One moment eleven-year-old Shirley Brown is playing the game, Disappearing Footprints, in Los Angeles, California with her best friend Phyllis Johnson. Suddenly, she finds herself underground in a sunken room gasping for air. "STAND UP," someone shouts into her ear. She ignores them wanting to take a little rest. "STAND UP NOW," they yell again. This time, she dared not ignore them. She stands up pressing her head against the ceiling of the small room. It gives way and fresh air comes flooding into her lungs
Gasping for air, Shirley jerks awake, sweating, as a flash of lightning followed by a clap of thunder roars overhead. She is standing next to the bed in the sparsely furnished powder blue bedroom in Copper Springs, Oklahoma where she has been for the last six months.
It was just a dream. A dream that she'd been having all week. Tonight--she didn't want to think about tonight. It's only a dream. Nothing like that will ever happen. Will it?