7

Susan was dreaming. At the beginning, she had been in her deceased grandmother's home, the one she had been named for. Gran Susie had looked at her and said: "Be careful, Susan, it is dangerous and I don't want you to fall." Then she found herself on a ski slope, and realised she had inexplicably gone out of bounds and was hurtling towards a precipice. Desperately trying to slow her approach, she took a deliberate fall, but her momentum still carried her over the edge. A pair of hands grabbed her, and Susan looked up and saw her rescuer was Jack Harriman. Suddenly, a second woman tumbled over the edge, and Jack wildly whipped an arm out to grab her. Susan looked in surprise at her sister, Dee.

"But you don't even like skiing," Susan said to her.

"I follow Jack wherever he goes," Dee said in return. Jack then looked down at them and said: "I can't hold on to both of you." Susan realised with horror that she and Dee were dragging him down over the edge. "I'm sorry, Susan, but I love Dee."

Susan wanted to scream that she had been saved first, that it wasn't fair. "Please, Jack, don't let me go," she begged.

"I'm sorry, Susan," he repeated, and relaxed his grip on her wrist. As she was falling, she saw Jack pull Dee up to safety. Just before Susan felt sure she would hit the ground below, strong, loving arms caught her. Don's voice, full of compassion and warmth said: "I've got you, Susan. I love you and I promise I'll never let you go." Susan woke with a start and snapped her eyes open.

It was a dream that was similar to others she'd had in the past. The first time she had ever dreamt it was when Jack and Dee had told her they were seeing each other, and Jack wrote her a letter saying how sorry he was.

Neither Gran Susie nor Don were in the dream that first time, and Susan remembered the falling sensation seemed to last forever, and that no one had caught her. For nearly a year the dream would occasionally come to plague her. It had faded as a few years went by and had seemingly vanished completely after Jack died.

When she had gone away for the two weeks to think about Don's proposal, the dream returned, and for the first time, Don caught her when Jack let her go. Sitting up, Susan realised this was the first time that her grandmother entered the scenario. Maybe it was the residual effect of the dream, but Susan now felt as if Gran Susie was somehow present in an almost tangible way, as a benevolent guardian and protector. 

Three years ago, when the business with Alex Wright had started, Susan recalled that Gran Susie had been in her thoughts frequently, and wondered now if that hadn't been an indication that she should have been wary, in light of this new dreamland warning.

"And if Gran is trying to warn me now as I suspect she was trying to warn me then, what is it I should be concerned about?" Susan thought to herself.