Rachel knew something went wrong. She was beginning to feel numb. Like something was sucking all her blood out of her. She was suffocating. It felt like she was suffocating in her mind, not so much lacking air. She heard yelling. Or perhaps was it crying? No. Neither?

She had to force her eyes open. They were crusted shut from sleep. The bright light hurt. She had something to say to someone that was very important, but had no idea what. Her eyes came into focus.

Major Confusion.

Rachel found herself at a playground, somewhere. She was sitting on a swing, swinging gently. It seemed to be the middle of the day, but there was nobody in sight. Perhaps she was in heaven? She really had to stop kidding herself. She wasn't sure if she was dead. She felt dead. Whatever that felt like. From the swing set Rachel could only see a couple trees. She was in the middle of a field. No houses, no towns, cars, people. Nobody.

Oh, but maybe somebody. Rachel squinted. In the distance there was somebody. Or, no two people. They were hugging. She tried to get off the swing, but she couldn't find the ground. She looked down.

There was no ground.

Rachel just waited for them to see her. They didn't seem to be noticing her.

"Hey!" Rachel screamed. They were pretty far away, she wasn't sure they'd hear her. Oh, one of them heard her. She was looking around. Rachel found this all quite strange. How can they not see a playground in the middle of a field? "HEY!" She screamed again. It seemed like only one of the two people was hearing her. The other seemed to be confused and…… sad? But the one was approaching the playground, still not seeing it. Rachel looked around. She jumped in surprise. She was now sitting on a tire swing, hanging from a tree. This was beyond weird. The person was now getting pretty close to the tree where Rachel sat. She was about a city-block length away. Rachel squinted. It was Sara. Her sister? She thought about this for a second. Then she remembered what the important thing was she had to say. She jumped off the swing, there was ground this time, and ran over to her. "Sara!" Rachel screeched. Sara turned, and finally saw her. She looked elatedly happy to see her.

"Rachel?" She whispered in disbelief. Rachel had no desire for small talk or any negotiating with her sister.

"I have to tell you something," Rachel said pointedly. Only, Rachelfelt detachedfrom what she was saying. Like someone else had crept inside her with a message for her sister and had avoided noting theirexistence.Sara seemed intoxicated by the presence of her sister. Rachel ignored her. "Are you listening!" She said impatiently.

"I thought you…. Rachel? What happened? I thought you were dead…." Sara said. Whoever the other person was, was gone now, Rachel noticed. She rolled her eyes at her sister's mindless statement.

"I AM dead." Rachel said sharply. She hadn't realized that she was dead until then. Well, her mouth was doing the talking, not her mind, or... whoever the mystery person inside her was. Well, she told herself, that was unfortunate and decided to see what she had to say, and sat back to listen.She stepped up closer to Sara. "I need to tell you something, and you have to promise me you'll remember. You have to promise." Rachel said. Sara was crying. Rachel waited. Seeing Sara nod in agreement before wiping her eyes, Rachel continued. "You have to stop this all before it happens." Rachel said. "You know how my case plays out already. You know what happened. When we return to the future, only you will know all that because it's your dream, not mine. In fact... I don't know you yet." She said, having no idea where the instructions were coming from, or why they were important, or what they even meant. She just knew she had to tell Sara.

Sara looked around probablly for a neon sign translating whatever her sister said. "Hey!" She heard Rachel shout. The girl was being awfully ornery. Sara turned to see Rachel right in front of her. She stepped back a little. Her sister seemed transformed and her demeanor was a complete turnaround. If it was some sort of vision or dream she was having right now, maybe it skewed Rachel's personality. Perhaps, too, that meant she was still alive. Sara remembered and was somehow understanding what she had just been told. When we return to the future, only you will know all that because it's your dream, not mine. In fact... I don't know you yet. Suddenly succumbing to her momentary comprehension, Sara decided to change the subject.

"Why didn't you take the second train, Rach?" Sara asked calmly. Rachel seemed to let some of her guard down. The question was more personal than these creepy instructions, and caused Rachel to climb out a bit. Realizing this, Rachel immediately rebuilt her wall. She turned and headed to the tire swing. Sara tried to grab her sister's shoulder but found herself groping madly at nothing but air. Scandalized, Rachel turned, and glared at her sister with an outraged expression. Ready to retort, Rachel replied;

"Why did you leave me under the porch?"

"I asked you first, Rachel. Tell me why you skipped your second train!" Sara yelled with a false anger that was meant to intimidate Rachel to no avail. Rachel stared at Sara for a moment before continuing her ghostly journey to the tire swing. "Rachel!" Sara screamed through tears of anger. "You did this to yourself you know. You killed yourself. You're a coward. Suicide is cowardly. I thought you were smarter than that, Rachel. No. No, I knew you were smarter than that. And talking to you now is very, very frustrating because you're dead and I don't know where I am or how to get out of here!" She cried. Rachel had stopped while listening to the rant.

"You're in a dream." Rachel said, without turning around. "If I tell you why, you'll know the whole story.There'll beno reason to help me, because, by thenit will be too late." Rachel said slowly, turning to face Sara. "As for how to get out of here, you'll have to wake up." Rachel said, walking back towards her sister, holding something. Sara saw that it was a music box. Rachel handed it to her. Sara held it for a second before reacting. "Vienna Blood was the song that was playing. You know. When he died." Rachel said, looking down at the lone music box in Sara's palm. She looked at her sister for perhaps the first time in the eyes.Then, she turnedand started running away into the never ending distance. Sara looked back at the music box, only to see it had turned into a pool of blood, and was dripping from her hand.