by A. L. Martin
Braedon put his arm around me and smiled. He had no idea how much doing that meant to me. It gave me a little bit of hope about him staying around. I didn’t want to think about anything or anyone for the rest of the time with him.
Chapter 4
I made Emerson get up early, so I could get to school a little earlier than normal. I wanted to see Braedon before classes started, even though I would more than likely see him at lunch. I couldn’t wait that long to see his gorgeous blue eyes. I cut up some fruit in between running upstairs to make sure Emerson was up and getting ready. “I’m getting ready!” she screamed after the fifth time I had gone up to check on her. I went back downstairs to eat the fruit bowl I made, and to my amazement, she was ready to go when I finished it. “Mom, come quick! I don’t want you to miss this miracle! Hurry!” I yelled.
“You know what, Karsyn. You can kiss my ass,” Emerson said, through gritted teeth.
“Are you feeling okay?” Mom asked, checking Emerson for a fever. “And watch your mouth. What have I told you about cussing?”
“You let Karsyn cuss.”
“One, Karsyn is 18 years old, and two, she doesn’t cuss all the time like you would if I let you.”
I started pushing Emerson toward the hallway before she ended up grounded for a couple of weeks. I couldn’t even count on my fingers how many times I had kept her from getting grounded. And just like all the other times, she would thank me for keeping her out of trouble when we were away from Mom. I learned fast not to argue with Mom, but Emerson had a hard time with that lesson in life.
We arrived at school fifteen minutes before the first bell, and I went directly to Sophie’s locker where I knew I would find her with Tyler. Alexina was there with them when I walked up. Alexina was looking up and down the hall for Caden, while Sophie and Tyler snuck kisses when the teachers weren’t paying attention. I didn’t want to bother them and ended up copying Alexina. We stood there looking up and down the hall in sync to the point we looked at each other and burst into laughter. I walked to art class in hopes I would by some chance see Braedon for a few seconds. I was able to keep my mind busy for the 90 minutes with the project I had been working on for about a week now. After class was over, I met up with Alexina in History and didn’t hesitate asking her if by any chance she saw Braedon on her way here. Unfortunately, she hadn’t seen him today either.
****
“What took you both so long?” Sophie said, from our usual table. “I had to fight off a few clueless freshmen that tried to sit here.”
“Sorry, Sophie. Alexina was trying to help me find Braedon, but we had zero luck.” I slid my book bag off my shoulder into the chair beside me.
“He is with Tyler and their friends over there,” she pointed to the other side of the
lunchroom.
I sat there trying to decide if I wanted to walk over there and find out what the hell was going on with him avoiding me, or just act like I didn’t care. I walked up to the cashier to get a bottle of water and strolled past the salad bar to see if anything looked good today.
I glanced over my shoulder in his direction to see if he was going to come up, but he didn’t move away from his friends. I took my time getting back to the table, hoping he would see me. “I don’t get it,” I said, sliding into my chair. “He wanted to spend time with me yesterday and today, nothing. I am not going to be one of those girls that come running when it’s convenient for him. Did he say anything to Tyler, Sophie?”
“I don’t know what is going on with him, Karsyn. I know he does like you.” She moved my book bag out of the way to sit beside me. “Why don’t you come over after school?” She wrapped her right arm around me.
“I should probably stay home tonight and try to finish my homework. I didn’t get my History homework done, so Mr. Jenkins is giving me an extra day.”
“Yeah, you better get it done. He doesn’t give out many extra days for homework,” Alexina said, opening her water bottle.
I knew they were both right, but I didn’t expect him to drop me already. I had a moment of panic, thinking maybe he found out about me. Then I realized that couldn’t be possible, or everyone would be flocking around me asking questions.
I went to get up, and it felt like I was stumbling around the chair in an attempt to pick up my book bag off the floor. I tried to raise up slowly, but my knees buckled under me. Alexina and Sophie’s voices faded away with my consciousness. When I opened my eyes, I was back in the wildflower meadow by the contorted tree. I had to find some clues because I knew I would be waking up faster than at Tyler’s party. I took off walking towards the contorted tree, tall grass brushing against my legs. I was hoping to find something this time. The closer I got to the tree the better I could see something laying up against the bottom of the trunk. It was black, but what exactly it was I couldn’t tell from where I was standing.
I stood there looking around, trying to get the courage up to move closer. It was a black, high calf boot with a buckle and strap accents. I didn’t want to touch it and disturb the vision.
“Karsyn, Karsyn,” an unfamiliar voice kept repeating my name.
I opened my eyes. Everything was a little blurry. I could make out that a man in a blue shirt was beside me. “I’m fine.”
“We are taking you to the hospital to be checked out. Seems you hit your head pretty hard when you passed out. Do you remember what happened? Karsyn, do you know what day it is?” The man asked me.
“Yeah, today is Monday, October 27th,” I said, holding the side of my head.
“Karsyn, the school called your parents and they will arrive at the hospital when you get there,” Sophie said.
They loaded me on the stretcher within a few minutes and then wheeled me up to the back of the ambulance. I knew the hospital would want to run a bunch of tests that weren’t necessary, and wouldn’t show anything either. I was kind of relieved that they did call my parents, so they could be there to tell the doctor that the tests weren’t needed. Then, I realized Dad would know my visions had returned with a vengeance, with no signs of slowing down.
The ambulance arrived at the hospital maybe ten minutes later. The minute they opened the doors, my parents came rushing out of the ER entrance. My mom took my left hand and leaned down close enough that anyone around us wouldn’t be able to hear. “Did you have another vision?” she asked.
I couldn’t bring myself to say yes, so I shook my head ever so slightly yes. She let out a sigh, closing her eyes. She knew she was going to have to tell Dad now; there was no way of hiding it from him.
They walked beside me as I was wheeled into the ER, and taken to a room down at the end of what seemed like a mile-long hall. A couple of nurses came in, helping me out of my clothes and into one of those hideous hospital gowns. One started taking my vitals, while the other one started on IV in my left hand. Once they both left, I looked over at Mom. She was fidgeting with something in her hands. “Mom, would you please go tell them that I don’t need any tests and that I want to go home. Please.”
“Karsyn, I think you should stay and let them look at you,” Dad said, wrapping his arm around Mom.
“Dad, I don’t need any tests to tell me what is wrong with me. I already know what is wrong with me.”
“You don’t know what is wrong. I think the doctor knows more than you do.”
“Stephen, she knows what is wrong. You need to trust her,” Mom said, as she turned to stand in front of Dad. Mom and Dad had a way of communicating with one another by a look or a simple gesture. This time she did both, which told Dad not to press the matter. His grey eyes narrowed, he tilted his head as if Mom just spoke a different language to him. He slowly looked over toward me, then back at her. “Would someone please tell me why the doctors can’t do any tests to make sure everything is okay?”
I blurted out, “My visions are back!” Everything got eerily quiet in the room. Mom dropped her head. Dad was standing there with his mouth open, as he ran a hand through h
is dark blonde hair.
“What did you just say?” Dad asked, moving closer to the bed.
“My visions are back.”
Dad turned to face Mom, but I couldn’t tell if he was mad at her or not because his back was to me. Mom wouldn’t look at him because she knew he was furious with her for not telling him.
“Dad, I told Mom not to tell you, so don’t be mad at her. They started back up a couple of days ago. I have tried to block them for a while now, and I think that is why I am passing out when they start. The school doesn’t know about the visions. I want to keep it that way for as long as possible. I am tired of people being scared of me. I don’t need any tests ran on me. Can we please go home? I want to rest in my own bed.”
“Okay, let me go talk to them about letting you go home.”
A couple of hours later, I was wrapped up under my comforter, looking at texts on my phone from Alexina and Sophie. I was about to reply to Sophie’s when one from Braedon popped up on my screen. I ignored it at first and went back to texting Sophie. She deserved my attention first over him. After a few minutes of playing around on my phone, another text from him popped up. He didn’t want to talk to me while I was at school, but wanted to talk to me now when no one was around him.
What the hell do you want Braedon? You didn’t mind ignoring me at school today.
He texted me back right away, trying to say he didn’t mean to ignore me, and that he was worried about me. I set my phone down on my table. I didn’t feel like listening to any lame excuses from anyone right now, especially Braedon. Maybe I was wrong about him. I curled up under my comforter a little more. I started thinking about the boot I saw in my vision, and who it could possibly belong too. I closed my eyes to go to sleep, and something vivid about the vision popped up. I knew it was the same meadow, but this time there were no white flowers.
I had to figure out exactly when this would happen. I got up to get a journal out of the bottom right drawer of my desk. I wanted to keep a journal of the visions so I wouldn’t forget anything important about them. I wrote down the black boot, and the absence of the flowers this time.
“Karsyn?” Mom eased the door open. “Oh, I thought you were sleeping. Are you doing okay?” She walked over to the bed.
“My head hurts a little bit, but nothing unbearable. Sorry, I told Dad my visions were back. He kept insisting about getting tests done.” I tossed my journal and pen on the bed.
“It’s okay. I shouldn’t have kept it from him. He’s not upset anymore, but more worried about you. He is worried that this will be a repeat of what happened back home. He doesn’t like how people treat you when they find out about your visions. All the questions and fear.”
“Trust me, I don’t like how people treat me either. I wish people would realize that I’m still the same person, but they see me differently.” I flopped back on my bed.
“Unfortunately, people fear what they don’t understand. We will try our best to help you through this, Karsyn.”
“I sat up, wrapping my arms around Mom. “I know. I love you, Mom.”
“I love you too.” She leaned backward, about to get up. “Oh, I almost forgot why I came up here. Braedon is downstairs with your Dad. He came by to make sure you were okay. Why don’t I tell him you will be down in a few minutes, so you can brush your hair and put on some leggings?”
I didn’t know why I should care what I looked like. It’s not like he would talk to me tomorrow at school. He was probably here with some lame-ass excuse for acting the way he did today. I slammed my brush down on my vanity, causing it to bounce off on to the floor. I put on some black leggings, along with fuzzy socks, and went downstairs. I could hear them talking in the living room from the top of the stairs, but I couldn’t make out what they were talking about. I knew Mom wouldn’t let Dad tell Braedon about my visions. Mom decided when I became old enough, that it was my choice whether I wanted to tell certain people or not. It took her a while to convince Dad of the same thing.
I walked into the living room past Braedon and sat down on the couch next to my Mom.
“Hi, Braedon.”
“Hi, Karsyn. I came by because I wanted to see if you were okay, and tell you that I was sorry for being a jerk today at school. I shouldn’t have ignored you, and I’m sorry.”
Mom got up and motioned my Dad to do the same thing. “We are going to give you two some privacy to talk. Besides you dad promised to help with dinner tonight,” she said, steering my dad around and out of the living room.
Braedon got up from the chair and sat down on the couch next to me. “I’m really sorry, Karsyn. I don’t know why I did that today. I don’t know if it was the fear of thinking you didn’t feel the same way about me. It wasn’t right.”
“How do you feel about me?”
“I like you a lot. I find myself wanting to be around you all the time.”
I smiled. “I like you too.” I wanted to kiss him, but right now wasn’t the right time with my parents a few feet away in the kitchen.
I knew Dad was trying to listen as best he could from the doorway of the kitchen, while Mom was busy and not paying attention to what he was doing. We got up off the couch and walked into the kitchen, where Mom was busy behind the island making a salad to go with dinner.
“Mom, can Braedon stay and have dinner with us?” I asked, picking lettuce out of the bowl.
“Yes, he can. Now, stop sticking your fingers in the salad.”
Braedon and I walked over to the couch in the family room and sat down. We surfed the channels for a good movie to watch, while Mom and Dad finished fixing dinner. After about twenty minutes into the movie, Braedon kept looking behind us into the kitchen. “Everything all right?” I asked.
“Oh, yeah. I was trying to see what your mom was fixing for dinner. It smells so good.”
I looked over our shoulders into the kitchen. “Mom is making Chicken Cordon Bleu. It does smell great. Mom loves to cook, but doesn’t have a lot of time usually. When she does have time, she doesn’t hold back. You showed up on the right day.” I smiled.
“Again, Karsyn, I’m so sorry. I promise I won’t do that to you again.”
My heart sank the minute he said that because I knew he wouldn’t be able to keep that promise for long. I turned back around to watch the movie, not saying a word.
“Did I say something wrong?” Braedon leaned forward, so he could see my eyes better.
“No. I still have a slight headache from hitting my head in the lunchroom.”
He stared at me for a few minutes before going back to watching the movie. I knew he didn’t buy my lame excuse, but it was all I could come up with at the moment. I wasn’t ready to tell him yet, for the simple fact he would start avoiding me. I just had to keep the past hidden for a little longer.
After dinner, Braedon helped me with the dishes while Mom and Dad took their turn at the couch, watching a movie. “Thank you for offering to help me.”
“No problem. Dinner was excellent! It’s the least I could do. Besides, it gives me more time with you,” he smiled at me as he grabbed another wet plate out of the drainer to dry.
Every now and then, I caught Mom and Dad looking back at us over their shoulders, then quickly turn back towards the TV. Sometimes I couldn’t help but giggle when I caught them.
Braedon put the towel down on the counter as he stepped closer to me. “I was wondering if you were going to Natalia Brook’s Halloween party Friday night.”
“You mean the costume party, right?”
“Yeah, this Friday night. Are you going with Alexina and Sophie?”
“Yes. Why?”
“Well, instead of going with them, would you like to go to the party with me? If you do, what is your costume, so I can try to match it?”
“I’m going as Belle from Beauty and the Beast.”
“Great! I need to look for a costume tomorrow after school. I will drag Tyler with me. I think he asked Sophie to go with him, and they are taking
Alexina with them. I need to get home and finish some homework. I will talk to you tomorrow at school, I promise,” he smiled.
Chapter 5
The whole way to school I tapped the steering wheel as I thought about Braedon’s promise to not ignore me today. I so wanted to believe him.
“Karsyn, are you okay?” Emerson asked, looking up from her phone.
“Yeah. I am fine.”
“You are far from fine. You have been beating the steering wheel as if it were bongo drums all the way to school.” Emerson tilted her head. My sister knew me better than anyone. I could easily lie to Mom and Dad if something was bothering me, but Emerson wouldn’t buy my bullshit lies. Emerson and I became closer when Rylee died and I didn’t have my best friend to talk to anymore. She knew exactly when I needed someone to talk to. Even if I said I was fine, she would barge into my room, flopping beside me on the bed, and refuse to leave until I started talking.
“I am afraid Braedon will ignore me again today like he did yesterday. I know I shouldn’t care because he’s going to dump me the minute he finds out I have visions of death before it even happens. I can’t see him sticking around after I tell him,” I sighed.
“Karsyn, you don’t know that for sure. He might not go anywhere. If he does, then you are better off without him. I know that sounds cliché, but it’s true. I agree with Dad in telling him soon. The longer you wait to tell him, you will keep finding excuses to put it off. Come on, before we are late.” She opened the Jeep door.
