The Letter

She’d had the dream again. Cassandra Williams didn’t dream a lot – well, at least she didn’t remember dreaming a lot, but this one she remembered clearly. She’d had the same dream three nights this week and each time awoke in tears. Not tears of fright, these. Though parts seemed frightening, it was really kind of a nice dream. These tears signified a hope so far denied. A longing for something just out of reach.

Cass felt for the box on her bedside table and pulled a tissue. She dabbed her eyes and blew her nose as quietly as she could, then lay silent, listening to the sounds of anger coming through her bedroom door. Cassandra didn’t just hear the sounds, she felt the anger. Almost as though it were her own anger in her own head. She sang mental songs to block it all out. Cass didn’t understand why she had to suffer through their fights in her mind. She fervently hoped he wouldn’t come through the door. Was that the sound of the doorknob being turned? She focused hard in her mind to will him away, Don’t you come in! Just you don’t!

Life had been filled with pain. Her natural mother had died during her birth, but her father had raised her with love and tenderness. Theirs was a unique relationship. He always seemed to know what she was thinking before she spoke. He hugged away her fears and kissed away her sorrows. He taught her new things daily. She was his little Casey, no one else ever called her that. He was her whole world. He understood her and she couldn’t imagine life without him. The bond was unbreakable. Then her world came crashing down.
Cass had been eight when the dodge cherokee plowed into their jeep head on. The doctors had saved her life, but at a cost – she had lost her sight and the use of her legs. But that wasn’t the worst. Her dear daddy; her everything - had been killed in the crash. She'd been brought to live with Nora and Charlie, foster parents provided by the state. The last two years had been hard. Cassandra was lost and alone at first. Not having her father was still like a physical shock, far worse than the loss of sight and limb. Something had been ripped from inside. She now found herself forced to cope with challenges beyond the abilities of the average ten-year-old child.

All things considered, Cassandra had managed pretty well for herself. She'd become almost independent within her world; the world of Charlie’s house. She got around in her wheelchair and found ways to do what she wanted to using her arms and her brains. Nora had taken care of the things Cassandra couldn’t handle. She had arranged for a special tutor, kept food in the house and even occasionally took Cass out – usually to the mall. Most importantly, she brought Cassandra talking books. They were a poor substitute for daddy, but she lost herself in the stories just the same. Nora was a good person and Cassandra guessed that without Nora, she wouldn’t be alive...or might wish she wasn't. But Nora was also afraid.. Charlie often came home drunk and beat Nora badly, yet she stayed with him. Cassandra couldn’t figure that part out.

Then one night, after a beer heightened scream fest with Nora, Charlie had stormed into Cassandra’s room. She lay under the covers, singing songs in her head and trembling. She couldn’t see with her eyes but she knew Charlie’s intentions. Nightmarish flashes of him appeared in her mind as he whipped belt from loops and stumbled to her bed, yanking off the covers. He flipped her over and began whipping her bottom. She felt nothing until the belt strayed up her back, then she stifled a shriek and bit down on her pillow. Nora had come into the room and screamed at Charlie. Backhanding his wife, he began pulling off Cassandra’s pajama bottoms. Another picture suddenly formed in Cass’s mind and the soothing mental song she’d been playing over and over stopped. She screamed at him aloud and with the full force of her mind and her will. “Don’t you touch me!” She couldn’t move her legs but reached around and caught Charlie’s hair and pulled hard. He was kneeling on the bed and her yank threw him off balance causing him to flop down next to her. She smelled the drink on his breath and scratched at his face, trying to find his eyes. He gasped and punched at her face. Cassandra hung onto his hair and continued scratching as she screamed at him. “Get out of my room! Leave me alone! GET OUT!” Finally, Charlie dragged himself off the bed and managed to break her grip on his hair. He stumbled from the room cursing. These drunken tirades were happening more frequently. She often heard Nora cry out in pain. Charlie had come into her room several times threatening a beating and screaming obscenities. But he hadn’t touched her. Cass had cried herself to sleep quite often.

Cassandra now listened for the sound of that wooden doorknob being turned. She also caught glimpses of the door itself in her mind. She didn’t know how, but was sure the image of the door was accurate somehow. At times she felt she could see the door as clearly with her mind as she would with functioning eyes. She thought hard toward the door one more time, making it clear that he'd better not come in! She tried to relax and as sleep approached to will the dream to life again. It was the exact same dream sequence every time...

She was alone in a field surrounded by trees. They seemed gigantic to Cassandra as she craned her neck to look for their tops. She saw thick green grass at her feet and looked at the variety of pretty flowers growing here and there in the clearing. She saw a butterfly and chased it about, laughing in delight as it disappeared into the trees. Shes became aware of a low humming noise and turned, looking up in time to see a man step out of a cloud and drift slowly down towards her. His boots hit the ground with a soft crunch. Cassandra’s breath caught in her throat! It was her father! She ran to him and he scooped her up easily. She clasped her small arms tightly around his neck, not wanting to let go. He held her close and spoke softly in her ear. “It’s okay Casey. Everything’s going to be okay. I’ll be coming for you soon!” She lifted her head and kissed his cheek, then looked in his eyes. “Promise?” she said. He smiled warmly. “Promise.” He put her down on the grass gently and knelt beside her, taking her small hand in his own. “Casey, listen to me carefully. This is very important. I’m coming very soon and we’ll go together to a wonderful place. But until then, you must be careful and you must learn to think.” Cass tilted her heady, “Think about what?” she asked. He squeezed her hand. “You must be strong up here,” he said, placing a finger on her forehead. “You must think yourself safe and think danger away just as hard as you can. Will you do that for me?”
“I’ll try daddy,” answered Casey, “but how can I think anything away? Thoughts don’t do anything.”
“Thoughts do everything,” replied her father.
“You just think real hard. Think of how things should be. Think the bad stuff away – and stay safe for me.” He hugged her to him again then stepped away. “I have to leave you now, but I’ll be back.”
Cass nodded and he touched the wetness on her cheek. He then backed away and drifted upwards, disappearing into a fluffy cloud high in the sky.
It was at this point in the dream that Cass awoke every time. She wanted the dream to be true, even though it had some scary parts. It was her daddy, but somehow it also it wasn’t – and the place he wanted to take her was very strange. Cass didn’t understand, but she knew she was safe with him and anyplace was better than this. She guessed she would see her daddy in heaven soon. For now, she would keep trying to think things right.

Cassandra snapped out of her daydream as Nora screamed and the door crashed open. The image was clear in her mind. Charlie stood in the doorway holding a bottle in one hand and a large kitchen steak knife in the other. Cass’s heart was pounding and she could see him stagger toward her as if she were dreaming it. She could no longer hear Nora and that scared her even more. Charlie took another step and pointed at her with the knife, shouting through his beer induced fog. “Jusss who you think you are you little bisssh! You think you run thisss place too, like your friend Nora? Well you don’t!”
He reached the bed and placed one hand on the bedpost to steady himself. He dropped the bottle and touched his face under his right eye.
“I taken care a her an now I’m gonna pay you back for some damage you done. I shhhoulda done this a long time ago!”

He leaned in closer and shifted the knife to his left hand as his right fumbled with his belt. Cass thought of her daddy. She thought of the dream. She began to chant in her mind, wishing Charlie away. No! thought Cass, You don’t come near me! No! You won’t touch me! NO! GET OUT! She lay in her bed, physically helpless and glared at him with her mind, trying to make him go away. Charlie didn’t stop. He got his belt undone and let his pants fall. He grabbed the collar of her nightgown and ripped downward, popping the buttons. She screamed and lashed out, punching him in the face as hard as she could. He grunted, then laughed and put down the knife so he could grab both her arms and pin them down. He leaned on top of her and Cass could not move at all. He reeked of beer as he nuzzled her neck. Cass screamed at him to leave her alone as tears of fear and frustration rolled down her face. Sweat coated her brow and her upper body trembled with unused adrenaline. She stopped yelling at the picture in her mind and tried instead to change the picture. In her mind she was throwing Charlie off the bed. She shoved him to the floor and kicked him hard in the face. She grabbed his hair and dragged him on his knees to the door and pushed him out of the room. She slammed the door behind him. Cassandra tried to ignore the cowardly animal on top of her and focused all her energy on the picture in her mind, replaying it again and again – trying to believe it. Her daddy had told her to think. Something began to happen to Charlie. He started struggling as if he couldn’t stay on top of her. Then he suddenly flipped off and fell to the floor. He doubled up in pain and held his face. He crawled to the door and scrambled through, slamming the door behind him.

Cass gulped in fresh air as the weight was suddenly removed from her. She mentally watched the door and envisioned Charlie sitting in a chair in the other room, unable to re-enter her bedroom. She kept repeating this image in her mind for hours until utter exhaustion forced her into uneasy sleep.
* * *


The morning was remarkably normal considering the previous night's events. Cassandra awoke to hear Nora calling her from downstairs. If Cass wanted to go with Nora to the mall, she had better get moving! She lay quietly for a few moments, glad that Nora was okay and happy at the thought of getting out of the house, if only for a little while. She listened to birds chirping in the tree outside of her window. She felt stiff and sore. Her lip was swollen and there were scratches on her arms. She grabbed the overhead bar and swung herself around so she could maneuver into her chair. She rolled towards the door, then, on impulse, reversed and went back to her dresser. She knew where everything was by touch and picked up the necklace her father had given her. This was her only precious possession. Attached to the simple chain was a small charm. The design was a circle containing two triangles side by side but slightly overlaid. Cass snapped it in place around her neck and rolled out of her room and down the hall to the washroom to get ready. She was confident that Charlie wasn’t in the house. She just didn’t feel him around.

They drove toward the mall in the big van. Cass felt a weight lifting from her just being away from the house. She felt a higher than normal level of concern radiating from Nora. Her foster mother was worried about what Charlie might do to Cass. As they waited at a light, Cass reached over and touched Nora’s face, moving her fingers gently upward and feeling the large lump near her foster mother’s hairline. Nora took hold of her hand for a moment, then guided it back to Cass’s own lap. “I checked on you last night, soon as I was able,” sniffed Nora. “I’m glad he didn’t hurt you bad.” Cass saw Nora’s face in her mind for a brief moment, then it was gone. In addition to the purplish bruise, she’d glimpsed great torment reflected in Nora’s eyes. The tear she mentally saw rolling down Nora’s cheek caused Cassandra to shed her own tears. “Why do you stay with him, Aunt Nora?” she asked. “Cause I got nowhere else to go, child. I wouldn’t know where to start. He does take care of me and,” Nora’s voice broke down in an anguished sob, “I’m afraid.” Cass squeezed Nora’s hand but didn’t know what to say.

She had gone to the mall enough times with Nora to know the route by feel and by sound and she now noticed that they were turning in the wrong direction. “Where are we going?” asked Cass with some surprise. She couldn’t remember the last time they’d gone anywhere but the mall. Nora didn’t answer for a moment and Cass thought she seemed confused. Nora finally answered, “The park,” Her attitude seemed to brighten at the thought. “Yes! There’s a nice park not far from here. I thought you might like to sit there a bit before we go to the mall.”
“That would be nice,” said Cass, glad at the opportunity to do something different. The park was actually a state preserve covering over twenty square miles. It took them over forty minutes to reach this new destination. Cass found it remarkable that Nora would drive this distance, but she didn’t mind. The farther they went the longer it would take then to get back. Nora pulled off the small access road and stopped the van near a group of deserted picnic tables. She rolled Cass’s wheelchair onto the lift at the side door, then climbed out and hit the button causing the lift to lower slowly to ground level. An amazing thing was happening to Cass. She had caught glimpses of the world around her in her mind before. It was never as clear as eyesight, but it was always a pleasant surprise when it happened. She didn’t know how and she couldn’t force it to happen – it just did sometimes. But now, as her chair reached the ground and Nora began to push her away from the van, she was seeing a clear picture of her entire surroundings. It was like a vivid dream, but it didn’t break up and the images were clear. She saw the sun’s rays splashing through the trees as Nora pushed the wheelchair down a dirt path.

“Where are we going?” she asked as the chair bumped along the uneven trail. Nora didn’t answer for a minute then mumbled as if she were talking to herself. “I’m sure this is the right path…yes…right down this way. A beautiful spot for a picnic!” Cass was about to point out that they didn’t have any food when they suddenly broke into a large clearing and her concern about their destination was instantly forgotten. There were tall trees all around. The grass was a green carpet and pretty flowers grew in abundance. Cass saw the sky and watched fluffy clouds drift by above the high treetops. Several minutes passed before Cass realized that she was alone. Nora had walked back the way they had come. Cassandra froze as she heard a soft humming sound coming from the trees across the clearing. Her heart leapt as a man walked into the clearing and approached her. She spun the wheels, forcing her chair forward through the heavy grass as fast as she could. He was here! He had come!

He walked to the chair and picked her up. It wasn’t until she was in his arms that Cass realized it wasn’t her daddy. The man made her think of her father, but it wasn’t him. She was disappointed – but not frightened - as he held her, for she felt the return of an inner warmth that she hadn’t known since her daddy had died. She looked at his face with her mind’s eye and knew that she was safe. The man smiled warmly. “That’s right, Casey. You are safe. I’m sorry it took me so long to get here - and I’m very happy to meet you.” He took one arm from around her and asked for a shake. Cass clasped his hand and shook it solemnly. “I thought you were my daddy,” she said with a sniff.
“I know you did, Casey,” he answered as he lowered her gently back into her chair. He opened a pouch at his side and removed a small circular object, which looked to Cass like a wristwatch without a strap. He took her hand and placed the object against the inside of her right arm just slightly above her wrist. Cassandra gasped as her arm began to tingle, but she did not try to remove the disk. She knew instinctively that he would not hurt her. He knelt by her chair and held her hand.

“I sent you a letter,” he said. When she looked confused he touched her forehead. “Here.” He spoke to her again but his lips did not move. Everything he said and everything he felt was clear in Cass’s mind. “Your mind is a wonderful thing, Casey - and you’re just beginning to learn how to use it. We communicate with our minds, Casey. We think directly with each other. We can even send messages over great distances. I received such a message from my brother – your father – as he lay dying. He wanted me to come for you as soon as I could. He wanted me to take you home.” As questions flooded Cass’s mind and moved toward her lips, they were answered before she could speak. Without realizing it she stopped trying to talk and began to slow her thoughts and form her questions more clearly. The warm feeling inside her grew as she talked to her uncle and learned of her past.

“Your mother and father were not born on Earth, Casey. They came from another world. A world which is very far away. They came here to learn – and to help. Eventually, if all goes well, the people of this planet will develop the ability to think with all of their minds as we do. There can be no misunderstanding with this type of communication. No deliberate falsehoods. Only the truth. Both the meaning and the feeling behind it.” The device on her wrist beeped softly and her uncle touched it’s surface with his fingertip. Cass began to feel a warm sensation in her abdomen and lower back. It spread downward slowly...into her legs. The thoughts of her Uncle came into her mind again. “You were young when your father died. Too young to understand the truth and too young to know how to use your mind. You are only now beginning to develop your natural abilities. At your age it was impossible for me to reach your conscious mind from our home so far away. If I had tried you would not have understood the thoughts you were having. But your subconscious is very receptive. So I sent it a letter. I wanted you to be strong. I wanted you to protect yourself. I knew that seeing your dad would help you so I sent the part of him that lives in me to talk with you. I’m glad you got the message, Casey.”

Casey. She hadn’t thought of herself as Casey since her daddy had died, but somehow it felt okay to do so now. It sounded right when her uncle said it. It seemed to harmonize with the rediscovered warmth she held inside. She touched her thighs and ran her hands down her legs in wonder. She could feel her touch! Her feet were beginning to tingle now. Even as these sensations startled her, she continued to think questions at her uncle. “You mean we can control other people’s thoughts…make them do what we want?” Casey was thinking of the night Charlie had come into her room. At the same time she realized she could now feel her toes. She tried to wiggle them. “No,” replied her uncle, “You could never control your own kind with your thoughts. The truth would always be known to both of you. But these people have not yet developed sufficiently to understand or enable two-way communication. We can therefore easily influence their thoughts with our own. This is a great responsibility. We do not believe in controlling others. In your case you acted in self-defense. Your thoughts convinced Charlie that you were driving him away. He did the rest himself.”

He stood up and offered his hand. The disk was still vibrating gently against Casey’s wrist as she pushed herself out of her chair and stumbled forward into her uncle’s arms. Her small legs felt weak and wobbly and there was a burning sensation – but she could walk! “The BioDisk has corrected the damage to your spinal cord and has regenerated the muscles in your legs - they’ll be weak until you build them up a bit yourself. I’m afraid it can’t fix the damage to your eyes, but as you are beginning to learn, your mind can also see the world around you. You’ll get much better at using it.” He hugged her tight then released her and watched as she walked about the field, limping a bit as she exercised her legs – enchanted by her newfound mobility. Casey was viewing the world around her with her mind. It wasn’t the same as seeing of course; it had a dreamlike quality to it – but it was vision!. She spotted a butterfly and began to clumsily chase it across the field when her uncle’s thoughts stopped her.

“It’s time to go, Casey,” he said with a smile. A picture of an oval shaped orb, floating above the ground beyond the treees flashed in her mind. “It’s time to go back to your life – and to the rest of your family.” Along with this thought came the image of two overlaid triangles within a circle.
She walked to her uncle and took his hand. She looked at the wheelchair and thought of Nora. Her uncle immediately relayed the mental steps he had taken to convince the small circle of people around Casey that her permanent departure was reasonable and for good cause. There would be no questions. A picture of Nora reading a paperback at the picnic table a short distance up the path ended his thought stream. Casey stood still and shook her head, still thinking about her foster mother. Her uncle pondered for a few moments, keeping his thoughts to himself. He finally thought some instructions at his niece and watched her stumble up the path.

Nora put her book in her bag and was just about to climb in the van when Casey came out of the woods and ran to her.
“Why Cass!” she exclaimed, “You’re supposed to be on that bus for the airport – you don’t want to miss your plane!”
It seemed that Nora didn’t even notice the fact that Casey was walking. Tears welled in Nora’s eyes as she admonished the child for delaying.
“They’ll take better care of you at that clinic than we ever could. Maybe someday you’ll even walk again! Besides, you’re safer away from here.”
“I know, aunt Nora,” said Casey. She hugged her foster mother, then held onto her hands tight. She began to form pictures in her own mind. She put words with the pictures and sent her thoughts towards her anguished guardian. Pictures of Nora with dignity and confidence. Words to convince her of her own worth and the power of her own will. Pictures and words of her departure from Charlie and the continuation of her own life. Nora stared at Casey as she repeated this thought stream several times and Casey was sure she saw determination form on Nora’s face.

Her uncle’s words came to her now. “You’ve helped her, Casey. As much as anyone can. If it’s in her to leave him, she will. Now come to the ship, quickly!”
Nora released Casey’s hands and spoke to her in a firm voice. “Now you go get on that bus, young lady, and have a good life!”

Little ten year old Casey Williams kissed Nora on the cheek and turned and ran into the woods without looking back.