SYNCHRONICITY (Dream Walker) 🖋

Bonus Chapter - Happy Birthday, Juliet

Alison's eyes clenched tightly as she concentrated on her breathing, rocking on the balls of her feet as she crouched before Sebastian. He held on to her shoulders and gently reminded her to keep her eyes open, to look into his.

Diane sat nearby, holding onto Debbie's hand, her other arm wrapped around her sister's shoulders...According to what was known of familial history, her sister was going to die today as her new granddaughter was being born and she was full of mixed emotions: on one hand, she was excited for the birth of a new grandchild, she wasn't present for the other three, and the eminent and final loss of her sister was almost too much for her to bear.

More fluid dripped into the basin beneath Alison and Beverly reached down and felt the baby's head. "She's crowning Ali...get ready to push Sweetie," she said, then eyed the Doula and nodded.

"Oh my god...feels like passing a watermelon through the eye of a needle..."  She hissed her breathing and cried out when Juliet's head passed through from the Umbra into the light of the mundane world. Her tiny shoulders were next, then her torso and finally, her legs and feet. Sebastian caught her in his large hands and howled for joy as he saw the tiny human wiggling in his grasp.

Alison's gaze turned to her mother who held onto her sister's drooping body as tears filled her eyes, feeling her mother's pain. George was standing by to note the time of death. He held his stethoscope to her chest and listened hard, with a puzzled look on his face.

"Her heart's still beating," he said. "It's slow and steady, like she's sleeping..."

Diane gently shook her sister. "Hey...Deb? Debbie? Honey?"

Debbie's eyes fluttered open. "Why are you all staring at me?"

"Because! There can only be one oracle in the family at a time, that's why!"

Debbie's gaze turned toward her niece and her husband as Beverly busied herself along with Alison's Doula, checking over and preparing Juliet to be returned to her mother. "Help me stand please, I feel so fuzzy...Ohhh...She's here!"

"I don't understand this," Diane muttered beneath her breath.

Juliet was returned to her mother and Alison was returned to the bed and allowed to recline while she was being tended to. James placed the ceremonial blade that was meant to cut the umbilical cord in his father's hands. She had been assured that she nor the baby would feel it, the cut, but because they were both seers of a type, she wondered if their separation would be felt. Beverly then clamped the cord and Sebastian looked toward his wife for the go ahead. Sebastian held the blade to the corded tissue. Alison swallowed hard and closed her eyes and tried to envision the little red dragonfly that had visited her but what she saw was a fiery phoenix and she gasped for air. Sebastian pulled the blade across the corded tissue and the tiny bird burst into flames and reverted into a tiny charred little bird. It was then that she realized that the little dragonfly was her other daughter Jessica, who Beth had carried to term for her. She heard the vibration of her phone on the table and looked toward it, but couldn't see it. She knew the call was made from Lynn's number based on the ring tone, but she couldn't reach it. The phone then fell silent. And she knew that it wasn't good news.

Beth knocked on the door and peeked inside and her face fell. "Aww! We missed it! I'm sorry y'all! Traffic was awful!" In her arms was Jessica. "Come on honey, lets go see your Momma and new sissy!" She stood by the bed and since Alison had started producing milk early, she placed Jessica on her sister's bare breast as Juliet lay peacefully on the other one. Jessica latched on immediately and Alison chuckled. "At least you won't have to switch tits now," she offered.

"You funny," Alison groaned.

"Was it an easy birth," Beth asked, as she wiped Alison's brow with a cool wet cloth that had been nearby in a small basin.