The Pocket Watch

Back together for what she hoped would be the last time, Sandra sat with her sisters and father in her parent’s home. Her mother had been brought home from the hospital for palliative care. The doctors. were pretty sure she would go tonight. Her sister had summoned her to join them. She supposed she should be flattered. She thought her family had forgotten she existed. She hadn’t talked to them in years.

She sat down and watched as dad stroked what remained of mum’s thin limp hair. She breathed slowly; every breath seemed more of a struggle than the last. Her sisters held each other, their tears flowing freely. Sandra held her hands in her lap as she wept silent tears, for a mother who had never loved her.

By the following morning, mum is gone. The three girls are in the old house to clear it out. Dad doesn’t want to live here alone. He’s going to stay with Violet till he finds a place. We have all the windows cranked open, trying to get the stench of death out of the house. It's no good. It’s baked into the walls. Only tearing this down will get rid of the stink.

Most of mum’s things are trash, she was a hoarder. It felt good to finally get rid of her rat-piss-soaked collection of newspapers from the garage.

They were all feeling pretty satisfied finally getting all of the crap out of the house. They’d been telling mum for years to do a clean-up. The mold and dust must have contributed to her sickness. She refused to do it though.

Violet had brought hazmat suits, along with masks and gloves. They had all laughed at the sight of them. Now they were all wearing them. The mold and rat piss is no joke!

Cleaning mum’s bedroom consisted of putting EVERYTHING into a garbage bag to throw away. She didn’t want to save a single thing, nostalgia be damned. As she threw some old books into the bag something heavy clunked to the floor. She looked down and saw a glimmer of gold reflect from the ceiling light. She picked it up to look closer. It was an old pocket watch. She wiped it against her thigh and looked again. It had delicate engraving on the front. Swirls ran around the cover. She tried to pop it open but with the thick gloves she had on, she couldn’t manage it. She went into the living room where she had left her bag and dropped the watch into it. She’d have a closer look later. She got back to the task at hand.

Sandra forgot about the watch as she endured her time with dad and her sisters. She had never really fit in with her family and was eager to get away from them. She was grateful after the funeral. They could all go back to forgetting that each other existed.

The day after the funeral Sandra was back at work, and all was right with the world. After work, she got home and threw her bag on the couch. It fell over and the pocket watch came spilling out.

Shit, I was supposed to ask dad about that, she thought. Well, I’m not calling him now, I don’t want to see those people again until someone else dies!

She grabbed a washcloth and cleaned the dusk from the watch. She’d never seen it before, it must have meant something to mum or she wouldn’t have gone to the trouble of hiding it behind her books. She sat down with a glass of wine and examined the watch. No name engraving, just a pretty swirly pattern. It went all the way around it. She hit the button to pop the watch open. It didn’t open. She put her wine down and yanked at it with both hands. Finally, it opened with a puff of dust.

It was just an ordinary run-of-the-mill pocket watch. The time had stopped at 3. AM or PM she’d never know. “What an odd thing for mum to keep”, she thought again. She dropped the watch onto the coffee table and picked up her wine and the TV remote. She sat back to enjoy all the benefits of being 40 and single.

At 3 am Sandra’s alarm started blaring. Startled she sat bolt upright wondering what was happening. She put her arms out in front of her and waved them in defense of whatever was happening.

Slowly she started to realize the alarm was the something. Her alarm was blaring at 3 am. She leaned over and accidentally hit the snooze button. “For fucks sake” she shrieked, “now that fuckers going to be blaring again in 8 minutes.”

The room was quiet, she swung her feet off the bed, ready to get up. She had 8 minutes to kill.

She walked into the kitchen and poured herself a glass of water. Looking out of the window she could see the rain falling hard.

She walked past the coffee table into the living room, her eyes settled on the watch. It looked beautiful in the dimly lit room, the gold glistened off what little light entered the space.

She picked it up, it felt warm in her hand. She popped it open and to her surprise, the time now read 3:05. Now it was telling the right time. How odd. She closed it again and closed her fist around it. Why did my mum have this, she thought.

Before the thought was over, the walls of her small apartment started to melt away. The couch disappeared like ash blowing into the wind. The sky had replaced her ceiling. The perfect blue sky. In her apartment? Her head started to swim. The coffee table like the couch turned to dust and evaporated into the sky. She looked down and watched the carpet turn into grass. She felt she may faint. “What was happening?” The apartment was gone she was standing in a field. The field by her old house.

She was by the local lake. Close to her parent’s house. The lake was calm as ever, it was a beautiful summer’s day. It isn’t summer, it isn’t even daytime, Sandra thought slumping to the grass, her legs no longer wanting to hold her up. Her heart pounded a million miles a minute as she tried to take in the scene. Understand what was happening. Her head swims.

She sees a little girl of about 6 running toward the lake. Her clothes look old and outdated. The kid’s brown pigtails bounce in the breeze as she runs, laughing. She looks like me, but she’s not me, Sandra thought her confusion getting stronger with every minute.

As the girl got closer Sandra realized the girl isn’t laughing, she was crying. Her worry for the girl overtakes her confusion and she says “What’s wrong, hey little girl what’s wrong”

She stands up and walks over to the little girl. The grass feels bouncy and tickles her bare feet. “What’s wrong?” she asks again crouching by the little girl.

The little girl doesn’t react. She acts like Sandra isn’t even there. Sandra goes to put her hand gently onto the girl’s shoulder. Her hand moves right through her like the girl is a ghost. Or maybe I’m the ghost? She thinks in horror.

The little girl stares out at the lake. The still beauty of the lake seems to calm the girl. Sandra looks across the lake hoping for the same reaction from herself. This is just a dream, she tells herself. It must be. Her head swam as though she felt like she was spinning.

She sat next to the little girl whose tears had stopped falling.

She noticed the little girl had something in her hands, something glistening in the sunlight. She opens her hand and the sunlight bounces from the watch in her hand. She gets up to look more closely at what the little girl is holding. It is, she thought, it’s the pocket watch. She had a feeling it would be

She took a moment to study the little girl's face. So familiar, she looks just like me, she had thought.

After a moment she realized why she looked so familiar. That’s my mum. My mum as a little girl. She looks just like me.

The girl stood up, took a deep breath, and threw the watch as hard as she could into the lake. It disappeared with a plop.

Then it was gone, and the whole world changed again. She was back standing in her living room, the grass was now carpet, the sky just a ceiling.

She heard a sound coming from her bedroom. She leaned into the noise. It was her alarm clock, blaring again after the snooze. She went into her bedroom and shut it off. Her heart was still racing, but the vision had gone now. She was home, she was on her bed, and soon she would sleep.

Then she heard another sound. A creaking sound came from her closet. It didn’t sound like wood creaking, it sounded alive. The creaking sounded alive. It had breath. Sandra’s whole body was on edge. She felt the icy fingers of fear wrap around her. She stopped still as she could, tried not to breathe, and listened to that unrelenting creaking sound. It was in rhythm with her heartbeat.

She was frozen to the spot, she knew she’d never sleep with that creaking noise, but she was too terrified to move to investigate. The creaking sound got louder; she could feel it. Like a roar, it vibrated through the air.

She felt cold, felt her whole body go cold as the creaking turned into a guttural moan. It was dark. She couldn’t see. There were shadows in the bedroom. Which had always been there? Were any of them new? She couldn’t tell. Panic had set into her now.

The hairs on the back of her neck stood up. She felt cold icy breath behind her. Sending shivers up and down her spine. A warm wet pool of liquid dripped onto Sandra’s back. She couldn’t move, couldn’t turn around. The creaking growl continued getting closer louder, vibrating in the air.

Waiting in anticipation of what the drooling creature might do she fully abandoned thoughts to the creature ahead. Her heart felt like it would explode, a cold sweat had broken out on every part of her body. The growl, the drool, the icy breath… As she waited ready to die, she felt cold spikey fur touch her bare foot. She could feel whatever the fur belonged to getting closer, and closer. She was breathing in labored breaths she was sure she would die. Terror shot up and down her spine as she waited.

Cold leathery fingers crept around her ankle; she held her breath. She couldn’t handle anymore, please she couldn’t. “Please stop” she whispered as the hand closed around her ankle, squeezing tight. The spiked fur dug into her skin. She screamed, she screamed louder than she had ever screamed before. Then everything went black.

She awoke in the morning covered in a cold sweat. Shit, what a dream, she thought, still feeling disturbed. Sitting up she felt cold shivers shooting up and down her spine. She felt something cold in her hand, opening it she saw she was still holding the pocket watch.

Yawning at work for the 5th time in a row caught the attention of her desk buddy Joe.

“Late night?” he said with a wink.

“Not like that Joe, you know me. No fun in my life”

“Boring! So why so sleepy?”

She sighed and looked at Joe, her face became sullen. It wasn’t like her. Joe had never seen that kind of look from her before. It tugged in his belly. That look made him feel afraid.

Sandra doesn’t notice Joe’s reaction and goes on with her story.

“So, I had a dream, a really bad dream. It felt so real, it still gives me shivers” she says with a shudder.

“When I was a kid, I was terrified of the shadows in my room. I was sure they were monsters. That I was surrounded by monsters. I knew logically that the shapes were just the things in my room. The desk, the wardrobe, even stuff hanging on my clothes peg.” She let out another loud sigh. Joe started biting at his fingernails.

“Last night I dreamt the shadows came to life. They became the monsters, I could hear them growl in my closet, and feel their breath on the back of my neck. I felt a hand, not a human hand, it came from under the bed.”

The phone rang, and Joe screamed out loud. Then immediately tried to gather himself. He turned red, as the other workers looked over.

Sandra answered the phone. “Has Joe finished the Hinkley file?”

“No sir I am doing that one. I’m on it right now, you will have it by this afternoon.” Click. The boss hung up.

“Jesus Sandra, why would you tell me that here? At work? Work conversations are ’hi, how’s it going? Do anything fun last night? Oh yeah, I went out and got laid. Not wardrobe demons! Fuck!”

Joe took a deep breath and tried to calm himself down.

“You know I’m sensitive Sandra, my lord”

“Sorry Joe, it was, it was just a really bad dream. I think I needed to talk about it, it’s fine now”

“Next time call me with your demon tales, while I’m at home, with a drink”

“Sorry Joe,” she said with a smile. “Come over to mine tonight, we can have a few glasses of wine and have a proper catch-up?”

“Fuck no!” Joe said in disgust. “I’m never going to your place again! You come to mine. Bring wine”

“Will do”

Sandra felt a sense of relief at the thought of getting out of her apartment for the evening. She was sure she had just been dreaming, but still…

After work, she went home and got ready for the evening. She opened the curtains in her bedroom, getting rid of the shadows. She still felt scared in there. A shiver shot down her spine as she opened the closet. Stop being stupid, she thought as she tried to shrug the feeling off.

She decided she would pick up some food and wine to have at Joe’s. A mini dinner party. She picked up the watch before she left. She felt like she had a pretty good idea of what she should do with it.

Joe lived close to the lake. After picking up the supplies for the mini-party she drove down there. The lake was a short walk from the parking lot.

She got to the lake and looked out; a light wind was whipping ripples onto its usually flat surface. She took a deep breath and fished the watch out of her pocket. She turned it in her fingers and watched it twinkle in the light. It was pretty, but it had to go.

Sandra pulled her arm back and sprung it out, she wanted it as far away as possible. The watch flew through the air, catching the sun as it went. She watched as it fell downwards and splashed into the lake with a gulp.

At the moment the watch hit the water Sandra was no longer beside the lake. She was deep in it. The frigid water almost paralyzed her, as she tried to swim up. She could see the lake's surface, but the more she swam up, the deeper into the lake she got.

She could see the surface of the lake, it looked so close, so close it seemed she could reach out and touch it, but no matter how hard she swam, she never broke the surface.

She realized she couldn’t breathe. The surface was air, and the surface was safety, but the more she swam the deeper she got. She felt her body hitting panic mode. Her lungs needed her to breathe. She felt hot all over in the icy water.

Her body was screaming at her to breathe, just breathe. Terror rushed through her she knew what would happen if she took a breath. She couldn’t, she swam harder for the surface her arms and legs starting to ache, I can’t breathe. The water is getting heavier, I can’t breathe, she struggles to keep swimming, I can’t breathe. She looks to the surface, I can’t breathe. Her body is exhausted, I can’t breathe. Her bladder lets go and she pisses into the water, I can’t breathe.

I can’t breathe, I can't breathe, I can't breathe, I CAN’T BREATHE, I CAN’T BREATHE!

There are no other thoughts now, just a panic-stricken body that had lost its mind and can’t breathe.

Her mouth opens up, her body takes over. It takes a breath, a deep breath. Pain shoots into her lungs as they fill with lake water instead of air, she tries to breathe out, she’s choking, she needs air she breathes in harder this time. The agony radiates throughout her, her lungs feel like they are exploding. Her mind is lost in panic, as everything goes black.

She wakes up, gasping for air, her whole body is shaking she is sucking in the night air, trying to take in every bit of it. “Oh my god I can breathe,” she thought with tears welling in her eyes. “I can breathe.” It’s late, it's dark now. How did she survive that? How is she still alive? Is she still alive?

She inspects herself, no cuts no bruises, and she’s not even wet. She looks out at the lake, so peaceful in the night sky. The moonlight reflects in the water, a perfect reflection of the moon. Everything looks so normal. The world is at peace. She isn’t drowning, just laying down by the lake. She checks the time, 3:05 AM.

She can’t stop shaking every breath she takes is deep, relishing every moment of her lungs filling with oxygen and not water. Was there any better feeling than being able to breathe? She thought not.

She eased herself up on her shaky legs. She somehow managed to walk back to her car and sit inside. She leaned her head back and breathed, and breathed. She became aware she was holding something in her hand. Round and metal, her stomach sinks. She slowly opens her fingers and looks at what’s inside. It’s a pocket watch.

The next morning, she wakes up in bed fully clothed. She didn’t fall asleep last night as much as just passed out on the bed. She slept through her alarm. She’s still holding the watch. She throws it down onto the bed in disgust. Her body feels weak, she’s still trembling. She looks at her clock It's 09:02 AM, and work started at 8:00 AM.

Normally punctual she has never woken up this late for work, She would get into a wild panic if she was even going to be one minute late. Today she doesn’t care. She fired off an email to her boss about being homesick. Joe has been calling and texting. He’s on the verge of calling the police. Christ, what is happening?

She texts Joe back. “I’ll call you later, it’s been a weird few days!” She hits send. It’s not much of an explanation, but it will do for now. She should probably figure out what is going on before she explains it to anyone else.

She slowly gets ready. Her stomach turns over as she starts the shower running, the sight of the water. Her legs buckle and she starts throwing up into the toilet. Laying on the floor she starts to cry. Big hot tears of fear and confusion. Is she losing her mind? She must be. It’s the only explanation. The bathroom fills with steam from the shower as she rests her head against the toilet bowl and weeps.

It takes a while to shower and get dressed, Sandra isn’t feeling well. She has the nauseated feeling you get with vertigo. Her vision is fine, but when she closes her eyes the world starts spinning. Her body is weak, she can’t remember the last time she ate. Nothing would sit in her stomach at this point anyway.

She scooped the watch up into a freezer bag. She doesn’t even want to touch it at this point. She carries it out to the car and throws it onto the passenger seat. She starts the short drive to her sister’s place. They all live so close to each other, but hardly ever saw each other.

She parks on the driveway at her sister’s house. A sprawling 4-bedroom brick house. It looks mildly intimidating from the driveway. She gets a sinking feeling in her belly. I’ll never be able to afford anything like this, she thinks as she approaches the front door. Do I hate my sisters with good reason, or am I just jealous of them? What a terrifying thought. Could she have been the bad guy all these years? A shiver ran through her. “Please god, I’ve had enough horror for a lifetime”

She knocks on the oversized elaborate brass knocker that adorns her sister's front door. Flashy Bitch, she thinks idly.

Her dad answers the door. Sandra is not her usual self. She usually holds her head up high, confident bordering on snooty. She’s always well put together, with neat hair, nice clothes, and light makeup. Not today though, as he answers the door her dad barely recognizes her. She looks gaunt, her hair is still wet and hanging limply on her shoulders. Her eyes look sunken in, with deep dark bags beneath them. She had always looked like her mum, which used to be a compliment. Not now, now she looked like her dying mum.

She doesn’t say a word. Her dad ushers her inside. She sat down on her perfect sister, perfect couch, and looked up at her dad. He tried hard to keep from looking horrified, but he is fighting a losing battle. It has been barely a week since he put his wife in the ground, and now looked like his youngest daughter would be next.

He’d always been a loving kind dad to his first two daughters, with his youngest they had never clicked. She had always felt like a stranger. Maybe because she was so independent, she always wanted to do everything herself. She never asked for help. Her sisters needed constant help, love, and attention. Sandra seemed to prefer to go without. He was afraid to even hug her, he felt like he barely knew her. Especially now as she sat before him.

Something clicked into place in his mind. Drugs. It must be drugs, nothing else can take someone down so fast. She’s probably here to ask for money. He felt his defenses go up as he thought these thoughts. He stood up straight and looked down at his daughter.

She stood up “I forgot the fucking thing,” she said looking flustered, and she shuffled back outside. He watched her grab something from the car and then shuffle back to the living room.

The living room was picture-perfect. It looked staged, not like anyone lived here. The furniture was oversized, there were far too many cushions. She sat back down and moved a cushion from under her ass.

Without saying a word, she dropped the Ziploc bag onto the flashy solid glass coffee table with a clunk, that sounded altogether too undramatic. She opened the Ziploc bag and shook the watch out of it with a louder much more satisfying clunk.

She sat back and looked at her father. “What can you tell me about this,” she said pointing at the watch.

He looked down at the watch, confused at first not sure what he was looking at. He bent down to pick it up when he stopped dead. His face contorted into a mangle of shock and fear.

“The watch” he whispered. “That watch almost sent your mum mad! Where did you find it?”

“When I was cleaning out her things. It fell off the bookshelf. I meant to ask you about it then, but forgot.”

“Why would she keep it,” he asked while covering his mouth in horror.

“Dad,” she said, then paused to close her eyes and take a deep breath. She opened her eyes and took a deeper breath, remembering the horror of the lake, I can’t breathe, she thought as tears welled in her eyes. She felt them spill over and run down her cheek, the warmth was almost comforting. Warm tears warm her face.

Her dad just watched her. Thinking he had a front-row seat to his daughter losing her mind, the same way he’d watched his wife almost lose hers all those years ago.

He sat next to her and looked at her. Wanted to hold her hand, but was afraid to touch her. She had never liked physical affection.

“Your mum found the watch in your grandma’s old things.” He said, looking at his daughter, her face looked up to his, she looked so terrified.

“She thought something was possessing the watch. Something that wanted to get out.” He put his head in his hands a let out a sigh.

“Honestly Sandra, she made no sense. It made no sense” He was exasperated, he reached out his hand to take his daughters, then lost his nerve and rested his hand on his knee.

“She’d had a vision, a vision of her mum”

Sandra’s mouth dropped open, as she stared at her dad in disbelief. Her face grew even paler.

“Her vision was of her mum, her mum with the same watch. Then she’d have nightmares. All of her worst fears. She’d wake up in a cold sweat shaking from head to toe. She didn’t think they were nightmares though. She thought they were real” He gasped, putting his head in his hands as the memory came flooding back. They had only been married for a year; he had thought at the time he was losing her. He was terrified of losing her

“Please dad, go on,” Sandra said. He could see she was shaking. Her whole body shaking. She looked so much like her mum.

“It’s crazy. It sounds crazy. Your mum thought something was inside the watch. Something that wanted to scare her out of her mind.” His voice began to crack, remembering his wife as she was. A tear ran down his cheek as he tried to compose himself.

“She thought something in the watch was trying to scare her out of her mind, so it could take over. It wanted her out of her mind and in the watch so that it could live in her” he almost chuckled at the ridiculousness of it. He shook his head. It was crazy.

“What happened dad, what happened next?”

“Nothing,” he said a smile starting to appear on his lips. He let out a laugh as the tears continued to stream down his face. “The watch was there one day, gone the next. I never brought it up again, I was too afraid too. Your mum was better than ever. I didn’t want to scare her about it again, so I never brought it up!”

“What do you mean?” She asked with a pause “by better?” she asked the question slowly. Almost afraid of the answer.

“Just better! She had more energy, she wanted to get out more. Do more. She wanted to have kids right away. She was perfect. Everything about her was perfect. She even looked healthier. Whatever was dragging her down about that watch, had been dragged right out of her.” He looked thoughtful for a moment and said “that is when the hoarding tendencies started though, but that was a small price to pay for having a happy life” He smiled then at the memory of his wife. “I sure loved her”

His eyes looked dreamy now, thinking of better days.

Sandra sat on the couch leaning forward, just staring at the floor wide-eyed. Her tears skipped her cheeks and dropped straight into the carpet. She felt like bells were ringing all through her body. Warning bells rang through her ears and vibrated through her body.

“What does this mean?” she whispered to herself.

“I don’t know love,” her dad said, a look of genuine concern on his face. She’d never seen that look on him before, not directed at her anyway. She felt fairly certain her mum and dad hadn’t even noticed they’d had a third child. They never seemed to care about her at all.

He kept looking at her, and with a pleading look in his eyes he said “Just get rid of it, ok love” he tried to smile. It didn’t make it past the halfway point though, his mouth lay flat.

“Ok dad,” she said to him standing up. She felt wobblily on her feet. She was afraid she would pass out, but she wanted to get away. Get away from him, get away from the memories. Get away from the watch.

She left the watch on the table as she said goodbye, and walked slowly to her car. The tears were still flowing but she barely noticed now. Her whole body was ringing. Vibrating, she felt like she was standing between two powerful speakers with the sound blaring full blast. She couldn’t hear the sound, but she could feel the vibrations reverberate through her body.

She sat in her car and stared at the wheel. She hadn’t eaten in days; she had barely slept. Her eyes were feeling heavy. She started the car and started driving towards home. There was no real thought about it. Her body was on autopilot. She was desperately trying not to think about the watch. The tears still flowed, slower now though. They fell cold on her cheeks.

She got home, the journey was a blur. As she parked, she looked at her passenger seat. She felt the life drain right out of her, her stomach sunk, and fear and disappointment washed over her in waves. The watch. The watch was there on the passenger seat, but how? No. No! she thought It can’t be! She creamed out. “IT CAN’T BE! Tears fill her eyes so fast she could not see. She couldn’t move, she doesn’t know what to do. It can’t be! is all she can think.

She backs out of the car, wanting to get away from the watch. “It can’t be” she whispers as she falls flat on her ass. She slowly crawls back away from the car. All the while looking at the watch on the passenger seat. No, no, no, she repeats to herself.

Her back finds the wall and she sits leaning against it, staring at the car. Weeping uncontrollably. She hangs her head.

“No, please no,” she says to herself as she rocks gently into the parking lot. She looks up at her car again, through her tears at the passenger seat.

It’s gone. The watch is gone! There is nothing on the seat. She stands excited for a moment. “It's gone,” she says aloud. As she stands upright something falls from her lap and clinks onto the cement floor. She watches it glisten in the light. It’s the watch.

Her blood drains from her face. The hair on the back of her neck stands up. She sees a shadow in the parking lot. Not again she thinks.

She turns her back to the shadow and walks away from it. She walks up the stairs of the building. It's an eighteen-story building, and she just walks up the stairs. She looks ahead of her and watches the numbers go by 1st floor, 2nd, 3rd, she lives on the 6th floor, but she just passes by that door and continues up. 7th, 8th. Her feet hurt her back hurt, her thighs hurt, but up she goes, 13th, 14th, ever onwards to the top. Just staring ahead blankly, until she reaches the 18th floor.

She opens the door to the roof. The wind whips up and dries the tears down her cheeks. She winces at the biting cold and carries on. She walks to the edge and looks over. The wind whips her hair into a frenzy. The world looks so far. She can see the lake from here. Her thoughts and feelings run through her like a tornado. She shivers and shakes and weeps. Make this feeling go away, please, she pleads, looking at the lake through the tears in her eyes.

She crouches down, curling up like a ball. The wall stops the wind and she sat there and wept. She wanted to go, she needed to sleep. She stood to go leave, but out of the corner of her eyes, she sees something glistening. No, please, no more!

It’s the watch, resting on the ledge. She feels faint. “No more!” she screams out into the air.

She pushes the watch over the ledge and watches as it plummets to the ground. “No more!” she screams again.

Then she’s falling, she sees the ground getting closer and closer, she screams, she screams the most blood-curdling scream of her life silently into the wind as her body rushes to the concrete.

At moment her body should be smashing against the ground she feels herself thump onto a bed. Opening her eyes, she looks around. She is in her parent's living room. Her sisters are there holding each other and weeping. Her dad is stroking her hair. They are all crying. Sandra can’t move, can’t speak, can‘t breathe.

Next to her sisters in a chair on her own, she sees herself. Terror rips through her, one final terror as she begins to fade away. Eye’s locked together Sandra tries to scream, but no sound comes out. That’s not me, NO! That’s not me, she screams in her head as her body gives out one last rattling breath.