Chapter 5

Thursday. Just three more days until the week was over. Until the curse was lifted and we could all breathe easily again. Just three more days Kay and I had to endure before it would be over for us forever. It was horrifying. Kay became quieter every hour, which was saying something because she’s usually noisier and much more boisterous than me. I couldn’t even speak to her, to comfort her. Hour after hour I waited in dread. Waited for the next premonition.

It never came.

Kay and I could only sigh with relief when school finally ended and everyone trooped out of class. Happy. Safe. Alive. It was a feeling that only lasted for seconds. Because we knew that something was going to happen, whether or not it was in school or out of it. I could feel it in my rapidly beating heart, could feel it moving through my veins throughout my entire body. It was almost like my heart was the cause of all this. How I wished it was that easy to stop it with just one stab.

Kay and I debated whether to go home or to go to Jessel’s, the most popular ice-cream parlor in the suburb. Every kid has been to Jessel’s at least once in their live. Kay finally convinced me to go to Jessel’s by reminding that if something was going to happen, at least it wouldn’t be among anyone in our own homes. A selfish thought, you might think, but we were trying to save lives here. As we were entering the parlor, I stopped. I felt Kay stop too.

It was finally here.

The scene around my eyes dissolved around me as a girl and boy came into view. They were sitting by the window, sharing a sundae and looking thoroughly happy. They were even laughing. And then Kay and I appeared in the picture, telling them something. The girl was laughing. Then a horrifyingly loud sound of glass shattering broke the muffled silence of the scene. A car ploughed through the glass and…

I blinked. It was perfectly normal. I was a normal teenage girl standing in the doorway of the ice cream parlor, causing a short, angry line behind me and my best friend pulling me into the shop. I wish. I knew I wasn’t normal. Not anymore.

“What did you see?” hissed Kay, hauling me into the crowded parlor.

“T-there was a girl… and a boy… they were sitting there, right there,” I pointed. “And we were telling them something, only I think they weren’t listening. T-then a… a c-car… the glass…” I stuttered to a stop. I couldn’t stop shaking and my voice had gone unnaturally high again.

“That’s Chloe Fern and Thomas Jansen…” Kay muttered. She grabbed my arm. “Come on, we have to warn them.” She marched to the booth next to the window. A boy and a girl were sitting there, and I suddenly realized who they were. They were exactly who Kay had said they were, and they were seniors at our school. I held back a bit behind Kay. Chloe could be really mean sometimes. But she looked in a good mood just then.

“Umm.. can you both move please? We.. er… reserved this booth,” said Kay, making up a story on the spot. I nearly slapped my forehead in disbelief. Kay and I and practically everyone knew that parlor’s didn’t reserve booths for people. It was probably the worst lie I’d ever hear in my life. Chloe laughed and tossed her hair behind her back.

“Don’t be silly, junior. Everyone knows that you can’t reserve booths here,” she glanced around the jam-packed ice cream parlor. “Nor any other ice cream parlor in this city. And this booth didn’t even have a reserve sign on it when we came.” She laughed again. Thomas laughed with her. Kay turned around suddenly, her face looking twisted. I could practically hear her brain whirring as she though f some other story. Suddenly, her face changed. It became blank, like she was there, but she wasn’t there. She whirled around, her face white and her eyes open wide.

“Get down!” she yelled, and suddenly pushed me down onto the floor, making me lie on my stomach. Half a second later, there was the most heart-rending scream that I will always remember. One second later, there was that same horrifying sound of shattering glass. I shielded my head as glass rained down on my body. A movement next to me told me that Kay was doing the same. There was silence. It was over. Gingerly, I released my hands from my head and slowly raised my head.

Just inches from my face was the bumper of a car. I screamed and backed away quickly, my hands and sneakers crunching on the glass. I looked at my hands as I stood up, shaking. They were covered in blood. Still warm blood. Chloe and Thomas were crushed underneath the car. Crushed so badly you couldn’t even see them. I turned away and saw myself in the mirror on the other side of the room. I was splattered in blood. It looked like I had been murdered myself.