Chapter One
Ann Sommers could only watch sadly and with a growing sense of dread as Rudy completed work on his latest invention. She knew she would not be allowed to alter the course of fate, but perhaps she could give it just a little nudge...
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Jaime was almost too excited to sleep. So much of her past had been painful and difficult, and she'd often wished for the chance to go back and change things; that chance seemed to finally be within her reach. The possibilities seemed endless and too tantalizing to ignore.
What if she had never gone sky diving, never had her accident – and never become bionic? She and Steve hadn't become engaged until well into her recovery, but they'd begun growing closer long before the fateful day she'd strapped on that parachute. Jaime had no doubt they'd be married by now, with at least one baby (maybe more) and blissfully happy together. She wouldn't be lying down to sleep all alone – that was for sure! She snuggled down under her blanket, closed her eyes, and could have almost sworn she saw her mother's face as she drifted off to sleep...
"Let's stay home today," Jaime suggested, rubbing Steve's shoulders as he polished off the last piece of her homemade apple pie.
"I thought you wanted to 'fly like the birds'?"
Jaime kissed the back of his neck then softly nibbled on his ear before seating herself in his lap. "I can think of something a lot more exciting to do," she whispered, looking straight into his deep, blue eyes.
"Is that a fact?" Steve asked with a grin. He pulled her closer and met her waiting lips with his own. As the kiss deepened, he swooped Jaime up in his arms and carried her down the hall. When the phone rang, no one was in the kitchen to answer it.
The scene shifted abruptly (dreams have a strange way of doing that) and Jaime found herself alone. She could almost feel the chill in the night air, but it was the bleakness of her surroundings that made her shiver and struck true fear into her heart. As she looked around, her mind whirled in confusion and she threw her head back in a long, silent, never-ending scream.
Jaime had found herself at the foot of a pair of graves: Steve's...and her own. She was frozen in place, frozen in time and (temporarily, at least) unaware she was dreaming.
"It doesn't have to be this way," a soft, comforting voice said from right beside her.
Jaime jumped, startled. "Mother?"
Ann took her daughter by the hand, leading her away from the graves. "This will be reality, but only if you choose to skip the sky diving lesson," she told her gently.
"What happened? How did we...die?" Jaime asked frantically. Ann fell silent. "Please tell me!"
"It is ugly – and frightening. Are you sure -?"
"Please!" Jaime pleaded. The scene around them swirled and shifted once again, and Jaime could see herself in a tiny, filthy room that she somehow knew was in a basement. She was blindfolded, gagged and tied to a chair. Two men (kidnappers?) paced nervously in front of her.
"You sure Austin's coming?" one of them growled.
"She's his one and only weakness; of course he'll be here. Then he can watch this little lady die...right before we blow him away."
Jaime-in-the-chair was – of course – not bionic, and could only struggle weakly, helpless to fight back or free herself. She sat bolt-upright at the sound of the upstairs door being kicked in.
"Here's our knight in shining armor now," one of her captors chortled gleefully. "Say goodbye, Sweetheart."
Ann shielded her daughter's eyes by pulling her into a hug. The separation between reality, dream and alternate reality blurred for one horrific instant as Jaime-in-the-bed, Jaime-in-her-mother's-arms and Jaime-in-the-chair all jumped at the sound of the first, deadly shot.
Suddenly, only one Jaime was left. She sat up in bed, sighing in relief at finding herself whole and alive, but still trembling violently. "Mother...?" she called in a quiet, plaintive voice. "...Mom...?"
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