In which a boy who can see the future calls a girl to let her know that she's going to die. Soon.
_
"You're going to die."
"Excuse me?"
"Oh, you didn't hear me? Maybe the phone connection is a little dodgy. Don't worry, I'll repeat myself. You, my d...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Luke felt his body convulsing, lungs burning as his chest crushed in on itself, pushing his entire diaphragm inwards as coughs erupted from his mouth. The amount of intense pain he felt was indescribable, his own body spiralling out of his control as he could do nothing but watch an oozing, dark liquid eject from his mouth and onto the glass in front of him. He could hardly think of anything but his own torment, the world blurring around him as his head began to spin. He was shaking now, pins and needles stabbing him in every direction as his tremors began to grow stronger. It felt as if someone had set his body aflame, every patch of skin rotting and decaying underneath the sweltering heat of the flame. He was pretty sure that he was sweating, every pore of his skin exploding with the need to get rid of the awful torture he was experiencing.
It wasn't as if the pain was new to him, though. He received it every once in a while, when the virus in his body had grown too much for his immune system to take. When he was running low on blood and he was one step closer to his final breath. But that didn't necessarily make it any easier. No matter how many times he experienced it or tried to prepare for it, he could never quite get over just how painful it was. He could never quite remember the intense burning. Or the way his head pounded and spun as everything washed over him in one big, gaping wave. Swallowing him whole. His mind still fighting over which part of itself had control. Pushing him back in time to the things he dreaded to have to see and experience ever again. A sort of defence system, his body's way of yelling at him to get back into shape, to fight whatever the hell was happening to him. To get back the reins in his own mind.
Vaguely, Luke could feel himself falling backwards, could hear a familiar voice say his name through the glass. A faint vision of familiar blue eyes. But it didn't register. And his body was beginning to become numb after all the pain it was experiencing, handing the choice of torture over to his head. The worst kind of torture that was worse than any kind of bodily pain he could ever feel.
His eyes closed.
And he was taken back to eleven years before the present he was currently living, a young schoolboy in a neat uniform attending his first day in Year Six. His last year of junior school before he went off with the big kids. It was before his time at the academy, a time when he hadn't quite come to terms with what it meant to be the only one in the family who couldn't see the future.
Luke had known Bronwyn was the one for him as soon as he had laid eyes on her. And it may have seemed cheesy and unrealistic, especially for a ten-year-old, but he was certain that he had never seen anything more beautiful in his entire life. He honestly doubted that he would ever see anything quite so breathtaking ever again. And, although at the age of ten, his thoughts weren't quite so elegant as this, when he looked back on that moment, he could never quite find words to describe just how infinitely perfect she was.
Bronwyn Reed had long, dark, raven coloured hair that was a very similar colour to her younger brother's. And she had the most captivating green eyes that Luke had ever seen, the colour so obscure and entrancing that he felt himself falling into them even as a little kid. And her smile was stunning, her laughter quite possibly the most wonderful thing he had ever heard. Especially when he was the one to cause it.
He had first met her through the help of his younger brother, Liam. Liam had just been starting Year Three at the time, entering his first day of junior school with chubby cheeks and no confidence or friends whatsoever. Luke had held his hand all the way to the front gate, pulling the small boy in for a comforting hug before they were forced to go their separate ways. Those two brothers had been as close as anything back then, finding comfort in the other's smile and running to talk to them about just about anything.
Liam received particularly strong visions of the future, and they hit him pretty hard when they came. Sometimes even knocking him out for a few minutes because of their pure might. Luke had never really known how to help him with that, having never experienced the same thing himself. But being the only one in his family unable to see the future had never really bothered him. Not yet, at least. He only became increasingly concerned for his brother as he watched him hit by another wave of pain. He would hold him in those moments, being three years his senior allowing him to fully envelop the small boy in his arms. But he had never been able to do more than that. And it was times like those that he wished to see the future. If only to understand the pain both Liam and his parents went through.
It just so happened that Liam had had one of his particularly strong visions whilst wondering the school corridors looking for Luke. It had been lunchtime and he was surrounded by people, ordinary people who didn't understand why a small, seven-year-old boy collapsed to the floor in the middle of a hallway. Clutching his head. But Bronwyn had understood the moment she saw the event occur, being experienced by both seeing her family go through the same thing and having visions herself.
She had been ten at the time, the same age as Luke and struggling to survive her first day at school. Her parents were incredibly overprotective and had only recently decided to stop homeschooling her along with her younger brother, Nate. Who just so happened to be in Liam's class.
Bronwyn had coaxed Liam through his vision, whispering encouragements in his ear as she rocked him back and forth on the floor, ignoring all of the awkward stares they received by all of the other kids passing on their way to lunch. She had then led him through the cafeteria to where Luke was sitting. At the time, Luke had been so worried for his trembling little sibling that he completely ignored the presence of another person standing in front of him. He felt horrible for leaving the poor boy alone, a knife stabbing at his chest telling him that he should have been there to protect his younger brother.
His other friends at the table had laughed as Liam curled himself into Luke's chest, still shaking. They didn't understand what could have possibly traumatised such a young boy. But Bronwyn had. And she just stood there, smiling, arms crossed over her chest as she leaned against the table with a face that was wise beyond her years. Appreciating the bond between two siblings that was so similar to the relationship she had with her own brother. Children in seeing families tended to be closer than others, especially since talking about visions to anyone outside family who wasn't a seer was strictly forbidden.
But then Luke had seen her.
Seen her smile. And he couldn't help but smile back. Even as a ten-year-old, he had appreciated the girl who had brought his little brother back to him. The world was a scary place full of scary people, especially when you weren't exactly human and couldn't speak about certain topics due to government laws. It felt good to know that Liam had at least one other person to rely on other than his older brother. It gave Luke a little bit of hope that perhaps his little brother would no longer have to be so alone in his pain. Because the expression on Bronwyn's face told him that she understood. That she could help his little brother heal from whatever pain he was in.
And, at the time, that had been his favourite type of person.
Images continued to flash through his head, groaning as a tidal wave of her beautiful, beautiful face seemed to hit him all at once. How he had gotten closer to her in class. How he had walked her home when she admitted to being scared of being alone in dark alleyways. How he had helped her with English in exchange for tutoring in Maths. How she had seemed to grow more beautiful day by day. How she had asked her little brother to befriend Liam just so that he wouldn't be so alone. How her endless kindness extended to everyone she met. How her green eyes sparkled in the sunshine. How she always asked if she looked okay when she could never have possibly looked more perfect than she already did.
Green swallowed up his whole brain, all the memories he saw merging into one big, painful, beautiful bundle of green until it was the only thing he could see. Blinding him. The images racing until she lay dead at his feet, breathless and bloody. Unconscious. Dead. No longer breathing. No longer smiling. Just dead.
