Read Online Stitch by Samantha Durante - Free Book Online Page B

And there was always that strange yearning she felt to be close to him.  That might have emerged in the dream as their physical closeness, being squeezed in that small place together, holding hands even.
    The feelings of fear and despair also made sense.  After all, she had just experienced these emotions both very acutely during her last encounter with the ghost, which was only a few days ago.  And unfortunately those feelings were applicable to other parts of her life as well – the death of her parents, for example.
    And the Isaac thing wasn’t exactly inexplicable either.  She had three names – Isaac, Albert, William – who were possibilities, so her mind just must have chosen one.  Maybe she had latched onto Isaac since Janie had commented on it being an attractive name.
    When she considered all this together, it also explained why she felt so unnerved by the dream.  There were a lot of unexpected things going on in her life and a lot of emotional turmoil surrounding them.  The dream had taken all those messy feelings and boxed them up into a neat little narrative, forcing Alessa to face all the negative emotions she’d been trying to suppress.  Of course she would feel disturbed after having to face that head on, without any warning, in a dead sleep no less.
    Alessa felt better after giving the dream some thought, but that didn’t change the fact that she had lost hours of rest to its aftermath, and now she was tired.  When her lab was over all she wanted to do was go home and take a nap, but instead she was obligated to deal with the flyers.
    She trudged from the science building to Van Husen Hall, flyers in hand, half-heartedly thrusting one toward whomever she happened to pass.  Inside Van Husen, she tacked a flyer to the bulletin board on the main floor and also the one in the basement café.  She asked the student behind the register if it was okay to leave a stack of flyers on the counter, a request he cheerfully obliged while also pocketing a flyer himself. Having distributed half of her stack, Alessa decided that it was a good time for a break.
    It was nearing lunchtime and Alessa of course had not eaten breakfast, so she decided to pick up a cup of soup from the vat in the corner of the café.  Remembering the pathetic contents of her fridge, she also grabbed a handful of items to restock it – apples, individually wrapped cheeses, a pint of milk, and a box of cereal.  Now at least she wouldn’t have an excuse for not eating.
    She paid for the items and took a seat at one of the small round tables to eat her soup.  It was a thick, almost gelatinous chicken noodle that was lacking in vegetables and – she knew from prior experience – heavily salted and far too hot.  She stirred to release some heat, then crushed a packet of complimentary crackers into the soup and sampled a spoonful, lightly burning the back of her throat as she swallowed.  The bland crackers had done what she'd hoped and absorbed at least some of the salt flavor.  It was passable.  What more could she expect from Van Husen?
    After finishing her pitiable lunch, Alessa decided to take a lap around the quad to distribute her remaining flyers.  There were a few covered bulletin boards staked at odd intervals around the green along with a plethora of lampposts and, of course, mounting poles for the university’s ubiquitous security cameras.  Even if Alessa didn’t pass a single soul as she lapped the quad, she should still be able to finish off her stack.  It was technically prohibited to post flyers anywhere except on university-approved spaces like the bulletin boards, but in practice it was done all the time.  Alessa was eager to get rid of her flyers and get home for a quick rest before her afternoon history lecture, so she decided to risk it.  Anyway, she didn’t see anyone in the immediate vicinity who looked official enough to reprimand her.
    She headed for the bulletin board on the south end of the quad