CHAPTER 1 Strange dreams plague me. Memories are tangled up in older memories. Everything is so convoluted that I don’t know what’s real. Time no longer exists. I can’t feel my head, although I know it was throbbing a few moments ago. To make things stranger, my parents are talking to me. They tell me it’s all right. They look exactly the same way they did the last time I saw them. My mom has her gold cross around her neck. The light catches it, and it grows brighter. The scene shifts. There’s no floor or walls. Only darkness. I blink over and over again, trying to focus on something. My skin prickles as if someone is looking at me. When my eyes adjust, I can see the outline of a familiar form. He comes into focus. Sean’s blue gaze meets mine from across the room. My heart thumps hard. I want to walk to him, but my feet won’t move. Sean says nothing. He stands there like a ghost, flickering in and out of focus. The haunted expression I’ve seen so many times is still etched onto his face. It’s like there are things that he wants to say, but he doesn’t move. He doesn’t try to come to me. I don’t know how long it lasts. It feels painful. Neither of us can move. There are so many things to say, but neither of us speaks. The