Esperansa- (the re-write)

Something The Psychic Missed

Chapter Sixteen

Things began to change after Alysson's death. Life went back to the relaxed way it had been before. I was dismayed to find that little Harry would not be coming into our care anytime in the near future. He had an Aunt; Kathleen lived in Rio de Janeiro and didn't even know she had a nephew until social services contacted her, announcing her as Harry's only living relative. It must have been awful for Kathleen, especially discovering her niece had died before she could get to them. Luckily for Harry, Kathleen and her partner Ana had been happy to take Harry.

I was upset at first, having made such a connection with the child who was really nothing to me but a memory of my boys, but I had seen his future. I saw him on the sunny beaches sporting a nice tan that mismatched his baby blond hair. He was safe and happy, so we should be too. But not everything was cleared up so easily. There was something going on- something was still taking a hold on my body, doing something to make me ill. I didn't know what was happening at all but I had a feeling, something was definitely on the horizon.

It was 9am, the first time I'd been in bed at 9am on a Saturday for a long time. The light of a rare sunny day shone through a slit in the curtains welcoming the day ahead, whatever it contained. Alice hadn't woken up yet, she was a small curled up lump under the duvet. She had recently become much more tiered than she used to be, she had acted similarly when she was ill back in April. She was usually like walking electricity- a mass of energy I still thought we were missing something, something had to be making her like this- she wasn't Alice.

Carlisle had prompted that she might have a vitamin deficiency, he had sent for her to get a blood test next week, to check not only her iron and vitamin levels but for any other illnesses. The thoughts of the 'c' word kept coming back to me. She had been so ill before- would she be able to fight a disease like that, would her undependable hormones make her impossible to treat. I was getting ahead of myself, Carlisle was quite sure it all came down to her she not getting enough iron even if her diet didn't indicate such a problem.

That didn't explain the rest, there was more to it than that, and I just couldn't put my finger on it, for example take the events of Thursday.

(Thursday)

"...And I have to take back that new top I got last week, strangely it's too tight across here," she indicated with her fingers across the fullest part of her chest, "And don't even mention across-" with that she stopped, stood stock still in the middle of the shopping mall. I knew the vacant look in her eyes but she didn't normally stop so suddenly. If she had to stop she was normally able to keep walking again whilst still concentrating on the vision, a skill she had acquired after years and years of practise.

I managed to help her walk over to the wall and kept her there, she grasped at my hand, twisting her own in mine. Something wasn't right, her stationary stance had told me that enough if her worried gestures didn't. I stood in front of her, so I could keep her eyes on mine. She knew I was there even though she couldn't see me. I rubbed her back and leaned around her body. It was instinctual, she was vulnerable like this and plus, it was easier to talk to her without people hearing.

"What is it? What do you see?" I asked her, the questions had become almost first nature to me. She shook her head, saying nothing until her eyelids began to flutter and then opened. Her eyes looked up into mine, silently assuring me she was alright.

"I, it was strange. It was almost as if it wasn't my vision. I was looking up at myself from the ground. I was lying flat on my back and the real me was above. The real me was kneeling over whoever I saw it from but the quality of the image was- awful. Like looking through the eyes of an animal, it was all colourless and blurry. I could barely make out my own face." She told me as we continued walking.