Visions of Fate

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE - A NIGHT THAT NEVER WAS

I ran through the empty streets until I found myself panting when I got to my house. My lungs burnt and I greedily gasped for air, feeling like I had just ran a marathon.

The streetlight beside my house flickered ominously as I walked into my compound, feeling lightheaded and a sudden wave of nausea that formed beads of sweat on my forehead.

I could hear a hushed tone as I approached and I recognized it as Mom's voice. The sound grew louder when I opened the front door and Mom jerked her head in my direction. She looked like she was pacing about the room before I stepped in, and no longer paid attention to her recipient at the other end of the line.

"Emily!" She shrieked and rushed into my arms, bundling me up in one of her famous bone-crushing embrace. "Where have you been honey? I've been so worried," she said in one breath, cradling my head with her hand. Over her shoulder, I saw Ethan near the furthest couch. I smiled at him but he replied with a scowl.

What the hell was going on?

"Don't ever do that to me again," Mom said when she pulled away. "You almost gave me a heart attack? Do you know how worried I was? I thought you were dead. I thought you were–"

"Mom," I interrupted her ramblings. "I'm fine."

"Then what happened? Where did you go that was so important?"

"I already told you, Mom. I went stargazing with Ethan. He drove me with his dad's car, remember?"

Mom pulled away and shook her head in shock and disappointment. "Since when did you start lying, Emily? Ethan has been here this entire time, and I don't know where you got that idea of stargazing from, but just know you're never stepping out of this house again, except school hours."

"But Mom–" I protested.

"Go to your room," I was almost paralyzed with shock by her tone. "And I don't want to see you out till tomorrow."

I stared at the worried lines on her forehead that were gradually fading into angry veins. Mom barely rose her voice at me and grounded me even less. So having her ground me then, especially in front of my boyfriend, made the hurt both painful and embarrassing.

I bowed my head in shame as I dragged myself up the stairs, past the hallway and into my bedroom. I slumped myself on my bed and stared at the blackened ceiling.

That was weird. Right? How come Ethan had made it home without me? And how come I don't remember most of my journey home? Ethan had scowled at me when I offered him a smile. Maybe we had a fight when I'd come out of The Seer's room?

The Seer.

I remembered every conversation I had with her. The entire story about the Visionari and Vegants. Then how come I didn't remember my trip home? My head felt heavy as I tried to think aback, and I would have thought everything that happened tonight was a mere hallucination if not for the acidic taste in my mouth.

Wait a minute. I sat upright on my bed. The Seer had poisoned me. I winced and carried my head in my arms as a sharp pain pierced through my skull. The headache was back. But my memory was still intact. I remember feeling dizzy and blacking out on her. The next memory I had was of me running into my house.

Had I ran all the way from that creepy mansion to my house? I could recall that it had taken Ethan and I a while to get to The Seer's mansion in his dad's car. Meaning that it would have taken even longer for me to get back to my house on foot. It would only make sense that Ethan had gone before me. Maybe he had taken the advice I gave him before entering The Seer's room.

The door creaked open, and a spill of light slipped into my room before darkness took over again. Ethan perched himself next to me and the bed creaked under his weight.

There was silence in the room for a minute before Ethan finally spoke up. "So you left without me, huh?"

I furrowed my brows in utter confusion. "What are you talking about? You took me in your dad's car, remember? We both left together around nine pm."

"Stop the lies, Emily," he spat out. "I left to my house after our plans this afternoon."

"And you came back to pick me up in the evening. Don't tell me you don't remember how we found that creepy mansion together."

"We never found anything together!" He was on his feet in a second. "Stop telling lies and making everything sound so mysterious, Emily. I tried calling your line multiple times earlier this evening to tell you I wouldn't be able to make it, but it kept leading me to voicemail. I got a call from your Mom by ten asking me where you were, but I had no answers. I came by to the house to see your mother I tears. She was still on the phone with the cops when you came in. Do you know the amount of stress you caused her today? You caused the both of us?"

My knees wobbled and I wondered when I gotten on my feet as well. I tried to talk but all that came out was a squeak. But what was there to say? That I was insane and I had imagined everything that happened tonight?

Because even though that was the truth, Ethan didn't look like he'd be willing to fall for it. To say I was confused about the incidents that took place that night would be an understatement. The Ethan that had been with me hadn't been the real Ethan. That thought left me with a few probabilities.

I had either travelled back in time, or imagined the events. But that wouldn't make any sense because The Seer hadn't mentioned anything about time traveling, and if I had imagined everything, I would have been missing and wouldn't have found myself running back home.

"How long was I gone?" I didn't think twice before asking.

Ethan looked stunned by my question, but he just shook his head, the exact same way Mom had earlier. "Almost four hours, since you were too busy to check the time yourself. I hope tonight went well for you, and you had all the fun you wanted." He spun in his heels and headed for the door. The spill of light flooded in before he spoke up again. "I'm going to go calm your Mom. Maybe you can take the time to think about the damage you caused." Then he was out, leaving me surrounded by darkness again.

I flung myself on my bed and buried my head in my pillow, releasing all the tears that had grown throughout the night. From the exhaustion of finding The Seer's mansion, to the confusion of finding out about the Visionari and Vegants, to finding myself at home with an angry Mom and a disappointed boyfriend.

I choked on my sobs and felt myself being suffocated, but that didn't stop me from releasing them any less. This night had taken a toll on me for sure, and I found myself releasing everything into my pillow.

I cringed at the thought that I had spent most of my night with someone else I'd mistaken for Ethan. Whether it was someone I had imagined or an actual being that had shape shifted into Ethan, I had no idea. Nausea shifted in my stomach as I thought back to the moments I had clinged to Ethan. The moment he had wrapped his arm around my waist and I leaned into his chest. The moment I had leaned in to kiss him right before meeting The Seer.

I rushed into my toilet when I felt nausea having its effect on me. I pulled the lid up and gagged into the toilet bowl. When my sick didn't come up, I sat on the cold toilet tiles and wrapped my hand around my knees, nestling my head in between my thighs and sobbing into them.

It may have been the cold toilet tiles, but a shiver ran up my spine when I thought back to The Seer's advice, the one she'd given me right before I blacked out.

Trust your instincts to find the answers.