Disclaimer: I do not own anything you may recognize from the Dead Zone television show. The characters are the property of their creator, Stephen King, and whoever else might own some kind of rights to them as used on the show. This particular alternate universe is, to my knowledge, my own, but regardless of changes I may have made, characters, incidents, etc, that you recognize do not belong to me. This applies in its entirety to all subsequent chapters of this story, as well.
And, with that out of the way, on to…
Chapter 1: The Beginning
Eleven-year-old Johnny Smith sat in silence in the back of the car, trying to fall asleep. They were coming home from a trip, and it was late. He half-heard his parents' voices. Then he heard a horn somewhere close, loud and long. Squealing tires, screeching brakes. Screams. His eyes jerked open.
Then he heard nothing more, and all he saw was darkness.
Johnny Smith blinked. When everything came into blurry focus, he realized he was in a hospital. He looked over at a nurse, curious and a bit bewildered. "Excuse me," he started.
The boy's confusion grew as the nurse turned to him, going pale. "You're awake?" she whispered, seemingly to herself.
"Yeah," he replied slowly, in a voice that communicated his disbelief that that was what had shocked her so much. "Yeah, why? How long have I been here?"
The nurse hesitated. "Six years."
"What?" No. No, this couldn't be possible. It had only been days. Just a few days, that's all. Or maybe a week. "Six years?"
The woman nodded reluctantly.
"So, what, I'm seventeen now?" Another nod. Johnny paused, thinking. Then: "Where are my parents? I want to see my parents. Please." He reached out and clasped her hand in his urgency. Images suddenly flooded his mind.
What's happening? He was no longer in the hospital. How had he gotten here? Where was "here"? He looked around, and saw a little girl, no more than five, who appeared absolutely terrified. And he realized the house, whoever's house it was, was on fire. He had to do something. He had to do something. The child was cowering in fear from the flames. Why couldn't he feel the heat? Confused, scared –
– he dropped the nurse's hand and, an instant later, was back in the clean, white, sterile atmosphere of the hospital. Gone were the flames, and the smoke. And the little girl. Where had they gone? He had to do something.
"Do you have a daughter?" he asked the nurse still standing next to him. His words were spoken rapidly, jumbled together in his haste, but she'd understood him, and nodded.
"Yes, she's five," the nurse answered with a smile. "Meredith. Why do you ask?"
"I think something really bad's gonna happen. Maybe it's already happening, I don't know. But I think your house is gonna catch on fire. I have to stop it." His eyes were wide, frightened. "Please, can you call someone and make sure everything's okay?"
"I'm sure everything's fine, but thank you for your con–"
"Please," he begged, his tone oddly reminiscent of when, minutes ago, he'd pleaded for his parents. He'd nearly forgotten that now; life and death were surely more important. "Just call somebody and make sure. Please."
"Alright," she replied, resigned to the fact that the teen was not going to give up on this. She picked up the phone from its cradle nearby and Johnny heard her hit nine a few times to get to the outside world, then start on the area code.
"Who're you calling?" he asked out of curiosity.
"My neighbor, Jen," the nurse replied as she punched in the remaining numbers and listened to the phone ring on the other end. "Hi, Jen? It's Lisa. There's a kid here who's swearing my house is on fire. Could you check on it for me, for his sake?" A pause. "Thanks." Another, more drawn-out pause as Jen looked out the window. Suddenly, the nurse's eyes went wide. "Oh my God….Yes, would you? Thanks so much, Jen. Bye." Hanging up the phone, the woman turned to Johnny, incredulous. "She says she saw flames. She's calling the fire department."
"Oh, good," he responded. What else needed to be said?
"How – how did you know?" Okay, well there was that.
Johnny thought about it. "I don't know," he finally said. "I just…saw it. Like I was there." He shrugged. "It's never happened before. I don't know what it was."
And so it began.
A/N: I'm low on ideas at the moment. If anyone has some they'd like to share, feel free to suggest them. And regardless of whether you've got ideas, review please! This is my first real attempt at AU and multi-chapter; how am I doing?