Five Seconds After the Flash

Chapter Nine

This time, the dream started with me sitting in the chair next to my grandfather's bed. I was a child, swinging my legs freely above the ground, and I was waiting for something. The bed was empty, and so was the vase on the side table.

I hopped down from the chair and started walking out of the room and toward the kitchen. "This Magic Moment" was playing on the radio, and it was way too loud.

When I turned the corner to walk into the kitchen, I covered my ears from the sound. My grandfather had his back to me, turned toward the kitchen stove. I started walking toward him, but he wasn't moving.

"Grandpa?" I called, trying to make him hear me over the music.

The music stopped completely. I spun around, and there was a mirror in front of me. My 20-year-old image looked back at me, replacing the carefree child. In the mirror, I could see Grandpa behind me, shuffling toward me slowly.

He grabbed my shoulders and whispered, "Which version of yourself is this?"

When I woke up, I couldn't breathe. My heart was pounding to the point that I thought it would break through my chest, and I was shaking uncontrollably. I was drenched in sweat, and there were tears streaming down my face.

I reached over for my phone and clicked Ryan's speed dial number.

He answered on the first ring. "Vic, what's wrong?"

I tried to focus on breathing. My hand was shaking so badly that I dropped the phone, and my vision became blurry as I looked around for it.

Finally, I grabbed it from under the bed. I closed my eyes to stop the room from spinning, and held it to my ear, but I didn't hear anything.

Then there was a loud banging on the door. Lydia bolted from her bed and said, "What the hell?"

"Victoria? Victoria, open the door!"

It was Ryan. Lydia raced to the door and flung it open.

"What are you...?"

He ignored Lydia and rushed over to me.

"Victoria? Victoria, look at me. Breathe, dammit."

I looked at his face, and exhaled a huge breath.

"There you go," he said, still staring at my face, "There you go. Breathe in, then out."

The resident advisor appeared at the door in her robe.

"Ryan? What are you doing here? It's 3 o'clock in the morning!" she said.

"This is an emergency," he said without turning to look at her.

He continued looking into my eyes.

"That's right, Vic. Deep breath in, then let all of it out."

I closed my eyes and focused on breathing. My hands shook just a little less, and when I opened my eyes, my vision had returned to normal.

"I couldn't see," I said, tears forming in my eyes.

Ryan pulled me into a loose hug. I felt his chest rise and fall, and I tried to match my breathing to his.

After a few minutes, I pulled away.

"You OK?" he asked.

I nodded and pulled my knees to my chest.

"Bad dream," I said simply.

He put a hand on my knee and said, "It's OK. You're OK."

He got up and briefly spoke with the RA. I assumed that she had already herded anyone who had gotten out of bed back to their rooms, because the hallway was empty.