jasper
"For I am fearfully and wonderfully made..."
short story
I dunno when I wrote this story. I am surprised that this story even exists. It's quite scary...for me. Just read and find out for yourself.
For reactions and comments on the story, you can email me at kooljasper_p@yahoo.com
PREMONITION
By Jasper Ramos Parcon
By Jasper Ramos Parcon
“That is quite astounding, Faye.” Attorney Rafael Salem said in a monotone. He must have been really surprised by what Faye told him but his tone didn’t sound surprised. “I don’t believe in these religious phenomenon, you know.” He added and took a sip from his iced coffee.
“This is not a religious phenomenon, sir. I’m not that kind who believes in religion but I do believe in God.” Faye told him with conviction.
Attorney Salem and Faye were having a coffee break at the coffee shop in front of the university. Both of them were having frappuccinos. Attorney Salem was a law professor in the university and Faye was one of his students. She had been his student since she was still a freshman in law school and they had become friends through all those years. Currently, she was already in the Fourth Year and would be graduating this semester.
“I never doubted you, Faye. Never. You might be a little off the hook sometimes but I know that you are reasonable and smart.” Attorney Salem paused. “But this is way beyond reason. This is just too far out.” Attorney Salem seldom used “informal” English, just like the term he used just now – “far out” – but at that moment, that might be the only words he had in his mind. Faye herself knew that the supernatural did not appeal to intellectuals like Attorney Salem.
“I never expected you to believe me, sir but I told you anyway. Out of duty, out of fear… I don’t know. All I know is this, whatever I see in my visions always come true.” Faye declared in an almost desperate tone.
Attorney Salem looked at her with knowing eyes. “Well, you told me about your ‘miraculous experiences’,” he said the term holding up his hands in the sign of ‘quotation’. “But I am not really one of those who swallows the unexplainable hook, line, and sinker. Everything can be rationalized.” He was presenting his idea to her just like a lawyer in front of a judge.
“Great! That’s just great!” Faye retorted. “Okay, we will try to rationalize. I’ve told you about my best friend in college, right? I had a premonition of her failing in three subjects in school. When the school year ended, she failed in three math subjects. How will you rationalize that?”
“When you told her about your premonition, the idea stuck to her mind. It led her actions, her thoughts. It delved into her subconscious mind. Subconsciously, her brain was making her not study too well in these three subjects. Her brain was telling her, ‘you will fail in three subjects, remember?’ At the end of the school year, she failed in three subjects.”
“So, this is more like a subconscious suggestion of the mind.” Faye did not want to rationalize this matter, but what if there really was a rational explanation for her gift? Or her curse. Whatever it was, it would truly comfort her if somebody could explain her visions to her. “That sounds pretty rational. But what about the death of my friend’s mother? Remember, I told you about James. I had a vision of his mother dying. I interfered. I prayed to God that she would not die. After two weeks, James’ mother had a stroke but she didn’t die. Instead, half of her body was paralyzed. How could you rationalize this? After all, I told nobody about this except my roommate. James had no knowledge about this whatsoever. The subconscious suggestion of the mind will not work this time.”
“Now, that’s a very good example of coincidence, don’t you think?” Attorney Salem answered her with that smug look on his face. He looked like a bored professor telling a student a simple theory that the student could hardly get into her dumb brains.
Faye wanted to scream. Inside, she felt desperate and exasperated. Why won’t he just simply believe me? Why does he have to rationalize everything? Attorney Salem glanced at his wrist watch. It was already 4:45 in the afternoon. His class in Constitutional Law II would start at 5:30.
“Well, Faye, it’s time for me to go.” He took one last sip from his frappuccino. “I hope you won’t get any heroic visions of you saving me from my irate murderer.” He added with a snide look on his face as he stood up to leave. Faye just gave him a weak smile. Her gaze followed him as he walked out of the coffee shop and unto the street.
“What exactly was your vision?” Pastor Phil enunciated the last word with hesitation. He was a Fundamental Baptist and visions were not found in the basic doctrines of his faith. Faye noticed the hesitation but she was mum about it.
“I saw a man wearing a white shirt and denim pants burst through the doors of the law library. He was carrying a gun. He took aim. My gaze followed his aim and it was straight into Attorney Salem’s chest. There was loud explosion, and I saw Attorney Salem clutching his chest. That’ it.” Faye was closing her eyes while narrating the story.
“And when did you have this vision?” Pastor Phil mumbled the last word.
“I had this vision about two weeks ago. After that, the vision kind of pops into my mind every time I’m about to wake up in the morning. You know, the time when you are still in that semi-conscious state.”
Faye was aware that telling Pastor Phil about her vision was a bad idea. But she considered him as one of her confidants. She could tell him anything and he would keep it to himself even if all hell broke lose. It was almost like going to a Catholic confession.
“You don’t believe me, do you?” Faye caught Pastor Phil off-guard with her question. “Look, it really doesn’t matter if you believe me or not. All I’m asking you is to tell me the right thing to do. I already told Attorney Salem about this vision but he didn’t believe me.”
Faye and Pastor Phil were sitting on the sofa in the Student Center’ library. Pastor Phil was the pastor for a local campus ministry. Out of his dedication and faith, he was able to rent a small apartment near one of the city schools. He transformed the ground floor of the apartment into a small library, and the second floor became a mini dormitory. A number of students involved in the campus ministry made the Student Center their hangout. Pastor Phil was always around ready to counsel the students seeking for his advice.
“Faye, I grew up in the Baptist faith. Visions, premonitions and such other miracles are not taught in our church. You yourself should know this since you are a Baptist yourself.” Pastor Phil paused as if waiting for Faye to give an answer. She didn’t. “Yes, you are right. I don’t quite believe you. You’ve already told me about your experiences with your other visions and premonitions but they sound more like guess work to me.”
“First of all, I did not become a Baptist by choice. I was born in a Baptist family. It would be too awkward if my family goes to a Baptist church and I go to some other church. Second, as I’ve said before, it doesn’t matter if you believe me or not. I just need some advice on the right thing to do on this matter.” Under different circumstances, Faye must have been already raising her voice. She wondered why it is just too difficult for some people to understand what she meant. But this time, she wanted to keep her cool. After all, she really needed Pastor Phil’s advice.
“Why, what do you want to happen? I mean, what would you like Attorney Salem to do?” Pastor Phil sounded almost like the psychiatrists on TV – so open and so understanding of their patients.
“I don’t want him to die. It’s that simple. I saw him dying in my vision, right? I don’t want that to happen since he has a family. He is a married man with three kids. I also consider him as a friend. What kind of friend would I be if I just let him die?”
Pastor Phil look confused. “So, how do you wish to accomplish what you want?”
“Well, I could pray to God and ask him not to let Attorney Salem die but I don’t want history to repeat itself. You remember what happened to James’ mom?” Pastor Phil nodded. “So, if Attorney Salem is not going to die, I don’t want him to end up paralyzed or maimed.” Faye paused. “Do you get my point now?”
Pastor Phil did not give a response to her question. Instead, he sat there motionless for a few minutes, deep in thought. “Do you think it is wise to interfere?” Pastor Phil said at last. “Considering what you just told me, it is much better to leave things as they are. If God gave you this vision, it’s just that. He wanted to show you the future of a friend. That’s it. But He didn’t mean for you to interfere with His divine affairs.” Pastor Phil looked at Faye straight into her eyes. “Have you told him about salvation?”
“Yes! Absolutely!” Faye answered without qualms. She grew silent for a moment. “But he didn’t believe me. I mean, he said that he knew that what I told him is the truth but he is not just ready to get saved. He couldn’t fathom the idea of why a perfect God would want him, a sinner, to go to heaven and live with God for eternity.”
“He didn’t find the idea of salvation rational.” Pastor Phil had already met people like Attorney Salem. They were the ones who wanted to rationalize everything.
“You got it.” Faye answered weakly. “This is the very reason why I don’t want him to die yet. If only God would give him a little more time. Maybe a year or two. By that time, Attorney Salem would have stopped rationalizing. You know what I mean.”
“I’m sorry, I can’t help you.” Pastor Phil said in resignation. “The only help I can give you is prayer. I will pray that God will fulfill whatever His will desires.”
Faye knew that Pastor Phil was right – in a way. She didn’t believe the part that she couldn’t do anything more. God showed her the vision so that she would do something about it. Or maybe God just wanted her to learn something for it. She wasn’t sure. But one thing was certain. She wouldn’t wait on the sidelines and just wait for Attorney Salem’s death. She had to do something.
The school bell rang. Faye glanced at her wrist watch. 5:00. The meeting had been going on for almost an hour. The student government of the law school was having a meeting that afternoon. They were talking about the bar operations that was happening on September. Faye, being the class secretary, had to attend the meeting in behalf of their class mayor. Faye glanced around the conference room. Everybody else seemed excited about the bar operations except her. She felt sleepy and the room’s air conditioning was not enough for the 25 persons in that room. The conference room was only a small room beside the law library.
“We will be discussing more on this next meeting…” The presiding officer was stating. Faye was only half-listening. She felt hot and she wanted to get out of the room. Her class would start in about 30 minutes and she still hadn’t reviewed her assignment for that day’s recitation. After a few minutes, every stood up to leave including Faye. At last, she thought.
She breathed deeply as she stepped into the law library where the air-conditioning was much better. Many law students were buried in their books. She sighed. Law school sucks. Books, books, books, she contemplated. Suddenly, she felt dizzy and her vision blurred. She steadied herself on one of the tables.
“Are you okay, Miss?” She heard a male voice beside her.
“Uh-huh!” Faye affirmed. “Just a little dizzy.” She sat on the chair nearest her. She closed her eyes for a moment. After a while, she felt her dizziness stop. She opened her eyes. At that very moment, she saw Attorney Salem enter the library. He stopped by the newspaper stand and took out a local paper. He glanced around for a seat. Faye followed him with her gaze. There was a sudden urge within her to talk to Attorney Salem. She went towards him.
Nobody saw a man entering the law library. The man was wearing a white shirt and denim pants. The man was staring directly at Attorney Salem’s direction. His face was red with rage. His lips were moving as if mumbling some indistinguishable words. He took out a gun.
There was a loud explosion and screams were heard from all over the library. Some students covered their heads with their hands while some others crawled under the table. Nobody really knew the cause of the explosion. It was only instinct that everyone knew there was danger.
“Who was the deranged shooter, Attorney Salem?”
The news was blaring on TV inside the law office. The college dean and a few professors watched the news in silence. Attorney Salem was being flashed on TV surrounded by reporters.
“Who was that girl who was hit by the bullet, sir? Did she save you on purpose? Or did it just happen that she was on the bullet’s way that very moment?” The reporters were asking Attorney Salem a barrage of questions. Attorney Salem just kept on walking, avoiding the reporters.
“Sorry, no comment,” was all that Attorney Salem before he closed the door to his car parked outside the Hall of Justice. He speed away and the reporters just looked on.
