Nothing had changed in my dining room in five years. Nothing much had changed in my house altogether. A huge chandelier lit the massive ebony table covered by a peach satin cloth. It was decorated with two large flower pots containing Crystal Fall's most elite orchids and a rare type of Asteraceae. I looked at my plate which was filled with the same thing every day - a waffle topped with whipped cream, an omelette seasoned with salt and pepper, two strips of crispy bacon with a cup of espresso.

Nothing more or nothing less. 

"It's not nice to fiddle with your food, honey," My mom said sternly from the other end of the dining table. Perhaps I wouldn't be getting any answers, seeing their authoritarianism hadn't changed in the slightest. Two weeks was enough time for them to settle down.

"Yes, of course," I replied politely as I forced a piece of the omelette into my mouth. It wasn't as though I disliked the food prepared for me, instead, I just didn't have an appetite sometimes. Oh well, if you're a Henderson, that never mattered.

"So, are you both going to the head office today?" I said, trying to start a conversation. My parents were one of the five families that governed Crystal Falls. There was the Daniels, the Windwards, the Bonnevilles, the Campbells and finally, my family - The Hendersons. 

"Yes," my dad replied "there's something we need to tend to" 

"What is it?" I asked, taking a sip of my coffee. I didn't actually give a shit about their work, but maybe inquiring more would turn into a huge conversation and I could somehow get my answers. 

"It's not a big deal," my mom rolled her eyes "but these poor folk, you know how they exaggerate everything. We'll address it publically and get on with our actual work" 

I didn't ask any further, because I could tell my mom was trying to keep it as short as she could. I looked down at my plate and forced the last few bites of my bacon in before chugging what was left of my coffee. 

My housemaid, Olvia, helped me up to my room where I took a quick shower before changing into the beige-coloured top with a matching tulip skirt. My mom was the one in charge of getting all my clothes stitched, and she made sure not to have a single comfortable one. 

I sighed and sat down beside my computer table. It took a long time for the computer to turn on since it hadn't been used in so long. When it finally turned on, it looked the same as I'd left it. My wallpaper was a picture of Bonnie and Clyde - because I had a weird serial killer documentary obsession at 16, I had a bunch of apps which I only ever used once before getting bored of them. Now wasn't the time to sort this out, however. 

I opened my browsing site and typed in 'Irene Henderson, Crystal Falls' hoping to find news blogs about my accident. Surely some channel would've been following up on it.

The first articles to pop up were about my surprising recovery and how I received my vision back. Not what I was looking for. I placed my cursor back on the search and added the word 'accident' in front of my previous search. The page reloaded and this time, there were more articles of relevance. The top one was titled 'Irene Henderson found unconscious near Lake Albert'. I clicked on the report and scrolled down knowing that the first few paragraphs were all nonsense. There was a video linked in the article, which I clicked on. 

The video was an on-site report of when they found me in the house Axel mentioned. I increased the volume by a few notches and watched. 

'This is Harley Evans and you are watching News Wave. I am here along with Tim Tom. We are currently outside a chalet near Lake Albert, waiting for the police to finish scouting the house.' In the background, my mom was hugging my dad and seemed to be sobbing on his chest while he patted her back in an attempt to calm her down. Axel, Denise and some of my other friends were also there. 

A distant yelp turned everyone's attention to the chalet and Harley continued, 'It seems as though they've found Irene.' The reporters, my parents, friends and neighbours all gathered at the entrance of the house and the camera was shaking for a few seconds before getting back into focus. 

I saw the police drag me out with a stretcher, with blood dripping from my arm. My mom suddenly let out a horrendous shriek that pierced my ears. I frantically looked for the volume button and turned it down. An ambulance was waiting in the crowd and my stretcher was immediately taken inside. My parents hopped into the ambulance and drove off. 

'Wow, that was gruesome' Tim Tom took over, 'she has been taken to the hospital. Stay tuned folks, we will be back with more information.'

 Axel definitely hadn't mentioned the bleeding hand. What else was he hiding from me? On the side of the video, there were similar recommended ones. I clicked on the topmost one, which seemed to be a continuation of the previous report. 

Tim Tom and Harley were standing outside the hospital entrance. 'Irene Henderson had been admitted to the hospital two hours ago, we're here now looking for updates 

Wyatt and another doctor walked out of the entrance and greeted the camera. They introduced themselves and I learnt that the other doctor's name is Simone. 

'So, Dr Simone, how is Irene?' Harley asked. 

'She made it alive, but barely. There was heavy blood loss and lost almost a litre of blood which needed to be pumped back into her system' Tim Tom tried to keep a serious face, but it was clear he didn't care about the biological details. 

'How is she faring now?' Harley continued. 

'She's currently in a coma, but there's no saying when she'll wake up. Normally, these things take up to two weeks, but her case is much more serious than others since she has been admitted almost 24 hours after the accident.' Simone said.

The mic turned to Wyatt. 'Dr Wyatt, what do you have to say about this?'

'Irene was brought to me when she lost her vision, I don't know much about the coma details' Wyatt chucked. 'She probably lost her way since she can't see, you know? And you know typical teenagers, always going to random places without telling anyone. Whatever happened doesn't matter now, though, I just hope she makes a full recovery.' 

With that, the interview ended. Tim Tom blabbed a little towards the end, but I tuned him out. I shut off my laptop and walked to my bed, trying to process all the information. So, I went to a house near Lake Albert, and if I consider Wyatt's take on it, it's me being a 'typical teenager'. That doesn't explain almost one litre of blood lost. Now I knew Axel had lied to me since he was there when they pulled me out of the house, but it doesn't explain why he lied. 

I looked out the window, something I did often when I had things to think about. The bright sunlight seeped into my room and suddenly, everything turned black. I couldn't comprehend what had happened, just that one second it was bright and the next - it wasn't. 

Denise's familiar giggle rang in my ears, and I could see her - her if she had purple hair at least. An overwhelming amount of voices and faces came blasting into me and I couldn't process anything. 

"I'm a little tired," I heard Denise say to me and some other of my school friends. "Shall we go to bed?" she continued, looking directly at me. I nodded - involuntarily. That's when it hit me, it was another one of my visions. 

Which day is this? I wondered, but I didn't remember this. I felt Denise's warm touch on me as she helped me lie down. 

"Goodnight girls," Another voice which I didn't recall spoke and all the lights were turned off. But I could still see. I could see them all, yet none of them knew. 

I tried moving my arms and legs, but nothing worked, I was stuck staring at the ceiling.

"Irene?" 

Who's calling me? 

My vision-self didn't respond to the call, even though it came twice, and then thrice. 

"IRENE!?" The call suddenly turned into a yell and I found my eyes snapping open, sweat trickling down my spine. 

"Axel?" I asked confused.

"Irene, what the hell was that?" he gasped "You really scared me."

I was overwhelmed. The visions usually only happened when I was in bed, not in broad daylight. Not knowing what to do or say, I leapt into his arms and buried my face in his chest. Whether I was blind or not, this was my comfort place. I felt safe in his arms, as though the visions couldn't get to me anymore. He stroked my hair until I calmed down.

"Do you want some water?" he asked after a while. I nodded. He brought me a glass of water and I drank it all in one gulp.

"How did you even get in here?" I asked. 

"The rope, how else?" 

"At noon? Don't you have work?" 

"I just felt like seeing you. That a crime?" he asked with a grin. "Now," he said coming closer to me, "you wanna explain that?"

"You know the visions I mentioned last night?" He nodded. "This was one of them" 

"What? Says who?" he asked in disbelief. 

"You need Jesus to come and tell you this?" I asked irritated. 

"Alright, I'm sorry, I just didn't think you were serious" he admitted. "Although, in my defence, you never mentioned blacking out like that" 

"That's the thing, Axel," I gritted my teeth "I didn't know about the blackouts either"

"So, what did you see?" he inquired. 

"It wasn't very long, just Denise laughing for some goddamn reason and then helping me lay down in what I think is a bedroll and all the lights turning off" I explained.

"Do you think the visions are triggered by anything?" he inquired further. 

"I don't think so," I said uncertainly "One minute I was looking out my window, and the next I was in Denise's bedroom" 

"Do you- do you want to see someone about it?" 

"Fuck no!" I got up "I'm not wasting my time there"

"You're behaving like a child, Irene," Axel said, also getting up "I thought you were dying! This could be serious. And you obviously have the money to see any specialist, so I don't know why you're being so - so difficult"

"I know what I experienced, Axel," I said "It's not something any doctor can help with. And I saw some news videos, my hand was bleeding when you guys found me in that house. Added to all that, is my vision miraculously returning. It doesn't add up"

"The fuck do you think you can do about that?" he asked. 

"I just-" I hesitated. "I have this feeling that these visions, my coma, my vision, they're all connected somehow. And maybe, if I find out what happened to me, I can stop these visions" 

Axel looked at me as though he thought I was joking. Maybe he did have reasons to behave that way. To be honest, I don't know if I'd encourage anyone who came in with my story. But I had this- gut feeling that I'm taking the right step. Even if I wasn't, what's the worst that could happen? 

"Axel, I need your help" I admitted. 

"My help? In what?" 

"You're the only person who can help me," I said "You have a lot of information and you're the only one who would be willing to help"

"Who said I was willing to help?" Axel asked, but I could see the smile he tried to suppress. 

"It's not like you have anything else to do in your free time," I said "and besides, I won't need you all the time. Just for information and maybe sometimes field visits"

"Ok, fine," he sighed. "Say I do help you do this shit. In case you black out in public, your parents will send you to some doctor anyway. What'll you do then?" 

I shrugged, "I'll figure it out"