Chapter 1 - The Drama Teacher
Lana, Clark, and Chloe walked through the fields and watched as kids all around played games and rode the rides that the July 4th party always brought in. Their junior year in high school was upon them, full of intrigue and hopefully some romance along the way. At least it was for Lana and Clark. Chloe glanced over at her friends that were arm in arm and smiled. At least two people in the world knew what they wanted and went for it.
Clark had been the doting boyfriend and against his parents wishes had sprung his secret on Lana. Expecting the worst, he was floored when she simply kissed him and continued on with their date as if nothing was different. Sometimes Chloe wondered if Clark really told her the whole story or the meteor infected version he had come up with. Shaking her head, she patted Clark on the arm and pointed off in the other direction.
"I'm going to go see what old Miss Pendergrast can do with my future. Care to join?" Chloe looked over at her friends.
"No, I think I'm pretty good not knowing my future of tests and math equations," Lana joked.
Chloe nodded her head and walked over to the tent and waited in the short line. Miss Pendergrast, the drama teacher at Smallville High, had always gone for the outlandish. Dressed as only a costume designer would dress a gypsy, she took couples or singles into a tent from last year's play and disappeared for a few minutes. When the people came from the tent, they all laughed and shook their heads.
"She's for real; ignore all those other people laughing," Chloe heard a young man say as he walked up to her. "I just hoped for something after seeing her and it came true. She's for real."
Before Chloe could say something back, the man was gone and she was at the front of the line. "Miss Sullivan, come on in and let me read your fortune. You know the future is only made from the fortunes you want to believe."
Chloe shook her head and waved back in Clark's direction before disappearing into the tent.
The tent was decorated with strange silk scarves and beads that she had never seen before. "Wow, this is really authentic, Miss Pendergrast."
"I couldn't read you a proper fortune in an old camping tent, now could I?" The woman moved to one side of a small table and begged Chloe to sit on the high cushion across the low table from her. "Now, I just want you to close your eyes for a few minutes. I need to read your soul."
Chloe closed her eyes and tried to not laugh. She knew that the woman was probably on her laptop trying to look in the school records for something to say about her. But the timing seemed so long, so Chloe tried to open an eye.
"I feel you cheating. Close your eyes little one." Chloe was taken back by the sly and wondrous thought that maybe the woman could feel her or was just cheating a little herself. After a few more minutes, Chloe felt her hand taken before someone whispered to open her eyes.
"Now, you had a lot of clutter of thoughts in your mind and your heart. You, my dear, are going to have to someday decide whether to chase the dreams in your heart or your head. For you amazingly, those dreams are not so far apart." The woman stopped and turned to look for something in a drawer.
Chloe watched as she laid down a small heart shaped notebook and smiled. "Now this is not any paper, there are only four pages. On the four pages, you will witness a name appear after four visions come to you in your sleep for the Gods have picked you to have a choice of four soul mates. The visions will occur in your lifetime, but be warned. The vision you pursue will be forever yours, but the visions you ignore will eventually return in kind. Now here," the woman handed the four page trinket to Chloe and quietly opened the tent curtain.
Chloe looked back at her drama teacher and realized the woman was born for what she did. Still shaking her, she walked back over to Lois and Clark sitting sharing a drink. "So what did the old lady tell you?"
"Well, I got this," Chloe chided as she threw the notebook on the table. Lana picked it up and flipped through it.
"There's only four pages. Hardly enough to write an article."
"Yeah, according to her, my soulmates' names will appear in there as I dream about them and then someday one of them will come true." She took the token and shoved it in her purse.
"That's funny, but what if it actually works." Chloe glanced at Lana. Lana, despite all her faults and attention issues, she was still as innocent and five as the day her parents perished. The girl lived for a fantasy to come true. Chloe wondered how long it would take before she finally grew up.
"Not going to happen. Look, I have to go. My dad is coming back into town tonight and I promised to have him real home cooked food when he got there." Chloe got up from the table and glanced back over to her teacher that simply nodded. She told herself that maybe she needed to schedule change to art this coming semester.
*******
Chloe burst out of bed and touched her face with her hands. The places that his lips had been were actually on fire. After calming her breathing down, she leaned over and pulled the little trinket out of the bedside table. Flipping to the first page, she saw the writing. Rubbing her finger against it, the print wouldn't smudge. She swallowed, buried the trinket at the bottom of the drawer, and curled up in bed, not to return to sleep.