Inevitable

by Tamara Hart Heiner

  I started my search again. I found a paper that had been ripped into pieces. I had nearly emptied the box now, and it didn’t take a lot of time to find the other pieces. I put it together. The words were engraved into the page, as though written in fury, desperation.

  “Not my son. Not my son. The fever, the anguish. I cannot live with this.”

  Tears pricked my eyes as I imagined the pain she must have felt. Not just her sister, or her lover, but her child. To See his death and not be able to stop it... my heart wrenched with sympathy.

  There was no doubt about it; she could See.

  “You okay, Jayne?”

  I blinked back tears and looked at Dana. “She could See. Adelle could See.”

  “Did you think she was blind?”

  I shook my head in impatience. “Like me, Dana. She could See the future.”

  “Oh.” Her mouth formed a perfect “o.” “How do you know?”

  I gathered up the evidence and laid it out for Dana. She pressed her lips together and studied them. “So her son died?”

  “That’s what she Saw.” I tucked the papers into my jeans pocket and stood. “I need to talk to her.” I didn’t wait for Dana, though I knew she would come behind me.

  “Wait! Isn’t she in the hospital?”

  “Yes.” I paused at the front door, locking the house back up. Dana kept pace with me as I hurried home.

  “Hey, Mom?” The aroma of rising cinnamon rolls greeted me, and I paused to take in a deep breath. Dana slid up behind me.

  “Don’t touch anything, you’re dirty!” she scolded, turning around to face me. “It’s not lunch time yet. What’s going on?”

  I toyed with the dishtowel hanging from the fridge door. “I have to go somewhere real quick. I’ll be right back. Promise.” I deposited the key on the counter. “Can I borrow my car?”

  She narrowed her eyes at me. “How long will you be gone?”

  “One hour.” I put on my best puppy dog face. “Please.”

  Mom sighed. “Fine. One hour.”

  I grabbed my keys, giving Dana a triumphant smile before hurrying out the door.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

  “Let me get this straight,” Dana said as I backed out of the driveway. “We're going to the hospital to visit Adelle, the owner?”

  “Yes,” I agreed.

  “And what is it you think she’ll be able to tell you?”

  I faltered. “Well. About my Sight. Maybe she knows how I can change the future.”

  It took only moments to find Adelle Gregory at the hospital. My heart sank when we entered the oncology ward. This woman wasn’t just sick. She was dying.

  “I hate the smell of hospitals,” Dana whispered beside me, as uneasy as I’d ever seen her.

  I stopped outside room 551. I gave a light knock on the door and poked my head in. The old woman on the bed with curly purple hair snored quietly, her mouth gaping open.

  I sank into a chair next to her, itching to ask my questions but not wanting to wake her. Dana sat down beside me and picked up a magazine from the bedside tray.

  After twenty minutes, she put down the magazine. “Jaynie, it’s almost eleven. We’ll have to leave soon. Maybe you should wake her.”

  Oh, I felt like an awful person for doing that. Still, we hadn’t come here for nothing. I stood up and shook her shoulder gently. “Adelle.”

  She snorted and smacked her lips, but didn’t wake.

  I tried a little harder. “Adelle.”

  She groaned and tossed her head, but still nothing.

  I counted to ten, then shook her as hard as I dared. “Adelle!”

  Her eyes snapped open, large and unfocused. Her pupils scanned the room and came to rest on me. A smile slid across her face. “Declare.”

  Except it wasn’t exactly “declare.” My memory had deceived me. “What?” I leaned in closer. “What did you say?”

  But her eyes were closed again, soft snores escaping her mouth.

  Dana sighed. “I’m sorry, Jayne. We’d better go now. You’re mom only gave you an hour, and I need you to not be grounded anymore. We’ll try again later.”

  I nodded, feeling defeated, and followed Dana out of the room. “What did she say, Dana? Did you hear her?”

  Dana wrinkled her nose. She reached into her purse and pulled out two Dum-Dums, offering one to me. I shook my head.

  “No,” she said. “It didn’t make much sense to me.”

  I sighed. I wasn’t anywhere closer than I’d been.

  We checked in with Mom to get the key. Warm cinnamon rolls sat on the counter, and she turned off the hand-mixer when we came in.

  “Just in time,” she said. “Want a snack? Help me ice these and you girls can have some.”

  Dana was already on the move. “Cream cheese icing? I’m there.”

  The gears turned in my mind as we returned to Adelle’s house. “I’ve got to figure out what she said,” I murmured, tapping my chin. “The other woman said it too.”

  I unlocked the house and Dana stepped in behind me. “What other woman?” she asked.

  “Oh.” I’d forgotten to mention that part. “There’s this girl I see after every vision. At first she just seemed to be watching me, but lately I think she’s trying to tell me something.”

  “She’s always there?” Dana stared at me, her blue eyes wide. “That’s like impossible. Unless she’s like stalking you. Or a ghost.”

  A ghost. I sank down onto the beige carpet. No one could see her except me. She appeared and disappeared at will. She walked in the air. Was she dead?

  “Okay, let’s start over.” Dana sat cross-legged in front of me. “What has she told you?”

  “Well, that word. Declare.”

  She shook her head. “It didn’t sound like ‘declare’ to me. It sounded like something in another language.”

  I wrinkled my brow. “Well, that’s just extremely non-helpful.” I stood up. “Adelle knows the answer. I’m sure of it. I need to find her journal or something.”

  “Right.” Dana stood as well. “I’ll take the next room over.”

  I worked faster without Dana to distract me. I organized each corner of the room, cleaned out drawers, pulled junk out from under the bed. Nothing that resembled a journal came my way.

  Dana rejoined me, pushing her blond curls off her forehead with both hands. “I didn’t come across a journal anywhere. Anything for you?”

  “No.” I gave a quick shake of my head. “It’s okay, though. I think I’ve found a way to beat this thing.”

  “Yeah?” Dana bounced on the bed, hugging her knees to her chest. “How’s that?”

  I stuffed all the junk and homework papers into a giant trash bag. “You know how I Saw Aaron dumping me?”

  “You actually saw him breaking up with you? It wasn’t just a fizzle out?”

  To be honest, I couldn’t quite recall. But my plan depended on that, so I said, “Yes.”

  “Okay.”

  “So, I’m going to do it first.”

  “Do what?”

  “Break up with him.”

  Dana blinked. “Wait, that makes no sense. If you break up with him, don’t you get the same outcome? I thought you wanted to change things.”

  “This does change things. It totally mixes things up. There’s no way for me to see the consequence of me breaking up with him.”

  Dana gave me a pitiful look. There’s no other way to describe it. “Jayne, honey, I think in his mind, you guys are already through.”

  That heavy ball rolled around my stomach again. “But we never broke up.”

  “Did you ever officially go out?”

  “No.” But he kissed me. That meant something. That was more than going out.

  “Then why should he officially break up with you?”

  Her logic made sense, but I refused to buy it. “No. We’re still together.”

  “When was the last time he talked to you?”

  “Just three days ago. Thur
sday in school.” Was it really three days ago? Three days ago that he had kissed me?

  “And it’s Sunday. Why hasn’t he called you?”

  She was right and it infuriated me. I jumped up. “Doesn’t matter. I want it to be official.”

  Dana stood up too. “Okay. So you’re going to put on a big show and dump him?”

  Big show? I wasn’t going for dramatics here. “Uh, no. I’m going to call him and tell him it’s over.”

  Dana bit her lower lip. “No, girl. You want to make him hurt over this. You want to make him writhe in agony that he let you go.” She jumped up and took my hand. “Let’s go.”

  “Where are we going?”

  “Shopping. You have a heart to break.”

  I had a momentary panic attack. “What about my mom? She’ll kill me!”

  “We’ll be fast. She’ll never know you left!”

  I glanced at my watch. It was just after noon. “Fine. But we’re back here by two o’clock!”

  

  I stood with Dana inside a dressing room and laughed at the reflection of my body contorted inside a tiny black dress. It sucked itself to my skin like a mold, making my butt stick out and my hips look angular. “Dana.” I shook my head. “There’s no way on earth I’m wearing this.” I wasn’t even sure I could get it off.

  “You look hot.” She growled and made a clawing motion at me.

  “Cute.” I tried twice to get the zipper between my fingers but failed. “Use those claws to get it off.”

  She clucked her tongue. “Shame. What are you going to get now?”

  “Something practical.” She gave me a stern look, so I added, “And sexy.”

  She crossed her arms and leaned against the wall. “All right. Let’s see what you come up with.”

  Dressed in my own clothes again, I stepped out and began perusing the racks. I’d never dressed up for Aaron before, so to be honest I wasn’t sure what I wanted. I figured I’d know it when I saw it.

  It only took me two minutes to find it. A short navy dress with a belted waistline and white chiffon cap sleeves. Totally me.

  Dana smiled as soon as I pulled it on. “Fabulous. Now we just need shoes and hair.”

  I pushed upward on my wavy brown hair. “I already have hair.”

  “Yes, and we need to tame it.”

  I frowned. “What’s wrong with it?”

  “I love your hair, Jaynie, you know I do. But we need something different for this occasion. Something striking. We want Aaron to take one look at you and think, ‘Uh-oh. I made a mistake.’”

  “Well, one of us is going to think that,” I grumbled.

  “What?”

  “Nothing.” I gave her a perky smile. “Carry on.”

  We picked out a pair of shoes and I bought the whole ensemble, trying not to flinch at the price. This had better be a truly awesome break-up.

  “Next stop, salon.”

  She was way too excited about this. Dana seemed to have forgotten that the whole point to this shopping spree was so I could kill my pathetically dysfunctional love life.

  My phone vibrated in my purse. I paused to pull it out, but didn’t recognize the number. I opened the text, my eyes scanning the message.

  J- thngs didnt work between us. Sorry. Ur great. B happy. A

  I gasped. “It’s from Aaron.” My knees nearly gave out, and Dana guided me to a bench in the mall. “He broke up with me by text,” I whispered, numb.

  “By text!” Dana echoed angrily. “That scumbag!”

  What a charade. I knew better than to try to change things. “It can’t be beat, Dana,” I snapped, clutching the phone in one hand like a grenade. “For all I know, the only reason he broke up with me so quickly is because I made the decision to break up with him.” I stood up, feeling foolish with my bag of new purchases dangling from my fingertips. “I”m taking these stupid clothes back.” What had I been thinking? What an idiot. Like something pretty would make him take me back.

  My phone trembled in my hand, and I snapped it open without checking. “What?” I bit out, hoping it was Aaron.

  “Miss Lockwood?”

  I paused, trying to place the voice. “Yes?”

  “This is Lieutenant Bailey.”

  “Oh, of course!” I gripped my bag, thoughts of Aaron fleeing. “I’m so glad you got back to me! I’ve—”

  “Miss Lockwood,” he interrupted, and for the first time I noticed that he sounded impatient. “I need to know where you got your information.”

  “Wh-what?” I stuttered.

  “We’ve gone through everything Hannah owns, from her car to her computer to her phone. She doesn’t have any of your contact information. Her brother also states he was with her the same night you say you were, and he has no idea who you are. Either you were secret friends, or you’re lying.”

  His cold accusation fell on my ears, and I shivered. Dana was watching me closely, and I wondered how much she could hear.

  “So unless you would like to give us a substantial reason for why we should believe any of the evidences you’ve given us, your entire testimony will be considered misleading and thrown out.”

  He was absolutely fed up with me. I could tell. And he no longer took me or my fears seriously. I closed my eyes. Would he believe me if I told him about my abilities?

  The worst that could happen is that he wouldn’t. He would think I was crazy, laugh at me, and ignore my pleas. Pretty much just like he was doing now.

  “I need to talk to you in private,” I said. “I’ll tell you everything.”

  Silence reigned on the line. I glanced around, my paranoia returning as my break-up adrenaline faded. Could my stalker be here? Was he watching me?

  “Monday,” he said. “Be here at seven-thirty in the evening.”

  “Okay,” I said, but I could tell from the way the cell phone didn’t reflect my voice that he had already hung up.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

  I put my phone down and sat down on the bench, trying not to hyperventilate. The mall felt stiflingly hot. I took several deep breaths and wrapped my fingers around the bench as sights and sounds swirled around me.

  “Jayne?” Dana hovered over me. “Are you all right?”

  I groaned and put my head in my hands. Lieutenant Bailey didn’t believe me.

  Dana took me by the elbow and pulled me up. “Let’s get you home.”

  The plastic bag rustled in my hand, and I shook her off. “I need to return this.”

  “Not now.” Her voice was firm as she guided me through the mall. “You’re a mess. Besides, that dress looks great on you. Find some other guy, show Aaron you’re over him.”

  Even the raging turmoil in my head wasn’t enough to keep my heart from squeezing when she mentioned Aaron’s name. “He won’t care. Don’t you get it? I know how this story ends.”

  We were outside of the car now, moving quickly through the parking lot, and I was glad. I couldn’t shake the feeling that people were watching us. The police thought I was a liar... some psycho chick wanting attention.

  “And how is that?” Dana lifted her chin, a bit of a challenge in her eyes.

  It took me a moment to remember what we were talking about. “They go to school together. They get married. The end.”

  “How does he die, then?”

  Death. I shuddered. “She kills him.”

  Dana gasped. “What? Jayne! You have to warn him!”

  I shook my head, tasting bitterness in my mouth. We climbed into Dana’s car. She turned it on, and the locks slid down automatically. My shoulders relaxed at the click, then tensed again when she rolled the windows down. “They get a divorce. He won’t give her the house, so she has someone kill him.”

  “Jayne! And you’re just going to let that happen?”

  “I’ve done what I can to stop it! I can’t!”

  “Does he know you can see the future?”

  “Yes.”

  “Then tell him! Tell him what you saw!” />
  “He won’t believe me, Dana.” I didn’t realize I was crying until I tasted a salty drop on my lip. “He’ll think I’m being malicious or manipulative or something, making it up.” Just like the police.

  Dana stopped at the red light and looked at me, her eyes wide and woeful. Then she sighed. “If you say so, Jaynie. But I think if it were me, I would never give up on the man I love.”

  I sputtered, my face warming to my roots. “Love? Who said anything about love?”

  “Then why are you crying?”

  I wiped viciously at my traitorous eyes, swallowing several times. “Something in my eye. Can we roll the windows up?”

  

  Dana offered to stay with me, but I turned her down. I wasn’t in the greatest of moods, and I wanted some alone time. It was two o’clock by the time we got home. She talked to my mom, distracting her while I deposited my purchases upstairs. I came down, hugged her goodbye, and pleaded a headache to my mom. She let me go rest, but only after threatening to keep me home from school until Adelle’s house was ready.

  Actually, the thought of burying myself in the house and finishing up my project was rather inviting.

  But first things first. I needed to make a list.

  I sat down at the desk in my room and pulled out a piece of paper. Starting at the top, I wrote down my feelings.

  Frustration. Toward the police for not believing me.

  Anger. Toward Aaron for breaking up with me through a text message.

  Embarrassment. For spending too much money on stupid clothes.

  Despair. Because nothing I do will ever change the future.

  Hurt. Hurt hurt hurt. Aaron.

  The last line brought tears to my eyes, and I flung my head onto the desk, sobbing. I’d tried so hard not to fall for him, but I realized now that had been about as stupid as thinking I could make him stay with me instead of Libby. Falling in love with him had also been inevitable.

  Stupid, stupid Aaron.

  I took the list and ripped it up, then flung the pieces around my room. Letting my angry energy drive me, I headed downstairs.

  “Mom?” For once, she wasn’t baking. I wandered into the sitting room. “Mom?”