Awaken (The Awaken Series Book 1) Read Free

as she looked up to meet my eyes, but remained silent.  
    “I kind of remembered something from before the accident.”  
    Something flashed in her eyes—excitement, maybe—and her hand tightened ever-so-slightly around her mug. “Really?” She raised a brow, waiting for me to elaborate.
    I opened my mouth, about to tell her the entire memory, but something stopped me. “It was just a random memory from one of my first days of senior year.”
    “And you’re sure it wasn’t just a dream?”  
    “Yes, of course. It felt so real. And a lot lined up with what I know happened—like my teacher Mrs. Lawrence, and my last block being science.” Why wasn’t I mentioning Jasper? It was like someone had locked that section of my mind and hidden the key from my mouth.
    “It is absolutely impossible for you to have remembered something that you lost from the accident. The neurosurgeons expressly told us that it just couldn’t happen. You must have just imagined it, or it wasn’t a memory that you had lost. The human mind works in unexplainable ways sometimes.” Mother nodded and smiled like she was proud to have made sense of the situation.
    Was it possible? It seemed unlikely that something so vivid could have been a dream, but even more unlikely that what I dreamt last night could’ve been a memory I had never lost. It just didn’t add up. I would have recognized Jasper in the parking lot or backstage, wouldn’t I have? But after that dream— memory —I felt like I had uncovered something I thought was lost forever.
    But what did I know? I should believe what the neurosurgeons and my parents were telling me and write off any thoughts of my own. I wouldn’t want to seem disobedient or untrusting of Mother’s superiority. I had broken far too many of Oportet’s rules in my lifetime, and they were all broken within the memories I had lost. I had to remember: My accident was a blessing .
    “I guess you’re right. It must have been my mind playing tricks on me.”
    Mother let out a breath and took a sip of her tea. “Of course, darling. Remember to come to me if you have any other questions, okay?” She searched my eyes for a moment, and then her shoulders relaxed as she sat back in her chair.
    “I will.”
    Mother’s face calmed slightly as she scribbled down notes. Her body language was enough to let me know that this conversation was both over and a waste of her time. She worked as a secretary for the Council, and was constantly filing paperwork—even on the weekends. I was disappointed in myself for bothering her first thing in the morning, drawing her away from her work. I gave my head a little shake. This case of the flu was screwing with my mind.
    ~~~~~
    The medicine kicked in about halfway through the book I was reading about the founding of Oportet, and I immediately felt my body cooling. As I turned the pages, I became more and more disinterested. My mind floated elsewhere, and no matter how hard I tried, I could not stop thinking about the mysterious boy who now haunted my dreams.  
    Jasper .
    Even with my brain running at full capacity, I simply couldn’t figure out what was so important about him. I traced buried memories from the summer before senior year, which produced a wave of strong emotions: despair and this unmistakable feeling of dread that weighed me down, suffocating me anytime I tried to remember the events of last year.  
    And still, when it came to Jasper? Nothing.
    Every single file in my mind was completely void of Jasper. Was that even his name? Or did my subconscious mind just make that up, along with the rest of the dream? There was only one way to find out, and it scared the hell out of me.
    I had to somehow track this boy down and ask him. There were a great many problems to this plan. Like the fact that the last time he saw me he looked at me like I did something to royally piss him off. Or he may not be a part of my past at all. Yet, even with all of the difficulties