Dream Walker Read Online Free PDF Page B

ritual. There was also another house rule; don’t talk to Mom until she finished her first cup of coffee, but Aislen knew she was probably on her third cup by now, so it was safe for a conversation.
    “Hi, Mom.”
    “Mornin’, hon.” Sabine looked away from the window. “How’d you sleep?”
    “Not that good, actually.” Aislen didn’t really want to go into the details of her nightmare. No one ever really liked hearing people recount their dreams—good or bad. Dreams always seemed interesting to the dreamer, but to the listener? Not so much. “I tossed and turned all night. I must have too much on my mind.”
    “You? No way. Shocking!”
    “Yeah, I know.” It was the one thing her mother did nag her about—her all work and no play philosophy. Sabine never had an opportunity to play at Aislen’s age. Being a single mother, she couldn’t, and she didn’t want Aislen to follow in her footsteps by not enjoying some of the freedoms of youth. Aislen sat down at the table across from her mom, preparing herself for the latest.
    “You know, Aislen. I am really proud of you,” she began on cue. “Of how hard you work and how well you are doing in school...I am constantly amazed at how easily you are able to balance everything.”
    “But...” Aislen continued for her.
    “Yes, but —I really wish you would take an evening off every once in a while. Relax , for crying out loud! You know I wouldn’t mind if you wanted to have a little fun in your life. Why don’t you call Gen and have a girl’s night out?”
    Aislen sighed, feeling more than a little guilty. Genesis had been her best friend since kindergarten, when she and her mom first moved out to Empire; but Aislen hadn’t been a very good friend lately, too wrapped up in her schedule.
    You couldn’t have two more different people. While Aislen was serious, Genesis was more of a free spirit, a go-with-the-flow kind of girl, wild and mystic. Where Aislen gravitated toward science—facts and proof—Genesis explored weird things, like astrology, tarot cards, and alternative healing traditions. Aislen liked to tease Gen and call her “kooky,” but at the same time she was the easiest person to be around. Aislen always felt immediately at home in the presence of her friend.
    “Uh, yeah, I guess we could do that. I can call her later and see if we can hang out,” Aislen said, hoping the promise would appease her mother. She changed the subject. “How about you? How’d you sleep?”
    “Alright, I guess. But I should really stop watching the news first thing when I wake up. It sets the day off wrong.”
    Mom always worried after watching the news, like the chaos in the world would somehow leak into their lives and ruin all that they were working so hard to rise above. But, as much as her mom worried, it didn’t stop her from watching every 20/20, Dateline, TruStory, Forensic Evidence, Who-Done-It program that came on.
    “The world seems to be going crazy lately. Another big earthquake, if you can believe it. Freak tornados. More suicide bombings in the Mid East. Unemployment and foreclosures are up again this month...it never ends.”
    “Well, none of that affects us, Mom.”
    “No. Some of it might not, but there was a shooting in town last night. Some man was found shot in his house, with his son sitting all bloody next to him. They think the kid may have shot him.”
    Aislen stared at her mother. A creeping sensation wiggled across her back as she remembered the man in her dream getting shot by a little kid. “When did that happen?” Aislen asked, thinking maybe she’d heard it on the news before she fell asleep, which would explain her dream.
    “Early this morning. They weren’t giving out too many other details and I turned it off before they could. Modesto is still a small town when it comes to this stuff. I am afraid I will know these people somehow.”
    Aislen was distracted now. The murder had happened while she was sleeping—while she