Drowning

INTRODUCTION

The year was 1693, and young Josephine Hunt, age 20, was seeing images in her dreams of upcoming events. At first, she dismissed these images as coincidences; but once the visions began taking place in her waking life, with pin-point accuracy, she began to feel worried.

When she came forward to her minister, seeking help for the unexplained visions she received, she was shunned rather than helped. She was accused of being a witch, one that sold her soul to the devil in order to see visions of the future.

Josephine, believed to be a soulless witch, was punished by the church accordingly. Her sentence was one more extreme than the accused witches before her; she was to be bound at the hands and feet and drowned in the local river.

She said nothing to those around her as they chanted 'witch' and spat at her. Her hands were bound together with ropes soaked with blessed water, and she was being pulled to the riverbed to pay for her crimes.

Josephine was accused of having visions of the future, provided to her by the devil, which was only half true; Josephine had dreams that oftentimes came true, but when she spoke to her church about them, she was locked away. She'd never been in contact with anyone regarding her visions, let alone the devil. Josephine had witnessed many trials and many hangings, and she knew that opposing the charges she faced would lead her to her death no matter what, especially after seeing her own death in her dreams. So, she allowed herself to be tied up and thrown into the river.

Drowning is scary. You try to hold your breath for as long as possible, but eventually your brain overrides your desire to hold your breath and tries to inhale oxygen. Instead, your lungs fill with water and they begin to burn. Your lungs and brain crave oxygen, so you keep trying to breathe, but more water fills your lungs.

Eventually, you fade away.

However, before Josephine's eyes closed for the final time, she caught sight of a brunette woman swimming toward her.

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When Josephine opened her eyes, she discovered she was no longer under water. Instead, she was on a pile of blankets. She took note of the dust particles in the air, the sound of water running over stones outside, and the smell of the hay and straw being stored around her.

Josephine Hunt was in a barn, and very much alive. She looked around, seeing everything around her with a sort of blinding clarity, and her eyes finally landed on a petite brunette woman with amber colored eyes.

Her name was Prudence, and she explained to Josephine that she was a vampire, and instead of letting Josephine drown in the river just outside the barn, she turned her into one as well.

Prudence spent decades teaching Josephine her ways of living, and helping Josephine adjust to her new gifts; Josephine could see the visions of the future. Prudence was helping her control her gift, teaching her how to choose who's future she sees. After five years, Josephine was able to control what she sees, save for a few random half-visions she saw of a man with blonde hair.

In the year 1713, twenty years after she was turned, Josephine witnessed Prudence get ripped apart and burned to ash by an angry mob of nearby villagers. Rather than stick around and suffer the same fate, Josephine fled. She spent hundreds of years traveling around the world.

Visions of a diner and a blonde haired man began blinding Josephine in 1948. So much so, that she had no choice but to break away from her travels and find the man in her visions.

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Josephine's POV

I adjusted my skirt as I sat down in a booth in the café from my visions. As the bell above the door rang, another vision took over my sight.

The blonde man walked into the diner, his guarded gaze wandering around the establishment. His blood red eyes focused on me, and confusion took hold of his features.

The vision began to fade, but the name 'Jasper Whitlock' echoed in my head before it stopped and the vision vanished. I folded a napkin as I waited, glancing up every time the bell above the door rang. Finally, after a half hour, the blonde man walked into the café, his ruby eyes meeting my amber ones.

I offered him a smile as he made his way to the booth I was sat in. His puzzled eyes never left my own, and they only softened as I reached a hand out to him.

"Jasper Whitlock, I've been waiting for you." I spoke softly. Jasper hesitantly reached out and grabbed my outstretched hand. He gave me a soft smile as we walked toward the exit.

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Jasper and I became close as we travelled. I explained to him my power, and how it had led me to find him. He was fascinated with the idea of seeing the future, and asked many questions about it. He told me of his gift, emotion manipulation, and demonstrated on me. While Jasper changed my mood from happy to sad, he told me he hated using it on me. When I asked him why, he told me that my mood affected him; I was always happy and relaxed, which, in turn, kept him happy and relaxed. At that, I smiled.

I told him that recently I'd been getting uncontrollable visions of a family with amber eyes like my own. Without much of an argument, Jasper agreed that our best option was to locate them and find out why these visions were coming to me.

I was also helping Jasper adjust to my vegetarian diet, telling him that I'd never had a drop of human blood. He asked me if I would ever try it, but I quickly denied. Even as a human, I never wanted to hurt people. It was for that reason that I tried to talk to my church about the dreams I was having, but instead of getting help, I was made out to be a witch. I didn't want to turn into the people that killed me, and after explaining it to Jasper, he worked extra hard on making the transition from human blood to animal blood.

It wasn't until two years later, in 1950, that we finally found the family in my visions. By this time, Jasper and I had discovered what we truly were to one another: soulmates. Carlisle, the patriarch of the Cullen Coven, offered Jasper and I a place in his coven. We agreed to join them, and began a search for a 'permanent' residence in secluded areas.

In 1955, Jasper and I decided to get married for the first time. It was a beautiful ceremony; small, but beautiful. We married outside, underneath the shade of a weeping willow, surrounded by our new family. The vows Jasper wrote would have made me cry if I was still able to do that, but with him standing just across from me and hyper-tuned into my emotions, he flooded me with the happiness and love he was feeling, causing matching smiles to spread across our faces.