Picture This by Jacqueline Sheehan Read Free Book Online Page B

sat down in a chair. He whispered something, and I desperately wanted to hear him, so I got closer. It sounded like ‘reunification’ or ‘reunion,’ or maybe the words that he said just looked like a reunion. And his words smelled like allspice,” said Tess. “This is very strange that my multiple senses are firing as usual in my dreams. Heartening, really.”
    For the first time in months, she was truly hopeful that she could return to who she really was, not simply putting on a good-natured smile. Becoming herself was a hard-won achievement that had taken many years, and she was too old to pretend to be happy with less.
    â€œI had never considered the multiple layers of complications available when a dreamer has synesthesia. It makes sense that you would dream as you used to be, just the way people with amputated limbs dream of being whole,” said Rocky. “Is there more?”
    â€œYes. When I woke up, I could have sworn that I heard Cooper barking, like he was very far away. I didn’t like that part. There was an urgency in his barking, an alarm,” said Tess.
    â€œI was never an expert with dreams. I left that to the other therapists. But I know the basics: treat everything in the dream like a story and let the dreamer make her own way to figure out the meaning.”
    Tess swatted at a mosquito. “These miserable creatures aren’t supposed to be out until dusk. What’s wrong with them? Maybe they’re confused by the early heat.” But the desire to make sense of her world was too powerful to be distracted.
    Returning to the content of the dream, Tess whispered, “Rare, bird, shiny, black, message, reunion, Cooper barking, message, doctor, allspice, good dog, bird, doctor, black feathers. I’ve almost got it.”
    But she lost the links between the images as quickly as they emerged. Without the connecting fibers of her cross-firing senses, she felt hobbled. “Gone. Just when I thought I had it, gone.”
    â€œIt must be like trying to see in the dark,” said Rocky.
    â€œI couldn’t agree with you more,” said Tess.
    Rocky shoved her hands into her pockets. “What if Natalie doesn’t ever call me back? What if I scared her off?” she whispered.
    Tess wasn’t surprised by the abrupt change in topic; she’d felt the undercurrent of the girl since she first arrived at the old house.
    â€œIs this what the house is all about? Oh, good Lord. Are you suddenly trying to make a home based on one phone call from an unknown girl? What does our gallant Hill think about all this?”
    â€œHe’s celebrating the end of the school year with a camping trip up near Canada,” Rocky told her. “He’ll be back in two days, and believe me, I can’t wait to see him.”
    Tess was not surprised. The last time she had seen Hill and Rocky together she had felt a tinge of envy, then wonder, at two people so clearly on the verge of love.
    â€œYou’re the only person I know who could have seen through the disaster to get to the heart of this house,” said Tess, hoping this qualified as the good assessment that her friend needed. But why did she have the horrible feeling that Hill would never live in this house?

Chapter 8
    Melissa
    M elissa was headed directly into her senior year of high school, and she was battling with the two and a half pounds she had allowed her body to gain since January, six months ago. That was slightly less than one half-pound per month, but the pace of it still took her to the crumpling edge of terror. She felt every ounce layered on her razor-sharp body, dragging her down like a set of iron weights that had to be accommodated in every move, every twitch of her eyelids.
    She brushed her hair out of her eyes. She had just completed three hundred sit-ups, down from the five hundred sit-ups that she was doing one year ago. Five hundred sit-ups kept her warrior fit and