Page 1 of Shifting Hearts

Chapter One

Akasha LaVey

Wherever Dreams May Lead

“I need to do this. Whether it makes sense to you or not,” I say to my mother as I load the last of my belongings into the little red hatchback I have been driving for the better part of three years.

“I just don’t understand why you need to move across the damn country,” she says for the millionth time since I told her I was leaving, her hands firmly on her hips.

“It’s only six hundred miles,” I say with a sigh, rolling my eyes. “It’s been six months since the dreams started. I need to find out where this will lead.”

I don’t mention the fact that I found my long-term boyfriend cheating on me last night. I wanted to leave before that incident, I just didn’t know how to end things with him. I would have preferred to end on decent terms, but he made a different choice. Namely, a waitress from the local diner.

I still don’t know how the fire in his room started. I was so angry that I somehow missed how or where the flames erupted from but at least no one was hurt.

“How do you know it will lead you anywhere? How do you know you’re not just chasing something that doesn’t exist?” my mother asks, drawing me back to the present.

My heart breaks just a little at the words she has been saying to me my entire life. I know she doesn’t believe in the dreams I have, but I do, and as my mother I wish she would support me. After twenty-five years she knows the truth even if she won’t admit it to herself or out loud.

My dreams are always more than they seem. From predicting my father’s car accident and death three weeksbefore it happened when I was twelve, to knowing about my cousin’s pregnancy and marriage six months before she met her husband. It’s not always a life-altering prediction but when it is, you can take it to the bank.

“I know you don’t want me to leave,” I say softly. “But this is my life. I know in my heart this is the right thing to do.”

“I just don’t want you to get hurt,” she replies. “What if it doesn’t work out?”

“It will.”

“But…”

I know she is simply being overprotective, but I need to shut her down.

“If I get to New York and there isn’t anything there for me, I can always come back home.” I stare at her intently, waiting for her to finally accept this is happening.

I know what waits for me in New York. A job and an apartment, and maybe even something life changing. I may say I’ll return home but I have a feeling I will never return to Yellow Springs. My dreams are leading me to the city and something more, even though I’m not sure what that is yet. It’s all still very disjointed but I trust the process.

“Yes, you can,” she says, pulling me tightly against her chest and hugging me for long moments. “You can always come home, Akasha.”

****

The drive is long. It takes almost three days to make my way from Yellow Springs to New York City. It probably would have been a shorter drive if I hadn’t stopped to see all the sights along the way. But I’ve never been on a road trip and I don’t know when I will get the opportunity again, so I make the best of it, even if I am doing it alone.

I stop at the Harman Rock Gardens in Springfield, Ieat one of best burgers I’ve ever had on the hood of my car staring out at Buckeye Lake. I go shopping at Black Cat Vintage in Cambridge and eat a Chimichurri steak at West Texas Roadhouse in St Clairsville, before I finally make my way to the small apartment in Brooklyn I will live in from now on.

I was lucky to get a job at The Gin Room which includes the apartment. I did four interviews on Zoom a while back and I honestly didn’t think I got the position. That is, until I was contacted last week.

Stepping out of my car I stare up at the four-story building, taking in the sights and sounds around me. It’s my first time in a big city and I can’t wipe the smile from my face. I can feel the energy thrum around me, and I wonder if it’s like this for everyone.

“Akasha!” a woman with bright purple hair calls from across the road as she waits for the traffic to pass.

I wave, remembering her from one of my interviews.

“You made it,” she says with a wide smile as she hugs me.

It’s a strange sensation, being hugged by this unknown woman, but it also feels weirdly normal. That makes absolutely no sense but there it is. Her frantic energy feels like a healing balm to my battered soul.

“I’m so happy to see you. I got your message this morning and I’ve been waiting for you.” She talks a mile a minute as she grabs my hand and leads me into the building. “Aldron, the owner at The Gin Room, owns five apartments in this building which he uses for staff. I have an apartment a floor below you.”

She pulls me into the elevator, and I marvel at the strength such a pixie-like person possesses. As soon as we stop on the third floor, she is pulling me behind her once more until we reach a black door with a golden number in the middle: 3C.

---