Love Lines, # 1 (Chapter One)

Love Lines (Chapter One)

Chapter 1. Fate

Eileen

On an early Sunday morning I was awakened by a phone call from Amanda.

"How long do you think I should wait for you, Eileen?" My best friend's angry voice came in through the handset. "Do not tell me you're still sleeping! I've been stuck in this godforsaken cafe for an hour already! Do you think I have nothing better to do at seven o'clock on Sunday?"

"Good morning to you too," I said in a sleepy voice, answering all her questions at once. However, in less than five seconds, I was running to the bathroom, smashing on my way into a heavy stack of books on the history of ancient Greece, which I didn't have the time to pack yesterday. "I'll be there in twenty minutes, I promise!" I snapped.

How could I have forgotten about the meeting with Amanda? It was me who made her wake up so early on our last, as it seemed, day off in this life. I say the last because exactly in three days we are leaving our hometown Norfield, in southwest Britain, for the University of Sheffield - one of the best universities in the United Kingdom.

Two months ago, my best friend Amanda Jane Caitlyn Fairey and I graduated from high school. And now, after long and painful hours of writing essays and filling out countless application forms, we are finally going to Sheffield. By the way, Amanda can't stand being called by her full name. She says it sounds too pompous.

She and I have been as thick as thieves since childhood. We both wanted to go to a prestigious university, get a good education, find a prince, fall in love and live happily ever after just like in fairy tales.

Speaking of princes and fairy tales...

For several nights, I have had the same dream. I'm standing on the shore of a huge lake, and it seems to be so pure that the tiny grains of sand on its bottom can be seen through the crystal clear water. I want to touch the crystal surface, so I sit down and put my hand on it, watching a wonderful golden picture of complicated lace lines appear in front of me. It seems to be floating across the boundless lake, further and further away from my hand. I'm looking at it, mesmerized, until I notice a stranger's hand next to mine. It touches the water surface and begins to draw its own picture on top of mine, and though at first it seems to be different, I soon notice that the picture is identical to mine. The lines of my pattern that have already found their reflection in the stranger's picture begin to shine and sparkle with thousands of colors, creating an illusion of endless sunlight and warmth. But when I look up in the direction of the person standing next to me, I wake up with my heart beating fast and an odd tingling on my right shoulder. I get up, walk over to the mirror trying to see what could be wrong with my shoulder, but can't see anything unusual.

I have been having this dream for seven nights now. Hardly anyone would think that such things could be a mere coincidence, and neither would I. That's why I decided to tell Amanda everything.

"We have to do something about it, Eileen! Immediately! I'm sure, it's a sign. But the sign of what, I don't know," she said thoughtfully.

"Thank you, Darling, for being helpful," I muttered.

"Hey! I would ask you to spare me your sarcasm! By the way, my great-great-great ... well, it doesn't matter, my grandmother was a clairvoyant. So I know that such things do not just happen."

"Really? How long ago have you inherited this um... the gift of clairvoyance from your grandmother? I didn't even know you are a hereditary witch." I chuckled.

"No. I'm not a witch," Amanda said aggrievedly, pursing her lips. "All I'm saying is that my intuition has never cheated me."

Well, about the intuition she was definitely right. Amanda has always surprised me with a strange ability to guess the questions she would get on the tests, which is why she spent much less time to prepare for them, remembering only the answers to certain questions. She could as easily guess the weather for the next weekend, when we were planning another sally into a Big City, aka London. Unlike Norfield, it seemed to be a completely separate country, where you could always go on tour.