A faint rivulet of smoke trickled under the strong wooden door, bringing with it the scent of despair and fear, and the sounds of screaming and panic. Ahleah went to the door, it was hot just as it had been in her hallucination. Wrapping her hand in the tresses of blue grey of her heavy skirt she tried the knob again. It was stuck…
Her heart sank, there were no windows in her room. No way out. Desperately she pounded on the unforgiving door. “HELP! I’m in here!” She screamed making her throat raw, “Help me! PLEASE!” More smoke filled the room. The only sounds left were the crackling of fire, falling of burned beams and her own sobbing.

There was no one there to save her…Everyone else was gone, everyone else had left. Her parents would be devastated, her siblings would miss her. Who else could help train the young horses? Who would tend her mother’s gardens? Would bandage little Eliza’s arm when she tripped? Or wipe away Carra’s tears? No one…Not her…The thought echoed in her mind. They would be as alone as she was now. Using her last ounce of strength and life she whispered, “Please, please help me…” The last thing her addled mind saw were the shapes swirling around her. After that her world went black.

Slowly she came back to her sense. The smoke was gone, she was safe, she was- Where was she? Her eyelids fluttered open  to a deep blue sky, fluffy clouds floating about to form whatever shapes they pleased.
The shapes! She sat bolt upright, Where were they? She was in a meadow, close to the woodlands with flowers sprinkling about their heady scents. But where were her shapes?  They had been with her so long…She could hardly remember life without them. They weren’t here… No one was here… Not a deer in the forest, not a bird in the trees, not even a busy ant in the grass. The only noise came from a nearby stream that she was now heading towards.

Wait…Was this death? Was this heaven? She pinched herself, hard. Ouch…Yeah, she was very much alive. But if she wasn’t dreaming, if she wasn’t dead, then where was she?