Sometimes, summonsing all her will, she would try to respond to her mother by squeezing her hand, as she had just squeezed Norma's. At times, she felt as if she had succeeded. However, it was extremely difficult to make her body work.

She always felt her mother's presence. Norma's being would fill with love at her mother's closeness and she wanted to reach out and comfort her. Norma wished she could tell her not to worry.

It was during the night that she had many times tried to contact her. Norma had learned to manoeuvre with great agility in her dream-like state, and would gently attempt to meet Martha while she slept. Her mother would never let her get too close.

Once, they were sitting at a table, outside on a sun-filled lawn, the green grass and leaves of the tree shimmering translucently in the bright white light. She had reached out ever so gently to touch Martha, only to have her disappear instantly.

John was another matter entirely. His mind, being youthful, had a creative flexibility that their mother lacked. The problem with John was that he would forget, or rather deny that the experience had taken place. She had even contacted him at school, when he was hovering in that twilight between waking and sleeping, learned through the long hours of boredom he had to endure.

At certain, perfect moments, he could be contacted. She had learned when these moment were. Regardless of the times that they had made contact, he would always, upon waking, deny the reality of the experience.

Her friend, Cynthia, on the other hand, was more open. She felt that had they been able to communicate on the physical plane Cynthia would quite candidly acknowledge their previous, silent conversations. As far as she could recall, Cynthia had only visited her once.

It was the other people that she met near the Other Lights that fascinated her the most. She would encounter them only at certain times, mostly when she least expected it. They were all very nice people, like old dear friends that she had lost contact with. In their presence everything seemed perfectly logical, familiar, natural.

It was only when she was away from them that the whole thing seemed very strange. There was one person in particular that she recalled the best. He had communicated his name very silently and she had remembered it. He was always there when she was the most troubled, suddenly appearing through the greyness of her doubt, holding her hand, whispering silent reassurances, communicating directly with her mind.

Then as quickly, he would be gone, leaving a longing that she could not understand, a feeling that seemed so familiar but one that she could not remember of having ever felt before.

The nurses would come in and move her motionless body on the bed, forcing her attention back to that room with all the machines that were keeping her body alive. It was then that she would feel the presence of the material life around her.