Knock Three Times

10. Marked for Death

    When the class discussed the infamous sinking of the Titanic her delicate skin turned clammy, then freezing cold when she suddenly found herself lifted high on the back of the mighty stern, starring into the icy depths of the Atlantic. The strange child could feel her teeth chattering, her lips turning blue even though she never left her chair or the warmth of the school. She had come to with the screaming of both men and women alike echoing in her ear, the sensation so real she had thought for a brief moment that the entire classroom was plummeting to a frigid and watery grave.

    'Ashley, wake up!' she heard the familiar voice as an image of a massive red and white tree, like a web of crimson and pearl stretching to the sky, faded from view. Just before reality had jolted her awake, she could have sworn she had spotted a colossal figure moving amongst its branches, hidden in the mess of its towering brush. This strange tree was unlike any she had seen—or even read about, its soaring peak towering over mountains and nestled in the clouds like the bean stock she had read about in her earliest years. Though the magnificent sight was wondrous to behold, her heart thumped loudly at the sight of the rustling leaves on the lower branches, knowing what scaly beast smoothly coiled itself around the enormous trunk, hiding in the darkness of its shade.

    "But this vision couldn't possibly be real." She told herself. "There's no such thing as dragons."

    As an earth-shattering roar shook the foundations, the sheer depth and might of the unseen beast seemed to almost shrink her in size. As Ashley trembled in fear, the ear-splitting roar gained a feminine tone, as the sound of relentless fury turned human and blended with the real world.

    'WAKE UP!' Felicity Hanover yelled, shaking the girl awake from the depths of her daydream.

    'The freak can't even stay awake.' stated a female schoolmate sitting opposite the young lady, mimicking her teacher's head shake of general disapproval.

    Ashley need only read their mixed expressions of fear and apprehension to know she was being judged, and overly harsh at that. It wasn't like she could help it, after all. The enigmatic visions had a way of pulling her inward like a downward spiral, and it often proved nearly impossible to reverse.

    The incident recently caught on her neighbouring classmate's cell phone assured she would never live it down. Most of the kids she once called friends wouldn't have anything to do with her, the incident isolating her more with every passing day. She did not blame them, however, knowing precisely how it looked. Wise beyond her years, little Ms. Rhoads had reasoned that normal people will always fear what they don't understand. Ashley, herself, could not quite comprehend what was happening to her, where these mysterious visions were coming from, or the unique identities of the adventurous strangers in her head.

    Her big brother barely said two words to her, and her mother couldn't possibly relate. If not for the people on the other side of the veil, Ashley would have felt entirely alone.

    But the young girl was never really alone, just merely in the physical sense.

    "If only they could see through my eyes—know what I've been shown." she thought. "Perhaps then they would see I mean them no harm."

    'I'm awake.' she assured her teacher but could barely make out her shape in the haze of vision. Bloodshot eyes glared trying desperately to focus, but a dark shadow figure now stood where her teacher once did. The slightest outlines of reality became like faded ink, stark against a grim grey atmosphere. Ashley could make out Ms. Hanover's general shape, but a dense cloud of grey disguised her well.

    'What's happening?' she asked herself, this new perspective a complete mystery.

    Was she dreaming, perhaps even hallucinating?