Prophet

Prologue + Chapter 1

Prologue





         “Daddy! Dad!” The little girl’s high pitched voice screeched through the night. It pierced the bottomless silence.


         “Daddy!” She was screaming at the top of her voice, her legs and arms writhing in the jumble of blankets. In the room across the hallway, his eyes flew open and unimaginable terror seeped into his bones and muscles. At first he thought he was having a nightmare- not uncommon to him, but in half a second he had soared out of his bed and ran blindly through the dark across the tight hall, just one thing on his mind. He fumbled in the shadows for the doorknob; not thinking, not breathing. What was wrong? The screams were unbearable. It seemed to take him forever to open the heavy door to her room, when in fact it was only a few seconds. What could be happening? A million answers to that question flashed through his mind. None of which he wanted to think of. In a moment he was by her bedside, concern creasing his brow. But he was able to relax some, seeing as she wasn’t in any danger. She was okay. He took a deep shaky breath as relief washed over him.


         Ever so cautiously, he took his small squirming daughter into his arms as he enveloped her in a tight hug.


         “Wake up honey. You‘re dreaming. Wake up.” He walked around the room carrying the toddler, who was gasping in air, the thrashing now subsided.


         “Come on baby. I’m here. Daddy’s here now.”


         Her bright green eyes wide with fear, looked straight at him, and the girl immediately seemed to relax, but her grip around him tightened.


         Her breathing slowing, she cuddled her curly auburn head into his shoulder, and in a matter of minutes, fell fast asleep. She looked as peaceful and serene as a little angel, but the worry could still be seen in her father’s wrinkled face and the way in which he bit his lip whenever he was nervous or anxious.





*      *    *





         “She had a nightmare last night. She was screaming for me. It must have been terrible for her.” He sympathized. He was sitting at the table, drinking a cup of tea with his wife, their Saturday morning tradition.


         “She’ll be alright. Children do have dreams and nightmares.” His wife’s smile to him, was like the sun rising and lighting up the world for yet another day.


         “I know. But I can’t help thinking about it. What if?” His voice trailed off as he became lost within his thoughts.


         “She’s not you. I understand why you’re feeling that way but we can’t let it get to our heads.” Her voice twinkled like the stars illuminating a gloomy night.


         The woman then reached a hand across the table and reassuringly rested it on her husband’s. “If it would make things easier, I could try to ask Joe for a day shift so I could be with her during the nights.”


         “No.” He lovingly looked up at her, “Who would be with her in the days then? It’s best the way it is now. I can handle it. I’m sorry, I just got a tad paranoid. Unreasonable even. It’ll all be okay.”


         The couple smiled at each other and simultaneously got up from the table to check on the one thing that mattered to them most. The one they would both give up their lives for. Their sweet and adorable daughter.





Chapter 1





         The rain pitter-pattered onto the dark pavement, splashing into the puddles that were already there. Thunder exploded into the empty darkness and streaked across the starless night sky above the winding road that was surrounded by dark trees, their leaves swaying menacingly in the wind. The rain continuously pounded the vacant street while an owl’s high pitched hooting echoed in the distance. A lone baby deer stood calmly in the middle of the street, it’s ears alert, searching the darkness for any sign of its mother.


         Then, the soft hum of an engine, barely audible at first, gradually grew louder, and the deer swiftly spun his head around towards the noise. The man in the car was coming home from his late job and was tired; he wanted to get home as soon as he could, into his warm bed. He was thinking of his sons, he would play baseball with them tomorrow. But first he had to rest. He leaned over to take a sip of his steaming coffee, he needed to stay awake. He had taken the forlorn road that snaked through the forest. He wanted to escape the traffic and just get home already. It was so dark, the only lights were coming from his car’s headlights, and the little wooden cabin with a red roof hidden partially behind the trees.


         He squinted into the pouring rain; the wipers on his car couldn’t keep up with the heavy downpour hammering the windshield, even though they were wiping at full speed. All of a sudden, the man noticed a dark shadow blocking the street. The car was hurtling right towards it at an alarming speed. His eyes grew wide and blank with horror. He knew that a crash was inevitable! He spun the wheel, hand over hand. A desperate attempt! Just as he veered the car dramatically to the left, the figure leapt into the bush and disappeared into the night. He heaved a sight of relief, but it only lasted for a fraction of a moment, as the car slid on the wet road and he lost control of the vehicle. The faces of his sons flashed through his mind. The car spun in circles, and the tires squealed from the friction with the road.


         “No!” a solitary frantic moan escaped his lips. “Bam!“ The durable metal of the vehicle made contact with a burly tree creating a sound as loud as an explosion. Pain shot up his leg. He felt pieces of shattered glass prickling his skin. The car rebounded off of the tree, and skidded off into the brush below. It was swallowed up by the ominous woods, almost as if it had never been there a few moments before.


         The crash reverberated into the stillness of the night.





*    *    *





         Her eyes flew open as she sat up ramrod straight in her bed. Her breath came in short gasps, and her pale white fingers clutched the blanket close to her body. Ava’s eyes frantically searched her room. It all looked normal. Her heartbeat was progressively slowing down. It was just a dream. No. A nightmare. But that’s all it was.


         A shaky sigh rattled her body, as she wiped her sweaty palms on her pyjama bottoms.


         The nightmare slowly faded away and became a dim memory; not nearly as frightening as it has seemed a few moments ago. However, the drumming of the rain on her windowpane remained consistent. She threw off the covers and got out of bed to get a drink of water.


         Her little brother and sister were still in their beds, oblivious to her waking. Tyler was tangled up in a mess of blankets, but Tammy was peaceful, her thumb in her mouth. Although Ava knew how different they were in their personalities, she couldn’t deny that they looked near identical on the outside.


         Assuring herself that everything was alright, Ava relaxed her tensed muscles and with a last sweep of the room, lowered herself into her bed. A few quick moments later, she was sound asleep once more. This time, no dreams haunted her.





*    *    *





         “Hey Ava! Over here!” Olivia shouted over the commotion in the jam-packed city bus. Ava clutched one delicate hand in each of her own and pulled her siblings over to her friend. Every day, Ava took her siblings to the before school daycare program at their school and then walked the rest of the way to the nearby high school with her best friend Olivia.


         “Hey Ty. Hi Tammy!” Olivia greeted the kids.


         “Hi Olivia. Do you want to see what I can do? I can tell what Tammy’s thinking!” Tyler blurted as soon as he was seated next to Tammy, on the seat across from Olivia and Ava.


         “Really?” Olivia questioned, but turned towards Ava instead with an understanding look on her face.


         Ava grinned, “They watched something last night about telepathy and mind reading between twins. Completely stupid. Nobody would believe it other than Ty.”


         “Not Tammy?” Olivia joked, knowing the answer already.


         “Stop it Ty. It isn’t real.” Tammy insisted, her innocent brown eyes looking up for a fraction of a second from the picture book on her lap.


         “It is so! It’s very real. You don’t know anything Tammy. Watch Ava! Look!” He crossed his legs up on the bus seat and closed his eyes. His chin pointed upwards, he began to mumble something.


         “So did you finish the History homework from last night? I couldn’t find anything for question six. You know, the one about prohibition. Did you?” Olivia asked Ava.


         “No, I didn’t really have time to work on it. My mom wasn’t home for most of the evening, so I had to watch Tammy and Ty. I got some work done when she came home, but it was so late already and I was tired.”


         “You’re not watching!” Ty whined, interrupting them. When he was sure that their attention was on him once again, he squeezed his eyes shut and made a funny face. Tammy rolled her eyes, pursed her lips, and went back to studiously deciphering the print on the pages.


         “She was thinking of reading.“ His eyes flew open as he interrogated his twin.


         “No. It doesn’t work Ty. Nobody in the whole world can know what somebody else is thinking unless they tell them. And you know that I was thinking of reading, because I am reading!” Tammy squeaked without even looking up from her book.


         


*    *    *





         Ty argued with Tammy about mind reading until the city bus screeched to a stop in front of their school. That is, if arguing can be one sided. Tammy didn’t really care. She had an opinion and nobody could change that. She was absorbed in different things. How the world and how people worked. That’s what interested her. Sometimes Ava felt that Tammy was even more mature than her, and she was sixteen! Ava rushed out of the bus, running to keep up with Ty, but tugging Tammy along behind her.


         “Come on Tammy, please hurry! Olivia and I still have to walk to our school after this! We‘ll be late!” Ava coaxed her younger sister.


         “Ty! Wait up! Don’t you dare take another step! Just wait for us a minute!” Ava screamed, to no avail, at her brother. She hated this. She wasn’t their parent, although most of the time she felt like it. Anger clawed at her insides, but she stifled the fury, like she did every morning.


         She deposited the twins in the before-school program and made a beeline across the yard towards the waiting Olivia, who was standing on the sidewalk listening to her ipod.


         Ava broke into a run, and panting, reached her friend. Together, they began speed walking to school. Walking this way every day, the girls had gotten to know some people whom they happily greeted with a ‘good morning’. Ava loved this part of the morning. Walking with Olivia was fun every day, and she even enjoyed saying hi to the gracious strangers. It amazed her how some people could be nice to anyone. Ava especially looked forward to seeing the elderly man who, every day, precisely at eight, sat on his porch and read the newspaper with his friendly dog- a golden retriever called Po, at his feet. He was there now, and waved a hello to the girls before returning to his paper. Ava loved how relaxed a life he seemed to lead, and she vowed to herself that she would be like that when she grew up and got older. She, unlike Olivia who wanted fame and fortune, dreamt of a quiet and serene life with a nice small family.


         “Ava, are we partners for the chemistry project? I hope you know what you’re doing because I don’t even know how to turn on the Bunsen burner.” Olivia pulled her out of her thoughts.


         Ava smiled at her friend, “Don’t worry, we’ll figure s-” She stared at it with her eyes wide. Why did it seem so familiar? Where had she seen it before? Ava’s jaw suddenly dropped as she realized what she had been staring at and why it had so strongly ignited a memory.


         “Ava! What’s the matter? Are you okay?” Olivia panicked as she followed her friend’s blank gaze to the old man’s newspaper. She saw nothing of interest. Nothing that would stun her friend into silence like that. It was just a newspaper. Nothing interesting even.


         “Ava, what’s wrong? Come on, tell me! You’re freaking me out!” Olivia whispered crossly.


         Ava licked her lips in concentration. Wow. What a coincidence. But was it a coincidence? Well what else could it really be? Olivia’s grumbling soon pulled Ava away from her thoughts.


         “I’m sorry Olivia. I’m back. I just zoned out for a while.” She faked a grin at her friend, trying to ignore the chill that crept up her spine when she thought of the picture. She couldn’t let Olivia know. Olivia wouldn’t understand. She would either laugh or think Ava was going crazy.


         “Are you sure you’re okay? You look as pale as if you’d seen a ghost. Or even as pale as if you were a ghost.”


         “I’m good Olivia. So when’s your sister’s wedding again?” She tried changing the topic to something she knew would distract Olivia.


         “In a month! But are you one hundred percent sure you’re okay? You don’t look it.“


         “Olivia. I already told you I’m fine. So you must be thrilled. I wish I had an older sister.”


         “I am! I’m so excited. How do you think I should do my hair? I was thinking of putting it up and curling it, but I don’t want to look like the bride. My sister would kill me if I looked fancier than her on her wedding day!” Olivia chattered on, knowing that something wasn’t quite right with her friend, but also knowing better than to ask. If Ava wanted to share, she would tell her sooner or later. Their school came in sight as they turned the corner onto another street.


         Ava mumbled an inaudible answer, but her mind was elsewhere. There was a loud pounding in her ears, and she felt surreal. Goosebumps speckled her skin, and she knew that she would be a wreck by the end of the day if she didn’t find out for sure.


         “Olivia, I’m just going to run to Dell’s real quick. I need a new notebook for English and Mrs. Gull would be real mad at me if I forgot it again!” Ava amazed even herself at how quickly the lies came to her.


         “But Ava, Dell’s is like two blocks away! We’ll be late!” Dell’s was a small convenience store just around the corner. It had lots of things for students, because it was so close to the high school and the students always shopped there for anything they might need for school.


         “No, you go on to school. I’ll run, I can make it!”


         “Ava, at least let me come with you then. I wouldn’t mind missing some of Math anyways!” Olivia joked, but Ava didn’t laugh. She needed to go alone. She had to think of something to get Olivia off of her case.


         Olivia  noticed that Ava wasn’t too keen on the idea, and immediately backed off.


         “You know what Ava, I’ll just meet you at lunch then. Don’t be too late; you don’t want them calling home!”


         Ava smiled. She was so grateful to have a friend like Olivia. She didn’t know what she would do without her. For a second she speculated about telling Olivia, but decided against if for now. She didn’t want to make a big deal as it was probably just her imagination acting up.


         Throwing a glance over her shoulder to make sure that Olivia wasn’t looking, Ava darted around the corner and backtracked to the house where the elderly man was still relaxing on his porch. She discreetly walked up to him, and hoarsely whispered, “Sir, can I please have that front page?”





*    *    *


         As soon as Ava was sure everybody was absorbed in their work, she hurriedly unzipped her backpack and pulled out the crumpled newspaper page.  She had to endure talk of verbs and nouns for the previous ten minutes when all she wanted to do was rip open her bag and read the tiny print underneath that picture. She didn’t have first period with Olivia, and for the first time, she was glad that she didn’t.


         She usually loved listening to Mrs. Gull talk about English; it was after all her favourite subject, but the curiosity burned inside of her like a flame. Each second, each tick of the clock, added more fuel to that fire, making it burn even more. No matter how much she tried, she couldn’t put it out. She thought she could ignore it, but she was way too curious. What if it wasn’t a coincidence? But then what was it? The questions bounced around in her head as she p and smoothed out the article.


         A front pager. Well, in their small and dreary city, there wasn’t much that happened. Some days even the forecast for a thunderstorm made it to the front page. Journalists probably pounced on the story, it wasn’t often they got to write about something that unusual. Okay, so it being on the front page didn’t mean anything. It didn’t have to mean that it was important.


          She studied the picture. There was no mistake about it. The dark trees. The snaking road. And in the corner of the picture a little bit of red peeking out from between the branches. That was what had caught her eye in the first place. When she looked at it more closely she could see that it was a house, with a vivid red roof. It was unmistakeably the scene from her nightmare. The only difference was the bright neon yellow police tape that was stretched across the road. But perhaps one had nothing to do with the other. Maybe the story to it was completely different. She read the first line carefully.


         “Police rushed to the usually peaceful Forest Rd. when they received a distressed phone call from a neighbouring log cabin that was close to the scene. The call reported a deafening noise, quoted as being as “loud as an explosion“. The police then went to investigate, finding a car hidden well within the bushes. A middle aged man by the name of Gavin Jacobs was found semi conscious still inside the crushed vehicle. He wasn‘t in good enough condition to be interrogated, so the police have no further clues or information as to the misfortune that occurred. They are doubting another car was involved, but have not completely disregarded the prospect. ” Ava tried calming herself down. It could have been anything, not the deer.


         As much as she had wanted to read the newspaper, she was now finding it difficult to go on. At least a chance still existed before she read the words. Because what you didn’t know didn’t hurt you. Or did it?


         “The thirty five year old is in critical condition, but is expected to survive. He is being treated for a concussion and several bruises and scrapes to his face and body at Memorial Hospital.” Ava relaxed. He was alive. She couldn’t understand the great relief she felt, as she was still trying to persuade herself that she had nothing to do with any of it. She didn’t even know the man. Probably never even laid eyes on him before. She read on.


         “This incident adds to the already vast evidence that the winding road is not a safe street and provides danger to the city and its citizens. The mayor has not yet offered a solution, although based on previous…” Nothing else about the man. Ava skimmed the article for more information, but the rest of the article didn’t talk about the man. Just more about the city and the controversy involving the winding road. But he was alright. And it was just a twist of fate. Nothing proved that this was the same incident that Ava saw in her dream.


         “Bizarre things happen all the time. This was just another one of them.” Ava convinced herself. She had more important things to worry about. More realistic things. Life wasn’t just a dream; she had responsibilities.


         “Ava, what do you have there?” Mrs. Gull had come around to her desk, causing Ava to jump at the sound of the curious voice behind her. Ava thought quickly. She was nervous with those chocolate brown eyes staring into her. Not at her. But really into her. That’s why a look from Mrs. Gull felt like she was looking into your head and probing around inside, seeing all of your secrets and feelings.


         “Just a… newspaper.”


         “Ah. I see. To have a curious and inquisitive soul is what completes the genius.” Mrs. Gull was always coming up with these weird statements that resembled fortune cookies. Ava unintentionally gave her a blank look. Usually, she loved deciphering the sentences word for word and mulling over what it all meant, but now was not the right time.


         “The more you read, the more you know. It’s as simple as that. Good to see you so informed about what goes on around you. Many people live in their own world and don’t notice others. Some are forced to notice the others around them. Keep up the good work Ava. If you don’t notice people and events going on around you, you just might be made to do so against your will.” With that she left and went on to the next desk, leaving Ava more puzzled than ever.


         She shook it off. I really don’t need this right now. Mrs. Gull was a great teacher, but sometimes she gave you so much work without even noticing it herself. Just as she had now given Ava something that would bug her consistently until she figured it out.





*    *    *


         “Ava! Over here!” Olivia was frantically waving her hands at her friend from across the cafeteria. Her lunch bag clutched in her hand, Ava made her way towards the table where Olivia was sitting. She felt strange. Like she was being watched. She took cautious steps, but still couldn’t shake the feeling.


         She came to an abrupt stop and swivelled around, not sure what she was expecting, but knowing that she was expecting something out of the ordinary. But there was nothing even slightly unusual. Her eyes darted around the noisy cafeteria. She could see kids walking, sitting, eating, talking with their friends, leaning against the walls, waiting in line for food. But nothing abnormal. Now I’m just getting paranoid. Ava fumed to herself. She wasn’t a little kid anymore. She shouldn’t let herself get scared by some dumb nightmare.


         On her way over to Ava’s table, she noticed the groups of kids. She noticed their expressions. Some of them were so obviously trying to act cool and fit in, while others had given up all together and didn’t care what people thought of them. Some were happy, others were sad. She saw a quiet girl, Chelsea, sitting by herself deeply absorbed in a thick novel. She saw Cameron, a boy from Science, spinning a basketball on his finger while chewing on a sandwich and yelling across the huge room at the top of his voice. She saw the new kid, Jesse, already accepted by and eating with the kids at the top of the food chain. That was Ava and Olivia’s personal joke. They had many laughs categorizing and classifying their classmates and other students as animals and where they would fit in if high school was actually like a food web.


         Slowly, Ava made her way over to Olivia’s table.


         “’Sup Ava.” Zack exclaimed with a mouth full of something chewed up.


         “Hey Zack. Hey guys.” Ava greeted her friends.


         “Did your class already do the test for math? Was it hard? What’s on it? Please tell me! I mean, obviously don’t tell me everything, just what kinds of questions were on it. I studied all of yesterday but I’m not sure if I’m ready! I’m freaking out!” Kelly bombarded her with questions before she was even able to sit down properly.


         Ava giggled, “Relax Kelly. I know you’ll do good. You always get hundreds in everything.


         “No, I don’t! I got an 86% on our last math quiz. Don‘t even try to tell me that‘s good. It brought my mark down so much!“ Kelly absentmindedly brushed a streak of honey coloured hair, escaped from her pony tail, out of her eyes.


         Zack put his hand up as a shield between him and Kelly and rolled his eyes at the rest of the group. Ava and Olivia both chuckled, but Kelly was too distracted, her nose already in the fat math textbook.


         “Ava, you still up for next weekend?” Zack asked.


         Ava didn’t register what he had just said. “What about this weekend?”


         “Don’t tell me you forgot and it‘s not this weekend. This weekend I‘m going to the dentist. I‘m sure you‘re not up for that.” Zack groaned and pulled his blue baseball hat over his eyes.


         “The movies, silly.” Olivia reminded her.


         “Oh! The movies. Um. I forgot to ask, but I think I can.”


         “Good. You better. Even Kelly promised to leave her studying to come with us, and that doesn’t happen quite that often.” He joked, glancing at Kelly to see her reaction. But Kelly was still oblivious to everything around her other than the textbook.