––––––––
I woke with a start. My entire body jerked and I gasped loudly. Where was I? What was going on? What had happened?
"Christina Vaughn, if you're going to sleep in class, please do so quietly," a woman's voice said.
"What?" I breathed opening my eyes in complete confusion. A chorus of laughter broke out around me. Where was I?
"Nice one, Chris," a chortling voice whispered next to me. Sara Delach? My very best friend from high school?
"What?" I repeated
She just snickered at me and looked forward. I looked around. I was in my twelfth grade Physics class, and Mrs. Kachurick was at the front of the room lecturing. What in the world was going on here?
I touched my shoulders, but there was no sign of the knives. I was dressed in jeans, a Nirvana tee shirt, and an old flannel. My old maroon backpack was on the floor beside my feet. I dug around in the smaller front pocket until I found a small green compact. Flipping it open, I gasped at the image in the mirror. It was me. Only it was me when I was seventeen years old.
I couldn't think straight. I couldn't wrap my mind around what had happened. Had it all been a dream? Everything? Meric? Shaw? Jonus? Charis? The fighting? The unicorns? The Elves? Rayliex? Everything? A dream?
Maybe... but did that mean my entire life for the past twelve years had been a dream, too? No, that couldn't be. College and teaching all just a dream? No. So then what was this? What was happening to me? I didn't know what to do. I needed help. I needed answers, but where was I going to find answers?
Then it hit me. It wasn't where I was going to find the answers, it was who would give me the answers. If I'm in high school, Shaw is here somewhere acting as my Watcher. In my high school days Shaw had been disguised as Alex Lamont.
I knew he wasn't in this classroom. In my entire high school career I had only ever had one class with Alex Lamont, and that was last year's Government class. I remembered my sheer joy when Alex walked into the room on the first day and sat diagonally behind me. I would find any excuse to look over my shoulder at him. He was so attractive and his mesmerizing blue eyes hypnotized me. I never said more than two words to him in four years. I was too intimidated. A lot of people were. He was so good looking, with those blue eyes and black hair that was short around the sides but floppy on top—very stylish for 1991—that it made him naturally popular. Though, anyone could tell he didn't really desire the attention. He had a quiet mysterious confidence about him that people envied.
I had to find him, and I wondered how long until the bell rang to end this class. I searched in my old bag again and found the bell-schedule taped inside one of my binders. I thanked myself for being organized, and then I thanked God that the bell would ring in two minutes.
Yes, I thanked God.
Even though Charis talked to me in a very vague and cryptic way, she never lied to me. Why wouldn't she be right about the Creator? Why wouldn't she be right about God? Perhaps I wasn't a full-blown believer yet, but I was certainly heading down that path, and from what I understood, a person's journey with God was an epic adventure, not a flash in the pan.
I was antsy waiting for the bell to ring. I suppose I could have just gotten up and left the room. But then again, I had already drawn unnecessary attention to myself and I would never find Shaw if they forced me to the principal's office for running out of class without permission. I could make it two minutes... at least I thought I could make it two minutes.
I bounced in my seat and Sara cast comical looks in my direction. If I wasn't so desperate to see Shaw and figure out what had happened to me, I might have enjoyed talking to Sara. I hadn't seen her in years.
When the bell finally rang, I tore out of my seat and into the hallway as fast as my body would take me. People shot skeptical looks in my direction, but I didn't care. I scanned the hall, frantically searching for Shaw. Oh God, please show me what I'm looking for, I prayed over and over again in my head.
I spotted him.
He emerged from a classroom at the far end of the hall to my right.
"Shaw!" I screamed out. His head snapped in my direction, but then again everyone in the hall looked at me.
I ran down the hall toward him. All of my schoolmates that I had long since forgotten gawked at me like I was crazy, including Shaw. I threw my arms around him and many people gasped. Some snickered and I even heard one girl whisper, "What does she think she's doing? That's Alex Lamont." Like it was some sort of sin for me to touch Alex Lamont.
"What are you doing?" he asked, wrenching himself free of my embrace.
"Shaw—"
"My name is Alex," he said slowly, looking at me in disbelief, "What's the matter with you? Are you all right?"
"Shaw," I repeated, "you can cut the act. I know everything. I've been to Meric. But that doesn't matter right now..." I paused to catch my breath. "...it doesn't matter because I need your help. I think I'm dead."
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Look for
Future Savior Book Two: Resurrection