Far and Away

He came rushing up to me, helping collect the things that had fallen out of the box. I snapped out of my state of shock in time to help him pick up the fallen items.

“Stella. Welcome home,” he said, a warm smile gracing his face. I opened my mouth, but no sound came out, so I closed it, unable to form any coherent words. He laughed and stood up, everything back in the box.

“So did you figure it out yet?” he asked. I must’ve looked incredulous because he laughed again and walked out the door.

“I’ll see you around! It was nice to meet you Mrs. Lee,” he said, and with that, he strolled out my house, and to the one directly across from mine. My mother came to the stairs and looked up at me.

“Are you alright sweetheart? You look a little pale. That Dalton seemed like a nice guy.”

I nodded my head, still unable to form words. She seemed satisfied and walked away. I was finally able to move and ran down the stairs, the box forgotten on the steps.

“Mom! Wait! Didn’t he seem familiar to you at all?” I asked, my hands shaking slightly. She thought for a moment.

“No. Should he?” she asked. I sighed. So they had really picked this town at random then.

“Umm. No. I’m going to go upstairs to finish unpacking.”

With that, I ran back to the stairs, grabbing the box and running to my room. I sat on the floor in the middle of the room. Dalton remembered me, and the dream Dalton had been telling the truth when he told me that he was sharing my dreams.

I guess I had convinced myself that it was just a bunch of nonsense that stemmed from the fact that we were moving to Ayslee, Dalton’s town. I had grown to believe that the dreams were just dreams and nothing else. But now, I didn’t know what to think. They were real scenarios, and I didn’t know how to respond to that.

I sat in the middle of my floor for a long while, pondering what had happened with Dalton today, my first day in this new town.



I woke up, my back killing me. I stretched and looked around, disoriented. When I had gotten my bearings, I stood up and walked out of my room, descending the stairs into the kitchen.

“Hi honey. The Millers are coming over for dinner in a few minutes. Why don’t you go get ready?” my mom said, wiping her hands on a towel. Our kitchen was pretty well organized for only having been here a few hours.

I nodded and returned to my room, internally groaning. Dalton and I had already been very well acquainted, but it would still be weird.

I pulled the things that I needed from the floor as I had dumped everything from the boxes. I hopped into the shower and washed quickly, hopping back out. I dressed in a cute pair of long, dark washed skinnies with a brown and blue plaid button down. I quickly twisted my hair into a French twist, applied some eyeliner and headed downstairs again. I arrived at the bottom step to find the entire Miller family standing in our foyer. I ascended a few steps so they couldn’t see me. I peeked around the corner, watching the interaction.

“Hi! Please come in. Sorry for the mess, we’re not quite done unpacking and getting everything put up yet,” my mother said, ushering them into our kitchen/dining room area.

Once out of sight, I jumped the last few steps and headed into the dining room. As soon as I entered, the Millers looked up. My heart jumped in my chest. They looked just as I had remembered them, maybe a little older. I felt tears in my eyes as many happy memories came flooding back. I blinked quickly and walked over to them.

“Hi Mrs. Miller, it’s so nice to see you again. How have you been?” I said, giving her a hug.

My parents looked puzzled. I watched their faces as comprehension dawned on both.

“Well hello Stella. I’ve been great. What about yourself? You look fabulous young lady!” she said, standing back and taking in my appearance.

“I’ve been pretty good I guess. This move has been extremely tough on me, but I’m sure I’ll become acquainted with this town soon enough,” I replied, glancing at my parents. They looked sheepish. It seemed as if they felt they had let me down.

“Hi Mr. Miller,” I said, shaking his hand, “it’s great to see you again.”

“You as well my dear. You as well.”

I had deliberately saved Dalton for last, trying to postpone the meeting.

You can’t keep me waiting here forever Stell.

I jumped slightly at the voice in my head, but passed it off as shivers.

Dalton? I asked incredulously in my head. How is this even possible?

I saw him smile from the corner of my eye. I took quick action then and there. I needed to talk to him, face to face using my voice, without adults around.

“Hey mom? Why don’t you show the Millers to the table. Dalton and I will be there in a few,” I said, ushering the adults to the table. My dad broke out the wine, and I knew we had a few minutes to ourselves. I walked back over to Dalton and pulled on his hand, dragging him upstairs.

“How in the world did that just happen?” I asked, my voice shaking slightly. He smiled at me, his warm, beautiful smile.

“You still haven’t figured it out yet?” he asked, a hint of amusement lacing his voice. I stared at him, trying to figure out what he meant.

“No…” I said slowly, a few pieces falling slowly into place. His face showed that he knew I was getting onto something.

“Tell me your ideas Stella.”

I took a deep breath. I felt a blush creeping into my cheeks; they were totally ridiculous, and had never been voiced. Now, Dalton was practically forcing me into telling him.

“Well.. I had a few. They didn’t seem possible so I pushed them out of my mind. One was that maybe I was going crazy, and the dreams were just insanely real?” I said, the last part pulling up into a question. He didn’t say a word, that smile still on his face. It wasn’t a patronizing smile, but more of an encouraging one. I took his silence as a ‘no’ and tried again.

“Okay. I then thought that maybe I had hit my head and was having hallucinations, but the problem was, I didn’t remember hitting my head on anything.”

He laughed at that one, his green eyes crinkling when he laughed. I sighed, wringing my hands together. The last one was a bit out there, but I had a feeling it was the right answer.

“My final thought is that maybe we’re soul mates?” I said, the sentence trailing off to barely above a whisper.

Hit the nail right on the head. he said to me, his eyes never leaving mine. I gasped.

So that’s why all those freaky, weird, dream thingys were occurring and that’s why we can do this? I asked, disbelief colouring my thoughts. He nodded his head and grabbed my hands, pulling me into a hug. My eyes were wide in shock, my brain still trying to absorb this new found information.