Free Immortal Light: Wide Awake by John D. Sperry Page A

had to
think about something else, something that wasn’t Benjamin Raven.
Reaching over, she pulled her backpack to the bed and pulled out
her literature book. She hoped it would be a distraction, but she
knew it wouldn’t work.
    She leaned her head back against
her headboard and dropped the heavy weight of the book in her lap.
She thought of Mark and Benjamin, both in her head at the same
time. Mark was real, but Benjamin had a mysterious draw. Mark was
interested, and Benjamin was anybody’s guess. Lucy felt her eyelids
getting heavy, and it wasn’t long before she was back in the
rainforest.
    Ferns covered the forest floor like a blanket.
The tall trees loomed overhead like ancient pillars and Lucy walked
again toward the west, noticing that it was more comfortable with
shoes on. She hoped to see the person she knew deep down was
Benjamin. In spite of her plan to forget about him, she felt the
need to see him one more time.
    The golden light of the
sunset filled the trees and Lucy remembered the direction she had
traveled the last time. Coming again to where the cliff had been,
she looked around. Where are
you , she thought, but there was no one.
Her heart sank a little.
    “ Hello?” she called out. But still
there was no one.
    She sighed and walked toward the
precipice. There was a building or structure of some sort the last
time she looked over it. The excitement of getting a better look
carried her closer to the edge. She hoped to see it in better
detail this time. As she started walking toward the cliff, a voice
came from somewhere near her.
    “ Lucy.”
    It was Benjamin.
    She froze in her tracks and spun toward the
sound of the voice. She didn’t see him until he stepped out from
behind a tree. He stood darkened against the light of the sun. He
wore a jacket and jeans, and for some reason there was the sword
again.
    “ Benjamin,” she
said. “What … where am I? ”
    “ That’s a little
hard to answer,” he responded. “How did you— ”
    Before he could finish, a loud concussion
rocked the dream world, and before Lucy could stop herself, she was
swallowed in darkness.  
    Lucy sat up in bed and saw that her phone was
in pieces on the floor, the back having popped off and the battery
having spilled out. It took a minute to get it back on. There was a
missed call from Kat. Lucy dialed her number, feeling disappointed
at having been pulled away from her dream. After one ring, Kat
answered.
    “ Oh my gosh, what happened?” Kat
sounded frantic.
    “ What do you mean?”
    “ I just got a call from Maddi and
she said you were in the parking lot with Benjamin Raven. What
happened?”
    “ Nothing. He sad hi, I said hi,
that was it.”
    “ Stop it, Luce. Don’t lie to me.
What happened? And I don’t mean, ‘what did you say?’”
    “ Nothing … really.”
    There was silence on the other end.
    Lucy continued, “Okay, okay, I like him a
little; so what?”
    “ So what? This is huge. You’ve
been all about Mark Thompson for six years. Now, all of a sudden,
you like the new guy?”
    “ It’s circumstantial. I’m still
all about Mark.”
    “ Okay,” Kat said. She didn’t sound
convinced. “You want me to come over?”
    “ No, you have your date with Dave.
Trust me, there’s nothing going on. I just hope you’re right about
Mark.”
    “ I’m right, Luce. Just don’t get
distracted, okay?”
    “ Yeah, I won’t.”
    “ I’ll see you tomorrow,
then?”
    Lucy smiled. “Yeah, tomorrow.”
    She was beginning to feel better
already. Benjamin was the new kid. Mark was solid and she knew him.
She was practically in love with him. Benjamin was a flash in the
pan compared to Mark. The only problem was that Lucy knew for near
certain if she gave Benjamin one more thought, she would fall madly
in love with him.

Chapter
5
    In spite of the catastrophe of the
previous day, Benjamin Raven was all Lucy could think about as she
pulled onto campus; he was all she had thought about for months.
The parking