It started with the faint sound of ringing. Reverberating over and over until it started to echo louder and louder. Shannon could feel her whole body vibrating with the tone, so deafening that it completely drowned out the sound of Harry's deep, raspy voice.

A long time ago, Shannon would brace herself for the impact following the warning bells that only she could hear. It meant that the tsunami was about to hit her head on and pull her deep under into a place where no one could reach her. Instead, she leaned into it, knowing what would come next, almost sighing with a sense of release.

The peripheral of her vision began to darken, slightly around the outer edges at first. The blaring alarms finally died out, almost all at once, leaving her in a profound depth of silence. Shannon could feel the weight come bearing down on her, suddenly and swiftly, taking her deeper. Everything felt heavy; the world around her became a pitch-black darkness, and her breaths became shallow and uneven.

To anyone around her, Shannon looked glazed over. Her posture portrayed a coldness, stiff and uncaring. Her face empty and void of all expression. The world continued all around her while she was frozen inside.

Harry noticed the lack of impact his words were making. Anger became him as his rage boiled over, spewing out thick, hot stabs at Shannon, trying to force her into a corner with his insults. However, they missed, and she didn't appear to notice that they were still in the same room. Shannon was utterly numb, head to toe.

As far as she was concerned, through the darkness, all she could make out were three familiar figures—apparitions, like shadows in a dream. The likeness of the smaller shadow reflected a similarity to Shannon—only younger, more innocent, and pure. Her golden brown eyes were welling up to the brim, bringing out subtle green hues and darkening the limbal rings around both irises.

She noticed the perfect arrangement of white and birch furniture. The crisp satin sheen of the wallpaper, next to the ivory built-in bookcases framing two enormous windows. She wanted to run to the child and hold her. Then make their escape from the ruination of this all-too-perfect parlor room. It was clear that she and the child were very much out of place in this scene.

Her eyes flickered between the two larger shadows. Their body language looming over the child in a way that was demanding and sharp. She couldn't hear what they were saying over the thunderous silence, but the energy of their words cut into her skin like glass fragments. The child had the same glassed-over absence to her body, and she knew that she had lost her chance to save her.

Shannon wanted to scream but found that she was paralyzed. The air in her lungs felt choked, and she couldn't catch a full enough breath. Then the vibration sensations came again, shaking her forcably back into her physical body. The weight that had grounded her was whisked away in an instant, and all she could feel is cold. The sudden lightness from lack of compression made her stomach twist and wind. The ground felt unstable underneath her feet, and her body tried to desperately keep her from toppling over.

"YOU BETTER FUCKING ANSWER ME RIGHT FUCKING NOW!!!" roared Harry with a pretense of rising destruction and disgust in his tone.

Shannon's eyes looked around her, confused and lost. Desperately seeking out the child, who was moments ago within her vision. She tried to focus but felt the shock of reality settling into her skin. This was no longer the room with the pressed doilies and porcelain decorations adorned in ivory and gold paint. Her eyes finally connected the dots as they landed on Harry, whose face was as red as the fire hydrant that dutifully awaited its purpose on the corner of Shipland and Vyne Street. His hair was as disheveled as the expression on his face, and his gray eyes looked like little storm clouds.

How did she get here? The warmth was starting to come back into her body, and the rhythm of her breath and heartbeat settled into time. A warm beam of light landed on her forehead from the adjacent window. Turning her head away from the wreckage, she settled her sights on the soft green pines surrounding the yard.

She was gone again, but this time, it was for good.