Chapter One:
The Vision
Ricky peeked up from under her thick lashes and heavy bangs to glance at the setting sun. The ice and already half melted snow twinkled as the last bits of sunlight for the day drenched the frozen ground. It was January and clumps of earth were starting to show through the last thin layer of snow and frost covering it. She breathed in the cold air. Most people hated the cold, but not Ricky. It invigorated her. And the dry air felt fresh in her lungs and she breathed in and out, disposing of all the stale air that she'd been holding in since her mother had dubbed it 'too cold to play outside' earlier this winter. Suddenly she heard the door open and she looked up to find her mother, Laura, standing there.
"Ricky, it's diner time" she called softly to her daughter, who was just on the sidewalk past the lawn of their home watching the setting sun and…breathing? Ricky had always been the most unique of her three daughters and she had stopped questioning her strange habits (like claiming to have difficulty breathing with all the "old" air in the house) a long time ago. She looked up, though Laura could only see one of her gray eyes because her bangs covered the other, and smiled brightly.
"Okay" She called back, still smiling. She was always happier after going outside where she could really breath. When she was about half way up the driveway she suddenly fell to the ground. At first Laura assumed she had slipped due to the ice, or her beat up tennis shoes she refused to throw away or her very evident clumsiness but she soon noticed that she was not getting up, but instead writhing around in pain.
"Ricky! Ricky!" She yelled as she ran to her youngest daughter grabbing the attention of her to older daughters who came running out of the house only to find their mother leaning over a very unconscious Ricky.
Somewhere very far away from the Idaho driveway where the young girl lay unconscious, and hours earlier, a small dark haired girl sits on a couch, her intense topaz eyes suddenly glazing over. Her husband's strong, comforting hands grip her shoulders but she doesn't feel them, nor does she hear his worried calls but the rest of her family does and soon they all surround the curious young woman. Alice does not see them in front of her, nor does she see the rest of their beautifully furnished living room, instead she sees a faraway driveway where the tiny frame of the girl who has been haunting her visions lately lays, unmoving.