In The Dreaming: Chapter Thirty "Awkward" (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.
.jpeg)
Prologue-PT1 Prologue-PT2 Chapter 1
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 Thirty
But some part of him wished he could just leave his childhood behind him for good.
He walked down to a payphone and dialed John’s number instead.
Katherine answered. “Hello?” she sang.
“Hi Katherine, it’s Collin. Is John there?”
“Oh hi honey! No, John’s at the university.”
“The university?”
“Didn’t he tell you? He may be taking a job as a professor at Stonybrook.”
“Really? No, he didn't mention it.”
“Oh, well he had put in his resume and application, but he really didn’t expect to hear about a position for at least a year. Then the English Literature professor passed away unexpectedly and they gave him a call.”
Collin was silent wondering why John hadn’t told him about it.
“Are you all right Collin?”
“Yeah sure. I was just out visiting my family.”
“Oh, why don’t I pick you up and take you to dinner then? I was going to eat alone, I would love the company.”
Collin thought about this. He knew that he would hear about her new-found faith and wasn’t sure if he really wanted to. Then again he might better understand what John was going through.
“Collin, are you there?”
“Yes I’m here. Okay that sounds good, thank you. Would you mind picking me up at the deli by my house?”
“No, not at all.” There was a question in her voice but he ignored it.
“I’ll be there in half an hour, okay?”
“Okay.”
He hung up the phone and went inside the deli to wait. This should be interesting he thought. He loved Katherine, really he owed it to her to see where she was coming from. He didn’t want to think negatively about her just because she and John were not seeing eye to eye.
True to her word she pulled up thirty minutes later. He headed outside and smiled broadly at her and she returned it as he climbed in the passenger seat.
“How is school going?” she asked as she pulled away from the curb.
“Oh great, really great. I think I’m going to Cornell next year.”
“Yes, John mentioned that to me. He said you were going to look at the campus next weekend?”
“Yup.”
“That will be nice, a weekend upstate, just the two of you.”
Collin nodded. He felt a little uncomfortable knowing so much about their personal life and all of the sudden wished John had kept it to himself. Then again he had asked and what kind of friendship would they have if they didn’t talk about such things?
“Can I assume that John told you we were having a bit of trouble lately?”
Collin shifted in his seat, really uncomfortable now.
“It’s okay, I know you two are very close.”
Collin still said nothing, wondering if there was something he should be saying.
“He told you about my new beliefs, right?”
“Yes,” he had to say something.
“Would it be a breech of his trust if I asked you what he said about them?”
“I don’t know. Not too much, just that you had become very serious about your faith and he didn’t understand some of it.”
She smiled sadly. “Oh how I wish I could just transfer my faith right to him! Collin, I know that you didn’t grow up in a home with faith so it must seem extra strange to you, but I’m telling you, it’s amazing!”
“I don’t have much experience with things of God.” He thought of Bright Eyes and said, “But I do have a friend that believes the same things you do.”
“You do? John never mentioned that.”
“He wouldn’t, I’ve never told him about her.” Collin realized he was actually considering telling someone about his dream girl.
“Her? A young lady friend then.”
“Yes.”
“Does she have a name?”
Collin laughed out loud at this, startling poor Katherine.
She chuckled too, misunderstanding “Well of course she has a name, what is it?”
“No, actually I laughed because…I don’t know her name.”
Katherine glanced at him, confused. She was pulling into a restaurant parking lot and waited until she was parked to respond.
“I’m sorry... you have a friend whose beliefs you know but whose name you don’t? Oh, she must be one of those internet friendships, am I right?”
Collin almost lied then. It was a perfect cop out. Instead he said, “I’m going to tell you something I have never told anyone, and actually never thought I would because most people would think I was crazy.”
“Well now, this sounds intriguing,” she smiled encouragingly.
“The girl I’m talking about is a girl I met in a dream, literally,” he began, “Maybe we should go in and order, this could take awhile.”
“Perfect, let’s go, I am dying to hear about this dream girl!”
They went inside and sat at a corner table where Collin continued the story and found himself telling her everything he could remember.
Enjoy my writing style?
Buy Your copy of The Allies of Old: Reborn
HERE-page-001%20(1).jpg)
Check out my new author's website: https://www.linnetmclaughlin.com/
Have you filled your witness votes?
Check out these passionate and competent souls:@ocd-witness, @pharesim, @yabapmatt, @teamsteem, @steempeak, @steemgigs, @dragosroua; then go to https://steemit.com/~witnesses
Perhaps, thanks to the contrast, after reading this post, my thoughts returned to the previous one. The words of anger of his brother, they sounded bad, but then I realised, the anger has its roots in his feelings of bitterness, that he does not measure up. We rarely get upset if this happens with a stranger or friend, and yet, there always seems to be a degree of bitterness for those who feel that someone in their family is admired and paid more attention.
Also, is there one person who has not at some time exploded and spoken their mind, unable to stop themself and without caring who they hurt?
I think the important difference is that most of us regret it and try to make amends. It is those who do not, who lock up that hurt and anger within them, until it curdles and turns to hate - leaing them on a path to hardness and sometimes, crime.
Empathy says, I understand how and why you feel this way...but true empathy also takes a look at how you handle it and judges you. The exact same suffering makes some people become almost saints and others it turns into dark demons. It is why I say empathy also judges, for we always have the choice of how we allow the past to affect us.
I just wanted to let you know that I’m still reading but sometimes skimming coz your dialogue in particular is killing me 🤣 reminds me so much of my terrible cringey stories when I was probably somewhere in the same age range as you were when you wrote this 😆 (but mine shall remain on my sister’s bookshelf at home and never be seen outside and was actually really awful 🤣)
I’m also looking forward to an overhaul of this one 😄
Posted using Partiko iOS
It is so cringe, I know, haha! I honestly look forward to doing the overhaul, I still love the idea- and the characters with some work and development ;) It's funny to see where I was at at that point in time.
Thanks for stopping in!
Hi, @dreemit!
You just got a 21.32% upvote from SteemPlus!
To get higher upvotes, earn more SteemPlus Points (SPP). On your Steemit wallet, check your SPP balance and click on "How to earn SPP?" to find out all the ways to earn.
If you're not using SteemPlus yet, please check our last posts in here to see the many ways in which SteemPlus can improve your Steem experience on Steemit and Busy.