Cranberry Clairvoyant (Azealia Banks Story)

Forgive and Forget

Milan’s cottony sweatshirt barely fit me. I was surprised it wasn't too small for even her, no matter how petite she was. But that’s just like her to wear the tightest of everything, anyway.

At least it was keeping me cozy while I snuggled into the one of the many white leather chairs in the dinner lounge, gazing out the window at the fierce night sky, reflecting onto the water and making it a purple/turquoise/teal color instead of sea green. I liked that mixture. It brought a different attitude, a different personality, to the environment. 

It reminded me of myself, too: the green hair, the purple sweater. 

That was only the outside, though. On the inside, I felt torn. This was just supposed to be a fun summer thing with my friends and family. My parents rented us a cruise ship for the entire summer, so I could carry all my schoolmates on an ocean cruise until school started back up again in a few months. Isn’t that every girl’s dream—to just have fun?

I was having fun, until earlier today. Ezekiel and Darrius didn’t even know what was in store for them, and I did. I couldn’t help but wonder: if they knew how soon they were going to die, would they be any different? Would Ezekiel still be so vexing? Would Darrius continue to be Ezekiel’s shadow?

Just tell them, my thoughts were screaming. I wished it were that easy to walk up to two eighteen year old boys and say, “Hey, you’re going to die tomorrow.”

“Zee?” Mama called to me from the entrance of the lounge. I glanced at her and continued to look out of the window, caressing delicately the hair falling onto my shoulder. I could actually feel my lips pouting.

Mama sat down next to me, her expensive linen dress lightly crunching against the leather. She didn’t have on her head-wrap, so her thick plaited hair was revealed. She looked very different, very exclusive. It was like a privilege to see her in this form.

“Azealia, what’s wrong with you?” She asked tenderly. Very deliberately, I got up and walked over to the opposite window and began to enjoy the view of a different side of the ocean. It wasn’t my mother’s fault; I was just in no shape to be around people right now.

“I just hate how you never open up. That’s unhealthy, Azealia.” She preached to me. I cupped my face in my hands and closed my eyes, ready for her speech to progress (and it did just that). A feeble message regarding my mother eased into my mind, but I roughly pushed it away. There was no time for that. I could take no more trouble; I could see no more futures for a while. I needed a break.

When I realized my mother had stopped talking, I turned around. She was gone. I sighed; I didn’t mean to hurt her feelings.

My stomach growled of hunger, but I wasn’t in the frame of mind to eat. Should I tell Milan? She’s the only person that knows of my gift. It scares her as much as it scares me.

She found out only recently, as a matter of fact. We were back in one of our mansions in Montana, toward the end of the school year. Milan was moping because she didn’t think that our parents were planning anything for us for the summer. But I knew—I saw the message, the one that showed me that our parents would allow us to take every single student from our private school on a cruise ship for the entire summer. Milan didn’t believe me at first, but when my parents told us a week later, she finally understood.

I don’t tell anyone of my gift because they’ll think I can read their mind and tell them how long their marriages are going to last. That’s not what my gift was about. When I meet a person, if I allow the messages to come, I will receive a snippet of information about them, things that will happen to them in the future. I couldn’t just answer their questions about their futures—it was like the universe determined what it wanted me to know about certain people.

And today, the universe wanted me to know that two boys I grew up with were going to die.

“Zee, they’re serving sea food!” Milan’s shrill voice called to me.

“Okay, I’m coming!” I promised. Milan and I had taken a liking to seafood lately, when we became so fond of mermaids.

I had no plans of going out to the dining room. Here, I was alone, a better vibe to help me figure out how to get out of this situation. I literally hate Darrius and Ezekiel, but that shouldn’t prevent me from saving them, right? No, I wouldn’t let it prevent me. But my feelings toward them were not the problem.

The problem?

My gifts show me fate. The things I see are going to happen, without a doubt. I couldn’t stop the boys’ fate. Or at least I didn’t know how.

“Zeeeeeeeee!” Milan screeched again.

At last, I rushed out of the dinner lounge and down the stairs to the dining area. The entire student body, including my parents in their lavish evening clothing, sat around the table. Their faces were illuminated by the golden light of the chandelier hanging above the table; even the food seemed to shine brighter.

“Sit down,” my mother politely commanded. Apprehensively, I approached the table and took a seat between Milan and our best friend, Destiny. My father bowed his head and began to pray.

“God is good, God is—”

POP!

The ship dove forward. We all leaned and fell into the direction of the ship, tumbling over each other. The meals on the table rained on us as the ship flipped around and around. Maybe it wasn’t flipping as I thought it was, but my stomach sure was doing flips. I had no control over my body as I plummeted into a direction I couldn’t identify. The ship’s captain kept yelling for us not to worry, since we were incredibly close to land. Once he got the ship under control, we would be fine. No one would sink and die. This wasn’t the Titanic.

 He was right. As soon as the ship seemed to balance upright and stop, everyone else stopped sliding and screaming. Everything was quiet.

But my stop was very abrupt. I slid into a table in the dining area headfirst and the wooden case of plastic spoons and forks on top of the table fell right onto my head. My mother gasped.

And then I blacked out.

                                                                                   * * *

“Hello? Azealia? Ms. Banks, I told you she wouldn’t be awake by now. Give her a few more minutes.”

Scorching heat nibbled on every inch of my face as I suddenly came back into consciousness. My eyes, with much effort, fluttered open. The heat was coming from a desk lamp hanging intensely above my face. I was in a familiar room—my room on the cruise ship. I remembered that much, being on a cruise ship with my family and friends. But what the hell else was going on?

“I’m up,” I said, taken aback by the croakiness of my voice. The man that had spoken, who had gravelly hair and wire-rimmed glasses, smiled at me.

“I guess I stand corrected. You woke up sooner than I thought you would, Azealia. How do you feel?” The man asked. I looked around to see a man and a woman, looking very proper, staring at me keenly. Who were they?

Oh, yeah. They’re just my filthy rich parents.

“I feel fine. Who are you?”

“I’m Dr. Humming. I’m one of the doctors that work on this cruise ship. Azealia, last night the ship was heading toward land, toward a beach fair that was taking place tomorrow. You may have wanted to attend. Anyway, the mechanism for one of the rides required a metal piece of machinery to run through the water, which the ship bumped onto. That resulted in the accident. The ship didn’t suffer, only you.” The man explained. Ouch.

I took it lightly though. His words weren’t what I had to worry about. My only concern was trying to remember my entire life.

Speaking of remembering…wasn’t there something I had to do tomorrow? Something that involved the fair? For the life of me, I couldn’t remember.            

So I guess there really wasn’t anything important for me to do.