Destiny Binds by Tammy Blackwell

do, sleep. My brain doesnʼt turn into some big, bizarre movie theater the moment my eyes close. If I do dream, I rarely remember details.
    This dream was different. I remembered everything. I remembered how the air smelled of honeysuckle and dirt. I remembered the green of new leaves, the yellow of a hundred daffodils, and the murky brown-blue color of the lake. I remembered the feel of the breeze tickling my neck. I remembered the way he looked as he leaned against the gnarled trunk of an old oak tree, arms and ankles crossed, head cocked so that his bangs hung down over his right eye.
    The lake was less than fifty feet wide here, so I was certain Alex was watching me from the opposite shore. I raised my hand in an awkward wave.
    “Hi,” I said, feeling like a complete dork.
    Alex looked over his shoulder as though he was expecting there to be someone standing behind him. When he realized he was alone, he looked back at me, startled. I saw his mouth move, but was unable to hear anything he said.
    “I canʼt hear you,” I called back.
    Again, I saw his mouth move, but heard nothing.
    “Alex!” I yelled as loudly as I could manage.
    He was shaking his head as he continued trying to talk to me. I could tell he was yelling, but all I could hear was the splash of the water on the shore and the tree branches as they rubbed against one another.
    I donʼt know how long we stood there, struggling to be heard by the other, but my throat was growing sore, which bothered me. I had figured out that I was in a dream already, so wasnʼt I supposed to be impervious to pain?
    Eventually, Alex had enough and tried another approach. I watched as he tore off his shoes, socks, and shirt. His hands hesitated at the waist band of his jeans. I was ashamed to realize I felt disappointment when he decided to leave them on.
    The world had been very peaceful until the moment Alex put his foot in the water. In the blink of an eye, the sky turned black and the wind grew violent, tangling itself in my hair and thrashing my body with my clothes. The lake churned and swelled, pulling Alex under.
    My scream was lost in the thunder.
    I was about to do something really stupid, like jump in after him, when his head popped up out of the water. As a wolf, he was able to swim against the current, back to shore.
    The storm continued to rage on around me. Debris flew in the air as a nearby tree came crashing to the ground. Something jabbed me in the back, just above my right hip. The pain was so sharp I let out a yelp.

    My eyes flew open. It was dark, and it took me a few calming breaths to realize the figure standing by my bed wasnʼt Alex.
    “That is one nasty bruise,” my brother said, flipping on the lamp by my bed. A soft, white light burned into my retinas. “Did you and Talley get into it over who was going to get to marry Billy Lomac again?”
    In first grade Billy Lomac was the epitome of cool. He wore his hair in spikes and always shared the candy bar his mom tucked into his lunch box with whomever was his girlfriend that week. The only fight Talley and I ever had occurred when he dumped me for her.
    By the ninth grade, he was the schoolʼs most notorious pothead and roughly resembled Phillip Seymour Hoffman. Iʼm pretty sure the only way I would fight Talley over Billy Lomac was if she tried to date him.
    “I told her, he was mine first,” I said, pulling my shirt down so the bruise was covered. I vaguely remembered feeling a rock embed itself into my hip when I was thrown to the ground.
    “No, really. How did you manage to come back from some boring play looking like one of those refugee people from the news?”
    I sat up on the side of the bed, cringing as pain radiated from one spot to the other. Jase watched with concern etched on his face.
    “I fell down. You know me, always a klutz.”
    “Youʼve never been a klutz. You were the first toddler in history that didnʼt toddle. Our entire martial arts class had to spend months learning