The Premonition

Chapter 2

After practice, a few of my friends and I walked to the shower rooms together. We each washed up and redressed in our regular clothes, laughing and talking the whole time. One guy, Trev, asked me how things were going with Ava, congratulating me on winning such a fine catch. I think that a lot of guys have confessed to her over the years, so I'm honestly lucky that she accepted me.

One by one, my friends left for home. Before I knew it, only me and Trev were left. We're closer than a lot of the others on the team. He's our quarterback, and I'm one of our wide-receivers, so we already have a lot of contact with one another. Also, we've been playing football together since middle school, so we've been buddies for eons.

"See you tomorrow," he said as I gathered up my bag.

"Yup," I agreed. "We're playing Southfield tomorrow, so we'd better win."

He grinned and nodded. "Definitely." He began to walk out of the locker room, but suddenly stopped right as he reached the doorframe.

"Hey, Ethan?" he called across the room.

"Yeah?" I was intimidated by the weird look in his eyes.

He seemed to think for a moment, but finally shrugged. "Just – take care of yourself," he mumbled. "Don't play too hard."

With that, he ran off. Confused, I wondered what that was all about. At that moment, my phone buzzed.

Wanna meet up? It was a text message from Felix.

I sighed. Sure, when?

After a second, he responded. I'm heading to your house right now.

Even though I hurried home, Felix was already sitting on the doorstep when I arrived.

"Hey, man," I greeted him. "How was the skateboarding last night?"

He shrugged. "Not gonna lie, it was kind of boring. I thought that I'd hang with you tonight if you don't mind."

"Whatever you want to do," I sighed. "Stay the night for all I care."

Felix scoffed. "Do you really think my dad would stand for that?"

I grinned. "No, not really."

Neither of us were really in the mood to do anything special, so we just flopped down on the couch and turned the TV on. However, Felix was incapable of sitting still for long, so eventually he grew bored.

"Do you have a needle?" he abruptly asked, fingering something in his jean pocket.

"Um, I think so," I stuttered. "Why do you need one?"

"You'll see," he said vaguely. "Can you just get me one?"

My brows furrowed, I opened my mom's sewing basket and handed him the smallest one I could find.

"No." He shook his head when he saw it. "Bigger."

My confusion growing, I kept on presenting him with needles until he'd accepted one that was nearly two inches long.

"You wouldn't happen to have any rubbing alcohol, would you?" he mused.

"What on earth would you need that for?" I exclaimed.

"Just where is it?"

I shook my head and sighed. "In the bathroom, under the sink."

I had a bad feeling about what he was up to, but I shut my mouth and ignored him. Felix did weird things like this a lot, and usually it didn't end up with an ER visit.