She sat up, perspiration dripping from her forehead. The clock displayed 4:30 a.m. She walked into the bathroom and washed her face. The cold water revived her skin and awakened her. In the mirror, a curly-haired brunette stared back at her, the eyes a startling shade of deep emerald green. She returned to her bed and tried to go back to sleep.
Her mom’s face was a close-up, painted with fear. She told her to run out of the house as she got into the car. Mom held out her hand and her daughter immediately caught it, overcome with dread. When she looked back, she saw her house in flames. Tears blurred her view and she laid her head in her mother’s lap as they both wept silently. She quietly observed that her father and Cornelia weren’t in the car.
She got up again; another nightmare. Her sweat and tears had made her pillow soggy.
For every human, a nightmare is something which initially scares and later turns to a joke. But it’s not the same for Jade.
For her, they come true.
Chapter One: FAILED RESCUE
It was soon morning. Momma called Jade in for breakfast. Jade checked on Connie, who was neatly tucked in her cot, stirring and yawning. Jade gently took her in her arms and went downstairs. Momma smiled her prettiest smile and pointed towards an omelet set on the plate. Jade sat on the chair, thinking of an excuse to leave home as soon as possible.
“Momma,” Jade began. “Can we go to Aunt Dory’s? It’s been a long time since we saw her.”
“Hmm...” Momma murmured, deep in thought. “We could, actually. I’ll call her and let her know we’ll be over today.”
As easy as slicing through butter, Jade thought. I just hope the fire is not invincible. I really love our home…
Connie giggled stupidly as she played with her building blocks. By afternoon their bags were packed and they were about to leave for Holland, Aunt Dory’s birthplace. Dad was at his architectural group and would return by the evening.
Aunt Dory was delighted to see them. She lived alone in a little town beside the Michigan Lake. She and Momma had a vast difference in appearance, Jade noted.
Aunt Dory was frail in structure, about three inches shorter than Momma, had short hay-blonde hair which was always tied back and round-rimmed spectacles which always roosted on her nose, giving security and aid to her clear blue eyes.
Today she wore a white dress with cobalt blue flowers printed in intricate patterns and held her pencil in her hand as if she were working on something. Jade observed that the end of the pencil was nibbled on.
They entered and were served a cool lemon drink with ice tinkling as it came in contact with the glass. It soothed Jade’s scorching throat as she tried to suppress the anxiety of her burning house.
The two sisters spent a lot of time in the garden, and later painting. Dad arrived and was in a hurry to go back home. He had a meeting to attend which he claimed to be most decisive of whether he would get a promotion or not. He needed a file which he had left home and immediately had to run for it as the meeting was to begin in fifteen minutes. Momma had forgotten the present she had bought for Aunt Dory and thus had to go back, too. Jade insisted them on not leaving but it was in vain.
They drove home, Jade’s stomach twisting into a knot. She was sure it was going to happen today. She held Connie closer to her and her eyes threatened to leak the tears out. Dad parked in the garage and rushed inside. Momma followed and Jade hung around the entrance with Cornelia in her arms.
“Honey,” Jade’s mom called out to her. “Could you come up here? I think I have left the book in your room.”
Jade kept Cornelia in the living room and hurried upstairs. She rummaged in her drawer and found the grey book. She gave it to her mother and dashed back to where she left Cornelia.
Connie wasn’t there. Sweat beads were forming on Jade’s forehead and they trickled down her smooth fair skin.
“Connie? Where are you? Come here, Cornelia. Please,” Jade called, fear smothered over her voice.
But Cornelia made not a single sound. Jade had begun to fret. Where was her sister? What was going to happen? Her nightmare was coming true for sure, but how?
Suddenly, she heard a high-pitched scream. She instantly followed the sound and found herself in the kitchen. Cornelia was close to the stove and it had caught fire.
“Jay!” Cornelia squealed, frightened out of her daylights. “Mommy, come!”
But the fire was all around her. Jade yelled, calling her parents down. Dad came first, but by that time the fire had spread and was higher. Cornelia had camouflaged between the flames and she was nowhere to be seen. Her little yelps and screams were heard as she burned along with the disaster. Dad approached her swiftly and threw pails of water but in vain. The fire was invulnerable.
“Quick, get out of the house,” Dad instructed.
Jade unwillingly obeyed. The fire had occupied the whole kitchen and was advancing towards the living room.
Jade ran out holding Momma’s wrist. Her mother pulled out the car and she got in, driving away into the darkness of the night. Jade kept looking back at her home being devoured by the fire, her father struggling in vain to save Cornelia from the flames that were killing her. She began to cry in her mom’s lap as only a glow of the fire could be seen from the distance.
When Aunt Dory learnt about what happened by broken words and sobs from Momma, her cerulean eyes grew wide with shock behind her glasses and they immediately called the ambulance and a fire brigade to survey the Stones’ family home.
Back at Jade’s abode, the flames had been put out and everyone searched for young Cornelia. Jade went into the kitchen and screamed at what she saw: a little body lay shrunk at the floor and Connie’s skin had shriveled and torn, just like her petite frock. Her face looked aged due to the large amount of wrinkles which had been caused by the heat of the fire.
When Connie was striving to escape the fire, she had fallen to the floor. And there was a pool of blood like an aura around Cornelia’s short blonde curls. The expression on her face was of horror, fear and pain, her mouth was open and she was completely motionless.
Everyone rushed to the kitchen after hearing Jade’s screaming. The men from the ambulance gently laid Cornelia on a stretcher which was at least twice Connie’s size and carried her into their van. Dad followed them in the car with Momma and Jade. Dad’s eyes had become moist, Momma was grief-stricken and Jade was absolutely silent. They arrived at the hospital and Connie was taken into the emergency ward. Jade bit her nails and her mother sat on the bench, trying to contain her tears. Dad paced the corridors, very often close to the room where Cornelia was being inspected, as if his presence would somehow revive her. He came near Momma and rested his hand on her shoulder.
“It’ll be alright, Eileen,” he assured her.
Momma sniffed and buried her dark head into Dad’s chest.
“It’s impossible, Martin. She put up with the fire for so long!” Eileen cried.
Dad patted her head softly and soon the doctor approached.
“Sorry, Mr. Stone, but we could not save your daughter. She had let out her last breath long before she was brought here,” he informed.
Martin’s eyes let loose the tears he had restrained as Jade and Eileen cried even more. They were allowed to see Cornelia one last time before she got cremated. Jade remained out, unable to see her little sibling without her careless smile and steady heartbeat.
They stayed at Aunt Dory’s that night and Jade suffered another nightmare.
A little girl with short curly blonde hair appeared through wisps of a dying fire’s smoke. She spoke in a deep, scorching voice, “You abandoned me in that fire. I was barely two years old, Jade! I want revenge and you will pay for the trauma you have put me through. Vengeance will be sought!”
Jade screamed. Cornelia had been close with her nails at Jade’s face and her eyes could have been scratched out any minute. She got up to see Momma and Dad by her bed-side, a worried expression on their faces and she decided.
“I’ve got something to tell you both,” she began.
“You knew about the fire, didn’t you? You were aware something horrible was going to happen that’s why you made us move in here. Come on, honey, spill the beans. Are you having visions?” Momma asked, an anxiety line creasing her creamy-complexioned forehead.
“Yes, I knew. I tried to avoid it. They aren’t visions, Momma. They’re nightmares. I’ve been having them since I turned six. In the past seven years, all the incidents that occurred have played in my mind like dreadful video clips. They terrorize me, Momma. I get scared. I saw our house burn but I had no idea I’d be losing Connie… I feel like a freak, like I’m retarded. Is it true? Am I infected in my brain? Why am I not like the girls in Aunt Dory’s neighborhood? Why don’t I get along with them? Am I crazy?”
Dad looked at his only daughter sympathetically. Momma shook her head.
“No, Jade. You do not understand this rightly. You are not crazy, you are gifted. You dream of prophecies that come true in the near future. That’s not being cursed, sweetheart. You are an oracle,” Momma said, proudly.
Jade looked at her mother. The look in her parent’s olive green eyes were convincing. Dad seemed to agree.
“I also once saw Grandpa suffering a severe heart attack and dying. It happened, Momma. It really did,” Jade whispered. “I just saw Cornelia- she looked a little elder than yesterday. She said she would take revenge for isolating her in the fire.”