Falling Stars by Marc962 (universal ebook reader .TXT) 📖

Falling Stars
By Marcus Adams
Chapter 1: The stuff of dreams

Alex stormed into his dorm room, slamming the door behind him, shaking the plaster walls for a moment before settling still once more. Alex hated College. He hated the world and everyone in it. Once again, like every other day ever since he arrived at Gibson College, the class treated him like crap. No, even worse than crap. He was constantly ridiculed and ignored by nearly everyone he had ever met, from his classmates here at the college, to the adults and even his family. It was his Mom and Dad’s flat all over again, he could even picture their little town house back in the west coast of England. They were never even his real parents to begin with, he was adopted. When he was five he truly believed with all his heart that his parents could not have hated him more. He was more wrong than he knew was possible. When he went to the church for his first baptism, the water burned his skin like acid. The priests called him a demon and even suggested an exorcism to his parents. Alex still had deep black scars on his back. Although in reality, the truth was that Alex wanted to be baptized, thinking since his parents were devout Catholics, they might like him better if he got baptized, became a part of something they actually liked to share the same air with. But ever since then, he was deemed a demon, a cursed child, and was constantly beaten brutally when his so called parents had any kind of problems, like money troubles or a bug infestation. Eventually, they just kicked him out of their house altogether and sold all of his belongings for bill money at age 6 except for the clothes he wore that night. And for the rest of his life, Alex lived with his kind and caring Aunt Matilda in America, the only real family he knew, the only person who not only accepted him unquestioningly, but even enjoyed his company. She helped him with school when he needed it, she supported his every decision and supplied him with whatever he needed. She had even taken him on little vacations a few times, like the zoo or the museums that you actually enjoy visiting. Before he left for college, she had given him a family heirloom, a golden locket with the letters TJ

inscribed on it, hung on a thin matching gold chain that used to belong to his real father. Ever since he got it, Alex never parted with it or accepted anyone’s suggestions of trading it or selling it. He never took it off for anything no matter what. At night, he would find himself rolling the golden locket between his fingers in the silence of the night. The strangest thing about it was that there was no latch or button to push to open it, only a small seem to suggest it could be opened. To this day he still didn’t know what was inside. He didn’t care though. Whenever he held the locket in his hands, he felt as if his real mom and dad were right behind him, watching over him like guardian angels. Alex ran up the steps into his dorm bedroom. As he got through the door he examined his dorm room. It was a room meant for two, but since everyone at Gibson College thought he was a freak of nature, no one dared to share the room with him. Now he had two beds, two desks, two lamps, a medium-sized closet, and two dressers, plus one sixteen-inch TV, one of each unused except for the TV and closet.
Alex quickly took of his tee-shirt and threw it onto the ground and lay down on his bed, wanting to quickly end the day. Alex stared at the ceiling from his bed. Moonlight shone through his window pane, casting a silvery glow on the ceiling, signaling it as night. Alex yawned then lazily let his eyes close, sleep overtaking him, shifting his long legs in the bed. It didn’t matter what he did, what he said. No matter what he was thinking of, he had the same dream every night, whether he liked it or not. As he drifted into sleep, the dream he had every single night came once again.

For several moments Alex saw nothing, felt nothing, and heard nothing, engulfed in a thick darkness that surrounded him. Then in an instant, he stood in the middle of an unbelievably beautiful and lush green forest, as if plucked straight out of a fairy tale book. The canopy was high overhead, the tall trees and green leaves around him allowing wisps of sunlight to sift through them. It was silent, but in a good way, as if the whole world itself was at peace, enjoying the tranquility. In front of him was a small clearing of land Alex knew well, the long lush green grass soaking in the sunlight that explored the lack of trees. As far as he could see, no animals frolicked in the forest. All sorts of flowers sprouted out of the ground in multiple colors and shapes Alex didn’t think were possible. A cool breeze blew through the trees, blowing the petals off of a nearby flower, each petal a different color, creating a flurry of colors to float through the air before falling to the ground. Truthfully, Alex enjoyed the scenery. It calmed his nerves and helped him think clearly. Alex turned in a circle, admiring the scenery and the blissful silence. And then he noticed it, and frowned deeply, this was different than before. He could smell the multi colored flowers scattered about, feel the cool breeze and the heat of the sun’s rays on his skin. Every other time he had this dream, he was always unable to move any part of him below the waist, unable to experience the forest's smell and feel. Alex slowly turned once again to face the clearing and saw the sight he saw every time he had this dream that stopped his heart and made him hold his breath.
In front of him stood the girl he saw in every single dream he had since he arrived at Gibson College. She wore only a short t-shirt and skirt made out of thick blades of grass woven together, as she did every time he saw her. Her eyes were a kind yet beautiful glimmering green, beautiful and priceless as emeralds. Her hair was the same green, long and elegant, reaching down to her waist, rippling and shining when the light hit it just right. Her lips were perfectly sized. Her body was magnificently curved and shaped, the closest to perfection anything or anyone could ever hope to be, as if god himself spent an eternity carving her himself. Her face was gentle and innocent yet fierce and daring, all at the same time. She was nearly as tall as Alex, with graceful long slim legs. Her skin was slightly pale, yet mesmerizing, like pale white woven silk. She stood in the tall grass barefoot, as if standing in her living room. Alex couldn’t help but smile at how dazzling she was. In the end, just being able to see her in his dreams was Alex's motivation to get up in the morning. Something seemed different about her this time though. She was smiling a dazzling smile of perfect teeth of peaceful happiness, as if she were sitting next to her oldest and closest friend. And she was closer to where he stood, almost close enough to touch. She was staring into space, as if she saw something no one else could, or as if she shared a small secret with the world. Then she did something she never did, something that made Alex's heart skip a beat. Slowly she turned toward him with her dazzling smile. Alex frowned. What’s going on

, he thought with a hint of curiosity. Slowly she took a step toward him, then another and another, the soft grass quietly crunching underfoot. Alex stood glued to the spot, unable to move himself from where he stood, his curiosity to see what she would do freezing him in his tracks. Soon her face was only a few inches away from his, her beautiful green eyes looking straight up into his own. Then she spoke in a voice that could have come from an angel. “I’ll see you soon, Alex.” Slowly, Alex reached up his hand to touch her cheek. His long slender fingers an inch from her face, the heat of her cheek warming the tips of his fingers, he reached out…

Alex snapped awake in his bed. His heart pounded painfully fast and hard in his chest like a jackhammer. Alex reached up his hand and grabbed the bare skin of his chest. He was covered in a cold sweat. What was going on?

He thought to himself. Not once in the dream did she acknowledge him, let alone talk to him. And how did she know his name? Slowly his heart slowed down and he looked at the clock on his nightstand. It was 3:23 AM. Alex sighed, he would never be able to go back to sleep, no matter how much he might've wanted to return to the dream. As he calmed himself, the girls’ words echoed in his mind over and over again. See you soon, Alex.

As Alex sat in the corner of geometry class, he noticed that once again, everyone was eying him funny from several desks away, leaving him isolated in the corner of the classroom once again. The class buzzed with conversation everywhere. The room had a nauseating scent of cheap perfume and rusted metal. Ever since the dream of the girl in the forest started last semester, everyone started avoiding him. Well, avoiding him more, anyways.
At first, before Alex started having that same dream over and over again, they would simply leave him alone, and every once in a while someone would ask him to help them out with their homework, or ask for his notes. After all, Alex got straight As’ year round in all his classes, and this was only his first year in. Nowadays, they straight out avoided him at all costs, even the teachers, as if he had some killer contagious disease. To them, it was as if he didn’t even exist. Alex examined his reflection in one of the windows to his left for a moment.
He was tall, five feet easy, and had an average build, with long legs. His skin was caramel-colored. His face was slightly angular and elegant, like a hawk. His eyes were as pale as the moonlight, the irises barely visible. His hair was a short, messy natural red color, amazingly, and lay flat against his scalp. He wasn’t ugly, if anything, he was rather handsome. And except for his slightly taller than average stature, he wasn't really different than the other students. So why did every one avoid him like he was an alien or something? Alex attended Gibson College, one of the strangest colleges around, known for its strange policies. For instance, no student was allowed to walk around campus after 8:00, except for those with special conditions and a paper saying so. It was also rumored to once be an infamous military base, filled with an intricate underground maze that laced itself throughout the school campus and even led in and out the campus.
Alex didn’t really care about that stuff though. His mind