Prologue
Ever since Adelia was a little girl, she’d wanted to visit Austria. She longed to see the living hills, the laughing brooks, and the Edelweiss, the promises of her favorite musical, The Sound of Music.
Just as in the movie, the hilly meadows spread out before her were a fresh green, and the trees were really tall. Wildflowers and goats dotted the landscape. It certainly was beautiful, so unlike what she had pictured in her mind growing up. So much better.
But this was impossible. It had to be a dream. She shut her eyes, ignoring the morning sun she basked in.
The dream was so real.
No, is real. She corrected herself, suddenly unsure. It feels real. Was this what Natalia was talking about? Lucid dreaming?
She inwardly groaned. She’d heard that it drained energy and that people woke up tired. She couldn’t risk it. She didn’t like that her very first lucid dream was on something she really wanted. Instead, she would have rather been awake, procrastinating, and dreading the deadline for her senior project.
If she didn’t finish it in two days, she couldn’t graduate and go with her friends to Orlando for their senior trip.
“Wake up,” she whispered, hoping that she could wake up from this life-like dream and try to get better sleep. Just this time without a dream.
Instead of her neon-lit room, she opened her eyes to the bluest sky. She looked around once more to find herself still sitting on wicker chairs in a whitewashed veranda. Instantly, fresh air rushed past her, fluttering her long brown hair in the wind.
Adelia frowned. Her hair was just recently dyed black and pink after she hated how a brown bob looked on her.
She picked a lock of her dream hair, the longest it had ever been since, well, ever. As she twirled it between her fingers, regretting how her real hair looked, she was bombarded by another gust of wind, mixed with a hint of an incredibly familiar cologne. It smelled nice, yet made her sneeze right away.
“Gesundheit.”
It felt so real, she wondered if she’d sneezed in real life, too. She paused. Who said that?
“Addie,” a man’s voice spoke from behind her, followed by heavy footsteps. “It seems like there is a lot of wind today. Would you like to have lunch inside instead?”
For the first time, Adelia moved her head back. Her eyes met his, and her lips moved with recognition.
“Are you Luca Whitfield?” she suddenly said, realizing that the whiff of cologne she smelled was his. No one else had such eyes. In a place where everyone’s, including hers, was a striking blue, his jet black eyes, the color of the night, stood out. “Luca from Mr. Albrecht’s class?”
“I am,” he responded with his pretty smile and the nod of his head. She almost swooned. He looked older and mature. His face was a little unshaven, and his dark locks were cut straight. If this was what he would look like in the future, when they meet each other at high school reunions they’ll have in 10 years, she would ask him to marry her right there on the gym floor.
She threw her head back and laughed. Oh, the irony! Of course, her crush was in her dream.
He sni“What’s so funny, Addie?”
“Oh, Luca, I have so much to tell you. But we’ve never even had a proper conversation. I bet you don’t even know my name!”
“I just said it, my love.” He raised his eyebrow and walked to where she was, sitting on the chair opposite her.
“No, see, that’s exactly why this entire thing is a dream! You, loving me and saying my name. Me in what looks like the set of The Sound of Music. My long brown hair, cut just last week. What’s next, my senior project painted and hung? Wow, now that I think about it, this house is like a mixture of what I saved on Pinterest. I can’t wait to tell Natalia about this dream!”
Luca clasped his hands, silently watching her with such inexplicable sadness. Adelia was instantly reminded of another time he made that expression. Her heart broke in the same exact way it did now, except at the time they were surrounded by fields of golden wheat, and he was telling her he was to be drafted to war.
War.
What war?
America wasn’t actively sending 17-year-old boys off to war. In fact, there wasn’t a war that required that right now. What war was this, and where did she get the idea of a war?
Her hand flew to her chest as her heart began to beat fast. Where did she get these made-up memories? From another lucid dream she didn’t know she had?
Strong arms wrapped around her. Luca held her against his chest as she fought back, flustered and confused.
“Who are you? Who are you?” Adelia demanded, hitting him and trying to push him away.
“It’s me, Luca!” He cried, his voice trembled as though tears were threatening to fall.
“You’re not my Luca. My Luca is out of state with family. You — you’re a very real version of him, but ugh! Please get off me, I’m fine!”
Hesitantly, he let go and knelt by her.
Adelia took a deep breath and stared. At first, she shook her head, denying the possibility.
She reached for his face and felt his cheeks. Warm. Her fingers ran through his soft hair. It couldn’t be. As her head began to ache, she blinked away the blurriness in her eyes.
He gazed at her, frozen.
“Why do you look so sad?” she wondered aloud. Even his smile was soft.
“You ask me that every day, my love,” he replied, taking her free hand and kissing it.
“I do?” She asked, stunned by what he did.
He nodded. “I have something for you.”
He reached for a brown paper package that was on the table and handed it to her. Adelia smiled at how it was tied in twine with a flower tucked in a slit. Her dream man was seriously playing into the scenes.
“Go on, open it,” Luca instructed her when she had looked at him questioningly.
She carefully tore it open to find a green leatherbound journal and a ballpoint pen.
“Why?” she asked, confusion all over her face. “I mean, thank you, dream Luca, for the stationery. But why? Is this some kind of window to what you’ll give me in the future?
“Tell me,” she said cheekily. “Will we be married and have kids? I mean, I think I know what kind of house we’ll have.”
Luca grinned helplessly.
“Mama!” a child yelled from inside the house. Adelia’s jaw dropped as she glanced at the house behind her and back. She smiled.
“So it’s a yes?”
Luca nodded solemnly and cleared his throat.
“The doctors said that writing in this every day will help.” He stood up with a finish and dusted his pants. “I’ll be right back. It seems Leisl needs help with her picture book. Will you come inside soon?”
“Are you giving me a tour? Is our little girl’s name Leisl? I named her, didn’t I?”
He smiled a little wider and patted Adelia’s shoulder. “So many questions, my love. I promise to answer them all.”
He then rushed inside, leaving her to her thoughts.
Adelia had a sinking feeling that she wasn’t 17 anymore.
Or, well, at least this dream was beginning to feel far too real for her not to feel alarmed.
Gathering her shawl, she stood up quickly and marched past the glass doors, only to suddenly stop.
Her hand flew to her mouth.
Before her, above a stonelaid fireplace, was a large painting that looked exactly like her own work from the real world, only the one back there was unfinished and was still a pending final project. Slowly, she stepped towards the painting, studying it. Every stroke was hers, she felt. There was no mistaking it. In the corner of her eye, she saw a movement. She whipped her head towards its direction to find a mirror. Cold sweat enveloped her.
Nervously, she chuckled, putting her hand on her cheek and staring hard into the eyes of her reflection.
“Is that… me?”
