“Hey, Happy Birthday.” The too cheerful voice of my best friend Caroline said as I felt her hand come down on my shoulder. I grunted in reply. “What's wrong? Did your parents forget your Birthday?” She knew this was a distinct possibility the way my life had imploded recently.

“Ugh, No,” I said as I opened my eyes and tried good-naturedly to cover my ears. “Caroline.” It seemed like we had known each other forever. She was tall and pretty, with deep blue eyes yet somehow she just seemed to blend into the woodwork. I mean not that I’m not good looking, in my own way, but Caroline was gorgeous. On top, she had the cutest Texas twang in her voice. Boys, who can figure them out. “Mom was having to work an early shift. So, I had to get myself and the munchkin ready this morning.”

“Your paw is still in the hospital?” She asked tentatively. I nodded, what could I say. “How bout we do something this afternoon?”

“Sorry, I promised Luke I’d go to his club meeting today.” I smiled. “Michael will be there.”

“When is that boy going to ask you out?” She lamented. “I mean lordy you are one of the prettiest girls in our grade.” She said as she eyed me. I knew what my friend saw; long dark hair, chestnut brown eyes, and petite frame. What she didn’t seem to recognize was my bundles of insecurities, self-doubts, and fear of being thought of as strange. I shuddered at that thought.

“I’ve got to much going on right now to have a boyfriend,” I said. “Besides I’m pretty sure Michael has me in the friends zone. Caroline reached out and gave me a hug before they both sat down.

“Happy fourth birthday Victoria.” One of the boys said who sat down in the seat in front of us.

“Alright everyone get seated we’re starting this field trip and I don’t want to see anyone walking around.” Dr. Babbage our math teacher said as the school busses doors closed.

I chuckled at Luke’s joke. “Thanks, Luke,” I said smiling. Another boy sat down next to him and they started talking apparently it was something to do with the gaming club I had agreed to go to later that afternoon.

“At least we have a half-hour to talk before we get to the Alamo,” Caroline said as she withdrew a magazine from her backpack and opened it up to a series of pictures. “Did you see the dress in this month's issue of Girls day?”

All too soon our talk and the dull roar of the other students were interrupted as we pulled into the parking lot. “Wow,” I said as I looked up at the building. In front of the old mission, I saw rows of tents and men and women walking in period dress.

“I thought you said you’ve been here a lot?” Caroline asked me.

“I have, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen it like this,” I replied. I stared at the spectacle around me, then I caught Caroline’s quizzical look. But then I shrugged and put the peculiarity out of my mind.

* * *

I was bored, I had lost interest in watching the reenactors walking the grounds fairly quickly. This trip was my fifth to the old battlefield in the past two years and something just felt off about the who day. This time she just felt that something was off, as the bus rolled up to the plaza that held the old missions stone walls. I was having a hard time focusing on the guide as he spoke about the pivotal events that lead to Texas’ creation as an independent country.

It felt different today for some reason, as soon as I set foot in the old mission that they had been made into a fortress. The place gave me the willies. I felt a rush of cold and what felt like the sound of rushing wind in my ears. The reenactors I had seen were all around the plaza. Some were dressed in little more than peasant rags. While others were dressed in mountain man buckskins and still others wore old wool clothes. I shivered with the cold, I hoped it was winters last gasp.

“Keep up Victoria.” I heard Dr. Babbage say, it spurred me on to the back of the class where the Guide droned on. “Those thirteen days in February and March of eighteen thirty-six paved the way for the defeat of the Mexican army in the battle of San Jacinto and what would ultimately end the rebellion.” The guide said boredom dripping with every word.

“So whatcha doing for your birthday?” Lucas asked. I had known Lucas since the third grade when my family moved to San Antonio.

“Going to visit my dad in the hospital. Mom says he should be home soon.” I looked over at my bespectacled friend. “Why? Want to come along?” The guide kept talking and I raised my hand at a question.

“Yes, do you know what happens this year that doesn’t happen every other year?”

I nodded in reply. “Eighteen thirty six was a leap year just like this year. So this year is one of the few years where we celebrate the full thirteen days the battle took place instead of twelve days every three years.”

“Very good, Victoria.” Mrs Babbage said. One of the few times the stern older woman looked at me with approval.

“Nah, I hate the hospital. But I asked Mr. Lagrand if you could come to the gaming club to try it out…” He said with a wistful tone in his voice.

“I don’t know. I don’t think it would be my thing.” I said wringing my hands. Okay so I think it would be totally my thing and Michael would be there. “I mean Bonnie and the others think I’m strange enough as it is.” Lucas nodded his head in agreement.

“The queen bitch.” He snorted quietly so that only I could hear it. “Still just pop in this afternoon we’re starting a new campaign,” Lucas said excitedly. “We get to play the original D and D.” His blue eyes sparkled mischievously.

“Wait, there's more than one type of D and D?” I asked puzzled.

“Yeah, original, two-point zero, three, three-point five, four and five.” He said with a smile on his face. “Then there are the derivatives like the D twenty system that has both fantasy, modern and this futuristic one.” Oh God, I thought to myself save me from nerds.

I rolled my eyes at him. “What does that even mean? Seriously?”

I heard a mighty sigh and looked over to my other side, one of the reenactors stood hunched over shaking his head. He looked like the picture of Jim Bowie. “That one thinks of life as a game. If it was so easy the battle could have been replayed and won. It wasn't supposed to have played out that way at all.” He said. “If we had listened and been able to get the guns out things might have ended differently.”

“What do you mean?” Ia asked as I looked over at him. I was still thinking about the various versions of dungeons and dragons.

“My orders were to take away or destroy the stores in the mission. We didn’t have the oxen to move the guns.” He snorted. “They called it a fortress, only to the surrounding homes was it that. What gave it her strength wasn’t her walls, it was my men and their courage and honor.” He continued to speak. She eyed him critically as he continued to talk about the battle. “We were all cocksure and full of piss and vinegar.”

“And then what happened?” I asked quietly.

“Mrs. Babbage, Victoria’s talking to herself again!” One of the other students cried.

The man looked up at me startled in surprise. “You can see me?” He said shock in his voice and then was gone in the blink of an eye.

Lucas was looking at me curiously when I turned to him in shock. “What happened?”

I blinked then pointed at where the apparition had just stood. “Did you see the man that was just standing there?”

Lucas noticed my quivering hand as it pointed to a spot that was on the ground next to them. “Man?” He asked quizzically

I nodded as I tried to explain what she had seen, then a floating blue box appeared before my eyes. Quickly I scanned the text and I think I gave a startled squeak. Then I felt myself collapse bonelessly to the ground. “Dr. Babbage Victoria passed out again.” I heard a boy cry out before everything went black..

I woke to someone shaking me and calling out my name. “Victoria are you okay?” I kept my eyes closed and answered the officious voice of Dr. Babbage my math teacher.

“No, I have a migraine and someone keeps shaking me.”

The shaking stopped almost immediately. “I’m so sorry, is that what happened?” Dr. Babbage replied.

“Yes,” I lied. While I did have migraines and the school did know about my sensory processing issues I just wanted to keep my eyes closed as I tried not to think about the blue screen and its message.

.

“Do you think you can stand?” Dr. Babbage’s asked.

“I think so?” I said lamely, I didn’t want people to think less of me but I also didn’t want them to think I was crazy. Which I’m sure they would have if I told them I had just seen the blue screen of death.

“Good, Luke will escort you to a seat while we finish up here.” I felt the older woman's bony grip on my hands as she inexorably pulled me to my feet. “Luke.” The woman said as Victoria felt other hands on her elbow.

“What happened?” Her friend asked as he led her to a bench.

“I don’t know, It had to have been a migraine.” She said.

He felt his arm shake. “No that wasn’t it. You always get flushed and your right eye twitches when you have a migraine.” Luke replied. I turned my head toward him, my eyes opening wide.

“How?” she asked.

“I’ve known you since first grade.” He said sheepishly. “Anyway, what happened?”

I looked around surreptitiously to see if any of the other students were watching. “You won’t believe me,” I whispered as I looked into Luke's dark gray eyes.

“I believed you about the fairy in third grade.” He whispered back. I remembered the fairy when I was seven it had been like a ball of light that danced through the flowers in my mother's garden that summer. Also, no one else besides Luke and my baby brother Vincent had believed me that Fairies were real.

I took a deep breath and calmed my nerves then spoke. “It was really weird I was standing there and I thought there was a reenactor talking to me.”

“Wait, why did you think he was an actor?” Luke said glancing around.

I pointed to one of the other people dressed in period costume, a man dressed in buckskins holding a Kentucky long rifle. “Well just like that guy over there,” I whispered. “He’s dressed like one of the soldiers that fought in the battle.

Luke looked where she had pointed and then his eyes narrowed. ”I don’t see anyone there…” he said tentatively “are you sure?” He asked.

“Yes. He’s right…” I said as one of the other students walked through the figure and visibly shivered. “Oh my god!” I hissed as the blond girl went right through him. I felt my eyes go wide as I started to panic. I felt like I was losing my mind.

“Victoria are you alright?” Caroline asked me as she approached. “Y’all look like a monkey just danced on your grave…”

I swallowed reflexively. “I… I think I saw a ghost.” As I stammered my attention was drawn to a small spot in front of my eye that seemed to throb with rhythmically. As if it recognized her attention it once more unfolded into a flat blue box before her eyes.

“Victoria? What's wrong you’ve gone pale again.” Dr. Babbage said as she came over.

I startled by her. “It’s just my headache,” I said as she reached her hand toward my head and passed her hand through the Blue obstruction. It was Schroedinger's message board. It wasn’t real but it seemed to hold a message for me all the same. I hoped I was having some sort of fit but feared the message was all too real.

Happy 16th birthday!

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