The Mind’s Eye

by Perry Prete

  "Christ girl. Don't yell so fucking loud. I'm right beside you." Simone held her free hand over her ear closest to Nicole. "K. What moved?"

  Nicole placed both hands on Simone's shoulders and peered over to the see what was frightening her in the drawer. The light from the cell phone cast shadows as the loose items were stacked upon each other, making eerie monsters from rolls of tape, twine, plastic cutlery, papers and unused birthday cards. "There. It's moving. Don't you see it?"

  Simone reached into the mess and began to pick up various items from the drawer and toss them haphazardly onto the counter. She picked up one of the items and Nicole's grip on Simone's shoulder tightened, fingers digging into the shoulder. "What girl? I don't see anything."

  "You're holding it," Nicole whispered.

  Simone looked down to see what she was holding. A four by six- inch photograph of Simone at an old friend's birthday party from several years earlier. She turned it over, uncertain of what her friend was scared off. Simone held it before her, "This?" she questioned.

  "Don't you see it?" Nicole's voice trembled as she spoke, Simone feeling her friend's hot breath on her neck.

  "I'm sorry sweetie. I don't see what you're seeing." Simone was puzzled by Nicole's reactions. Simone studied the picture, she sat at a picnic table with three other people, junk food laid out on the table, a birthday cake half eaten in the centre of the table, colorful plastic tumblers in everyone's hand, toasting her friend's birthday.

  "Is that a tablet you're holding?" Nicole asked.

  Simone turned the photograph over to reveal a white back, then flipped it over again. As soon as Nicole saw the picture on the front again, she gasped. "Honey, what's up?"

  From around Simone, Nicole reached forward and carefully took hold of the photo. The photo shook in Nicole's hand as she moved from around her friend then held the picture firm with both hands. Nicole stared at the photo, giggled and handed it back to Simone. "You must've been drunk. Really drunk," she exclaimed.

  "Ya, I was drun..." her words stopped abruptly. "How did you know?" The tone in Simone's voice went from puzzled to confused.

  "You spilt your drink when you toasted then licked whatever you dropped off the plastic table cloth. And you stuck your hair in the cake icing. Your friends laughed, and you couldn't see all the white icing in your curly black hair. You kept turning around wondering what they were laughing at." Simone yanked the photo from Nicole's grasp and turned the picture over repeatedly. She took a few steps back from her friend, scared of what she had just heard. "How can you know this? This happened years ago before I moved to town and you don't know these people."

  "Simone. What are you talking about? It's a video of the party. I don't know where you got this moving photo frame, but I want one. It's amazing. It's just like a photograph. Too thin for batteries, where do you plug it in to charge?"

  If the room would've had better light, Nicole would've seen the color drain from Simone's dark complexion. Simone pushed past Nicole and sat down at the kitchen table where they had just been. She placed Nicole's cell phone down on the table and cradled her head in her hands. Nicole came over to comfort her friend who jumped as soon as Nicole touched her.

  "What's the problem honey?" Nicole asked.

  "That's not a video Nikki. That's nothing more than a picture, you know a photograph, printed on paper. It's not a video; there's no batteries, no way to charge it. And somehow, you saw everything that happened right after that picture was taken. That shit happened like; I don't know, seven maybe eight years ago. There's no way you could know any of that stuff that happened."

  Nicole sat down facing Simone and even in the dim light, could make out the look of concern on her face. Nicole took Simone's hand, cupped in hers, "I'm not sure what just happened here but that picture moved. It moved like a video on YouTube or TV. I saw you lick up your drink and stick your hair in the icing and when you got up, everyone around was laughing. I saw it plain as day."

  Without warning, Simone jumped from her seat and pulled the drawer from the cabinet and dumped the entire contents on the counter. She pushed most of the stuff aside until she found several photos. Simone sat back down at the table. Arranging the photos, she made sure Nicole couldn't see the image that was caught by the photographer. "K. Let's see if that was a fluke. You up for this?"

  Nicole nodded, picked up her cell phone and shone the light on the stack of stills in Simone's hands. Simone looked at the image on the photo then quickly turned it over. "What's going on?"

  Nicole didn't hesitate, "You and the girl with the red hair, bad dye job, by the way, are dancing." Nicole paused, laughed and remained silent for a moment longer, "You tripped. Man, you are so drunk. Little miss red hair falls on top of you then kisses you on the cheek."

  Simone starts to laugh, "This one," and flips another photo.

  Nicole waits for a few moments, "Same BBQ. You're setting up the table.

  The birthday girl hasn't arrived yet. Red hair girl is arguing with someone off in the one corner about her share of the money she still owes for the gift."

  Simone continues to laugh, almost hysterically, "No fucking way. This is too cool. One more." She shuffles the photos and blindly chooses one. "Here."

  "Christmas at your parent's house. You're sitting with your mom, your dad takes the picture, and I can't hear, but your dad says something. What does he say? You get up and start arguing with him. What? No. Stop. My God Simone, your dad is yelling at you about the abortion. You never told me..., wait. Stop it, stop it now. Turn it over. I don't want to see anymore." Simone turns the photo around so that Nicole can't see it.

  "I'm sorry, I didn't realize what this one was."

  Nicole was crying softly, wiping the tears as they ran down her cheeks.

  "Your dad hit you and your mom. I'm so sorry. I had no idea."

  Simone wasn't as emotional as Nicole, "That was a hundred years and a million miles away. My mom is dead thank God and never has to deal with that bastard again. I left a few weeks after that picture was taken and never looked back." Simone reached across and wiped the last tear from Nicole's cheek. "How do you do that?"

  "I'm...I'm...not sure. It's never happened before."

  "Never? You've never had Deja vue or anything like that? It just started today? Just like that?" Simone was excited, more so than Nicole.

  "I've always had the whole premonition thing. You know, don't walk there, don't touch that. I always thought it was just a bunch of crap. A feeling I get."

  "Can we do more?" Simone was smiling, giddy almost. She couldn't remain still in her seat. "One more, please?"

  Nicole nodded in agreement. What started as a request for one more turned into over a dozen photographs. Each time, Nicole could see images come to life, and the events in the photos begin to move as if she hit the play button. Simone was unable to see what her friend could see, but she did notice that with each "viewing" as they came to call it, Nicole seemed to become more and more exhausted.

  "Honey, we have to stop. I'm really tired," Nicole asked.

  Simone agreed and put the photos back on the counter. She pulled two cans of diet Dr. Pepper from the fridge, "We can't tell anyone about this. You got it. I'm not sure if the government would kidnap you or some foreign agency dissect your brain."

  "You are one funny girl. It's a party trick, like reading tarot cards or palm reading." Nicole pulled the tab on the can and took a drink, "It's a party trick." She held her right up like she was taking an oath, "I promise I'll never use my gift for anything other than the good of mankind."

  Simone cut in, "Or womankind."

  They both laughed, "Or womankind. And I'll only use it for good, not for personal gain." She put her hand down and looked at Simone with all seriousness, "Our secret?"

  "Our secret." Simone stood and kissed Nicole on the top of the head. "Our secret, pretty girl," she whispered.

  April 16

  Abigail Schneider hopped down the front steps of the office
building, smiling, she was elated after receiving good news from her doctor. For the past few years, Abigail had been undergoing treatment for recurring cancer and today; her doctor told her that after everything she had allowed to be subjected to, she was in remission. This is the news she was waiting for. Abigail wanted nothing more than to call her mother, tell her the good news and make plans to visit her.

  Abigail was close to her parents, more so with her mother. She had taken care of Abigail as a sickly child, through her teenage years and now as a young woman, the two were still inseparable.

  Looking up into the clear sky, Spring has always been Abigail's favorite time of the year. Winter came to an end, the buds on the trees were already out, it wouldn't be long before the grass was green, and she would spend more time outside.

  As cars continued to drive past on the street, the driver of one car slowed as Abigail caught his attention. He spun his head around to take a second look then he quickly signaled, turned at the next intersection and pulled onto a side street. He found a parking spot, killed the engine and broke into a full run onto the main road and tried to find that girl.

  He found himself getting short of breath as he ran full out trying to catch up to her. He dodged people as they made every attempt to avoid getting in his way. Finally, up ahead, he saw her and stared at her. An odd blue aura shone around her. He stopped short, focusing on her as she waited at the bus stop. That same aura glowed around her. He wasn't sure what that color meant, but for a moment, he couldn't take his eyes off her.

  He wasn't sure how long he stared at her, she suddenly stepped forward as the bus he failed to see, opened its' doors and the passengers began to board slowly. The bus was facing him, he looked at the bus number and raced back to his car. He would follow the bus until she disembarked.

  *****

  Almost all of the winter's snow had melted, the night air was still crisp, winter's bite had long since disappeared. The stars above were bright on this cloudless night as Simone drove her boyfriend's truck to a co-worker's birthday party. Nicole remained silent in the passenger seat, fidgeting with the door handle.

  "What?" Simone asked.

  "You know I hate these things. Besides, I only got invited because of my party trick I do at the office."

  "You got invited because of who you are and what you do. Stop berating yourself. You have one bad breakup, and you think you're blackballed for life. Everyone gets dumped once or twice or in my case three times in their lives." Nicole sat in the big comfy chair in the living room, the crowd that had gathered around her laughed loudly each time she read someone's photograph. Everyone clamored to be the next person to have some story told of what happened when the picture was taken. Almost everyone had heard about Nicole's amazing ability and made sure they came with a photo or two.

  Nicole held the photo before her, and on cue, the images and people in the still picture began to move. Nicole found that the more she used the talent, the better and more vivid the images would appear. One time, she swore she heard voices coming from the still image as they began to move. The picture she held was of two people standing on a sandy beach, the ocean behind them. It was evident the breeze coming from the sea was strong as their hair was blowing from behind them almost entirely covering their faces. With Simone's help, Nicole had perfected the way she told her stories. Simone looked on from the other side and coached her, guiding her when she would get the stories too accurate or didn't showboat enough.

  Nicole saw the couple begin to move, the waves crashing behind them, each wave getting bigger and bigger. "This was taken in the Dominican Republic, Punta Cana if I'm not mistaken." She looked up at the couple. Using signs Simone and Nicole had researched from palm readers and fortune tellers, Nicole's had trained herself to make comments sound like questions and sometimes pretend she was reading facial cues. Often, she would make comments that were not as accurate or completely wrong on purpose to make it appear more like a trick.

  In the photo, Nicole saw the couple take the cell phone back from an unknown stranger who volunteered to take their picture. The woman turned the camera around to see the screen just as a rogue wave came crashing down upon them from behind and swept them out to sea. Both of them lost their footing, their bags went flying, and they went rolling in the surf as the wave rolled back out to sea. The man quickly stood up, began to gather his effects as strangers rushed over to help and help collect their personal belongings that were now floating in the surf. The woman was on all fours; her sunglasses were gone, to be found by some snorkeler days later partially buried in the sand several feet from shore. She panicked, looking for her cell phone that fell from her hand as her feet were pulled out from under her. She eventually found the phone, covered in sand and waterlogged.

  "You fell or tripped or something," Nicole looked up at the couple from the photo, they were both smiling indicating she was correct, "I can't see why, but you lost your towel, no wait, your beach bag goes into the water too." The couple began to laugh, "You used your phone to take the picture, not a camera and the phone, it's a white iPhone, goes into the water. It's ruined, but you managed to save all your pictures, but your phone is toast."

  "Nikki, that's amazing. How are you doing that?" The woman reached forward and took back the photo Nicole held out for her.

  "Easy. Look at the waves, that big one in the background is huge. I figured it was about to crash down and take you guys with it." Nicole tried to make it look like it was simply the power of observation.

  "But you were right on all counts. How did you know it was my iPhone that we used?"

  Nicole thought quickly, "I've seen you use your phone. You've always had a white iPhone. You told me you got a new one right after you got back from vacation remember (it was a lie, but it sounded convincing), and the picture is grainy, a camera usually has a better resolution, so I guessed."

  "Well, you guessed pretty fucking good," the boyfriend broke in. The rest of the guests at the party broke out in applause as Nicole excused herself and went to the bathroom. Simone followed her down the hall.

  Simone hip checked Nicole as they made their way to the bathroom. "You done good girl. The centre of attention and you got enough wrong and made it look convincing."

  "Do you know how invasive this skill is? I'm seeing shit that I shouldn't be seeing. One of the girls who was with her boyfriend in the picture is having an affair with the married girl who took the picture. I saw what they did not long after the picture was taken."

  Simone was a little shocked, "Are you being a prude about the two girls getting it on?"

  Nicole laughed, "Not at all, I just don't want to know. It's sorta like reading minds. There are some things that should be kept private."

  "Are you hearing more voices?"

  "Sometimes, not always, and it's weird. It just happens, then it's gone. I get images, voices, things that don't make sense running through my mind. It's still all so new." Nicole stopped in front of the bathroom door, "Gotta pee," and went inside.

  Over the course of the next hour, Nicole read a few more photographs, got some of them wrong on purpose, giving them the excuse she was tired and needed a drink. Simone was cozying up to her boyfriend who arrived late, and Nicole stood by the fridge in the kitchen, alone.

  "Excuse me."

  Nicole simply took one step to the right without turning around. The fridge door opened, she heard the clanging of glass bottles, then the door closed again. "Ahem." The male voice was deep and young, "usually when someone moves out of the way they turn around to see who asked to get by."

  Nicole turned around to see a strange young man standing only a few inches away. "Hi."

  "Hi. I was watching your cute stage act. I was kinda hoping you would do my picture next. That is if you're still reading them?"

  "I'm beat." Nicole looked at the man, wondering why she didn't recognize him. "And you are?" She stepped back and extended her hand.

  He shook her hand, "Jeff. Pleased to meet you,
Nikki. I heard everyone call you Nikki. Short for..?"

  "Nicole."

  "I like Nicole better. Can I call you Nicole?"

  "Sure. Who are you? Really?" Nicole was sure she had never met the man she was speaking with.

  "I live here with my mother, Steph from accounting. It's her birthday party."

  "Jeff, her son. But Jeff is supposed to be," Nicole held her hand out at waist height, "this big."

  Jeff took hold of her hand and raised it just above his head which was several inches above Nicole's. "I hit my growth spurt about ten years ago. I think my mother forgets I've already graduated from university." Jeff brought Nicole's hand down but held it gently.

  "Didn't I babysit you once? A long time ago." Nicole pulled her hand away, not in a way that was offensive. She took a step back and leaned up against the counter. There was only one light on in the kitchen, and it was directly over the sink behind her and lit Jeff in a glow of soft white light.

  "You did. A few times I believe, a long time ago. I've had a babysitter crush on you ever since. When you walked in tonight, I remembered you right away."

  Nicole placed both hands on Jeff 's chest and gave herself a little more space between them, "Well Jeff, I think I'm a little too old for you, and besides, I work with your mom."

  "I'm twenty-three, and you're what? Thirty-one, thirty-two?" Nicole coughed, "Thirty-six."

  "So, you wouldn't go out with me if I asked nicely?" Jeff was smiling. Nicole knew exactly what he wanted.

  "Maybe." Nicole knew the answer already, NO!

  "Well, you still have to read my picture, right?" Jeff was a hard man to refuse.

  "K. Quickly."

  Jeff pulled out his phone and leaned in low and close and took a selfie of himself with Nicole. He turned the phone over, smiled at the image then showed it to Nicole who stared at it. Nothing happened. The people in the picture failed to move. She pulled away from Jeff and stared at the phone. She swiped the image left and right to see if she could see the image begin to move. Nicole realized she had never tried to use a digital image before. She pulled away from Jeff and quickly found Simone and yanked her away from her boyfriend. After Nicole told her about the digital image, Simone walked through the party goers, found a photograph and brought it back to Nicole. One glance and the image started to morph again.