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I leaned back, drowning myself in my favourite band’s vocals that quietly crooned to me as I basked in the delightful sunlight. It was a song, a band that I had not heard for ages, reason why was something I could not remember. I reclined there by the window with not a care in the world, outside the autumn leaves were falling, a myriad of brown, red and golden. The beautiful large oak trees, I missed seeing it so much. Snapping my eyes open, I clearly took in the surroundings around me. My room, the soft queen-sized bed, the quilt cover that I hated but used because it was a gift from my boyfriend and the faded yellow teddy bear that stared back at me with its black beady eyes. All of it was there around me, everything as though nothing had happened. Something was wrong, but what I could not place a finger on. I thought hard, trying to remember what happened but all I drew was a blank. Nothing was wrong; I had only fallen asleep in the blissful last few rays of sunlight. However there was no cars whizzing pass, no laughter from the house down the road, no sound of the television downstairs; it was all just an eerie deafening silence. My heart told me of something I needed to do, but my brain told me there was not a care in the world. I could not even recall the very actions I had done before I had fallen asleep.Sometimes, people lock themselves up from their memories when they do not want to accept a particular truth – the death of a loved one, the lost of a home that one has lived for all their lives, the lost of something particularly valuable may it be virginity or even trust. They live their lives as though nothing happened, living in their small dream world of theirs. I believe I am not one of them. Though I may have denied of having certain powers that came along with certain consequences that I may have very well regretted dearly, I do not think that I was one who would lock myself up. Looking back at it now, I probably might have a lapse of the lack of judgement.

I leaned back, closing my eyes trying to enjoy the surrealistic feel of the place, but the nagging thought refused to leave me alone. I sighed, reluctantly giving in to my gut feelings. ‘Why was there no sound?’ I wondered, wandering into the hallway. The door to the attic seemed to beckon to me, without realising it; I had stepped into the attic. The floors felt warm but there was an unbearable chill. I shuddered as I stepped into the attic, the window had been left open and as I hurried to close it, the sight outside took my breath away. Full autumn it was, but each part of the garden was in a different season. Not a soul, a car was in sight. I ran down, flinging the front door wide open and running through.

It is all-wrong; I wasn’t even supposed to be here. Was I dead? If I’m not supposed to be here, then where should I be? I wondered. Realisation dawned on me along with another flood of questions that I could not answer. Then as I turned around to look back at the house, the front door disappeared together with everything around me. All I saw was a dingy dark empty room. I squinted making out the silhouette of a lady sitting in front of a mirror as I walked into the room. The light from the moon filtered into her room, the curtains dancing in the gentle night breeze. While I hesitated on approaching the lady, a slight knock on the door at the opposite wall reverberated throughout the small stark studio. The lady sniffed, wiping her cheeks before opening the thin door.

“It’s you,” she said in a cold voice. Her guest pushed her into the room before shutting the door behind him. He towered over the lady, pulling the hood off wordlessly. “What do you want,” she asked impatiently, tapping her fingers on the marble tabletop. In the dim moonlight, I could barely make out a frown as he surveyed the surroundings making motions for her to remain silent. The clicking of his boots seemed loud in comparison to the almost complete silence of the room. “There is no one here. Have you gone paranoid like the rest of them?”

“You are after all the cause of what has happened,” he paused, frowning even more than what I expected an average human could do. “They could have been attracted to you – or worse – you could have joined them.” She laughed, her laughter seeming to sound forced.

“Daniel Daniel – that sounds ridi-“

“They’ve come, haven’t they?” he interrupted her, bristling with anger at her. Her fingers clenched into a tight ball as she stared murderous daggers at him. “So you’ve heard.”

“Yes, Daniel –“ she sighed, sinking into the chair. “Will killing him truly bring an end to all this?” she clasped her head with her trembling hands.

“It doesn’t matter anymore. Nothing can get worse than this,” he said, staring at her. I inched forward to take a look at his expression, managing to see his pale gunmetal eyes clearly. She shuddered, looking up at him. “Ravanna said that there was no point blaming you, but –“ he stopped, looking up in the air then turning around as if looking for something. “Where?” he looked at my direction, walking towards me. “Who’s there?” he called out, pulling out a sliver handgun.

I bit my lip, my heart beating so loudly that it seemed become the only thing I could here. Was he talking to me? I wiped my wet palms against my skirt. The clatter of the gun falling to the ground followed by a breathless voice.

“You –“ he stared wide eyed straight into my eyes. “E-Elaine?” he asked incredulously. I looked around uneasily, not sure if he was staring at me.

“What?” the lady walks towards us and stares at me in stunned silence; up close I could see the details and contours of her face clearly. The unmistaken shape of the eyes and chin, even without the any proper lighting, I could not mistake her anywhere.

“Me?” I squeaked, my voice clearly giving out on me.

“What are you doing here?” she furiously asked, her hand slides through my shoulder as she grab me. She scowled, “I never knew I was this good at astral projection.”

“Then its probably just one of the other life times of different choices.”

“If you’re me then he’s the older Daniel?” I ventured, I felt safe with them. They exchanged glances, older Elaine turned back to me, her lips tightly pressed together into one straight line. I wondered what exactly was so hard to answer to a yes or no question.

“Which life time is what would be very interesting,” Daniel muttered. He motioned me to the wide windows; he pulled the curtains away slightly. I did not recognise the city. Most of the tall or probably would have been tall buildings were in rubble. Fires were everywhere, yet the rare few people on the street did not seem bothered by it. It was as though they were used to it. I gaped slack jaw at the view, my mind reeling from the connections I had made with that view and what they had been conversing furiously about earlier.

“There is a lot of things we –“ Elaine hesitated, her hands clasped together tightly. I spun around to look at her, surprised. “I – would like to answer you and –“

“And – we can’t,” he cut her off in the middle of the sentence. I glanced back at him annoyed. It sounded like she was going to say something important. Something in my mind ticked, like there was stuff I should want to know and want to demand from them, but all of that I could no longer remember. Not even what I had eaten for breakfast.

“I don’t care –“ I replied, I had really meant it and from their gasps I felt certain it was important. “I don’t know what’s going on, what you mean by astral projection,” I gestured wildly to older Elaine. Her face paled, her hands grasping onto the table for support. “I don’t know what questions I should be asking you since you implied that you’d like to answer, I don’t care and I certainly don’t know where I am –“

Daniel growled angrily, his face in cold fury. “What do you mean YOU DON’T CARE?” he hollered, reaching over to grab me by the collar. His hands slid through me, forgetting that I was nothing by a spectre.

“Daniel!” Elaine covered his mouth, silencing him from saying anything more. She motioned me to hide behind the table, as she stood there waiting. His arms hung limply on the sides, their heads bowed.

“I’m sorry, I just didn’t want them to turn out like us,” he softly spoke. I crouched behind the table, watching them mystified on what was happening. Tears slid down his face, Elaine slid her arms around his waist, leaning her head against his warm back.

“Its ok –“ she murmured. “Don’t ever give up what you have –“ she turned to look sadly at me. “Not your hope, your faith or your powers. We are what we are –“

All of a sudden they fell limply to the ground and lay there motionless. I gawked, not knowing what to do.

“I smell another sweet soul,” someone sneered. The clacking of nails on the wooden floor echoed in my ears as I stared horrified at the creature before me.

I clutched my hands, my eyes closed praying, hearing nothing but my mind my mind begging to go somewhere, anywhere far from here and my heart beating profusely. Even with all those distractions, I could still hear it inch closer, sniffing. I could smell the sulphuric scent it carried.

What exactly was it? Was it a demon? The flood of questions returned to me. Some answered by older Elaine’s words, the view, the conversation they had. Where was I? Was I dead?

The sulphuric smell had disappeared; all that was left was a quiet whiff of diesel and the night. I looked up to see a girl hovering around a lifeless body. The black tire tracks on the road were fresh, so was the blood that seemed to ooze constantly from the body.

“The ambulance will be here soon! Hang on” the girl yelled. She clutched her hands staring at them intensely looking back and forth to the body. I stared at myself, understanding why I had drifted away. I wasn’t dead, not yet. I could not see how I would survive it, my right leg faced the wrong direction, my left arm looked odd, and not to mention the copious blood that was painting the black bitumen red. I think a person realising he or she was about to die would have panicked, but some how I felt at peace. I knew the future, I knew what I needed to do and subconsciously I knew it was not my time. I was curious how I would live. I doubted even an ambulance carting me off now would have much help.

The girl anxiously glanced around; there was not a soul in the street on even in the buildings. Biting her lip, she placed her hands close to my bleeding back. A white glow formed beneath her hands, attaching itself onto my back. It was a while later that the ambulance piercing sirens broke both of our concentration. I had been intently staring at what she had done for I had never seen magic in my life.

A person who can heal, a person who can see ghosts and a person who can tell the future, we all marched into the same destiny.

I woke up many days later, seeing the sunlight filtering into through the blinds, tasting the medicinal tang of hospital in my dry mouth. My tongue felt thick from the lack of water, my voice rasping as I asked for water. I could not move to pour a glass myself; my fingers brushed the sleeping girl’s head rousing her from her nap.

“Please, water –“ I rasped. She stared at me stunned before hurrying to pour a glass for me. I gulped the water hungrily. “Its you, isn’t it?” I asked having satisfied my thirst.

She looked at me confused. “Me?” she questioned and then enlightened, she nodded enthusiastically. “Yes, you saved me.” Her red streaked hair bobbed along cheerfully. I smiled back at her twinkling brown eyes.

“You healed me. I saw –“

“You WHAT?” she interrupted, pausing to look around. “How?” she whispered frantically. “No one was around and you were passed out –“

“It was a funny sensation being apart from my body, what is your name anyway?” I asked, glad I caught her attention. She chewed her bottom lip.

“Yu Long, but you can call me Aless,” she gazed at me tensely. “You won’t tell anyone, will you?”

“Who’s going to believe a person can tell the future anyway,” I grinned at her as her face changed with comprehension.

“You too?” she gibbered. “I didn’t know anyone else who could do anything extraordinary,” she stopped, taking a slow breath. “My mum could though –“ she added, feeling lame.

Something tingled in me, telling me that there was another story from just what she was telling me. That story was the link to what I had been looking for. There was a reason for everything, even the accident. However I knew it was going to be a long time before I would ever find out the story –something that scared the hell out of me. I thank my stars that I never needed to go through the same experience that she did.