“Yes, but what did you see?”

She looked him in the eyes now, clearly trying to gather herself. “Travis,” she said, tears beginning to spill again. “I don’t know how to tell you what I saw.” She gulped and the tears rolled faster. Her bottom lip quivered and for a moment Travis was afraid she was in her trance again, but one look into her eyes and he knew he had her focus. “Travis, someone’s going to try to kill you.”

Travis’ breath caught in his chest and he stared at her, searching her eyes for any hint of a lie. When there was none, he exhaled deeply, wondering still at what she had witnessed.

“I felt as if I were there,” she said slowly. “Like I was trapped between worlds. I could see there, but what I heard didn’t come from that reality. I heard you--calling my name.”

“Tell me what you saw.”

Her eyes lit up, as if recalling what had happened. She was trying to control herself, he could tell, but her voice shook in fear. “There was a man,” she said. “I don’t know who he was. I was standing next to him… I couldn’t move my arms, I shook so badly. You were about ten feet away across the room. The man raised a gun in his hand and shot at you. Then everything went black… When I blinked, I ended up here.”

“Who was the man?”

“I told you, I don’t know. I saw him in my peripheral vision. At least I think it was a man… Yes, it had to have been. He was much too large to be a woman.”

“Why did it go black?”

“It got brighter first--from the gun going off in the dim room. But then it went completely black…”

Travis stood to his feet, almost knocking Crystal to the floor. She glared up at him through tear-stained eyes, and he quickly apologized as he ran for the phone.

“What’re you doing?” she demanded.

He punched in the numbers with his index finger and placed it up to his ear. “I’m calling Dr. Jacobs.”

Crystal sat up straighter, looking at him intently.

“Why?”

But he didn’t have time to answer. Dr. Jacobs picked up on the second ring. The man sounded puzzled on the other end of the line.

“Hello?”

“Dr. Jacobs, I need to speak with you; it’s urgent--”

“Travis? Yes, of course, what’s going on?”

“Crystal just had a vision,” he said, ignoring the fact of how ignorant it sounded. “And I think it may somehow be connected to mine.”

Crystal stood up now and walked toward him, an eager expression lighting her face. “I want to hear,” she said, pushing the small black button on the phone’s cradle.

Travis lowered the phone from his hands and set it gently on the counter.

“--if she’s there at the moment, that is,” Dr. Jacob’s voice trailed over the speakerphone.

“Dr. Jacobs?” Crystal asked tentatively.

“Yes? Oh, you must be Crystal, of course.”

“Yes, I am. Dr. Jacobs, I don’t know what happened,” she said, fear held brightly on her face again. “It was as if I were somewhere else, yet a part of me was still here.”

She described her vision to him in intricate detail. Travis stood behind her patiently, longing for the truth of what had happened. If Dr. Jacobs didn’t have an answer, he doubted anyone would.

“Does that make any sense?” Crystal asked.

“In a way,” Dr. Jacobs replied. “As I’ve told Travis before, God uses many things to lead his flock back to him.”

“But I haven’t strayed.”

“I never said you did. But now hearing your story, I have the right to believe that there is yet something else playing at this. Something once again beyond any of our control.”

“But does Crystal’s vision mean anything?” Travis interjected.

“Perhaps. There must be something He meant in showing you this.” He paused for a long moment. “Okay, here’s what you two need to do,” he said. “Travis, you said that you thought Crystal’s vision had something to do with your dream?”

“Yes, I did.”

“Well, what was it?”

He raked a hand through his hair. “When I had my dream it went black, just as Crystal’s did. I heard a click and then something exploded, and now hearing Crystal’s vision, I think it may have been the gun going off.” He paused. “Is it possible that we’re seeing parts of the same thing?”

“Same thing? You mean same scene. Travis, Crystal, I believe what you two have seen are indeed visions of something yet to come. I’m not sure why you have been allowed to see theses things, but I do believe they’re from God.”

Travis spoke what he’d been thinking for the past few minutes. “Demons,” he said slowly. “Dr. Jacobs, how do we know these visions aren’t sent from demons?”

Dr. Jacobs was silent for a moment, apparently thinking. Travis felt slightly awkward. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust God in this--because he most certainly did--it was the mere fact of what Dr. Jacobs had told him earlier: many factors could be playing part in this. Who was to say it wasn’t a couple of demons playing tricks on them through these visions? They couldn’t eliminate it unless they were completely sure…

“Good point, Travis,” Dr. Jacobs said. “And as you’ve stated there is nothing keeping anyone from saying this isn’t the work of demons. However, I highly doubt that it is. Both of you are God’s servants and I don’t think that He would allow demons to touch you right now. Pray on it, though. All I’m saying is that there’s something in my heart that tells me this is God’s doing. Just trust Him and everything will work out in the end, I promise.”

They stood quietly for a moment, letting his words sink in. Travis breathed a sigh of relief, feeling a bit better than he had five minutes ago. Pray on it, Dr. Jacobs had said. Dear God, please let this be Your work. He still felt uneasy--perhaps from seeing Crystal cry and shake as she had the vision--but not nearly as uneasy as he had. Please comfort us. Hopefully this would never happen again.

“So what should we do?” Crystal asked, her voice holding a slight tremor.

“For now, nothing,” Dr. Jacobs replied. “Just wait and see how things go. If either one of you have a vision, call me--that includes your dreams, Travis. And if anything happens to make a connection from this reality to what you saw, let me know immediately.”

“Dr. Jacobs, do you believe I’m in danger?” Travis asked.

“At the moment, I’m not sure. I hope not, Travis, but we need to take this seriously. There has to be a reason God has shown you these things. Why would He have if He didn’t expect you to act upon it? My final word of advice for both of you is to be aware of what is going on around you--at all times. Don’t let your guard down, because it is at times like that which are most dangerous. Be careful, Travis, Crystal.”

“Thank you, Dr. Jacobs,” Crystal breathed.

“Yeah, thanks,” Travis said hurriedly, not wanting to sound ungrateful. “I really appreciate this--we really appreciate this. We’ll keep you posted.”

With that, Dr. Jacobs said a short goodbye and hung up, leaving Travis and Crystal alone in the room again. They were both shaken, he knew--Crystal probably more so than he himself--and apparently neither had much of an appetite for they hardly touched the food they dished onto their plates ten minutes later. The uneasy feeling Travis had had all day was slowly getting worse, escalating every with every moment he spent in Crystal’s presence. Something was about to happen. But he had no idea what.