Love Lines

36: Prophecy Down

"I agree with wonder boy. Last thing I want is to break someone's nose."

"And what about Chris?" I whispered back. "He doesn't seem to be working within the same parameters that we are." I winced and rubbed my forehead. "Whatever vision is trying to come through is killing me."

"Can you..." Cecil gestured at Andrzej. "Smell him or something?"

"Why, yes, Cyrus. I still have my enhanced senses, thank you for asking." He rolled his eyes at Cecil and peered out amongst the crowd again. "Between the sound of the person vomiting in the third floor bathroom, the smell of sex in a bedroom on the second, and the loud music they have playing through those speakers...I'm having a hard time focusing on anything."

The headache spiked to feeling like someone was stabbing my brain with a hot poker.

"Cecil..."

"Take her outside," Andrzej said. "If you go..."

"I know," Cecil snapped. "Try to focus and find the bastard."

"Oh I'm focusing. You're getting the lust bug and so are multiple couples on the dance floor. That one in particular." He pointed at a pair deep in the throng in front of us. "Only problem is the guy over there caught the brawl bug and he's about to deck the guy on the dance floor because the girl he's dancing with is his girl."

"Focus on Chris, Andrzej. Not the freaking inclinations of lust or hate..."

And that was the end of it. The music was drowned out by the beating of my own heart. The weight of the vision had me sinking down so I was crouched on the floor with my head in my hands. My skull felt like it was literally split in half as images and scenes started flashing before my eyes. The vision went through every scenario possible of how this night would end and depending on the outcome of this evening, how the world would end. I saw the threads that were formed in order to make it happen, I found out who she was and who Chris thought I was in result of it. Some of it was still shrouded in mystery and darkness and I knew that was because Persephone had found a way to hide it all. She'd even replaced some images from my earlier visions so I wouldn't suspect that she was at fault. Too bad she didn't think to alter my instincts. I knew she was poison, something deep inside told me that.

Every line, every avenue, every choice that led up to this moment and the one coming—I saw it.

All of it. And I felt like screaming. I was screaming.

None of it was pretty.

It wasn't touching.

It wasn't love story worthy.

It was bleak and ugly and dark.

But it all connected and ended with a pretty pink bow.

A bow that was for me.

Like the bow my mother wrapped around the old oak tree in front of our house when I was born so everyone would know they'd had a baby girl...

And then it ended and I was standing, facing the wall I'd been leaning against with Cecil and Andrzej. My hand was pressed against the tan paint and a little dribble of blood rolled down my lip. My jaw was aching something fierce from how hard I'd been clenching it closed.

I blinked a couple of times and pulled my hand away from the wall. The whole house was quiet, someone had turned down the music and now they were staring at the wall as parts of my life lines roamed across the surface to form words.

When it was over, my prophecy laid bare on the wall, I felt angry. And there just wasn't one thing to be angry about. It was a bunch of things. The prophecy didn't mean anything; the words were hollow like bird's bones. None of this had anything to do with me—but at the same time, everything.