Bookie Paige [COMPLETED] [UNEDITED]

Chapter 4

Turns out Zip was right. In the next few weeks, which we spent living like cavemen in the Redwoods, I was able to predict what we would eat that night, where the next stream was, stuff like that. I couldn't see far away yet, only things that seemed to happen in twenty four hours from the vision. It was future-seeing all the same. Plus I could control what I wanted to see, and when I wanted to see it. They weren't random.

Right now, we were quietly slipping through the forest, towards the next stream. I had set snares, expertly made with my knowledge, to catch rabbits, and we were all occasionally munching on a cooked leg.

"Hey, Bookie," Owl said. "We almost there?"

I stopped walking and closed my eyes, concentrating. A vision of me walking through two trees and falling into a stream flashed across my eyes. I winced. "Yeah . . ." I looked around and saw the same trees, pointing to them. Owl crashed between them, followed by a splash.

"Hey!" he whined. "You knew that would happen."

I grinned. "It was me in the vision, though." Owl didn't stay mad, but rather sipped the water through a smile. The others rushed forward and drank. I followed and filled my water bottle before taking deep gulps. Then I closed my eyes and concentrated. I saw a herd of deer crashing through the stream to our left, and quickly pointed to where they would appear.

Everyone held their breaths and waited, while I pointed. A few moments later, the ground trembling, the herd appeared, led by a magnificent buck. Six does and a fawn followed. But one of the does, not the one with the fawn, accidentally hit my snare, it's leg getting trapped.

"Oh, no!" Zip breathed, while the deer struggled to pull its leg out. Then she turned on me. "You knew that would happen!"

I shook my head vigorously. "I ended the vision when I realized the deer would be running through here! I promise!" Zip bit her lip, then nodded. I looked at the struggling doe, and winced as I heard a small ripping sound. Owl was covering his ears and writhing on the ground. I would have hated to hear what this animal was saying.

"Will it live?" Rain asked quietly.

I closed my eyes and watched the scene play out. In the vision, Owl calmed the doe enough to let me open the trap. By then, though, the leg was bleeding profusely. The deer would limp away and survive for a few hours, but in the end, it would die. "No, sweetie, it won't."

Rain nodded and sobbed, sitting on the forest floor. "Owl, come on," I said. "The vision said you would calm it down and I would set it free, though it isn't going to live in the end." Owl nodded and started speaking, in deer, to the doe. It calmed down just enough for me to push to switch and set it free. It limped into the forest. Zip waved and I picked her up. She sobbed into my arms.

I closed my eyes, and a moment later, said, "It's going to rain, and there's a cave big enough for all of us this way." I headed in the right direction, and, with solemn faces, we marched into the cave and settled for the night.

The storm began slowly after and, though it was probably the rain, I could've swore I heard a deer's vain scream pierce the darkening air.