Changed Time

Chapter Three

When my heart finally started beating again, I looked at the photo once more.

It was definitely her.

The girl in my vision.

Jamie.

Jamie was Sophie's sister.

The girl who I was flirting with, the girl who I couldn't stop staring at, was the sister of the girl who I watched die. She was the sister of the girl who I cringed at the memory of because I'd seen a bullet go through her skull and watched as her limp body hit the ground with a gruesome thunk.

"Is everything alright, Drew?" Sophie put her hand on my shoulder and I flinched away.

I slid a shaky hand through my hair and suddenly felt very claustrophobic. "Uhm...yeah. I...uh...I've gotta go." I couldn't look at her anymore. I no longer saw Sophie, but Jamie.

Sophie's shoulders dropped and she looked away. "Yeah, of course." She put the photo back into her purse and returned the purse to an apron pocket. "I'll see you around, Drew." And without anything else, she walked away.

I silently cursed to myself. Jessie was right, I can't get close to anybody, because I don't know who the vision will be of. They could be that person's best friend, or - like Sophie - they could be family, and they haven't even found out yet.

I grabbed the styrofoam cup with her number on it and without even thinking twice about it; threw it into the garbage. I walked out of the diner, slowly, solemnly.

Jessie was leaning against a light post, her right leg bent. She put it down and walked up to me, a look of anger on her face. She grabbed me by the shoulders and shook me. "Are you insane?" She yelled. "You just told that girl where we were going! A girl you just met, you don't know if she's a part of anything."

Zach stepped forward in protest. "There are millions of people in the state of Washington, you really think that some diner waitress is secretly a murderer, and specifically the murderer of the girl that Drew visioned?" He rolled his eyes. "Now that's just paranoid."

I stared at the ground.

Wyatt - who was sitting on a bench - stood up. "Drew, what's wrong?" He walked up to me and Jessie stepped back, giving him space to take her place of standing in front of me. "Drew, look at me. Look at me." He put his hand under my chin and lifted my head. "What happened? What's wrong?"

I stared into familiar green eyes. It was as if I were staring in a mirror. He had my face, and I had his. "That girl, the waitress." I could barely get the words out.

"Sophie." Wyatt nodded. "What about her?"

I gulped. "She's Jamie's sister."

Jessie gasped and covered her mouth.

"Jamie. As in the girl in your vision?" Wyatt pieced it all together and looked away from me. He shook his head and swore under his breath.

"She doesn't even know yet." I whispered. "She has no clue." I looked up. "I've gotta tell her." I turned around and started back toward the entrance of the diner.

Wyatt jumped in front of me, blocking my way. "Woah, woah. You can't do that." He shook he head.

"Why not?" I asked. "You said it yourself, in the apartment. Her family has the right to know. And her family," I pointed to the diner. "Is right in there."

Wyatt thought it through, then to my surprise, stepped out of the way.

"Wyatt!" Jessie's voice was baffled. "You can't be serious!"

I nodded and started to the door again.

"Just let me ask you this." He said. I stopped. "What are you going to tell her? Are you going to out and say, 'Your sister is dead. She was murdered, and I saw it.'" He took a step towards me, his eyes narrowed and hard. "What do you think she'll say? What do you think she'll be thinking, Andrew?"

I clench my teeth. I closed my eyes, the way my sister used to tell me to do when I got angry. I took two deep breaths and exhaled slowly.

"She'll think that you had something to do with it, because there's no way you could possibly explain it. Not when you'd told her that her sister was murdered." Wyatt placed a hand on my shoulder. "The best thing we can do for her is to find the people who did that to her sister. It's the only thing we can do at this point."

I turned towards him and looked around at the rest of the group. Jessie's worried expression mixed with her usual coldness was a weird combination. Zach was spinning the bracelet on his left wrist like he always did when he was nervous.

I looked lastly at my brother. Since our parents died, the worried expression was tattooed on his face, but confidence was also there now. Confidence and determination were the two expressions that he had, but I didn't.

I nodded and turned my back to the diner.

Wyatt gave a relieved sigh. "Okay. Let's go to the garage, pick up the car and then we can go. He looked at me and gave an encouraging smile. "Drew, you can bring closure to that girl in there without getting yourself into trouble."

I nodded again. Wyatt gave me one last look before starting down the street toward the garage. Jessie followed him, joining his side, and Zach waiting for me.

"Hey," he looked at me hard. "It'll be fine, okay? Everything will work out, just as it always does."

I looked at him, my eyebrows knitted together. "Things were different this time. Maybe it'll all be different. Things aren't meant to stay the same, Zach. The universe changes everything, and the thing is, we're never going to know if it changed something until we're face to face with the change."

He watched me. "It'll work out."

Doubt was filling my head, but I pushed it away. "I'm sure you're right."

He grinned, nodded and drew in a breath. "Of course I am. You forget that I''m a genius, and that I'm always correct."

We walked down the street after Wyatt and Jessie. I put a smile on my face, but behind it was worry and confusion.