Watery rays of the moonlight shown through Ria's open window. It poured outside and showed no signs of stopping. Lightening streaked through sky like a bright band illuminating the stormy clouds around it. Thunder followed soon after. The crackling noise causing the glass panels to shiver.
However, the pandemonium outside did not awake the sleeping woman that squirmed in her bed. Her eyes squeezed shut and her fists balled up beside her. Her bedsheets lay in a messy ball by her feet as her head tossed from one side to another.
The pouring rain outside caused a cool breeze to waft in through her open window as her curtains chafed against each other. A soft swishing noise in contrast to the commotion. Nevertheless, sweat trickled down her forehead. The glistening beads leaving wet trails on her skin.
It had happened before. Ever since she had turned 18. The vivid dreams. A sense of altered reality. A sinister foretelling of the near future. A premonition.
She had known how her sister would die the night before the truck hit her car. She had seen her body mangled with the metal after the destruction, her daughter strapped in the seat next to her. Unconscious, blood dripping down her split open forehead. She had seen the faint shadow of the figure with the glowing red eyes that had stood at a distance. The only being that seemed to know she was there.
Someone like her?
She had wondered. It had watched her intently as she tried to pull her sisters body out from the wreckage, only for her to pass through like she usually did. Her sister did die the next day. She had ventured out, even after Ria’s frantic calls.
The being, however, remained a mystery and as time went on, Ria realised that it was nothing like her. It was evident when she saw its hands for a brief moment. Nothing human could be like that.
The vision she had was different from the others. Everything seemed a lot eerier. As though the dream highlighted the worst parts of people.
Ria stood in the middle of a supermarket. She recognised it as the one a few blocks down from where she lived. The familiar ice cream poster pasted on the white wall. The bright lights in the super Store causing the blue and green colours to stand out even more. She looked around, wondering what she was doing here.
She walked through the aisles aimlessly, a sinking feeling settling in her stomach with every person she came across. The way they looked, the colour of their eyes and the dead look on their faces. She glanced at the analogue clock mounted on the wall.
7:15
Ria could not make out whether it was day or night. She watched the woman in scrubs looking through the rows of plaster and wall paint. She noticed the faint red marks that stained her scrubs and a shiver ran down her spine. She walked on; a feeling of dread settling in.
Ria continued walking through the aisles, her feet thudding against the tiled floor, her footsteps seeming louder than they should be. A faint buzz surrounded her and no matter how much she shook her head it would not dissipate. She watched a girl in the local school uniform look through the various sedatives, something off about the way she smiled when she glanced at the tall lanky man that stood at the end of the aisle. Something that Ria would have never noticed before. She wondered if her small, inconspicuous town had always been so sinister. She wondered what other secrets the town kept under wraps.
Ria looked around. She searched for the being that had haunted her visions before and lately had begun to haunt her life. She recalled the hooded creature following her as she had walked to the nearest coffee shop. She remembered the hand that had become visible for a brief moment. A hand that had half of its flesh torn off leaving behind its bony interiors. The being had vanished as soon as she had seen it.
She looked around searching for the familiar bright eyes. Riaknew that nothing good happened wherever it turned up, and she could not wait to get out of this place.
A loud shout drew her attention. The lights in the store flickered and her vision grew hazy.
It had begun.
She walked over to the crowd of people that had gathered near the cashier’s counter. She stood back, refusing cut through the crowd. Ria knew the way it would pan out. The woman surprisingly stood calm. She did not say a word, however, the armed man in front of her continued barking orders that she did not comply with. The woman had seemingly given up.
Ria squeezed her eyes shut when she heard the gunshot. The loud nose ringing in her ears. Her hands trembled as she made her way to the front.
The man had taken off, leaving behind the body of the woman. Her blood spilled out of the wound in her abdomen onto the pristine white floor. Ria stood over her and watched the light drain from the woman’s hazel eyes that seemed to be staring directly into hers.
Ria's eyes furrowed, the woman was unfamiliar, however the sinking feeling deepened the longer she looked at her. As though she had forgotten something important.
The crowd slowly dissipated, leaving behind a few bystanders. Ria watched the woman's mouth form words that she did not understand before her hand fell limp on the floor next to her, causing a small splash in the pool of blood next to her.
Ria looked around her until her eyes locked with the familiar red ones that stood at the end of the aisle. A tear trickled down her cheek. She knew she would have to go through this all over again the next day.
Sunlight streamed through the glass windows. The storm had dissipated and the sky had pleasantly cleared. A welcome change from the dreary weather that had set over the town for the past week.
Ria woke up with a jolt. Her head throbbed and the ringing sound that surrounded her would not leave. Her vision was hazy and she felt nauseated.
After effects of every vision.
Ria sat still for a while, waiting for things to go back to normal before she ran her hands through her hair and along her face. Wiping off the sweat and tears caused by the life like revelation.
Ria glanced at the clock on her table that flashed the time in bold red numbers. A countdown.
6:45.
She did not have much time. Ria got off the bed and grabbed the purple jacket that lay carelessly on her chair. She threw it on and headed towards the door, her movements frantic. She could not let another person die.
Ria stood in front of the glass doors of the supermarket and watched as they slid open. The whirring sound adding to her panic. She was early. She walked through the aisles as she had in her vision. She passed the woman with the blood stained scrubs and the strange man that stared at the seemingly unsuspicious student.
She glanced at the analogue clock overhead,
7:13
Anytime now.
She rushed on; she did not have the time to waste on figuring out the mysteries of the old town. Ria ran to the aisle that she had seen in her dream. The rows of tinned meats and sauces stared back at her. She looked around in panic, searching for the woman with the hazel eyes and the purple jacket.
Ria heard the doors at the front whir open again. She saw the masked man step inside. Her eyes trailed to the hand inside his jacket. The colour drained from her face. Her eyes darted around, trying to find the woman she had seen in her dream.
A cold muffled voice made her stop.
‘Turn around’
She complied. Her blood running cold. She faced the masked man in front of her eyes darting between the gun in his hand and his eyes.
She glanced around her, the familiar faces that surrounded her. Her eyes swept over the place where she had stood. A small sad smile broke across her face. The armed man continued to bark orders; however, Ria had tuned him out. She stared at the end of the hallway at the being with the glowing red eyes.
Ria watched as it neared her. The light in his eyes concentrating.
She could see him now. The decaying man under the hood. She smiled, finally understanding who the being was. She watched it smile back at her, revealing rows of seemingly human like teeth. It stopped right behind the man with the gun.
A bang snapped Ria back to the man in front of her. She looked down at the growing red stain on her purple jacket and crumpled to the floor. The white lights above her began to grow dim. She looked over that the spot where she had stood.
I’m sorry.
She whispered before glancing over at the man that stood next to her that had stretched out his bony hand.
The lights above her slowly faded to black.
THE END
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