nickname for that house. See, back in 03 it was burnt down, then it was rebuilt and around 05 or 06 a girl almost broke her neck when she went to visit her bf there and fell down the stairway. And then, in late 06.." Sara stopped and cast her eyes to Charet's. "In late 06 a boy blew his brains out in the upstairs bedroom on the left."

Charet felt her heart jump. That was her bedroom! She sucked in her breath. "Why'd he do it there?"

Sara clicked her tongue, moved her hand to the other eye and bit her lip in thought. "Oh! That's right. He was the kid who originally burnt the house down and it was his ex who almost broke her neck. The place was special to the couple or something. Anyway, a day or two after the 06 graduation, the boy and girl got run off the road and the girl died. It messed the boy up really bad and after a few months of well..dealing..he gave up and pulled the trigger."

Charet surveyed her made up self in the mirror. "No wonder we got the place so cheap."

"Yep. Nobody expected it would ever sell because of its history. Anyways, welcome to Harbor…um.."

Sara's pause made Charet realize that the girl still hadn't learned her name. "Sorry. Charet."

Sara nodded and shook Charet's hand. "Welcome to Harbor, Charet. And if you're really that curious about your house, ask Caitlyn Cooper. She was the girl's sister."

"Why do I get the feeling she isn't of the friendly sort?" Charet sighed and walked out with her new, self-appointed friend and make up specialist, Sara in pursuit.

"Well, she can be a little mean."

"Joy. Maybe I'm not so curious." Charet pulled a crumpled white sheet of paper out of her book bag and read it. "Smithers, Room A125." She looked around at the numbers above the doors.

Sara laughed. "Well, Charet, I'm right next door to that one. And as for Caitlyn, don't freak. I'm in with her crowd." She tugged on Charet's shirt and headed down the hall with her.

As the walked, Charet observed her new surroundings with wonder and worry. There were girls in the latest fashions and boys hanging around them like secret service men or something. High School Royalty. Great. She tucked a stray hair behind her ear and continued looking. They passed by some sort of lounge complete with coffee cart and couches and she couldn't help but gasp. Had she walked into an alternate universe or something?

Suddenly, there was a strange tingle going through her and she saw the boy from her dream again. He was standing there staring right at her with those swoon worthy blue eyes. She closed her own eyes quickly to evaportae the image and then reopened them. He was gone this time. But the tingle was still there. And something else.

Charet couldn't mistake the feeling if she wanted to. It was the same with those locations from her dream. This place was familiar. In fact, she was ninety-nine percent positive that she could navigate this entire school without a map. The reason was the thing she had a hard time believing. She knew it though. There was no possibility and yet no mistake; she'd been here before.

"Charet!" She glanced up into Sara's bewildered expression.

"Hmm?"

Sara laughed and shook her head. "Daydreaming already. You aren't supposed to do that until you're actually in class."

"Sorry.," She looked around the classroom and again felt like she had been here. "I want the one by the window. Sit with me?" Charet didn't wait for a response, she just walked over to the table she had designated and set her book bag on the top.

She and Sara were the only ones in the room so far and judging from the weird posters all over the wall this was a history course. Excellent. History was her ace in the hole. She sat down at the table and retreated to her thoughts when Sara didn't join her.

This was just too weird now. First the dream, then actually projecting his image inside the school. And the story of her house. That was a hard pill to swallow. A depressed boy had commited a very messy suicide in her own room just a few years ago. And of course that sudden tingling feeling and positive familiarity with this place and the places from her dream. Was she losing her mind? With a year like hers, it was possible.

For the first time in so many weeks, she let her mind drift to that night. She could see it all clearer than she wanted to. The fight, the fall, the stark white sheet they covered him with. She could feel her eyes getting teary as the memory took shape in her mind.

It was dark and windy up on the bluff. James had his hand around her waist as they sat together star gazing. Then everything changed. They heard the shots and dropped to the ground, him covering her with his body. The gunman had come out into the open and saw them, realizing he'd been caught in the act. James had wrestled with the other boy when he'd lunged toward her. They wrestled, rolling right over the bluff and hitting the ground below with a bone cracking thwack. She'd crawled over the edge and peered down. James hadn't made it. And there was so much blood.

A gruff male voice shook Charet from her thoughts. "Read Chapters 1,2, and 3 for tomorrow." Uh oh. She had completely spaced during her first class. This was not the way to make the teacher like her.

The bell rang signaling time for departure and she walked over to the teacher. He looked up in surprise and greeted her with a quizzical expression. "I see you came back to Earth, Ms. Connors."

"I'm sorry, sir. There was no excuse.." The man held up a hand to halt her speech and she obliged.

"I'm willing to overlook it this once. I understand that getting back into the swing of things may be hard after your tragedy." He waved her off and she left the classroom in a fog.

What was next anyway? And what had happened to Sara? She glanced up and down the hall quickly scanning for her but there was no sign. Oh well. She felt her feet take a mind of their own as they lead her to her next class without a single look at the map. That feeling of familiarity was still there and it was getting stronger.

As she drifted into her next classroom, she spotted a pretty redish-brown haired girl in a plaid skirt and a rather revealing white top sitting at the table by the window. She was surrounded by a laughing group of similarly dressed girls who were avidly listening as she spoke. Charet stopped cold. She knew she'd heard it. And it had come from her own mind. One word. Sister.

Just then, the group of girls waved her over. "Charet!" It was then that she noticed Sara sitting with her back to the door. So that meant one thing. This was Caitlyn and her posse. Great. A regular Danial in the lion's den moment. She hustled over and took a seat across from the redish-brown haird girl. "Hey.." Her voice was small even to her own ears.

The girl acknowledged her with a minimal nod. "Caitlyn Cooper." Then proceeded to introduce the rest of the girls. "Mary Davis. Ginger-Anne Pierce. Carmon Smalls. And Sara Wright. You know her already." She smiled a fake smile.

Charet nodded to each girl and smiled back. "So you're Caitlyn? When the time is better, let's talk a minute?"

Caitlyn nodded and then everyone turned their attention to the front of the room. The teacher had walked in. Charet took one look at the foreign woman in front of her and froze. Another thought pushed itself into her thoughts. Dr. Kim. She's a principal not a teacher? She ignored the unwelcome comment and listened.

The woman clasped her hands together in front of her and looked out at the faces of the students. "Welcome to PreCal. Your teacher, Mr. Franklin couldn't be here in time today so he asked me to fill in for a while. I'm sure you all know me, but in case there are any new faces, I'm Dr.Kim, your princpal."

That did it. Whoever was in her head had her full attention now. Charet was officially unnerved and annoyed. Who are you? She screamed inside her mind. There was no response.

She gave up and focused on the lesson. If the intruder was giving her the silent treatment then fine. She needed to focus on her studies anyway.

An hour and some odd minutes later, the bell rang and suddenly everyone was gone. Charet blinked and got to her feet. That feeling was back again.

Ty Harris shook his head as that stupid feeling came back for the fourth time today. What was this? Ever since last night, he'd had this weird sensation of some sort. It was that dream. He knew it. And the girl in the dream. Wow. He ran a hand through his blond hair and sighed. A week of these dreams and he still didn't know what was going on in his head.

He shut his locker and turned to head down the hall, knocking directly into a dazed, but beautiful girl about his age with brown hair and blue eyes. "Oh..hey..sorry.." He lifted her back to her feet and smiled.

She studied him carefully and then fainted.

Ty kneeled down and lightly patted the girl's cheeks in an effort to wake her. "Hey..come on..wake up.." He looked up as the hall became deserted. Now what? She didn't look like she weighed much, maybe he could carry her to the nurse's office. He slid an arm under the back of her knees and the other across her back just where her bra would sit. Carefully, he got to his feet and walked with her weightless in his arms.

There was that tingle again. Then it was if he was back in his dream. He carried another girl across the backyard and into a poolhouse, where he laid her on the bed and covered her with a black sheet. Suddenly, there it was again. That weird sensation of someone else being in his head. The sentence came out clear as a bell. This always felt so right, having her in my arms. That was the second time today. Who are you? He questioned the other entity in his mind as he continued toward the nurse's office. There was no response. Just the overwhelming feeling of familiarity with this girl. He looked down at her and absolutely believed love at first sight. But he was aware this wasn't just his own views.

Ty kicked the bottom of the closed door to get the nurse to open it. He cast his eyes over the girl in his arms and smiled. This really did feel right.

The door opened and a portly woman in her late forties smiled at him. "What happened?"

He shrugged and stepped into the clinic room. "I knocked into her and helped her to her feet and she just fainted."

The nurse hmmed and ohhed a few minutes as she examined the unconscious girl and then turned back to him. "She should go home. I have her address. Would you mind carrying her home, Ty?"

Ty thought about it a minute and then agreed. "Yeah." He looked back at the girl and then away. "What's her name?"

The nurse laughed. "Charet. It says….oh…so it was her family." She caught Ty's eyes and finished the thought. "She lives in the model home."

He fell back in shock. No way! They had sold it! After all that tragedy there? Her parents must not be aware. "Oh.." He picked her up once more and headed out to the parking lot with his and her early dismissal forms.

Ty buckled her into the passanger seat of his Range Rover and backed out. He had to think a minute to clear his head. He'd never seen it on the inside, and yet he saw it mapped out in his head like he lived there. When in fact, he lived next door.

He reached the house and searched her purse for the key. There wasn't one. Ok. Now what? He backed out of her driveway and parked in his own. He'd just take her to his place then. Ty picked her up in the same gentle manner and carried her into the backyard. Now this was very familiar. This was what he'd dreamed. Except he'd been carrying a different girl. He crossed the pool area and opened the poolhouse door. At this point, his feet were leading him all on their own. He laid her down and pulled his sheets up to her chest, his hands grazing it and his face a breadth away from her own. An electrical charge went through his body and he collapsed on the nearby sofa.

What was that! He'd heard of having sparks before but that was like an instant match light. He felt like his entire body had burst into flames at the most innocent of touches. Weird. Ty sat up on the sofa and rested clasped hands on his knees. He had to figure this out before he went bonkers. He looked over the still unconscious girl on his bed and sighed, she didn't look like she'd be awake any time soon.

Ty yawned, surprised to find he was tired so early in the day, and stretched out on the sofa for a nap. Maybe he'd dream about that girl again.

Charet's eyes fluttered open and focused on a white ceiling with a bamboo like fan that she definetly did not recognize. She leaned up onto her elbows and watched as the gray sheets fell off her upper body. Those were not her sheets. Where was she? Her confusion mounted as she looked around.

It was the poolhouse from her dream! She stood up and cast nervous glances all around. That feeling of familiarity was heightened to a buzzing in her body. Charet spotted the boy from school laying on a sofa lost in sleep and was struck by the overwhelming need to touch him. On their own, her feet moved across the wooden floor and stopped in front of the sofa. Ignoring her mental protests, her hand reached out and traced the frame of the boy's face with a barely there touch. RYAN. The voice in her head echoed the name over and over in an amazed tone.

She pulled her hand away and felt her knees buckle. Something was unwilling to let her leave this boy's side. She sighed and sat there watching him sleep. Just so you know, she addressed the person in her head, I feel like I'm stalking this guy. Again there was no response. Feeling less attached, she tried to move away again and nearly collapsed from the minimal effort. There was no way she was going anywhere her body told her as its functions shut down. In defeat, she slumped down to the floor half curled into the fetal position but with one arm up near her face and the other laying across her stomach.

"Mnnn….." Ty opened his eyes and took a minute to register where he was. The poolhouse. He shifted to a sitting position and suddenly a shot of terror went through him. The girl was laying on the floor without breath! He kneeled down and started to check her pulse when his world changed.

Now he was kneeling over the girl from his dreams in a dark alley. He moved her hair from her face and patted her cheek begging her to open her eyes. Then he picked her up and carried her out of the alley with a feeling of dread coursing through his body.

A quick blink and he was back in his poolhouse looking down to the girl from school as she laid in the same position as the girl from the vision. Without a thought, he picked her up in his arms and laid her down on his bed again. As he gazed at her sleeping form, he had the overwhelming urge to kiss her.

Are you crazy! He shouted to his mind even as he leaned over. No. You can't do that! She'll wake up and freak out! He kept shouting but the feeling was pulling his body all on its own. He had no say, and truth be told he really didn't mind kissing this girl. He just would have rather had her awake. Softly, his lips touched hers and one word echoed in his mind like a ricocheting bullet. MARISSA. The sound was breathy and passionate.

Ty immediately pulled back, his palm coming into contact with the girl's arm. There was that electrical charge again! He sucked in his breath and put a hand to his head.

"Who're you?" The girl was staring back at him as she laid on the bed.

He started to respond when a thought was thrust into his mind. WHO EVER YOU WANT ME TO BE. And then, he was saying it outloud. "Whoever you want me to be."

Charet stared up at this boy and smiled. "Ok.." She sat up and tried not to focus on how much this boy looked like the one from her dreams. "Charet." She extended her hand.

He smiled and kissed it. "Ty." Another electrical charge went throught him and he released her hand. Obviously, if he wanted to keep his senses he couldn't touch her.

She looked around and then caught his eyes. "You're gonna think I'm crazy but I feel like I know you, know this place."

Ty couldn't have been more surprised if she had just confessed to murder. She was having the same weird feelings! "I definetly don't think you're crazy.." He put a hand to her cheek and smiled. "because I feel it too." Again that word echoed in his mind. MARISSA. MARISSA.MARISSA.

Charet held her breath as that name repeated itself again. RYAN.RYAN.RYAN. She studied him a minute and then gathered courage. She opened her mouth to speak, catching his gaze as he did the same.

"Ryan?"

"Marissa?"

The names came at the same time and they were left staring at each other in confusion as a long silence insued. Finally speech came back to them and Ty was the first to question.

"Who's Ryan?"

Charet shrugged and softened her voice. "I don't know, and yet I do. He's you." She tilted her head at him. "Who's Marissa?"

Ty gave a little shake of his head. "Don't know. But then, it's the same as with your Ryan guy. I feel like you're Marissa."

"Joy. We're both crazy." She laughed.

"Sounds like it." He smiled at her.

Charet cruled her legs under her and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. "So how'd I get here?"

"Carried you."

"Hope you didn't throw out your back."

He shook his head. "You were weightless."

She laughed. "Not likely.."

"Felt like it." Ty took her hand again and brought it to eye level. "This may seem like a weird question, but how does it feel when we touch?"

Charet could only think of one word. RIGHT. So she said it. "Right."

He nodded in complete understanding. "For me too."

That electric feeling came again and this time he let it lead him into another kiss. A soft, sweet, kiss. A first kiss that felt like a hundredth. Like he had kissed her many times before. But he hadn't. Ever.

She could feel her entire body melt into the kiss. Her stomach was doing flips and her mind was all over the place, but it was all too familiar. As if she had been kissing this boy for years. But she hadn't.

Ty pulled back from the kiss and looked at her. "Wow…"

Charet smiled. "Back at ya." She could feel her cheeks coloring and kind of turned her head. "So..Ty, um..my turn to ask weird questions."

He looked at her cautiously, afraid she would ask if he was having hormonal issues or something, which he sort of was considering an unknown entity was in his head and shouting at him to touch her again."Yeah?"

"Have you been dreaming about me?" She let the question hang in the air.

Ty thought about it before responding. Had he been dreaming about her? It had looked like her for sure. And that weird feeling of familiarity radiated when she was around the same as with the dream girl. "I think…I have..only you don't look like you."

Charet pursed her lips in bewilderment. "Explain."

He looked around the room a minute and then shook his head. "I don't think I can."

"It's ok." She rested a hand on top of his knee. "I think this is all to confusing to deal with as strangers."

Ty listened as he mentally did everything he could to focus on her voice and not something more pervish. In his mind, he was busy helping her out of her shirt, his body on hers and propping himself up with his arms. And then he saw her face. It wasn't Charet; it was the dream girl. Marissa. "Marissa…" It just came out before he could stop it, and then every little bit of control he had disappeared. He leaned forward and kissed her again, this time it was forceful and aggressively passionate, as he put an arm behind her back and lowered her to the bed. He covered her throat with hot, breathy kisses and moved his hands under her shirt. What was he doing? His hands and lips were working in ways he had never used them before, and yet it felt as though he had.

Charet could feel her heart pounding as his lips touched her throat and his hands moved up her body like hungry animals. She closed her eyes and tried to relax into his touch.Ryan. The word appeared in big bold letters across her mind and she let it go. "Ryan…" It came out raspy and unsure as he moved his face to hers.

Ryan stared out of new eyes as he smiled at Marissa. It had been to long. His body was begging him to continue and his mind was screaming for him to stop. Wait. That wasn't his mind. This voice was angry and scared. STOP. WHOEVER YOU ARE, STOP. Reluctantly, he did.

Marissa looked up to Ryan in wait. To have him be with her again. It had been to long, to painfully long. She eased a hand under his shirt and curled a finger around his belt loop. Her body was carrying her on a high wave of passion as she laid there breathing brokenly. And then, like a door slamming in her face, her mind started demanding for her to stop. The frightened and furious words echoed inside her head, NO.NO. STOP. PLEASE STOP. And then she was shoving Ryan off of her and standing up.

Ty fell off the bed and sat there stunned. What the h had just happened? He looked up to a terrified Charet as she cowered by the door, her eyes wet with fresh tears. "Charet..I.." What could he say? Sorry, my alter ego just got loose? No. He walked closer to her and held out his hand in a gesture of peace. "I don't know what that was, but it wasn't me. I'm not like that."

Her mind was spinning as she focused on his face. "I know…" She flicked her eyes to his hand and then stepped closer, taking it. "As crazy as it sounds, I think our minds are being overtaken by the unknown presence in them. For you, it's some guy named Ryan. And for me, this girl called Marissa." Ok. Even to her, she sounded like her bedroom should have nice padded walls.

He nodded. "Does it prove I'm losing it when that actually makes sense? And I think they are or were in love. The way my mind was hollering at me to touch you.." He looked down. "It was like he had to have her in his arms. Like he had waited years. The longing was mindblowing."

She knew exactly what he meant cause she had felt it too. " I think I better go before Ryan and Marissa try to overtake us again. I'll see you at school tomorrow. Ok." Charet patted his shoulder and exited the poolhouse, running across the backyard.

Ty sat on his bed with clecnched fists as he seethed. What is wrong with you! He shouted at the intruder in his mind. I don't mind being your outlet but don't you ever take me over like that again! Charet was scared to death I was going to hurt her! He wasn't expected a response so when one came he had to ask it to be repeated. I DIDN'T MEAN TO SCARE HER. I JUST MISS HER SO MUCH. The answer was given in a whisper tinged with tears. He sighed, ok just explain something to me. Why are you in my head? Again, no answer came. Great, Ty grumbled as he fell back on the bed. He yawned as his eyes became heavy and his mind began to wander to the girl in his dreams. Finally, he fell asleep.

Back at her house, Charet dropped onto her bed and pounded her fists into her pillow. Hot tears rolled down her cheeks and her voice was raw from screaming. It was a good thing nobody was home yet. She had rushed home, slammed the door and hollered till her voice died. Her head was pounding now and she felt like strangling this girl in her head. How could you? She silently demanded. HE MAKES ME LOSE MYSELF. Wonderful, she spat wordlessly. I MISS HIM EVERYDAY. Look, she thought hard to make her tone known, I don't have a problem with you borrowing me to reach him, but let me know first. Don't ever put me in that kind of situation again. I almost slept with a guy I'd only known three hours! The response was soft. OK. Without warning, she felt really tired and closed her eyes thinking about the boy in her dreams.