Colours In Blackness - A New Life Read online

CHAPTER TWO

   

   

  6:00 pm? Oh my God, I fell asleep! I bounce up from my bed and strip off my pajamas. I hop across my room because my pants are stuck on my one ankle. I quickly pull on my favorite old purple sweatshirt and my favorite pair of jeans that I threw over my computer chair when I took them off yesterday.

  I am supposed to be at Andrea's house right now. I grab my purse, sling it over my shoulder, and sprint down the hall, literally.

  “Mom, I got to go. I'm supposed to be at Andrea's. We're going out to dinner with the crew. Bye.” At this moment I'm thankful that my shoes are already tied loosely, so I can just slide my feet into them, not wasting a single moment.

  “Wait!” Mom, almost tripping over herself, runs to the door to stop me before I leave. “How are you feeling? Do you really think you should be driving right now? I mean, what if it happens again?”

  “No, I'm fine! If I didn't feel good, I wouldn't drive.” Actually, I hadn't realized until now that I actually do feel better than I've felt in days. My headache is completely gone. I stop dead in my tracks and look at my mom. “My migraine is gone, and I feel amazing… I really do. Don't worry. I love you. Bye.”

  I pull up to Andrea's house and before I can put the car in park, she's opening the door and hopping in. Its times like these that I wish my car had auto door locks. That would be funny to watch her glare at me through the window especially if it was raining.

  Andrea is a little upset that I’m slightly late, and she’s not shy about letting me know it. “Where have you been? I tried to call you, but you didn't answer. I was starting to think that you were avoiding me." She looks over at me, probably ready to give me more of an attitude. “Holy Shit! What happened to your eyes?"

  I was hoping my reddish eyes weren't as obvious as they were earlier, but I'm not that lucky. They must be pretty bad if she can see them even though there’s hardly any light in the car. "Um, it's nothing, really. I had a headache incident. I'm fine."

  Andrea seems to accept my answer and doesn't press for more information. She just leers at me with a questioning look. "I thought maybe you were trying out a new make-up look and it didn’t go well or something. So what, you don't believe in using make-up to cover that up? It's called concealer. You should try it some time." She pauses for a quick moment then changes the subject. "Ok, so why didn't you answer my calls?"

  I'm not a big make-up person. Wearing concealer makes me feel like I'm wearing a mask, and I don't like it, unless it’s Halloween or something. I usually only put on a little mascara and eyeliner, if anything. Sometimes I wear tinted lip gloss if my lips are dry.

  “Oh yeah, I forgot, my phone is in my purse on vibrate. Sorry. I didn't feel very good today, and I fell back to sleep.” I really don't want to get into explaining the whole incident while I’m driving. Besides, how can I explain the plane crash dream without sounding like a freak or something?

  Andrea doesn't say anything else about it. She just starts rambling on about everything else. That girl can talk. I'm too busy thinking about the plane wreck. I can't get it out of my head. All I have to do is fill in the odd 'really?' or 'oh yeah?' or just nod my head, and she'll keep right on talking.

  She is very pretty. Andrea has auburn hair that seems to capture the light as it flows in a soft wave down to her mid-back. Her eyes are so deep brown that when lined in black, can make a grown man weak in the knees. She's taller than me by about 4”, but most people are taller than me; I'm only 5'2” tall. Yup, I'm short!

  Andrea has been my best friend for most of our lives. When a kid kicked me, then stole my viewfinder in kindergarten, she gave me her dolly. We've been joined at the hip ever since.

  We arrive at the restaurant only about ten minutes late. As soon as Brian notices me walking up to our usual table, he stares with a disgusted look on his face. "What happened to your eyes? You look awful!" His face is crinkled up making him look like he smells something bad. So it is really noticable.

  Ronny and Jill both stare at me too with pretty much the same expression. Neither of them says anything, but they do whisper amongst themselves. Ronny now looks concerned, but Jill’s look has changed to her “airhead” look. That is typically how her face looks anyway.

  Nobody has ordered their food yet, so we really aren't late. Andrea and I sit down just as the waitress approaches the table. I'm glad I already know what I want. It’s the same as always, a burger and fries.

  Brian is sitting across the table. He's looking at me with his very sexy little smirk. “I'm sorry that I reacted that way, you don't look that bad. You do look worse than you did earlier today. Man, I thought you were at death's door the way your face was so pale, but now… wow! I wish you didn't have to suffer those damn migraines. At least the blue in your eyes is really pretty surrounded by all that redness.” He's trying to suck up to me.

  He's trying to make me feel better. Either that or he's desperately trying to make up for being so freaked out in the first place. Brian has never been one for change, and my red eyes are definitely a change to how I usually look.

  I think Brian is hot. His black hair is cut into short spikes, and his eyes are the brightest blue that I have ever seen. He's about 6' tall and built strong. He's into mixed martial arts so he's very athletic and tanned. All the boy has to do is to think about the sun and he tans! Pisses me off; I'm a “Casper” all the way.

  His GPA is 4.0, which is another reason that I really like him. Stupid guys don't do it for me. But his best feature is his lips. They’re not big and puffy, nor are they skinny, but they sure are soft and warm. I should know, we've made out on a few occasions, but it hasn't gone much past the kissing part.

  It's not like we're actually dating, so nobody knows what to call us. Everyone thinks we should put a title on our relationship. I like to think we are just really good friends with perks.

  We've never had sex, although, if I were considering having sex, he'd probably be the one. I don't know, maybe. I'm not sure why I'm holding off on it. I just believe that when I'm ready, I'll know without any doubt.

  “Thanks... I think. I slept until 11:00 today. It’s been a really long time since I’ve been able to sleep in that long. After that passing out thing happened, I fell back to sleep for about six more hours. Migraine's gone, and I feel great!” I try to slide in the passing out part really quick hoping that nobody will pick up on it, so that later on I can still say that indeed I did tell them.

  “You passed out? Like on the floor, like seeing little birdies flying around your head, kind of passed out?” Ronny asks me so quickly that each word almost blends into the next. He talks so fast.

  Ronny is, well, kind of nerdy. He's about 5'5” and as thin as a rail. He hasn't found his man voice yet, and the other guys tease him about it. He's that guy who cares about everyone, and would never hurt a fly.

  He's had a huge crush on Andrea since the fifth grade. She doesn't even notice him as boyfriend material, which is sad. He'd be good for her. Andrea likes the jocks.

  I think her and Ronnie would make a good couple. She could talk continuously, and he would never interrupt her. But if he had to, he could get a whole paragraph said before she was finished taking a breath, that way she'd never miss a beat.

  “Um, well,” how do I explain what happened without sounding crazy? About the plane I mean. “I kind of passed out on the kitchen floor today.”

  “OhmyGod, Laura! You didn't tell me!” Andrea is concerned, but I can tell she's also upset that I didn't tell her first.

  “Um, yeah, well, it's no big deal really. The weirdest part is the dream I had when I was ‘unconscious’.” Everyone's staring at me with wide eyes and hanging open mouths.

  I continue on, trying to tell the story as short and sweet as possible. “It was nothing like a dream. I saw an airplane crash. People were being thrown from the plane as it flipped and flopped and ripped open. And, it burst into flames on the runway. I wasn't scared. The whole thi
ng was... bizarre.”

  Everyone is still staring at me. Nobody is saying anything, which is totally out of character for Andrea. I’m so uncomfortable. I hate being the center of attention. Are they waiting for me to say something else? Thankfully the waitress brings our food. Still, nobody's talking.

  After a few bites, Jill breaks the uncomfortable silence. “Well, thankfully you're ok. The dream was probably some unconscious, subconscious brain, dream thing. Don't worry about it.” She’s trying to make me feel better. “Now that I’m getting use to your eyes, I think they’re pretty.” She’s always been a little strange.

  “Well if it happens again, I really think you should go see your doctor. Maybe you need a CT scan or something. You could have a tumor.” Ronny is genuinely concerned, but I wish everyone would just drop it.

  “A CT Scan… seriously? That's more for bones, I think. If it were a tumor, I think they'd have better luck using an MRI machine.” Andrea pulls everyone's attention away from me as she starts into one of her endless speeches. I can finally eat in peace.

  My eyes meet Brian's ocean blue eyes, “Are you ok? Like, really ok? That 'dream' must have really freaked you out. I mean, how could it not?”

  “No, that's what was strange. At the time, I felt nothing. I wasn’t scared while watching the plane crash at all. I was just pushed into the bubble, and it played out. I know it's really weird. Eat before your food gets cold.” Lucky for me the focus of conversation changes to something else.

  By the time I get home, the evening news is just ending. My mother is standing in the living room with the remote in her hand and a blank look on her face. She’s staring at the muted TV.

  “Mom, what's the matter? Are you feeling ok?” I'm half expecting her to fall down. She looks rather weak in the knees. I turn to grab the phone ready to call 911 if she hits the floor and dies or something.

  Barely a whisper and without any emotion, my mother says. “A plane crashed. Everyone died.”

  OhmyGod! I saw it happen... before it happened. Everyone died. They flew out of the plane; I saw it. I can actually feel the blood draining out of my face. “Coincidence… was it the same as my dream? On take-off, did it roll and burst into flames?”

  She turned to look at me, and with a single hesitant nod of her head, my whole world changed. Nothing will ever be the same from this moment on.

  If I were able to look ahead and see what my future will be like, how things will be so different from what I have planned for my life, to know of the drama and deceit that will occur... I would never have believe it.

  I run to my room and flick on my TV, hoping to catch anything on the news about it. The all-news station will have something about it. I just want to see if there is a video of the crash, so I can compare it to what I saw in my dream. Speaking to no one but myself, I utter, “It's just a coincidence, that's all.”

  The reporter is announcing that 122 people died. Then I see it, a blurry image of a plane skidding out, rolling over, ripping apart, and finally, the flaming engine erupting in a huge ball of orange flame. It's playing repetitively like the tape is on a loop. It's exactly what I saw. The only difference is that my view was so much clearer. I could see all the people. In this video I can't.

  What's happening to me? Have I somehow become a prophetic person? How? Usually after people have some odd accident where they bump their heads a certain way they become psychic. At least that's what they claim. But I didn't bump my head. Maybe I did when I fell.

  Snapping me out of my fog and making me jump, literally, my phone vibrates and the theme song for Andrea's favorite TV show fills the silence. She must be calling because she's seen the news too.

  Before I can even say hello, she starts rambling. “OhmyGod! You must be freakin' out! Holy shit! Did you see the news? They keep showing this plane crash that happened somewhere in the States. Is it like you saw in your vision?” Andrea is obviously as freaked out as I am. She's actually speaking faster than normal, which I didn't think was actually possible.

  “Um, yeah… it's exactly how I saw it; identical. It's like that exact tape was playing in my dream, only my view of it was perfectly clear.” She must think I'm nuts. I think I've gone nuts.

  “Ok, so now you see visions?! OhmyGod… everyone is going to think you are some psychic, prophetess girl who can see shit before it occurs. Do you realize that you could have maybe stopped that from happening? I mean, if you knew, like, what the planes number was or whatever. You saw it clearer right, so like, did you see the numbers on the plane?” Andrea said all that without even taking one breath.

  “Um, I didn't really think about it at the time." She's right; maybe I could have prevented it somehow. I shut my phone off after talking to Andrea. I just don't feel like talking to anyone else right now.