One Possible Future

by Joynell Schultz

  One Possible Future

  An Angels of Sojourn Short Story

  JOYNELL SCHULTZ

  Copyright © 2018 Joynell Schultz

  All rights reserved.

  Cover images: www.pixabay.com

  WET DOG PRESS

  One Possible Future: An Angels of Sojourn Short Story

  Jocelyn learned not to ignore a vision. Eight years ago, her disregard of a premonition cost her fiancé’s life.

  Now, her visions bring her to a fallen angel who is in desperate need of help after losing his wings. The problem: he doesn’t want assistance.

  Unwilling to carry any more guilt, Jocelyn insists on helping him, even if it puts her own life in jeopardy.

  One Possible Future is part of the Angels of Sojourn Series. Discover all the books here: www.JoynellSchultz.com/Angels

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 1

  “Hello?” Jocelyn pushed a branch aside while stepping deeper into the forest. A thorn scratched her, leaving a stinging line of pooling blood on the arm holding her flashlight.

  Looking through an opening in the canopy, she assessed the moon. Despite being only three-quarter full, the pale light still made the hair on the back of her neck stand up. She should be safe from wolves, but there were other dangers outside at night.

  She would have waited until daylight, but years ago, she had learned the hard way not to ignore her visions. Her ignorance on the warnings of her visions cost her fiancé his life, and herself any chance at happiness.

  The forest opened into a clearing with a rushing, white-water river carved into smooth rocks ten feet below the path. The elevated trail hugged the river bank before descending some, squishing Jocelyn between the river and a sandstone wall. Her hand traced the cool stone as she followed the narrow path.

  The details of the vision she had this afternoon turned her stomach. Somewhere, tucked away in this tan and pink sandstone was a shirtless man, about Jocelyn’s age of twenty-nine, wearing nothing but a pair of white boxers. Blood washed down his back where a glowing sword had sliced off his dark grey wings this morning. The feathered wings had flopped to the ground and disappeared in a plume of fire, leaving nothing—not even ash. The man had to have been an angel.

  Jocelyn’s visions were unpredictable. Not only did she not know when they would hit, they were inconsistent. Sometimes she saw the present, and other times, she saw one possible future. If she intervened, the future may change. If she didn’t, like in the case of her fiancé, the future she saw would become a reality.

  Shortly after Jocelyn witnessed the angel with huge, white wings remove the wings of the dark-feathered man, her vision changed. The man without wings laid in the dirt, in a cavern tucked away in this forest. He laid on his stomach, wincing as he repositioned. Two, foot-long wounds leaked cloudy fluid down his bright red, swollen back. The man shivered, but his forehead glistened with sweat. Then she saw him die. The angel of death came to take his soul.

  Jocelyn wrapped her free arm around her stomach and pushed her glasses up as she followed the path from the river into a cavern.

  Despite doing everything in her power to change the future when a vision hit, this one was different. This man…angel…reminded her of her fiancé. His stoic features reminded her of when her fiancé had been hurt on a camping trip and grit his teeth when the doctors put his shoulder back in socket. She saw stubbornness in the angel, another trait he and her fiancé shared. Jocelyn had despised her fiancé’s single-mindedness at first but grew to think it was almost cute. How she missed him.

  She jumped when a deep howl snaked around the rocks and wrapped her body. Her heart pounded as she rechecked that the moon was not full, then looked back the way she came. She had mapped her way to the caverns and was almost there. She couldn’t turn back. If she didn’t prevent this future, nobody would, and she did not want more guilt in her life. If she saved enough lives, would it make up for the one she ignored?

  She took a few more steps along the trail, and a heaviness settled on her head, causing a throbbing pain.

  No, not now!

  A new vision hit her hard and fast. In one movement, she pulled off her backpack and sat on the trail. Sweat trickled down her cheek as her vision darkened. She grew rigid and flopped on the ground. Her body shook as if in the throes of a grand mal seizure. She clenched her jaw, so she didn’t bite her tongue.

  That wingless angel sat on a chair facing a water fountain in a park in Jocelyn’s hometown. His hair was cropped short and peach skin replaced his pale complexion. He held a coffee cup and watched children play in the water. He appeared healthy, happy, and healed—handsome even. Then the vision switched, and he looked older. A few distinguished wrinkles around his eyes gave him an air of wisdom. He now sat inside a home, at a small kitchen table reading a newspaper. Still alive and healthy.

  It was another possible future. A future Jocelyn could give him if she cleaned his wounds and helped him out of the forest.

  Her visions came in pairs. This morning, one showed her what would happen if she didn’t intervene. The angel would die. The other vision showed what would happen if she did something. She’d save a life.

  Sometimes helping someone was as easy as showing them their demise, other times she needed to make a more direct intervention. Jocelyn prepared for either outcome. In her backpack, she had a washcloth and a bottle of water to wash his back. She also had some antibiotic creams and a bandage to keep the wounds clean. A small intervention at the right time could make all the difference.

  Sitting up, she adjusted her glasses, rubbed the sandstone from her sweaty skin, and shook out her dark hair. She rehung her backpack over her shoulders and picked up the flashlight. Just ahead was the cavern.

  Chapter 2

  The narrow trail widened, revealing the opening she saw in her vision. The angel had lost his wings here. She swiped her flashlight in a circle around her, revealing nothing but sand, stone, and a path where the trail continued. Jocelyn stopped and listened for any sign of the angel, but the anticipation turning in her stomach and her pounding heart distracted her.

  Jocelyn crossed the small opening and moved forward down the narrow path ahead until she could barely place one foot in front of the other. Her shoulders bumped into the side of the trail as she twisted sideways.

  Ahead, her flashlight caught a movement, and when the long, slender reptile slithered down the trail, a shrill scream erupted from her lips. She backed away but tripped.

  “Umph!” Her butt fell against the wall and slid to the ground as she fell backwards, her long legs twisted in front of her and her glasses slipped down her nose.

  This was ridiculous. She wasn’t brave, and she didn’t know if she’d even find this man. She should turn back and try again during daylight. Perhaps the man had left? If he couldn’t be found, she would have no guilt, right? Surely, she couldn’t search this forest for all eternity.

  As much as she repeated those sentiments, she knew better. With her fiancé, Jake, she had also thought that she had tried her hardest to help him. She had said everything she could to stop him from taking his car out that day, but he didn’t listen. The garbage truck had crossed the center line and sent Jake’s car tumbling into a ravine in a swell of flames.

  Jocelyn had warned Jake and told him not to go to work, but he said she was paranoid. That was nearly eight years ago, and guilt still haunted her. Sure, she’d done everything she could, except one thing. She didn’t tell him she was a psychic, and because she was afraid to admit who she was, he had died.

  Thinking of what other creatures could be slithering on the ground, Jocely
n bounced to her feet. She straightened her glasses, pulled her backpack off, and squeezed through the narrow passage.

  Eventually, the passage widened into a cavern. She swiped her flashlight around, and her heart hammered when the light reflected off a bare chest. She lifted the light some, revealing a handsome, familiar face.

  In her vision, he had been so proud when he kneeled before the other angel. His jaw had tightened and fists had clenched when the glowing sword lopped off his wings. Now, he crouched and cowered against the rocks, a heap of flesh and bone. He hugged his knees and pushed against the cavern wall.

  Jocelyn set her backpack down and extended her hand. “I’m here to help.”

  “I’m fine. I don’t need help.” Unlike his position, his voice was confident and proud as he enunciated each word.

  Of course, he’d be stubborn. Her visions never led her somewhere easy. “You do need help.” Jocelyn pushed her wild hair out of her face and straightened her t-shirt. “I know who you are, and I know what happened to you this morning.”

  The angel scooted away, keeping his back against the wall.

  Jocelyn pulled out her water bottle and opened the top. She squirted the cloth she brought. “You have wounds on your back that need to get cleaned. If not, they will get infected.” She reached out and held out the rag. “You can wash them yourself, or I can help. Either way, I’m not leaving until I’m certain they won’t get infected.”

  He stood, some of that pride she had seen in her vision returned, but then followed the wall farther from her, giving her a moonlit glimpse of the sandstone and dirt mixed in the blood on his back. “Please, step out of my way.”

  She slung the backpack over her shoulder and concreted her position between the angel and the exit. “You don’t understand. If you don’t wash your back, your wounds will get infected, and you’ll die.”

  “It doesn’t matter. I’m dying anyway.”

  “We all are slowly dying. Isn’t that what living is? Come on. Now’s not the time for a philosophy lesson.”

  “What if you could live forever, but that was taken from you?” The man hung his head. “Never mind. None of it matters.”

  “All that matters is that if you don’t wash up, you’ll die early. You’ll miss your future.”

  “My future?” He laughed. “I don’t have a future.”

  Jocelyn stepped forward, holding out an empty hand. “Let me show you.”

  He cocked his chin.

  She sighed. It was easier just to come clean. There was no reason to hide anything—it was the lesson she learned eight years ago. “I have premonitions. I see the present and the future. If you let me touch your skin, I can show you what I’ve seen.” She stepped forward, but he scooted away. “Come on. What harm am I?” She motioned to her lean body compared to his muscled one.

  His eyes glided from her head to her toes, but when she stepped forward, he took a step away, bumping into the back corner of the cavern. Jocelyn moved forward. When she was only a step from him, she bent her knees and set the water bottle down. She draped the rag over the top, keeping it clean, and slid her backpack on the ground.

  Again, she reached out, watching his eyes follow to her outstretched palm. He hugged the rocks behind him but didn’t move. She gently placed her hand on his bare shoulder. When her skin made contact, his dark blue eyes met hers and a shiver ran down her spine. An unspoken connection hummed between them she hadn’t expected, and from the look on his face, neither did he. Perhaps this would be easier than she thought.

  As hard as it was to leave his gaze, she shut her eyes. She searched for images from the first vision. The vision of him dying in this wilderness. His broken boy curled up in a pile upon the ground. She forced these thoughts into an energy that flowed through her arm, into her hand, and into his body. She channeled the pain he felt in her vision and sent it to him as well. Sweat formed on her forehead and her hand warmed against his skin.

  When she opened her eyes, his strong jawline had softened, his lips parted, and his wide eyes examined her.

  Jocelyn rubbed her hand that had been on his shoulder. “You see why we need to wash your wounds? All that can be avoided.”

  “I won’t try to avoid my fate.”

  “It’s not your fate. It’s one possible future. I can show you another.”

  “I don’t want to see.” He squeezed around her, heading towards the cavern exit. When Jocelyn spun to watch him flee, she saw his foot catch on her water bottle, sending it tumbling across the ground before smacking into a rock. A trail of wet ground marked its path.

  Jocelyn picked up the rag and shook it. Sand sprayed in all directions, causing a shower against the ground. She crossed the cavern and retrieved the empty water bottle.

  Shoot, shoot, shoot!

  The man continued toward the exit, but Jocelyn rushed in front of him, putting both hands on his chest and guiding him back into the cavern. He pushed, but she stood her ground. “Just listen to me. I have to help you, otherwise I’ll feel like a horrible person the rest of my life, and I don’t need more guilt. Let me show you what will happen if you clean up.” She smiled. “Please?”

  His lips twitched like he wanted to smile but didn’t want to get caught doing it. When his shoulders relaxed, she placed her hand against his bare chest. His hand rose and clasped hers, and when she caught in his intense gaze, she lost her breath. His blue eyes told a story she desperately wanted to hear. How long had it been since she’d been so close to a man?

  Now wasn’t the time.

  He lifted her hand and let go, causing her hand to drop to her side. His reply was clear and firm. “No.”

  This time when stepped around her toward the cavern’s exit, his back nearly glowed from the moonlight filtering in from the cavern’s open ceiling. Bright red blood smeared across his back and dripped from his wounds. Sand clung to the wetness and his wounds looked painful enough that she was surprised how straight and strong he stood.

  As she watched him move away from her, down the narrow trail, her thoughts were monopolized by memories of her fiancé. Of how he got in his car and she watched him drive away. Hoping she had done enough, but knowing, deep down, she hadn’t even tried to help.

  Tears threatened her eyes, and she pushed her way out of the cavern, after the fallen angel.

  Chapter 3

  Jocelyn rushed onto the narrow path behind the angel and grabbed his arm. She snapped her eyes closed and focused, sending him visions of a future where he was healthy, happy, and healed. The vision of him at the water fountain watching the children play and of him older, sitting at a kitchen table at home.

  The man shook her hand off, and when she opened her eyes, she thought she saw a smile. “You are a persistent one.”

  She rubbed her hand. “You saw yourself, right? Saw how happy you were? See, you have another future where you don’t die.”

  He laughed and shook his head. “That’s not happiness. What I saw was loneliness. I sat on the bench at the fountain with nobody beside me. In my eyes was longing as I watched the children—wishing I was someone else. Then I sat at my kitchen table, alone again. My house hadn’t changed one bit, despite the gray hair on my temples. That’s not a life I want. Do you know what it’s like to be alone?”

  Jocelyn thought to her empty apartment. She knew all too well. The photos of her family that lived so far away. Of the one she still kept of her fiancé, reminding her happiness is out there. Of her Friday night dates with her remote control.

  He continued. “We’ll I’ve been alone for decades. That’s not the life I wish to live.”

  Jocelyn’s hands closed into fists, but she forced them to relax. “Come on. You’re not even giving life a chance. If you don’t want to do this for yourself, do it for me. Can you imagine how I’ll feel if I just leave you here?”

  “Fear not. I’m not worth saving.” He twisted around, giving her a good view of his back. “Do you know what I did to lose my wings?”

 
She hadn’t thought about it.

  He turned to her, pointing at a shadow underneath his eye. “This black eye is minor. Just a little token of the fight, but do you know what happened to the other man?”

  She shook her head.

  “He almost died. I forgot how strong I was in comparison.” He shook his head. “But my strength is gone now, and I have nothing left to offer.”

  She examined his eye. What would cause this gentle and somewhat timid man to beat someone almost to death?

  He tilted his chin as if reading her thoughts. “It was over a woman.” He turned his back to her again and resumed his way down the narrow path, twisting his body and wiping blood from his back on the rocks. “But that’s not your problem.”

  With a clenched jaw, she returned to the cavern and gathered her backpack, washcloth, and spilled water bottle before heading after him. “No, it’s not my problem, but our current situation is. I’m going to help, whether you like it or not.”

  He twisted around, giving her a focused stare. “Even if I let you, you’re out of water.”

  Was she getting through to him? She thought to the river she walked beside earlier and was glad she had an antiseptic soap along as well. “I’ll get more water. There’s a river down the trail. Here, follow me.” She slipped out of her backpack and walked to him, placing her hands on his waist. She guided him to a larger opening, then pushed herself around his warm body on the narrow trail. Her foot caught his, and she stumbled, but he caught her hips. Jocelyn’s hands slid to the bare skin of his waist as she regained her footing, and her heart quickened. Her cheeks heated, and she looked away, pushing ahead on the trail.

  She led him the way she came, glancing back to ensure he followed.

  The trail elevated alongside the river. Jocelyn hugged the stone wall until she found a few large rocks leading down to the water. She hopped from one large rock to another, finally kneeling to refill her water bottle and wash the cloth with the antiseptic soap. The whole setup wasn’t sterile, but the spring fed river, antiseptic soap, and antibiotic creams were the best she had. When she stood and turned, the angel was gone. She listened but heard only rushing water.