| shorts | novels | opinions | journal | hosted | vote

PREMONITION

Note: This is the first story I wrote that was half decent and got an ‘A’ for… I am so grateful to my English teacher who helped me find a new avenue of self expression.  

 

“Hey Agnes” yelled a sixteen year old Julie across the elegant expanse of the Queen Victoria Building.  

 

“Hmmm?” answered a half attentive Agnes.

“Huh? Sorry? What’d you say?” turning around to ask her friend, her green eyes mocked with exaggerated curiosity.

“You weren’t even listening!” Julie commented, miffed with her friend.

“Sorry- what were you saying?”

 

“You see that woman with the blue pram over there?” Julie said, jerking her  finger to a young woman with curly blonde hair, clutching the padded bar of a baby blue pram. She looked tired, as though she had been up all night.

 

“That pram is going to roll down that ramp any second now” Julie predicted without hesitation, her finger indicating  the area with the side stores, leading to Town Hall train station.

 

“As if” Agnes scoffed, her eyes rolling up toward the sky; “Anyway, how-“ she was cut off by an ear piercing scream.

 

Agnes turned just in time to see her friend streak through the crowd of Saturday afternoon shoppers toward the steep slope of the train station.

 

Julie ran like she never did before; her legs felt as though they had a life of their own. She didn’t know how she predicted it, but all she knew was that it was a sign- a sign that it was her responsibility to save the baby. Just as the pram was about to approach the wall, she caught the handle bar,  jolting it backward. In that split second though, Julie was temporarily blinded by unnaturally bright light of blue, green, yellow, magenta and violet; but as she tried to focus in on the source, it suddenly vanished.

 

 

The air was unnaturally cold. From up above, the world seemed small and fragile. The plane spun around and around, as though it had no control; the engine suddenly died, and the plane began to dive nose first at fifty  miles an hour toward the soft brown earth beneath them. Some screamed for dear life; others sobbed uncontrollably; the rest just screamed insanity.

 

 

Five Years Later

“No” she screamed.

 

Delicate drops of sweat trickled down her spine, as she sat up on her double bed in her apartment, situated in the Sydney suburb of Mosman. She checked the digital clock beside her bed.

 

3:00am it read.

“Thank god it was only a dream” Julie muttered to herself, swinging her legs out of bed to close the large bay window, just as a plane flew overhead.

Julie walked back toward her bed, and climbed back in. She lay awake and stared at the ceiling, but no matter what she did, there was no stopping her mind from reeling. Finally, she  got out and pulled her blue and white uniform on, grabbed her keys and closed the door to her apartment.

 

 

Julie looked out the café window, just as the sun peaked from behind the harbour. From behind the glass, Julie felt safe, away from anything, which might remotely harm her. The day looked sunny and faultless, promising a new beginning for all, as the sun’s rays poured out to embrace the Sydney Harbour Bridge as well as the Sydney Opera House.

Julie stared into the picturesque sunrise and stirred her coffee absentmindedly, as she wondered how a world so perfect could have so many uncertainties, especially about life. She had been at the café since six am, beforehand walking through Hyde Park to clear her thoughts. Julie drank the rest of the coffee and left the money for the drink, but as she turned, she bumped into a tall young man with dark hair in a long black coat who was coming in the door.

“Sorry, I didn’t see you there” stammered Julie, embarrassed for being so clumsy. She peered up to meet a set of vaguely familiar blue eyes, but as Julie studied the face closely, she concluded it wasn’t anyone she knew. Suddenly, she saw another flash infront of her eyes, similar to the one she saw when she was sixteen. This time though, she saw two glistening horns, placed majestically upon the head of a pure white horse, just like a unicorn.

“Are you okay?” the young man asked, concerned as he helped her up from the floor.

 

“Er… I think I’ll be fine” Julie stuttered, refocusing on her surroundings. 

 

“Thanks" she added, before she turned and left the café, the young man’s eyes fixed upon her.

 

The lights flashed on and off as the plane continued to intersect the earth at fifty miles and hour. Yellow air bags were clutched by every person on the plane as their only chance of survival. People continued to scream as their bags fell out of the luggage compartment, through the smashed windows, impacted by the force of the streaking speed, into the vast expanse of the universe.

 

One Year Later

“Where’s the veil? Where are the combs?” panicked an erratic, yet excited Julie as she searched through her belongings on the bed like a crazed maniac.   

“Look, here’re your combs” Agnes replied, pressing a pair of white combs into Julie’s outstretched hand ”And here is your veil” she added as she placed the veil on top of Julie’s head, securing it with white combs.

 “You’re so lucky to have John” Agnes exclaimed with a sigh, but Julie only gave her a forced smile “Yeah, I know”

“What’s wrong?”

“Well…” Julie started. “I had a dream last night… actually, I’ve had this dream before, but it’s broken up in parts- every time I dream it, it’s different, but I know it’s the same dream”

“So? What’re you afraid of? It’s only a dream… What’s it about anyway?”

“Every time, I’m in that plane, and then the engine suddenly dies” Julie began shakily. Recollecting herself she resumed  “And then, all I see and hear are people screaming for their lives. The lights flicker on and off and then I see this incredible flash in front of my eyes, with this unicorn thing coming out of nowhere… And then” she paused, visibly shaken “Then I just wake up”

 “Whoa, you got some story there… you should send it into one of those magazines or something..” Agnes commented, eyes wide with amusement.

“C’mon Agnes! This is serious!” Julie giggled, falling onto the bed.

“Yeah, but it’s your wedding day, be happy!”

Julie stopped giggling and after a moment, she said “I should be happy, shouldn’t I?… I mean I feel really fulfilled now… I have everything I could possibly need, more than I could possibly want… I’m doing what I wanted to do and I’m marrying the man I love” she said as she thought of John’s blue eyes. Julie sighed “I guess if I were gone tomorrow, I’d be happy, ‘cos I know I lived my life the way I wanted” she looked up briefly at her friend “And I know all my dreams had come true” she finished off, shooting Agnes a lopsided smile, assuring her everything was okay. Agnes just smiled back.

 

The gap between the earth and the plane edged closer, as each mile closed in after the next. There was only the atmosphere separating them now; the screaming had stopped as the passengers realized it was no use. There was no turning back now; it was all downhill from here. They clutched onto each other for dear life. One by one, as the passengers were exposed to the chilling air, it silenced one more life. The plane continued to speed down.

 

Two Months Later

Julie awoke, glancing over at the digital clock beside the king size bed she shared with John.

3:00 am it read.

She sighed, and got up. John murmured, jolted by her sudden movements. She looked down fondly at him, wishing she could freeze this frame forever. John was so sweet to her; marrying him made her the happiest person alive, especially since he loved her so much. She knew she would love him always, no matter where she was, whatever she was doing- her love would continue no matter what. As she put on her blue and white uniform, tears welled up in her eyes; she tried to choke them back, but it was no use. Just before she was about to leave the bedroom, she leaned over John and whispered “Bye, see you soon” bravely as she kissed his lips for the last time.

Before she closed the door to the room, she whispered, “I love you” and ran out of the apartment, not daring to look back.

 

As Julie arrived at the airport, she felt a wave of dizziness intercepted this time by a more graphical picture of the unicorn, flying majestically through the air, his head, held up high in superiority above all other creatures. It really is beautiful, Julie thought, her eyes moist with fresh tears. But I don’t want to leave; not now, when everything is so perfect. The Julie remembered the conversation she had with Agnes, just before her wedding “I feel really fulfilled now… I have everything I could possibly need, more than I could possibly want. I’m doing what I’ve always wanted to do, and I’m marrying the man I love… I guess if I’d be gone tomorrow, I’d be happy- ‘cos I knew I lived my life the way that I wanted…and I know all my dreams had come true”

With that she turned and boarded the plane.

 

The plane was beginning to close into the earth. There was only a few thousand kilometers to the end. There were very few people on board now, and plane was stripped bare, all that was left was the nose of the plane. Only five hundred kilometres… The plane exploded into a million different shades of red, all combining to form the most powerful fault ever created. Out of the wreckage emerged two majestic horns, and eventually the snow-white unicorn, with a young woman sitting proudly on it’s back, the unicorn flying towards the heavens.