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finally told her she was going to have to get a restraining order against Geoffrey to get him off her back. The enormity of having to go that far just seemed too much. As an alternative, her mother had suggested visiting her Grandma Selene for a while just to get some breathing room. Grandma had told her about this place in Maple Hill and made arrangements with her old friend, Lily Thomas. Flight seemed better than more battles with her ex and an uncertain outcome.  
    A tear slid down her cheek, followed by a sob and more tears. Face crumpling helplessly, she shook as her chest heaved with every moan. Drawing her knees up to her chest, she wrapped her arms around them and rocked back and forth. “Just leave me alone,” she sobbed over and over. She cried until she didn’t have any more. Finally, she sniffed and wiped her face and took some deep, shuddering breaths. Oscar insinuated himself into her lap, purring and rhythmically kneading her stomach with his big paws. Her hands moved automatically to stroke his soft fur and rub his chin where he liked it best.
    Suddenly, she was exhausted. She felt drained and blank. The whole day came crashing down on her, and she picked up Oscar and carried him to the bedroom where she dumped him on the bed. He gave her an aggrieved meow and then settled down. After brief ablutions, she crawled under the sheet in the darkness, and let her tired eyes stare at the unfamiliar pattern of streetlights on her walls, listening to the lack of street noise until she fell asleep.

    She was surrounded by flames. As she stood in the living room, she watched the curtains become a terrifying wall of flickering orange and yellow, fall off their hooks, and collapse onto her sofa, which began to smoke and smolder. Everything seemed larger than life, bigger than normal. The upholstery of the sofa browned, then blackened as the fire greedily tore into it. She turned in horror to escape down the hall but found that flames had somehow rolled out of the fireplace, towering over her head. The hallway beyond was unreachable across the wall of orange. Inhaling mouthfuls of thick, smoky air, she began coughing and choking. The heat was like a blast furnace, and the stench of smoke was overpowering. Her fear turned to blind panic. The front door to the right of the flaming curtains was her only avenue, and she ran. Her hand touched the scorching metal handle, and she screamed as she tore at the door trying to open it. Behind her the fire roared and fell upon her.

Chapter 4
    She woke bolt upright in bed, her breath coming in harsh gasps, her heart pounding, fit to burst. A heavy, hot weight trapped her under the sheet, and she pushed it harshly away from her, still in the grip of the nightmare. There was a heavy thud as Oscar leapt awkwardly for the floor. A pressure filled her ears with a distant buzzing noise. She thought she could smell a faint scent of acrid smoke. As she awakened further, her fear receded along with the buzzing in her ears. The room was cool and dark, her nightie twisted around her, damp with sweat.
    “Sorry, Oscar,” she croaked. “You can come back now.” She had no bedside lamp yet and was strangely reluctant to put her feet on the unseen floor to turn on the overhead. Instead, she lay back down, feeling a slight breeze waft in. The memory of smoke was gone.
    What the hell was that? Am I true-dreaming that the house is going to burn down?? She panicked for a few moments, feeling like she was being turned away from every safe haven. Taking some deep breaths, she tried to calm herself and think more rationally.  
    The vivid dream seemed almost like a memory of a fire, as if someone had told her a story about a fire, and she’d then dreamt about it. But she couldn’t recall a single conversation about a house fire. If this was a prediction, it remained to be seen whether the nightmare would repeat itself. She fervently hoped it wouldn’t.
    Reluctant to close her eyes again lest the