The Vision

Jamie stepped from the black car, gaping at the large mansion that set beyond the sidewalk, towering over her. The cream coating of the paint shone as the bright sunlight fell down on it, causing Jamie to have to squint. Uniquely twisted fencing kept the house enclosed, neatly trimmed hedges surrounded the house. The roof was peaked, slanting down at an angle. The windows had royal purple curtains hanging on the other side of them, drawn so that the sunlight could stream through. As she stepped onto the sidewalk, Jamie noticed a marble fountain sitting towards the right side of the lawn. An angel holding a flower was perched on top, looking up towards the sky. Water spurted from its other hand and fell gently towards the crystal blue pool beneath it, causing ripples to form and wave out until they were no more. Jamie walked towards the extravagant house, down the little stone path to the black door, she felt as if she knew it all and stabbed the doorbell, she huffed, waiting for someone to come to the door. It was, moments later, opened by a lady wearing a white apron, her hair pulled back into a tight bun. "Ah, hello, Jamie. Stephanie is up in her room, playing.”she said,“I’m very glad that you accepted this job at least Stephy won't have to stay alone. Jamie smiled back as a response, “I am Martha, I am the caretaker.Mr. Dalton is on a business trip he has given me the responsibility to introduce you to Stephanie.“Martha introduced herself.As Martha turned back gesturing Jamie to enter the room, Jamie followed her through the front door into the grand hallway, she was amazed. The interior looked as beautiful as it was outside.The tall, heavy, varnished wood doors had colored glass panes of amber, blue and pink, in a geometric design on the top panel.The fireplace, situated on the interior wall facing east, had a tall mantel of Birchwood.Just a little away from the fireplace rose the stair case that led to the second floor and to the Private rooms. Martha took to the stairs and Jamie followed closely.Everything seemed familiar to Jamie.After a few steps the stairs landed to a long corridor and to the right side Martha opened to the most disordered room amongst all the others. The toys,drawing books,colors were strewn all over the floor.The walls were all smudged with doodle of a child,the bed was not made.The room was dimly lit, the windows were shut giving it a gothic appearance.A very unclear sound came by,a sound of something being scratched repeatedly on a hard board.Martha switched on the lights, “Ouch, why did you turn the lights on? I don’t like it Martha”,a feeble voice cried out. Jamie peeked in to the room, to the left corner of the room next to a table sat a girl of five or six trying to make some doodles,”Here’s your new baby sitter Jamie, be a good girl with her Stephy.” Martha introduced shortly and hurried away from there.Jamie never thought that she would have to be a Baby sitter, she had dreamt of becoming an architect unless the accident which changed everything. She lost her sight when she was 16.She grew up and tried to adapt herself to the rest of the world which was dark,she had worked in the orphanage she spend her childhood in.Then something happened when a donor donate her eyes to Jamie.The donor’s name was not revealed to her. She had been since looking out for a job until now.The darkness of the room did not bother her as she was well acquainted with darkness.Here she was to look after the only daughter of a young, dynamic,widower.”Hi I am Jamie” Jamie introduced herself, there was a pause, no reply from the other end.”The girl with her big black eye looked at Jamie,dark circles surrounded her eyes, the hair was not made since ages, she wore a dirty frock.Jamie smiled at her. Stephy without looking started with her doodles again.”What are you drawing let me see?”saying so Jamie extended her hands towards Stephy, with a leap Stephy rose and grabbed the drawing towards her chest , protecting as if it was a treasure , a clear emotion mixed with anger and fear was visible on her face, she was not ready to show her drawing.“Okay, I won’t see that,no worries”Jamie tried convincing the little girl, she had never done that before. She had to give some money to an agency to get this job. who would give her a job at 36, with such a handsome salary, a nice place to live as she had none.”Let me guess , you are hungry right?Would you like fried chicken sandwich with more cheese?” Stephanie glanced at Jamie,it was her favorite one, she nodded in a “yes”.Jamie smiled and walked past the corridor in to the stairs went straight across the fireplace to a small turning which led to the kitchen in the right, Martha and a lady were working silently in the kitchen and were shocked when Jamie entered. “How did you know the kitchen was here?”asked Martha in astonishment.”I don’t know, but I thought I knew the way….”Jamie was surprised.Then she said, “Stephy is hungry she would like fried chicken sandwich with lot of cheese…”Martha smile, “Yeah I know , this had been her favorite and her mom always prepared it for her”sighed Martha, ”She was a good lady!”.What happened to her?” asked Jamie curiously, “Well that fateful accident took her life away..””I am sorry.”said Jamie with a sad face.When she shifted her sight,”No , no donot put ketchup , she doesn’t like it”Jamie shrieked at the other lady in the kitchen who was preparing the sandwich.Martha looked at Jamie surprised, “Did Stephy say this?”Jamie said cluelessly,”I felt that I knew it”

Two weeks passed by,Stephanie was getting quite acquainted with Jamie, the house which was until now looked like a desert started to become lively , with Stephanie chirping like a bird , smiling , laughing ,she talked to Jamie more that she would talk to her dolls.Jamie had thought babysitting would have been difficult,however this wasn’t,Stephanie loved her and she loved her too.Slowly there grew friendship between them.Jamie just knew how to take care of Stephanie, what she needed what she wanted.Jamie had not seen the master of the house,Mr. Dalton.He was always busy ,either on a business trips or meetings, he would hardly return home. Stephanie was his only daughter, his wife was a lovely woman who took care of the house and the child, she was a sweet natured and sympathetic. Martha and the other ladies who worked in the house were very happy with her decent attitude and loved working at her house. Mr. Dalton felt himself to be one of the luckiest person on earth,he often boasted about his wife and his daughter amongst his friends and colleagues.The house used to be lively and parties were thrown every now and then. But ever since the accident took place and Mrs Dalton died the house turned into a deserted graveyard. People inside the house lost all happiness. The tragedy had left Stephanie shocked, she would speak less and never listen to anyone, she was angry with her Mom, why won’t she come to her. Stephanie stopped listening to anyone,her tantrums grew every day The baby sitters hired to take care of her either quitted the job due to her bratty nature or a nervous breakdown, every baby sitter had to battle to “handle” Stephanie and her tantrums.Mr. Dalton could not give enough time to his daughter which made Stephanie more intense and wild.

Jamie had a different way of handling things with Stephanie, she exactly knew what to do with Stephanie and how to make her do the stuffs, and that was the reason everything clicked between them.

“No..No..Stop it ..please…please…!”suddenly Jamie jerked herself awake with a feeling of going down the hill on a steep roller coaster. There was a sense of dizziness and confusion and then she was pulled up from the dream in to the reality.Ever since Jamie had been staying in this house , she had had nightmares , she was unable to sleep well these days. She often dreamt of a house like this she picturized herself on a corridor, just next to the stairs and someone in hooded jacket would try to ascend towards her, she would plead but as if the ascender would not listen to her pleas and push her down the stairs …. and Jamie would wake up suddenly. That seemed to be the end of the dream…Why on earth would she think of someone pushing her down the stairs and why would she dream about a corridor which she had never been to or seen. She tried memorizing the corridor in her dream, It was long dark and the face of the attacker was also covered in darkness. She would feel scared. When she had her eyes operated, she had been dreaming of the house and she managed to get a job similar to that of in her dream.Now this corridor was a mystery. The only specific thing she remembered of her dream was that when she was being pushed she was trying to get hold of something…a wristlet , a gold one with emeralds embedded into it giving a design,shone on the attacker’s wrist.

The next morning Stepanie had started throwing tantrum , she knew her dad was coming back home and she wanted to have her breakfast with her dad.Today all of Jamie’s explanations failed, she ran behind the little girl across the hall room ,when the door bell rang.Martha opened the door ,”Good morning Mr. Dalton, welcome back home”Stephanie had heard her dad and ran past to the main door and hugged him.Stephanie turned around to take a glimpse of Mr. Dalton. But he had knelt on the floor and had hugged her little daughter and everthing was hidden behind Martha. Jamie could feel a drop of tear from her eyes, she had lost her parents long back , perhaps this is how a father loves his child.She quickly wiped off her tear and dabbed it with a kerchief when Martha moved giving ways to the father and daughter entry. The Father had lifted his daughter in his arms and entered into the hall,he was handsome, clean shaved with light brown eyes and neatly trimmed hair, but there was something about the man.. Jamie could not understand, she had seen him somewhere, she had met him before and knew him very well, but where ?when ?how? she could not remember.

“Hello Miss!” Martha nudged Jamie to jerk her off her thoughts , she had introduced her to Mr. Dalton already. He was standing right in front of her and was wishing her Hello, Jamie smiled a little in return and replied ,”Hello Mr. Dalton.”Mr. Dalton was very happy to hear about how Jamie had taken care of his daughter in his absence and started praising Jamie.”Oh no Mr. Dalton, that was my duty and Stephy is a beautiful child.” ”And so are you…” Mr. Dalton commented in a low voice, Jamie was not quite ready for such a comment.

The night was bright with the full moon, Stephanie had slept , but somehow Jamie was not able to sleep that night , she had been used to sleeplessness now a days and thought about her nightmares.She thought of taking a tour in the garden.She had often taken a walk in the garden before falling asleep.Today seemed to be a little different , she was not aware why. She looked up to the house ,there was never a light litted on the third floor of the house , but today it was, Mr. Dalton’s room was brightly litted “is he not sleeping yet?”Jamie thought.The third floor had always made her curious however she had never thought of going to the third floor as the maids,caretakers and baby sitters were restricted. Jamie was curious, she sneaked into the house and then the stairs to the second floor. The house was dark, every one had fallen asleep. She silently walked past the corridor of the second floor and took to the right , there was the stairs to the third floor. The calmness of the night, the extreme curiosity had clear all thoughts from Jamie’s might, she did not wanted to think what would happen to her job if she is caught. Like a delusion she just followed the steps beyond her. She was in a trance.

She ascended the stairs to the third floor and entered a dark corridor, dimly lit with a lime colored light.In the dim light she could see a carpet laid on the floor led her straight to a room , there were no other rooms on this floor.She walked towards the room tiptoed, the door was slightly opened and bright light appeared from the slit, she peeked in through the open door .An elegant room with a king size bed in the middle of it with soft linen comforter , it was neatly made and untouched, next to the bed was a side table with a table lamp, ecstatic design. She arched a little to get a clear view of the room but could not instead it made a little noise, She trembled if Mr. Dalton would think that someone had intrigued in his room…. She thought ,but before she could come out of her thought, the door push open .... and a figure stood there in a night gown, Mr Dalton, exclaimed Jamie.Mr. Dalton had pulled open the door when alarmed by the little noise.

“I , mean.. I had.. means..” Jamie fumbled. There was a stern look on Mr. Dalton’s face, Jamie could not look, she shifted her gaze quickly.”I am Sorry Mr. Dalton, it was just…”she said, “Don’t you know no one is allowed here?”The voice was harsh and rude absolutely the opposite of what Jamie saw in the morning. “Why did you come here?”Mr. Dalton asked.Jamie could not reply.”Now leave Miss, leave immediately….”He showed the way out to the stairs.Jamie was shaking in fear , she thought it would be better to leave and quickly moved towards the stairs, but before she left she noticed something,”the wristlet with studded emerald”. That night Jamie could not sleep,a different emotion played in her thoughts what was the connection of the nightmare with her, what was that emerald wristlet referring to, what has it to do with Mr. Dalton. While she had been on the third floor,the corridor had resembled the one in her dreams. She was frustrated and could not think anything further. Next morning when she woke up , she went to Martha to quench her thirst of curiosity, “Martha can you tell me what happened to Mrs. Dalton?”Martha looked a bit astonished and then said ,” She accidentally fell down from the stairs of the third floor”. A shocked Jamie stood silently. There were lot of questions in her mind and yet a lot to get an answer for. That night Jamie sneaked in to the third floor once again. She needed to confront herself , her dreams …The door was opened the same way it was the other night.She peeked through it again and looked behind the corridor, suddenly like a figment of imagination, few incidents past across her eyes,she saw a beautiful woman , pleading to a hooded man…”leave, please leave me…”and then the man extended his hand and pushed her,the woman screamed , she was rolling down the stairs, no one was there to save her , there was a cruel laughter , the attacker was pleased to execute his plan successfully, he opened his hood and looked behind towards Jamie, straight into her eyes, Jamie shifted back nervously and on doing so unknowingly push opened the door , Mr. Dalton stood behind him, Jamie looked at him , the same face, the golden wristlet sparkling with emeralds .. it was him, she saw a murder happening just in front of her eyes she had witnessed the murder, she remembered everything, “Mr. Dalton, You are a murderer” she shouted… “you killed Mrs Dalton, why did you do that?”Mr. Dalton’s eyebrows curved a little, he brought his face near to Jamie’s she had lost control and had fallen before him, “How do you know that?” He asked in a rude voice”I visioned.. I witnessed the murder..” Jamie huffed..Mr Dalton rose his hands and with a strong grip held Jamie’s throat, “I will kill you if you even bring this up”, Jamie struggled to free herself , but it was in vain, the hands had tightened the grip on her throat.”I wanted her entire property, she wasn’t writing her property to me, she knew about my habits, smuggling, gambling and everything that I do, I did not wanted to kill her, but she knew more and she won’t keep her mouth shut like you Missy”I will tell the cops” warned Jamie, “First free yourself Missy” Mr. Dalton laughed aloud. The lights started to flicker suddenly and all of a sudden a push released the grip of his hand from Jamie’s throat. Mr. Dalton was over thrown into the corridor.. He rose and with a strange fear looked at Jamie’s face, “No No it can’t be…you cannot be alive Susan” he stepped back and then down he went the stairs , rumbling , rolling…

It was an accident, no one heard anything, Jamie found herself on her bed so no one to accuse her. What happened that night no one knew. But Jamie was now aware, she had the face of Susan Dalton that night and her vision.