Rain

Wildflowers bloom in the meadow, padding for the slender feet of two young girls, laughing and dancing as they play. Bluebirds chirp and fly between them, pets from the goddess of spring herself. Off a little ways, two adults watch, sprawled out on a red and yellow chequered picnic blanket, chatting. It's a man and his wife, who have been married just under fifteen years. Nearby, a babbling brook whispers as it passes by.

"Oh, Jay, this is such a beautiful place," the woman sighs, running a hand through her long red hair. She stands up, grabbing her husband's hands and pulling him to his feet, laughing as he groans in complaint.

"Oh, come dance, Jay, and don't be such a spoilsport," she says playfully, kissing him on the cheek. "Come join Lese and Jenna with me." He smiles and draws her close to him, dancing slowly, his hands around her slender waist. Their two twin girls flock around them, grinning and singing a love song.

Suddenly, the sky clouds over, and a gentle rain begins to fall, refreshing and cool to the touch. The blue birds fly for cover, but the tiny family dances on, adrenaline coursing through their veins as they dance faster, their drumbeat the raindrops on the roof of the nearby cottage, and their melody the crinkle of the lush grasses swaying in the wind. Nature itself sings their song, the song that they feel in every bone in their body; driving them on, full of joy and peace and love.

But it doesn't last. The sky blackens, and suddenly, without warning, a tall, forbidding man is there, holding scythes as if to harvest a crop, but the man and woman know what he is there for: to harvest their lives.

The last thing the woman remembers before blacking out is the sound of her little girls' song, the love song of a family.

And then there is blood.

Theresa woke up, gasping. She was having the same dream she had been having for the last two years, ever since she came out of a coma. But she didn't know what it meant. All she knew was the life she lived now, with her boyfriend and her job. Everything else before that was nothing. It was as though she had been born on this earth as a thirty-six year old woman, with no memories of her former life.

The thirty-eight year old ran her hands through her chin-length red hair streaked with grey, and then paled. The woman in the dream, she had had fiery red hair also. And turtle green eyes. And she had been younger, about the age Theresa had been when she was in a coma.

Theresa closed her eyes, trying to awaken a sense of memory, but it didn't help. Sighing, she sat back against her pillow, trying to make sense of it all. She picked up her phone, hands trembling. They shook so much she dropped it, and she went to pick it up when she had an odd sensation: pictures played before her eyes, scenes from a different story than the one she was living: a man, tall, with chocolate brown eyes, and a woman, a younger version of Theresa, were standing before a pulpit, where a huge man, with the hind end of a tail-what? - was marrying them. The vision ended, and Theresa clasped her head in pain. What type of magic was this?

Scared, she phoned her boyfriend, but only got the answering machine. Cursing under her breath, she left a message for him to call her back, and then got dressed for work.

Opening her wardrobe door, she suddenly noticed an old outfit that had been hanging in the back of the closet for years: a faded red sleeveless top, with a pair of blue jeans and an old black belt with a silver buckle. Below where it hung, a pair of white loafers sat, muddy and stained with blood. Frowning, she leaned down to inspect them, when another vision haunted her mind: a young woman handling nun chucks with the skill of a pro. A grey man rushed her, and she dodged the lunge from his scythe, whipping around to kick him with a high kick all karate masters would be jealous of. Then the vision disintegrated, along with Theresa's view of normality.

She shook her head to clear it, wondering if these flashback things were due to her head injury. Then she had a thought: what if it was supposed to be telling her something? Maybe she was that young woman?

"Well, so what? I'm different now," she said aloud, although to who, she was not sure. "If I'm the girl in the wedding vision, does that mean I'm married?"

Then it hit her! The gold ring at the back of her dresser! Rushing over to it, she drew open the doors, rummaging through the mess, until they fingered the tiny band. Holding it up to the light, she read the inscription: Theresa and Jay Forever!

Theresa was her. She was Theresa. Jay must have been her husband, the man on the picnic blanket with her, and those two young women her daughters! She might still have family out there, somewhere, waiting for her to come to them. Then she remembered the scene of horror and blood… They may not be alive.

Angrily, she wiped away tears that were threatening to fall, determined to get to the bottom of the mystery that was her past. At least she knew where to start. The man's name was Jay, and the two girls were Lese and Jenna. All she had to do was look around.

She hurried off to her job as a teacher at the nearby school. She sighed. The school reminded her of somewhere she had once been to, long, long ago. She closed her eyes, willing more visions to come to her. But they didn't.

New Olympia High School was a large, red brick building on a corner lot. It had been run for years by a bunch of stern-faced adults, until they had suddenly and mysteriously vanished, leaving it to the care of one of the students, then grown up.

The principal, Millry Rudders, was a young, smiling woman of about thirty-two, whose brother-in-law, Roger, was Theresa's boyfriend. Theresa waved a hello while she entered the teachers' lounge. One of the older teachers was complaining about two of the new students, and some stubborn parent. Theresa, who also happened to be one of the school's counsellors, quickly took part of the conversation.

"Those two twins are so troublesome. Always crying and such. No backbone. I was talking to the father, and he just says they went through some horrid experience, and that they lost their mother in the process. He said something about an ambush, but I honestly think he was making it all up."

Theresa smiled patiently. This particular teacher had quite a habit of making mountains out of molehills, but, as always, Theresa promised to look into the situation.

"Just give me their phone number and names, and I'll arrange an interview," she offered, taking the piece of paper handed to her and gingerly putting it into her purse.

That night, she discovered that Roger had called her back, leaving a message on her answering machine. "Hey, honey, just calling you back. Umm, when you get this, give me a call."

Theresa deleted it. She didn't have the time right now. She dialled the number on the piece of paper. It belonged to a Mr. Craigson. The phone rang a few times before a man answered.

"Hello, this is Jay Craigson speaking."

Theresa froze. The man from her dream, his name was Jay…

"Hello?" the voice inquired.

"Ohh, umm, sorry about that. This is Theresa Donnelly, calling for New Olympia High School. I'm a counsellor there. I have gotten a complaint about your two children, and I'm offering a counselling session for the whole family. I hear you went through a traumatic experience."

"Oh, quite. And yes, I'd love to take the session. What time and day?"

Theresa thought for a moment, reviewing her schedule in her mind. "What about tomorrow after school, say three-thirty?"

"Sounds perfect. See you there."

The next day, Theresa met Roger for lunch. The handsome thirty-nine year old was tall, muscular, tanned, and had no greying hair like his girlfriend did. His gray eyes reminded Theresa of the ocean, turbulent and deep, but today Theresa was too distracted to focus on him. She gripped her coffee tightly, nervous about the counselling session, and trying to decide whether or not to tell Roger about her nightmare and her visions.

Her food remained untouched, and he stared at his girlfriend inquisitively, curious about her behaviour. "Honey, you haven't eaten a thing," he commented.

"I'm too nervous about my meeting," she said through clenched teeth.

"What, your session? You shouldn't be; you always do great!"

"But, this time it's different," she said. "I think that the man I'm counselling-"

"What? What about him?" Roger asked, suddenly alert and suspicious.

"Oh, never mind." Roger was a bit controlling and silly when she started talking about counselling men, as if she was going to dump him or something. That was one quirk that had prevented Theresa from marrying him a year ago; that, and the fact that she wanted to know him a bit better first.

Roger sighed, leaning over the table to kiss her, but she pulled back. He gawked at her, looking as shocked as she felt. Ever since she had had that dream about being married, she had felt standoffish around him.

"Roger, I-" she began, but stopped when he stood quickly and nodded towards her stiffly.

"I must be going now. I have a job to do," he said, leaving her angry at herself, and with the bill.

Theresa sighed, slumping down in her seat. Life had gotten way too weird lately.

Later on that day, Theresa waited in her office to meet with the Craigsons. When the father walked in, she nearly lost her voice. He was the man from her dream, and the two teens the spitting image of the young girls in her vision as well.

"Umm, welcome," she said, her throat dry and parched. She extended her hand to shake, and as he took it, Theresa met it with ease.

They looked at each other, startled. "Do I know you?" he asked. Theresa shrugged.

"I don't know," she whispered, and suddenly everything seemed to be whirling around her, and another vision appeared before her eyes. It was her, or at least it looked like a younger version of her. She was watching television on a couch in a house somewhere when the front door opens, and this man, Jay, walks in, talking excitedly. It seems he has just come home from work. From somewhere else in the house, two kids, about five years old, come barrelling through the room, jumping up on the man like puppy dogs. "Daddy, daddy!" they cry. Then they turn to her, their huge green eyes pleading. "Mommy, will you and Daddy take us to the park?" The vision stopped, and Theresa breathed again, gasping. She looked up to see she had sat down, and was gripping the edges of the chair tightly.

"Are you okay?" Jay asked. Theresa stood, trembling.

"I'm not sure anymore," she said, her hands shaking. "Are you?"

The man looked confused. "Umm, yeah. If this is part of our counselling session-"

"No, it's not. It's just, I think I may have a health problem or something," she said reassuringly, but she was scared.

She sat down slowly, inviting them to take a seat as well. "Okay, let's start from the beginning. What exactly is your problem?"

"Well, we have been very sad ever since our mom died," one of the girls said. "She brought a lot of joy to us. Now that she's gone, it's as though our joy is too."

"Oh my. Who was your mom?"

"Her name was Theresa, just like-"

The man stopped, staring at her curiously as realization sank in. "Is that your natural hair colour?" he asked vaguely. Theresa ran her hand through her wavy red locks, nodding.

"Why?"

Jay started to quiver. "Do you have visions, too?"

Theresa swallowed. "I think so, like flashbacks and stuff."

Jay sat bolt upright. "Flashbacks of what?"

Theresa glanced at the two young girls. "I don't think they should hear it."

The two teens crossed their arms, giving her a stubborn look for such meek girls. "Try us," said one of them.

"Fine. Flashbacks of joy turned to pain. Flashbacks of blood, and rain."

Jay turned a deathly shade of white. "Do you have a gold ring that says…"

"Jay and Theresa Forever? Yes, I do," she said quietly.

Jay stood up quickly, grabbing the hands of his two daughters and ushering them out the door. "Call me," he called over his shoulder. "We have lots to talk about."

Indeed, Theresa thought. Indeed.

Then he left, but not before giving Theresa a kiss on the cheek. Startled, she rubbed that place for a long time afterwards, the feeling still warm and soft.

That night, when she got home, she called Roger. She was surprised to hear a woman's voice on the other end of the line.

"Hello, Sammie speakin'. What can I do for ya?"

"Excuse me, is Roger there?" she asked politely, but she had a nagging feeling that something wasn't right.

"Hey, honey, some girl wants ya…" she heard Sammie yell. Theresa heard a groan and a TV being turned off.

"Hello?"

"Hello, Roger," she said coldly. "Who's Sammie?"

"Whoa, there tiger. What's the problem, Theresa?"

"I asked who Sammie was," Theresa snapped.

She heard a sigh, and then he finally spoke. "Tessie, I'm sorry…"

Theresa slammed the phone down, furious. "Whatever!" she yelled at it. "I found my family now, so take that, you back-stabbing, two-faced jerk!" She swiped the phone off its hook, sending it flying across the room.

That night, as she lay in bed, she went over the past few days' events. First, she had had a scary dream, started having visions, learned she might be married, started giving Roger the cold shoulder, met a man who just happened to be her long-lost husband, and discovered that she was a mom to two daughters. Then, to top off the surprises, she learned that Roger was cheating on her!

Theresa sighed. At least she was free now. She had time and space to think about what she had discovered, and what that would change in her life. But for the first time in two years, she felt a heavy burden being lifted from her chest, as though finding her family was like finding a piece of heaven on earth. As she fell asleep, she didn't dream that horrible nightmare. Instead, she dreamed of rain, refreshing and cool, and she dreamed of dancing…

A/n: This is a mystery-type story for all of you out there who likes those types of things. I think people should write more of those for Class of the Titans. It would be very interesting to read. Anyway, I hope you liked it, and please review!

Luv, Becky