Chapter 7

"Oh, why can't it just be Catastrophe Day?" remarked Kay sadly as we left school. It was windy and it looked like there was a thunderstorm brewing. Fallen leaves blew around my feet and my hair seemed to suddenly have a life of it's own. I looked at the sky and saw black clouds approaching fast. Not a good sign. On a normal day I would have a bad feeling in my gut, but now I knew that something bad was going to happen. Right now, the sky reflected my exact feelings. As if I could control the weather according to how I felt. Which would probably a better "power" than having premonitions.

Kay and I crossed the road from school to the park and sat dejectedly on the swings. The leaves seemed to follow us across the street, circling around me as I sat slumped on the swing.

"Cheer up Kay, we only have two-" I stopped. My surroundings disappeared before my eyes, giving way to another, unthinkable scene. I froze where I was standing. This was the very last premonition I expected to have. The park dissolved before my eyes, and a dark, eerily familiar room appeared before me.

I looked around. The window to my left had a cracked pane, and moonlight filtered through what was left of the filmy curtain. I glanced out the window. It was a full moon. I scanned the room. What was about it that looked so familiar? A flash of white to my right caught my eye. I turned swiftly, and saw a girl climbing on to a stool, her back to me. She was wearing a long, flowy dress that blew around her even though there was no wind in the room. Her hair was long, silky and extremely black. It flowed in dark waves down her back. I looked above her head and spied a rope hanging from the ceiling. She reached up and knotted the rope into a loop.

Suddenly, it dawned on me what was about to happen.

"NO!" I yelled as the girl slipped the loop around her neck. She turned, apprehension etched on her face. I inhaled a sharp intake of breath as our eyes met.

It was Kay.

An older Kay, her face beautiful, hauntingly beautiful. Her eyes widened as her pupils searched my face. Her mouth moved, forming words I couldn't hear. She stretched out a hand towards me, paused and then drew it back. Confusion was written all over her face. Suddenly, she lunged towards me, and in her haste and confusion, she kicked the stool out from under her feet.

I screamed.

Kay struggled, suspended in the air, her hands scrabbling at the rope around her neck that was becoming tighter by the second. I tried running to her, but I found that I couldn't move. Move, feet, MOVE! Come on! MOVE! My brain screamed silently at my feet. They didn't move. Tears spurted out of my eyes. "Kay!" I screamed, but I knew it was useless. Kay's hands dropped to her sides. Her head was bent, and her long hair covered her face. I knew that she was dead. But I had to know why.

I moved forward slowly, tears still streaming down my face. My feet found the will to move again, but it was all too late. I gingerly climbed on to the stool and came face to face with Kay's bent head. Slowly, I lifted her hair. What I saw will haunt me for as long as I live.

Scrawled on Kay's forehead, stil dripping scarlet, were the words "You're Next."

I screamed and promptly fell off the stool, but I didn't hit the floor. I kept on falling, falling through blackness, falling through hell, desperate to get away from the nightmare that had become my life. I was still screaming when I opened my eyes and saw Kay staring at me through worried eyes.

"Vicky, what was it? What happened? Who did you see?" she exclaimed frantically, almost hysterically. Her face was white, but I'd never been so happy to see her. But that feeling soon gave way to fear.

I stared up into her face disbelievingly. "Kay...." I whispered. "I.... I saw.... you."

Chapter 6

Nobody said a word in school. To be completely truthful, the whole school was as silent as the spookiest graveyard on Halloween. Everywhere Kay and I went, people stared. They were entitled to. After all, wasn't it the creepiest coincidence that we were always there when something like this happened? And once, just once, I heard someone whispering behind their hand. The only sound you ever heard were the teachers teaching. Or, to say the least, trying to teach. None of us were paying attention anymore. I know I wasn't.

I don't know what everyone else was thinking, but in my mind I was seeing unspeakable horror.

"Kay?" I asked, breaking the silence between us as we walked home from school. Kay inclined her head, showing that she was listening. "I know this is going to sound childish and all, but why is it that I have this... power when you don't? I mean, we both read the... the... book, didn't we?"

Kay took a deep, rattling breath. I looked at her expectantly. "Well, actually, I do have a... umm... power," she said a little hoarsely after not speaking for so long. "Don't worry, it's not as drastic as yours," she added quickly after seeing the look of horror that I was sure had just appeared on my face.

"Then what is it?" I asked. I didn't really want my best friend to have something as terrible as I did, but at least it made me feel better to know I wasn't alone.

"You know, when we were in... Jessel's?" she asked me tentatively. I nodded grimly. The ice cream parlor. We had tried to avoid saying the name and even thinking about it, but everytime there was time to think I just heard Chloe screaming... and Amanda screaming my name. "Well, I, you know, had my back to the window before... it... happened...." Kay trailed off. I looked down at my feet and realised that we had stopped walking. Nothing seemed real to me anymore. I didn't even know what I was doing half the time, apart from staring out of the class window at the blue, blue sky. It had been hard enduring these past 4 days. All the people... we could have saved them all. I could have saved them all. But it seemed that they were... meant to die. Meant to have these "accidents" happening to them. Their time had come. There was nothing I nor Kay could do about it.

But I wish I could. I wish it with all my heart and soul.

I had been wondering why it was only kids in our school who were having all this bad luck. Nobody else had died from anywhere else, from as far as I - my premonitions - could see. Only school kids. Red Stone High school kids. Or is it because Kay and were from this school? It was so puzzling, it hurt my head sometimes. But it took my mind of the screaming. And the blood.

"Vicky?" Kay's voice cut through my thoughts. "You wanted to know my power, didn't you?" I snapped out of my reverie.

"Oh, yea. Sorry. You were going to tell me..."

"You know, in Jessel's? When I suddeny told you to get down? I wasn't looking at the window, I coudn't see it at all, not even in the mirror. But somehow, I could see it like it was happening in slow motion, the car coming towards the glass. Only it was happening behind me. It as really weird... and scary. I think it's my power... being able to see things without looking at them," said Kay in a rush.

I gape at her. "What?! That is so unfair! At least yours isn't as bad as mine! Why is this happening? Urgh. Damn the stupid book to pieces," I grumbled. Kay split a small grin. She draped her arm around me.

"Hey, cheer up, kiddo. We've only got 2 more days, don't we? We can get through it. We can. You know we can. You were always a fighter, Vick," Kay paused. "Always braver than me. I think, if I hadn't met you I wouldn't be able to talk big or act like a total confident snob sometimes. I'd be all mousy. I was like that... before I met you. You can do it! Have faith, Vicky!" said Kay, hugging me.

I was touched. I mean, Kay had never said any of these things before, and we had been friends since pre-school, which is practically forever!

After that day, our bond was much, much stronger. We were going to get through this thing. But I wasn't alone and neither was Kay. We had each other. We were unbreakable. Nothing and nobody could ever tear us apart.

Not even Death.