In The Dreaming: Chapter Forty Five "The Bridge" (Fantasy Y/A Novel)

-I wrote the following novel nearly two decades ago. In the years between then and now I've honed my craft, and my perception of this world; my thoughts and ideas; have changed dramatically. However, I still enjoy the premise and have decided to do an overhaul of revisions and rewrites, though likely not until sometime next year. (Though I'm sure I'll do a little as I post chapters)

For now I hope you will enjoy a glimpse into my book writing beginnings...

They are the closest of friends though they have never met in waking life.

Prologue-PT1 Prologue-PT2 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

Chapter 23 Chapter 24 Chapter 25

Chapter 26 Chapter 27 Chapter 28

Chapter 29 Chapter 30 Chapter 31

Chapter 32 Chapter 33 Chapter 34

Chapter 35 Chapter 36 Chapter 37

Chapter 38 Chapter 39 Chapter 40

Chapter 41 Chapter 42 Chapter 43

Chapter 44

Chapter Forty Five

Aliyah stopped. “Do you hear that?”

“Hear what?”

“Shh, listen.”

They stood stock still, and there was a sound.

Aliyah’s eyes widened. “It’s a car!”

“It can’t be.”

“I’m pretty sure,” she started to run and then found herself standing at a T.

“Which way?” Collin prompted.

“Shh,” she said again and listened intently then pointed to the right.

They jogged quickly and found that they were coming out at the stream again, only this time it was a whole lot wider and the water was running a little more quickly.

They walked down beside it and looked around.

“Oh my goodness, look at that!” Aliyah clapped in excitement.

About a hundred yards to their left was a bridge crossing over the stream.

Collin just stared. “Do you think this is always here?”

“What do you mean?”

He coughed. “Well this is a dream right? What if it’s different every time?”

“I don’t think so. The places we go are always the same. What I want to know is, is this a real place?”

Collin nodded, “I’ve often wondered that.”

“What are we waiting for, let’s go.”

They made their way down the bank and stopped when they had gotten close.

“That’s pretty steep.”

There was an embankment that went way back in and part way up there was an overhang. From where they stood it looked like a cliff.

Aliyah walked up until she was almost under it. “There’s a kind of path right here.”

“You call that a path?” It was outlined like a narrow path, but there was nothing but sharp jagged rocks to hold onto, and it would be more climbing than walking.

“What’s the worst that can happen? We can’t get hurt here, can we? I’ve never woke up with cuts on my hands from falling or scratches from prickers. Have you?”

“Good point. Let’s go for it.”

“Or, we could walk around it and see if there’s an easier way.”

Collin shook his head. “I don’t want to waste anymore time. If we can’t make it then we can try that next time.”

He started up, grabbing hold of the rocks and roots, then jumped back down.

“Not possible?”

“No, I was just thinking that you should go first. That way I can help you if you slip or get stuck.”

“That’s so sweet, who would have known you were such a gentleman.”

“Hey, I’m always a gentleman.”

She started climbing and he followed. About ten feet up she got stuck. “I don’t see anything to grab onto from here. Maybe you should have gone first, that way you could have pulled me up.”

“I thought of that, but this is much safer. Okay, can you move anywhere to the left or right?”

Aliyah looked and saw that just within her reach to the right was another rock jutting out. She followed that up with her eyes and there were a few slim trees here and there that she might be able to grab. She inched along the very narrow ledge she was currently standing on and managed to grab the rock. This was going to be tricky, she didn’t see how she could climb up over it without help.

“I think you’re going to have to give me a boost.”

Collin moved until he was directly under and a little behind her. He managed to steady himself on one foot then pushed his knee up and against the dirt.

“Climb onto my knee and get up that way.”

Aliyah looked at it, then back at him. “Uh, I don’t know, what if I make you fall, then we’ll both tumble all the way down.”

“It’s all right, I’ve got a good hold, climb up.”

She chewed her lip, “Okay, here goes.” She managed to get up and grab a root over to the left and above the rock getting off his knee as quickly as possible.

“I think it gets a little easier from here, a lot more handholds.”

Slowly but surely they made their way up the side and finally they were looking at the last few feet. Aliyah pulled herself up onto the grassy ledge then held out her hand for Collin.

“Phew, that was hard work!” Collin laughed. They were sitting on the ledge looking down and Aliyah felt a little dizzy when she saw how far it was.

“If we had fallen and it was possible to get hurt here, we would have been really hurt.” She stated the obvious.

“Okay, let’s get up onto the road and see if there’s any road signs.”

Now that they had made it up Aliyah felt another surge of excitement. All this time, had this been here waiting to be discovered? They walked the last ten yards, and there was the road. At present there were no cars, if there had been Aliyah would have probably been a bit disturbed. Hearing them was one thing, but seeing them? Who would be driving them? This gave her a chill and Collin noticed.

“Are you cold?”

“What? No, I was just thinking that if we actually saw a car, who would be driving it?”

Collin nodded, “That occurred to me while we were climbing."

They looked at each other and looked both ways down the road. It was dark and all they could see was that on the left it went down a hill, and on the right it went straight. Woods surrounded it on either side of the road.

“No signs,” Collin mused, “I can’t get a feel for what part of the country we might be in. Do you want to walk down the hill? Maybe there’s a sign down there.”

“What else is there to do?”

They started walking and she was amazed at how long they were in the dream this time. It felt like hours and hours. She said as much and he agreed. Both of them were trying to decide if now was a good time to bring up the Long Island train, but they were equally worried about waking up before they got to wherever they were going.

“It curves up there,” Collin pointed down the road.

“I see it.”

“Maybe we’ll get lucky.”

Aliyah just nodded thinking, it’s not luck, if we’re meant to see more than we will.

When they were just about to the curve Aliyah felt something brushing at her hair. She whipped her hand up and then…

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