Dark Direction

Chapter 7:Two Visions

It was the end of another busy week for Simon. He had to run a few errands and make a few phone calls after work. Plans for this evening with his buddy were canceled, which Simon was kind of glad about. He was looking forward to kicking his feet up with a beer, a pizza and old films on television.

However getting caught in city traffic on a Friday wasn't his idea of a good time, but his dry cleaning needed to be picked up for next week. Which reminded him to call the young girl from the café, even though he felt it wasn’t necessary for her to pay for the dry cleaning.

Simon tossed his keys on the coffee table and hung his dry cleaning up in the foyer closet. He turned on a few lights in the living room and sat down on the sofa while fumbling through the mail. He then threw his mail along with his phone on the coffee table which turned into a catch all for anything that once was in Simon's hands.

Simon threw his head back on the couch and covered his face with both hands, taking a deep breath and exhaling all of this week’s events out in hopes of getting into a relaxing mode. He quickly got up from the sofa and headed into the kitchen gladly fetching himself a beer from the refrigerator. He twisted the cap off and threw it into the sink and headed back into the living room. Shoving papers and mail aside to place his beer bottle on the coffee table he grabbed his cell phone to call Amy from the café.

"Hi, yes is this Amy? Yes this is Simon from the café... um from earlier this week... yes, yes how are you dear? yeah about that, it really isn't necessary to pay... well, Ok... alright if you insist then, how about tomorrow?... um yeah I can do that or when is your break? OK, sounds great... see you then." Simon disconnected the call and takes a drink from his beer before ordering pizza.

********

Simon headed over to the café to meet with Amy. She greeted him near the entrance of the café. "Hey Simon, thanks for meeting with me. Let's go grab a table out back shall we?" Simon followed Amy towards the back patio. It had six quaint bistro tables with umbrellas and wrought iron seats.

It was a beautiful day to be sitting outside. Simon thought to himself as he pulled out a chair for Amy. She politely smiled and thanked him as he took the seat opposite to her. "I hope you don't mind but I took it upon myself and ordered your usual." Amy said as Simon put his phone and keys on the table beside him. "They should be bringing our drinks out soon... I didn’t want to take any chances and spill it on you again!" Amy said as she blushed in embarrassment.

Simon smiled at her and gripped his hands together on the table "Like I said over the phone it really isn't necessary to pay for the dry cleaning bill, it was just an unfortunate mishap." Just then their drinks were brought out with complimentary biscotti's. Simon and Amy both took a sip of their drinks.

"Listen Simon, I want to take this opportunity to talk to you about something, but I need you to be open minded." Simon leaned back in his chair and crossed his left ankle onto his right knee, as he had a puzzled look on his face. "Sure" he said and gave his full attention to her. She placed her hands on the table and was looking at them nervously. "I don't know exactly how to say this, so I'll just come right out and say it. I'm not what most people think I...I um have... for lack of a better word a ‘gift’."

Simon wrinkled his eyebrows in confusion. "I'm not sure I'm following you... what's this all about?"  Amy leaned in towards Simon. "Please, I just want you to listen" as she said in a low tone looking around at the other tables to make sure no one was listening. Amy took in a deep breath before blurting out "I have visions."

Simon followed her actions and leaned in close and whispered "I don't understand how this has anything to do with me?" Amy sighed in exasperation "Well I had one the other day... you know when you handed me your ticket, which actually prompted me to drop the coffee. Listen, I know this sounds crazy but can I ask you a question?" Simon didn't really know how to react to the direction of this conversation "um, ok" he said reluctantly.

"What line of work are you in?" Amy asked as she started stirring her coffee with a spoon.

"I'm an accountant for a local radio station...Why?" Simon asked as he leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms over his chest.

"Ok... so somehow in a way you're involved with music." Amy said tilting her head as she stared at the funnel that formed in her coffee as she vigorously stirred it.

"I guess you can say that...bit of a stretched though. Listen, I'm gonna be honest this conversation is getting a little odd." he told her.

Amy took the spoon out of her cup and placed it on the table along side of her coffee. "OK, I'm gonna lay all the cards on the table... I saw you being the manager of a world famous boy band that has yet to be discovered. You were at the Brit Awards with five boys." she said as she wrapped both hands around her coffee cup.

Simon was dumbfounded. "You really don't expect me to believe this pile of rubbish you’re feeding me? Is this some kind of colossal joke? OK am I being punk'd? Where are the cameras?" He looked around with a smirk on his face expecting the people at the other tables to start laughing. But all he did was get dirty looks from them. "Did Sadie put you up to this? 'Cause you got me." he said as he put his arms out waiting for her reaction.

Amy crossed her arms and clenched her teeth together. "Listen, I didn't expect you to believe me anyways Simon. I was hoping you'd be more open- minded to what I have to say. This is exactly why I don't advertise my ability.”

Simon knew she was at her limit but wasn't prepared how to react to her. He barely knew her and now she's revealing a secret ability. How is he to know if this is a scam or not? His reaction was to let her down easy. How else could he get out of this smoothly without her portraying his as a complete jerk.

"Listen Amy, I want to thank you for the coffee and the dry cleaning bill you're a really sweet girl and all but..." he started to say as he was interrupted by a very irritated Amy.

"My visions usually aren't wrong... I also saw grouped letters... Like initials of some kind. I wrote them down." she told Simon as she reached into her pocket and brought out a folded piece of paper. She unfolded it to reveal ten letters grouped by two's. "There's got to be significance in some way."

Simon stood up seeing no other way to end this uncomfortable conversation except to walk away. He grabbed his phone and put it in his pocket. As he grabbed his keys, Amy placed her hand on his. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes. Time passed slowly for Amy as another vision overwhelmed her, but what she saw was sure to convince Simon she was telling the truth.

He quickly pulled his hand away from her grasp and yanked his keys off the table. "Sorry Amy but I'm not buying what you're trying to selling me here." He turns and walks away leaving Amy speechless.

She stood up determined to get him to believe her once and for all. "If you didn't trust me now maybe you'll trust me when I tell I know your car was broken into!"

Simon stopped dead in his tracks, turns to face her and exclaims "How could you know about that? That happened weeks before you started at this café? Seriously, I never told anyone... I didn't even file a report with the police!"

Leaving the table she walked towards Simon. "Exactly, maybe you'll believe me if you look under the passenger side floor mat. I don't know exactly what you need to look for but something was definitely hidden under it. For whatever it's worth I hope you can trust me."

Looking at her watch realizing her break is over, she apologizes to Simon and heads back into work leaving Simon speechless. He couldn't believe what had just occurred. He was curious now; he just had to search in his car. He was so confused, where was becoming the manager to a British boy band going to play out in his life? What was the purpose of the break and in and something planted in his car? Were the two somehow connected?