Chapter 3
1944
Norfolk, Virginia
Alyssa had been walking on egg shells for the past few weeks. The day that she had been dreading all these years was now rapidly approaching. Soon she would leave this mortal coil, leave her long suffering husband and young daughter behind and go where they simply could not follow. This decision was out of her hands, fate had chosen long before she was born that this was her path, this was her fate.
The visions which had been plaguing her for since she was sixteen years old, were now so few and far between as the months passed her by. Each which came as dreams were now always blurred and muted. It made interpreting the message behind them harder to understand. It was getting increasingly more difficult, she barely could understand the information that ability was giving her anymore.
Each night she would forcibly awaken, covered from head to toe in sweat with tears threatening to break free and cascade down her cheeks. It was state that caused her such distress, she couldn't begin to understand why it had come to this, why her ability had started to cause her so many damn restless nights.
Each night, her beloved Derek never seemed to stir, she was thankful for this simple fact. She did not want to cause him to worry but still the very sight of him deep in slumber would calm her mind even if it was for but a moment. The very nature of her gift, if you could actually call it that was slowing wearing her down, driving her close to the edge. It was now destroying her emotionally, mentally and physically to the point that it was starting to show upon her face.
Her crows' feet now had crowfeet of their own. Wrinkles were gradually forming upon what had been her once youthful face. Under each eye, a deep, dark and rather heavy circles were forming, standing out for all to see. A clear sign of one too many restless nights that she had plaguing her through out these past few difficult months.
Alyssa grabbed her head, wincing at the familiar ache. It was always a sharp stabbing pain that came and went in a blink of an eye. Headaches had become a daily occurrence and there was no amount of over the counter pain medication that could take the edge of the acute, vicious pulsating sensation off. It was her daily struggle, trying to deal with this nightmare headache whenever it appeared.
She just had to simply forced herself to endure it, attempt to hide especially when she was in the presence of others under her mask, Alyssa would just smile in away, whilst the pain carried on with its attack. However when questioned, then her guard would drop, in that moment she would answer with the same tired expression, still with that false smile upon her lips.
"Truly, everything is alright" People would sigh and have to accept this very statement one way or another as she would not be moved and carry on.
Days were now merging into one another, she found that often she would blink and days would have past. Alyssa was even finding it hard to focus onto the simplest of household tasks for too long, as her mind could not help but wander off. She could be at the sink, washing the plates from dinner the night before but find her washing the same plate over and over again.
No matter how much she tried to deny it; it was crystal clear for her loved ones that something was either wrong and playing on her mind and distracting her. Alyssa was lost to the world around her.
These changes had not escaped Derek's notice that something was going on with his wife but she was playing it very close to her chest, and this truly cut him to know that his wife, his best friend was shying away from him. The joyful light that had shone within her deep green eye whenever she smiled at him or their daughter Cara. It had dulled to the point that it seemed that her eyes had hardened over and lost that joy and happiness that he always loved to see when he gazed into her eyes.
He could also see that her bright, million dollar smile was no longer there, instead it was simply a false front to hide behind. A close mouth smile is all anyone got these days. This tugged at his heart strings, the very thought that his wife of more than ten years was slipping away from him, hiding her pain from him. It had taken her five years to open to him about her gift which to him seemed to be more like a curse than anything. She had been enduring images of death, destruction and all that came in-between. It took the surprise out of life.
At first this very fact was drove a wedge between the two of them, Derek had questioned their marriage. Had she only approached him because she had seen him in her future? Had she known everything that was to play out for the two of them? Alyssa had answered every question honestly. She had never seen him coming. He had been her blind spot and for this she had been grateful.
However that was then, now it was simply her and him, they were no longer a united front standing strong against the world. This had not been his decision.
Derek had felt as if the sky had opened one day, what has been revealing was not his wife but a stranger standing across the room staring back at him. It was not his wife, the one that who had leaned upon him whenever she had needed help.
No, in her opinion as it was her gift, this was not and had never been his problem. Sure it had taken time for him to come to terms with the fact that his wife knew was coming but that was how it was, it help at times not that he would ask her daily, no was not how their relationship worked.
The night terrors however that was a different matter altogether. They frightened him to the core and had caused the lines across his forehead to deepen since they had started. The very sound of her breathy gasp as she jolted herself awake was something he wished that he could take back that memory for the first night she had jolted up, crying and muttering to herself. Derek had tried reaching out to her but she had pushing his hand away. It had been the first sign of what had unfolded. He had ignored it, brushed it off as one time thing before rolling over and going back to sleep. It hadn't as the next time, it had started again.
Alyssa was now forever twitchy, biting down upon her red rosy lips whenever she passed through their home especially when she crossed the kitchen. Derek's once deep auburn locks were peppered with several grey hairs, his own coffee colored eyes had lost their youthful shine and his facial featured and hardened with time. His own stress had attributed to this but it was not the only factor by far. He could not prevent was what always going to happen. Time was something had could not be halted, time waited for no man or woman.
There was one thing apart from the time spent with his wife, that he was truly thankful for. Cara, his dear daughter and the apple of his eye. She was still rather young and could yet not to see what was happened to her mother, to Alyssa was slowly cracking under the pressure of her gift.
As he stood in the threshold into the kitchen, leaning against the wall. Derek turned his head to glance back at his wife, who was humming a familiar tune from her childhood as she washed up the dishes from breakfast. Cara was ahead of him, in the hallway with her backpack already on, eager as ever to get to school.
"Come on Dad! I'm going to be late again" She whined at him, not wanting to be late once more as it would be the third time this week that her father had left the house too late. Her school was starting to take notice. Derek had a surprise that he hoped his wife wasn't already aware of. Tonight was going be a special night, oh he would see to that. Everything already had been arranged expect that he needed to drop Cara off at her friends after school but that he would handle later on as he still needed to get her to school in the first place.
"I'm coming now Cara! He called, as he turned away from Alyssa but he had forgotten to say goodbye to her. Derek closed the door behind him, heading off and out.
Alyssa soon found herself alone, but this was all part of her morning routine. There was nothing that needed her immediate attention so she turned away from the sink. The dishes were now washed, dried and put away in their proper place. Yesterday's laundry was something that she had put off for a moment longer as she found herself lost in thought once more. She stood in the middle of the kitchen contemplating everything that had left up to this moment in time.
Each vision was cryptic and nothing more than a piece in a larger puzzle that had been slowly unfolding in her mind. Alyssa had quickly come to realize that this puzzle was bigger than her. The future was and had always been just out of her reach. It was something that she was not meant to be a part.
Alyssa had never seen herself beside her daughter as she grew into a woman. One day, many years ago, she had seen how she would leave this world, she had seen her own death. It had horrifying at first but she come to the realization that when she had witnessed the death of her younger brother that in the end everything ends eventually and everyone has their time to go. She no longer feared the inevitable, she no longer feared death when it came for her as it was simply inescapable.
Alyssa had her role, she was the messenger and nothing more, that was the very purpose and nature of her invisible gift. Time had ticked by without her notice; she glanced up at the clock on the far wall. Ten past three was displayed upon the face of the clock.
The sound of tire screeching against the road, alerting her to the fact that her daughter and husband were in the driveway. Time had escaped her once more, the day was almost over. "Damn" She softly cursed, she hated when this happened.
Suddenly as she tried to move forward from where she had ended up standing, the pain returned, raining down upon her. This time it was different. The pain was different, it was unlike anything she had felt previously. It was stronger, it was all-consuming. It caused a dizziness which threw off her balance. Soon enough she found herself falling and her back, her shoulders and her head collided with the floor hard, taking the brunt of the impact.
Her long ash blond hair spread behind her, framing her face much like a halo would. A sad smile caressed her lips, as it dawned upon her, this was it, this was what she had seen all those years ago. Her time had come, her thread was being cut down by the fates.
Her eyes lids were growing heavy as her daughter's voice called out from the hallway, moving closer to the kitchen. Alyssa wanted nothing more than to close her eyes and give into the darkness. Let it take her home but not yet. Her hearing deepened, everything around sounded louder than before. The tick of the clock as time move on, the footsteps of her daughter and the dripping of the tap. All sounded muffled but loud. She was drawing closer to oblivion.
The darkness would be comforting, as it would be calling her home. Welcoming her into its embrace, finally putting an end to her pain, to the misery her gift, her ability had brought her over the long years. No longer could she try and fight what was meant to be. The never ending cycle of headaches, that had been a sign of how quickly she had been moving closer and closer to this very moment in time.
She could not even move her head towards to the doorway, where her daughter stood frozen to the stop, before releasing a frightened scream. "Mum!" The fear was crystal clear as it hung to every word and it showed across her now ghostly white face.
"Dad, come quickly!" Cara called out to her father; hoping that he could solve this like he solved every other problem and help Alyssa up and then they were return to their lives but not this time. This was something Derek couldn't resolve.
Cara was always the one who would find her, Alyssa knew she always had. Today was her day; soon her little girl would find her own strength from this tragic moment. The energy around her daughter was quickly building, soon it would burst and Derek would be witness what their beautiful girl was capable of. A slight smile flickered to life, he would handle this well. They would pull together with their collective grief.
The precognitive hated the very thought that she was leaving her family behind. Fate could not be fought, there was always a slight chance that it could be altered, maybe even changed but at a cost of changing everything that followed. This was something that could not be changed;
No, Alyssa wouldn't allow it! Not now, not ever!
Cara crouched next her mother, tears cascading down her cheeks. Their eyes locked, the smile had returned, reaching her eyes. A final vision crossed her sight, a final glimpse into the future. 'Oh Cara, what was waiting for you, they are waiting for you' Alyssa could leave the world with a smile on her face, maybe the fates had a sliver of compassion after all.
"He'll make you happy Cara" was all that escaped her lips, confusing her daughter as the last breath left her body.
Alyssa Dane, the elusive precognitive mutant was gone; all that was left was a shell, the empty form that lay on the kitchen floor beside her balling daughter. Her husband stood in the doorway unable to move, shocked at the sight before him. She had warned him that she would not be around forever. He had not thought that it would be this day, not now.
He could not believe that this had happened. She was gone, his Alyssa. The bunch of roses in his right hand slipped free and dropped like a dead weight much like his heart had. Cara left out a a cry of grief, the room shook as her mutation revealed itself. There was still a piece of Alyssa left behind, her daughter.
A letter shot through a letter box half away across the country. Alyssa had thought everything through and soon Stephan and Jackson would know that she was gone. Cara and Derek would need each other to move forward but for now, they would grieve what they had just lost, the sun in their sky had set for the last time.
