Sara's Soul by Deanna Kahler Read Free Book Online Page A

to come.
    As Sara stared into the blackness, her thoughts drifted and images began to slowly form. She closed her eyes and a dream began to take shape. Sara saw a girl with long, curly blonde hair riding a white horse through a field of wildflowers. The girl wore a flowing ivory dress and brown suede vest. She was free, independent, and full of love and kindness. Sara watched as the girl eagerly rode to a man. He seemed familiar to Sara, although she didn’t recognize him. He had dark hair, brown eyes, and a gorgeous smile. The two embraced.
    Next, Sara saw a sword with blood lying in the grass. In the distance stood a gray stone building that appeared to be some sort of medieval castle. The man with the brown hair was being chained and taken away. The girl was crying and protesting, begging the men to release her lover. Two guards held her back. The man with the brown hair turned back to his love and cried, “Don’t worry. We shall meet again.”
    Sara looked into his eyes and recognized him. Although his eyes and hair were a different color, they were unmistakable. The warmth, the compassion, the energy this man projected. He was the embodiment of Chip. “Merek!” the girl cried. “I love thee.”
    “I love thee, too, Margaret,” he said, looking at the girl he was leaving behind.
    Sara watched in silence as the men dragged their prisoner to the steps of the castle and into captivity. Standing to greet him was a burly, heavyset man with unkempt brown hair.
    Sara observed the girl cry, her heart broken in two. And she couldn’t help but sob right along with her, for Sara, too, felt as if the most important person in her life had been cruelly and abruptly taken from her. Loss was all too familiar to Sara. Being left alone was her way of life. This scene, these emotions. They had happened so many times before.
    She reached out to hug and comfort Margaret, the grief-stricken girl. Margaret extended her arms and grabbed ahold of Sara’s shoulders. She faced Sara with a seriousness that commanded attention and peered deeply into her eyes. And then she spoke:
    Death is never the answer, she said sternly .
    Sara shivered as she listened to the girl’s words and looked back into her sad eyes. Those eyes were all too familiar. They were her own. The thoughts and feelings, they were hers, too. Sara was looking at herself. She gasped and then awoke in her bed.
     
    ***
     
    Sara was disappointed when Chip still hadn’t called three days later. Maybe she had mistaken his interest. Maybe he just felt sorry for her and decided not to get involved with her after all. She felt sad that her tiny ray of hope had been extinguished, but she was used to this. Men just didn’t stick around in her life. Actually, no one stuck around. She had been abandoned by everyone she had ever loved. Being lonely and isolated was her way of life.
    She packed her books and headed to the university to study. She had a big exam coming up. A few days earlier, she hadn’t cared. She figured she’d be dead by now. But somehow meeting Chip changed something inside of her.
    She pulled into the library parking lot and hurried out of her car. The campus was a flurry of activity. Students walked swiftly to their classes, backpacks loaded. Many proudly wore shirts with CMU’s colors, maroon and gold. Some stopped outside the red brick buildings and residence halls to socialize with classmates, while others flirted. Sara avoided all of that. She just wanted to get inside and find a secluded spot to study.
    The Charles V. Park library was a unique circular structure surrounded by windows. Unlike some of the other more traditional brick buildings, the library had a modern, futuristic feel to it. Sara especially loved the inside. It was an escape from her usually dark world. All floors overlooked a large atrium, and the staircases, railings, and balconies were trimmed in patriotic red, white, and blue. The abundance of light that streamed in through the many