Perception

XXIII

The bright light falling through the open curtains was harsh on her unopened eyelids as she slowly transitioned into consciousness. And there was a second, just a short moment of peace, of comfort, as she lay curled up under the soft comforter, but then everything came flooding back in.

The evening had been so wonderful, so comfortable, but she realised straight away now that she hadn't gotten any more information, she'd not talked about the headaches with Eli at all, even though that was why she'd said yes to the date in the first place.
And then she'd had another dream. Or vision, whatever it was.
Vision?
It was so vivid, so real... it almost had to be, no? God, she hoped that Sarah would succeed in making an appointment with the seer. Maybe the seer could help her make sense of all this.
And then there was Eli. Eli, who had done everything right last night. Who had understood her so well, who had made her feel so at ease, so natural.
She clutched the beads to her chest once more, feeling the remnants of the headache she would have had without them leaving her system.
Those beads... what on earth did they mean?
And, more importantly perhaps... who were they from? She remembered so vividly how she had felt last night as she had taken them out of their box, how they had felt like a hug, almost like a real life person standing up to protect her.

Reality crashed in suddenly then and she realised that such a thing as a clock existed. She sat straight back up in bed in shock.
Shit!
It was ten. She was way late, and there would be people waiting for her. And Sarah was probably worried about her too, or at the very least wondering what was going on.
She jumped out of bed and threw on some jeans and a shirt, and then she found her phone in her backpack.
Yep, there were several messages from Sarah. She quickly opened her phone as she threw a granola bar in her bag for later.

     'Hey sista, did you have a good evening? Are you maybe *still* having a good evening? :-P'

     'Anna, seriously, let me know how you are, okay?'

The last message was from only a few minutes ago.

    'Eli is here, you're not. I'm worried. Please let me know you're okay?'

She quickly typed her reply.

     'I'm so sorry I worried you Sarah, I overslept. Heading out now, will fill you in in a bit!'

She shook her head, irked at herself. Lovely friend she had been, letting Sarah worry overnight, huh? She really should have thought to contact her when she got in last night.
She would apologise to her as soon as she saw her.
Anna threw one look into the mirror at her pale reflection with its harrowed eyes and then she all but ran out the door, heading back towards the centre.

Even though rush hour was over there were still a lot of people on the ferry, but she'd never felt this alone on it, ever. She knew she was on the very same boat as last night, because she'd read the number on the cabin above her as she got on. So she knew that the last time she'd been on here Eli had been right there, right next to her, chatting to her and bantering with her. She walked to the railing, to the very spot they had occupied together just a few hours ago, and put her arms on the top metal bar, staring out into the small white waves of the ferry's wake.
How vehemently she wished he was there next to her right now, there to hold her hand and talk to her about all the confusing things that were going on with her, helping her to make sense of it.

Because if there was one thing she was sure of now, among all the chaos of the past week: she could not have met this man by accident. It all must mean something.