The images came suddenly and without warning. Brief pictures flashing through Audrey’s mind in bright blinding colors, slowly forming what appeared to be a timeline of events. She saw herself, and her town blurring by in an instant. She saw her school, her friends, her family, all flashing through her mind. There was an image of her boyfriend, his eyes glazed over and unseeing, repeatedly filling her mind’s eye and it sent an icy chill along her spine. Audrey couldn’t help feeling as though she was so close yet so far from understanding what everything meant. Then she saw it; the book. It was bound in ancient brown leather, boldly showing off the many generations it had witnessed. There was nothing on the front or back cover to tell her what was filling the many pages it held. And even though she knew nothing of the book or what it held, a chilling fear grasped her body as she beheld it's weathered cover.

“Don’t take the book!” The words tumbled from her mouth as if someone else had pulled them from within her, the fear that clutched tightly to her heart kept growing stronger. Then, just as quickly as they had come, the images left. Leaving the young girl disoriented and lightheaded. She couldn’t discern which way was up and which way was down and the whole world around her felt like it was tilting. Only when she dropped to her knees did everything slowly start to piece back together. Audrey was on the outskirts of town, near the old mill on Graystone Lake. She looked out over the glassy surface, wispy fronds of mist dancing gracefully over the water and reaching for the pale sky in the early morning light. The lake wasn’t that big, she used to swim across it as a child in less than twenty minutes with her father. From where she sat in the damp, dewy grass, Audrey could see the old wooden dock and the mountains way out on the opposite side of Graystone Lake. The amazing part about this little town that she resided in was that it was out in the Rocky Mountains, nestled into a large valley that supplied them with fresh mountain water and plenty of lush green grass to feed their livestock. Sure they had to worry about spring floods, and the winters made it hard to travel down into the neighboring cities, but she still loved this small little town that she lived in. Because they were so far away from civilization, there wasn’t much of a law enforcement. The whole town had maybe three cops and they hardly ever needed to be called. They were pretty relaxed, too, making the neighborhood a peaceful place. Because everybody knew everybody the crime rate was extremely low. As far as Audrey was concerned there had never been any major crimes in the peaceful town. Some kids graffitiing here, Drunk Randy peeing on a statue there. But there were no major disturbances in the area. As Audrey looked out over the water and into the distant horizon the horrors of her premonition seemed to fade into the back of her mind, leaving her in warm, blissful thoughts of summer nights by the lake and being surrounded by the beautiful sounds of the mountains.

“Audrey? Are you okay?” The warm voice that softly spoke behind her pulled Audrey from her daydreams. She turned her head and looked up to see a tall, blonde boy standing over her. He had a well-defined face and deep blue eyes that seemed to look into her very soul. But those beautiful eyes looked down at her, troubled by what they had just seen. Audrey just stared up at him for a long moment before she finally spoke.

“Yes, I’m alright. Thanks Brandon.” The young blonde boy held out his hand to help Audrey up and she gratefully took it, lifting herself off the wet grass. When she stood Brandon kept hold of her one hand, squeezing it affectionately as he dusted grass off her sundress and checked her over to make sure she was unharmed.

“What happened?” He asked gently. Audrey’s dark hazel eyes looked up at her boyfriend and the nightmare she had just witnessed flashed back through her mind, tearing away the peace and serenity she had found. She jerked her hand free and took a few steps back, covering her mouth and shaking her head as the realization settled into her stomach like a lead weight. Death, she had seen those gorgeous blue eyes glazed over in death. She saw him lying on the ground lifeless. His long legs and arms had been bent at an awkward angle and his soft lips had been blue and cold. Then her gentle almond shaped eyes widened in terror and she remembered seeing herself on the dock with rope around her ankles. She could feel the tears flooding into her eyes and as she stared at him, she began to choke back muffled cries and she lurched herself away again, turning her back to him and crying into her palms.

`“No. Brandon! Was awful. Terrible!” Audrey couldn’t manage to speak coherently as she continued to wail rather loudly. Brandon felt a sharp pain in his chest as he watched her shoulders shake and her legs tremble. Reaching out he gently grabbed her forearm and turned her to him, guiding her head to his chest where she hid her face and held tightly to his shirt.

“It’s going to be ok. You just need a few minutes to relax. You know how these premonitions make you a little shaky.” Brandon smiled softly, hoping that his light humor would brighten her up like it always did. But this time it seemed to only make her cry harder and he quickly wrapped his arms around her to hug the poor girl protectively. Frowning, he lightly laid his head on top of hers, her long auburn hair tickling his cheek. There was something bothering him about Audrey’s vision. They were rare and usually left her shaken but he had never seen her genuinely scared of her visions like she was now. What had she seen? Of course he wasn’t going to ask her. She was already broken up just thinking about it, he didn’t want to see her having to try and put it into words. Brandon soothingly stroked her hair as he held onto her tightly, wishing he could make whatever was hurting her go away.

“Audrey. Do you want to go see Auntie? Maybe she can help.” Auntie was a woman in her late fifties living in her little traveling wagon on the opposite end of town near the little league fields. She came into their small town six months ago and had quickly settled into life here. The younger children loved to go visit her after school and listen to her tales of a far off land that she used to live in. To the older villagers, that “far away land” was known as Paris. She lived on the streets as a Gypsy there for many years, traveling all across Europe before her wanderings finally brought her over the seas and to America. She still lived as a gypsy but because she was growing older she stayed longer and moved less. Audrey remembered trying to help the woman set her temporary home up but she said she had someone with her who helped her. Nobody ever saw anyone else there. Everyone just assumed she didn’t want to be bothered when she was working. Auntie claimed that she was traveling through the mountains when she sensed someone nearby with the gift of foresight and that that was the reason why she stopped. Audrey didn’t speak much about her gift to others but Auntie was familiar with the gift and Audrey was free to tell the old woman about what she had seen and what it might mean. Sniffling a couple times, Brandon could feel the young girl slowly nod her head and after kissing the top of her head he dropped his arms and led her back to town.