The girl.

    I know her name is Jamie.

    I know she’s going to die.

    I know how.

    I know where.

    And I know by who.

    I can’t warn her. I can’t stop it from happening. I’ve tried, but I’m always too late. Too late to save them.

    Jamie turns the corner and‒

    The gun goes off.

    I tried to yell for her to turn around, to go the other way.

    But she didn’t hear me.

    They never do.

    It’s as if I’m there. I can see them, I can hear them, I can feel them. But they can’t see me. They can’t hear me, and they can’t feel me.

    I want to save them.

    I wanted to save her.

    But it was too late. It’s always too late.

    I shot up from my bed and smacked my head on the ceiling. “Ah.” I fell back onto my pillow. “Ow. That hurt.” I rubbed my forehead.

    “You’re the one who wanted the top, Drew.” Wyatt mumbled in a sleepy voice.

    “Shut up, Wyatt.” I grabbed my pillow and swung it under the bunk, feeling it thunk as it smacked the solid object below.

    “Ow! What the heck?” He whined.

    “You’re the one who wanted to share rooms.” I rolled my eyes, and let a deep breath escape my body.

    It happened again.

    “It happened again.” I whispered.

    All the amusement in the room vanished and was replaced with an utter silence. “Who was it this time?” Wyatt asked, his voice soft.

    I closed my eyes, not wanting to relive the murder in my head. “A girl named Jamie. She lives in Seattle, but it happened outside of a small town called Thorp.” The video in my head pressed rewind, and it played over and over in my mind. “They’d kept her a prisoner for over a week, and she’d finally escaped her cage, but they’d planned it, and...and they shot her.”

    Wyatt remained silent. “Sorry, man.” He finally said.

    “Yeah. This one was worse.” I opened my eyes and stared at the blank ceiling. “It was as if I could feel her fear.”

    “When do we leave?” Wyatt got up and started putting on a pair of discarded jeans that he’d worn the day before. “It’s a long drive.”

    It was about an eight hour drive from Ashland, OR, to Thorp, WA.

    I propped myself up on my elbow and stared at him. “I don’t think we should do it this time.” I shook my head. “This one was different. They weren’t just amateurs, these guys were trained professionals, they could still be there, or maybe they’ve already taken care of the body.”

    Wyatt’s eyes narrowed. “‘Taken care of the body’? Andrew, you’re speaking of this girl as if she isn’t even a person anymore.”

    “Wyatt, she’s already dead‒”

    “But her family isn’t. Her family is probably hoping right now that they’ll see her again, and we both know that it’s false hope. They deserve to know what happened and who did this to their loved one.” Wyatt stared at me, his eyes ablaze.

    I shot my gaze away from him. “I told you. This one was different. I don’t know who did this to her. I don’t even know her last name.”

    “What?” Wyatt’s voice was shocked. “You’ve always been able to tell who it was. Why would it be different this time?” He ran his hand through his slick brown hair. “If you don't come with me, I’ll just go by myself, and then if those guys are still there, I guess I’ll be screwed.” He grabbed a black button up shirt and threw it on. “Listen, maybe you’ll get another vision and you’ll get the rest of the story, but it won’t do any harm to just check this one out.” Wyatt finished buttoning up the shirt and he stared at me. “We can even bring the glock if it’ll make you happier.”

    I closed my eyes and weighed my options. I sighed. “Fine, but we’re bringing the .22 too.” I saw his blank look. “The rifle with the scope.”

    He shook his head. “Yeah, I know what you’re talking about, I’m just wondering why. It’s a hunting rifle.” He narrowed his eyes. “We’re not shooting anybody, Andrew.”

    I bit my lip. “Don’t call me that, you sound like Dad. And I know we’re not shooting anyone, it’s just for protection and to make sure that the place is safe to go into.” I jumped down from the bunk and landed next to Wyatt. I put my hand on his shoulder. “Look, I’m sorry. This vision just got me a little freaked, all right. I’ve never been able to feel their pain or their fear before.”

    Wyatt nodded. “It’s fine, man.” He looked me in the eye, his green eyes bored into me. He said it cautiously. “We gonna call Jessie?”

    I took a deep breath. “Do you think we should?”

    He started to shake his head, but then ended up nodding it. “The more guys we’ve got the better, right? And she told us not to keep her out of the loop anymore.”

    I nodded. “All right. Call her, tell her to meet us at the diner in fifteen minutes.” Wyatt started to walk away, but I grabbed him by the elbow. “Wyatt.” He turned to me. “Tell her to bring her revolver.” He hesitated, nodded, then walked out the door.

    I let out a long breath I didn’t know I was holding.

    Few people knew my secret. My twin brother, Wyatt. Our cousin, Jessie. And my best friend, Zach. Since Wyatt and I turned sixteen, we became emancipated minors. As long as we could pay our rent and stay out of trouble, we were our own parents.

    I grabbed my cell and looked up Zach’s number.

    It took a couple of rings until he picked up, his voice sounded like he’d just woken up. “Zach here.”

    “Hey, Zach. It’s Drew.” I hold the phone between my ear and my shoulder and struggle to pull up a clean pair of dark jeans.

    “Oh hey, Drew. What’s up, man?” There was some ruffling, then it was clear again.

    “I had another vision.” I said slowly.

    There was silence on the other end for a while, but once Zach’s voice came back on it was crystal clear, no drowsiness at all. “I’ll be over in five.”

“Zach!”

“Yeah?” I heard ruffling again, and I knew he was moving things around, probably looking for some clean clothes.

“Bring your bow.”

Silence again. “Okay, be there in...four now.” And he was gone.

I grabbed an abandoned black and white plaid shirt and threw it on over my white undershirt, buttoning as I walked down the hall towards the apartment living room. I sat on the window seat next to the fire escape.

Wyatt was on his cell talking to Jessie.

I looked at my watch and counted the seconds down until Zach said he’d be there.

Seven.

Six.

Five.

Four.

The window behind me suddenly opened. And Zach slid through, pulling his bow in after him. “Hey, Drew.” He flashed his smile. “Does your brother know you invited me?”

“What the hell is he doing here?” Wyatt grabbed Zach by the elbow and turned him to face him. “What the hell are you doing here?”

“Did I miss the memo? When did hellos become old-fashioned?” He pulled away from Wyatt’s grip and fixed his red sweatshirt. “And I would take that as a no, he didn’t know.”

“What’s he doing here, Drew?” Wyatt turned to me, his eyes blazing. “I told you last time that he shouldn’t be coming, it’s too dangerous!”

“You called Jessie!” I shot back.

“Not dangerous for him, for us! He’s only a liability.”

“Oh, you called your cousin? Great, I always liked her.” Zach bounced on his heels excitedly. “Plus, she’s smokin’.”

Wyatt and I stopped yelling at each other and we both looked at Zach. “Did you just call my little cousin ‘smokin’?” Wyatt asked.

“Little cousin? She’s only a year younger than you guys, and yeah. She’s hot, dude.” Zach walked past us and leaped onto the couch.

Wyatt’s eyes followed him closely and he glared. “Drew, I’m gonna kill him.” He took a step forward, his glare deadly.

I stepped between them and put my arms out. “Zach, shut up before he tears your head off, and Wyatt, calm down, his mind isn’t developed enough to know better.”

Zach frowned. “Hey! Right here, man!”

“Let’s go, Jessie had to leave earlier because her mom was railing on her, so she’ll be at the diner in five.” Wyatt grabbed his leather messenger bag and threw it over his shoulder.

I nodded and grabbed the gun bag that held the .22, and threw on my backpack. “Zach, grab your bow, and try not to scare the crap out of our neighbors again. It wasn’t good on our reputation for being emancipated.”

Zach cracked a grin. “Just because some fire crackers happened to go off while I was around them, doesn’t mean it was me.”

I rolled my eyes. “They caught you on camera, Zach. And you’re just lucky that your dad’s a lawyer, because you’d be in juvie right now if he hadn’t gotten you off with community service.”

“I told you, somebody photocopied my face on the tape! It’s the twenty-first century, everything’s possible with technology!”

“Hey, dimwits!” Wyatt was standing by the door, that was now open. He looked annoyed. “Let’s go. Jessie’s probably already there, and it’s a long drive to...where are we going again?”

“Thorp, Washington. Just outside Seattle.” I answered.

“Yeah, and Seattle is a long drive, so we need to go, now.” He made the motion of, Let’s get a move on!

Zach stood up from the couch and grabbed his bow, throwing it and the arrows over his shoulder and walked past me. Before walking out the door, he stopped and looked at Wyatt. “Do you think Jessie will give me her number?” Wyatt tried to grab him, but he dodged him. With a wink he ran down the hall, laughing liked a crazed man.

I rolled my eyes and shook my head. “Ignore him, Wyatt. Like I said, he isn’t mature yet.”

Wyatt snorted. “He’s never going to be mature.”

I smirked. “Yeah, you’re probably right. We’re going to be like his parents forever. ‘Zach, don’t touch that pan, it’s on the stove!’”

“‘Zachy Poo, don’t you dare try to jump off of that roof. You can’t fly!’”

I doubled over laughing and clutched my stomach. “All right, let’s go.” I walked past him, into the hall.

Wyatt closed the apartment door and I acknowledged the lock clicking in place.

“I’ve got a weird feeling about this one.” I said quietly.

Wyatt narrowed his eyes. “I know, Drew. But we’ve got more people, so we’ll be fine.” He patted me on the shoulder then without another word, walked down the hall after Zach, and I followed him, trying to forget the uneasy feeling in my stomach.

We arrived at the diner and found a booth. Zach squeezed in next to me and Wyatt slid in across from us.

“Is it normal for a kid just to walk in with a bow and arrows? How am I not getting into trouble here?” Zach looked around, practically frowning from the lack of attention from the public.

“I thought you said that Jessie would be here in five?” I asked Wyatt, ignoring Zach. “It took us seven minutes to get here.” I looked around and spotted a familiar dark haired, pretty head coming from the street into the diner. “Scratch that. Here she is.”

Jessie searched around for a moment, but then her green eyes spotted us. Her expression was less than welcoming.

I gulped.

She strolled over to us and flopped down into the booth, next to Wyatt. “‘Sup, Wyatt?” She gave a short smile, and was frowning before anybody could register her perfect teeth. “Drew.” Her eyes softened at me for a second, then they shot to a certain blonde-haired boy next to me and hardened again. “What’s the friend doing here?”

Zach was staring at her, his blue eyes mesmerized. “I’m here to protect the king over here.” He shot a thumb in my direction. “And perhaps save a princess?” He winked.

Two sets of green eyes rolled and the third glared at him. “Drew, I’m still thinking of doing what I wanted in the apartment.”

“Oh, get a grip, Wyatt.” Jessie smirked. “Let the boy dream.” She put her hand on Zach’s and he looked like he was going to jump out of his skin. “Zachy.” She said in a sweet voice. “This.” She motioned between them. “Will never happen. Even if Cupid himself shot a couple of lovey-dovey arrows in my ass. It’s just not realistic.”

I felt a sting of guilt. I should’ve warned Zach of Jessie’s icy words.

Zach smirked, seemingly unfazed by her coldness. “We don’t need Cupid, honey. It’ll happen on it’s own.”

Jessie frowned, then pulled her hand away. She looked at me. “Drew.” She softened her eyes. “What happened this time? Wyatt said it was different.”

I shifted uncomfortably. “I...I could feel her fear, her pain.” I stuttered. “And I don’t know the suspects’ names, or her last name.”

“Suspects? They’re murderers, Drew.” Wyatt said coldly.

I nodded. I knew they’re murderers, I just didn’t want to admit it.

“He knows that, Wyatt.” Jessie said softly. “What else?”

I took a breath and closed my eyes, forcefully trying to remember every detail. “Some parts of it were blurry. It’s always been crystal clear, but this one wasn’t.”

“Are you writing this down, Zach?” Wyatt asked.

“Should I be?” Zach asked, confused.

“Yes! We need to know all of this so if it happens again, we can see if it’s getting worse or better!” Wyatt shook his head. “Do we really need this idiot?”

I nodded. “He’s a good shot with a bow, and the more the better, remember?”

“Sure, the part of me being your best friend doesn’t matter, and if it’s getting worse, couldn’t that mean that he’ll be free of it? Like, it’ll go away?” Zach asked, pulling out a mini notebook. “I mean, that’s a good thing, right?”

“It’s both good and bad.” Jessie answered. “Good, because nobody should have to endure this, but bad because these people will be getting away with murder. Also, we don’t know if it’ll just go away, or if something worse could happen.”

“Something worse?”

“As in me dying.” I sighed. “You’re saying that maybe it’s a part of me, if it goes away, I could go away as well.”

“It’s only a theory, not even a realistic one.” Wyatt said reassuringly.

“Wait a minute, you think this could be tied to his life?” Zach stopped writing and looked up with a worried expression.

“Well, it arrived just as he was about to die.” Jessie reminded him. “The car accident is what triggered it, and the near death experience, so it could be that it’s keeping him alive.”

“Can we please stop talking about me dying? Please.” I looked down, embarrassed by the weakness in my voice.

The waitress came and looked at us. I looked up at her and she gave me a friendly smile. “I’m Sophie, I’m your waitress. Can I get you guys anything to drink?”

I stared at her. Her brown hair pulled neatly in a ponytail at the back of her head, her dark blue eyes curious.

Something was familiar about her.

Her name is on the small rectangular name tag pinned to her outfit.

Sophie Craft.

“I think we’re good,” Jessie said, giving a smile that — only if you knew her well enough to know — was fake. I would’ve shot her a look, to tell her to be nice, but I was too busy looking at the waitress.

“Actually, I think my buddy here would like something.” Zach’s voice was barely audible.

It took me a some time to register that he was talking about me. Sophie’s eyes averted to me. “Yes?”

I looked at Zach, then back to Sophie. “Um...yeah. I’ll take a caramel lattè,” I said the first thing that came to mind.

She wrote it down and looked back up to me. “For here, or to go?”

“To go.” Jessie answered before I could. Then she smiled her fake smile again. “Please.” I glared at her.

Sophie stared at Jessie, and Jessie stared right back, then Sophie put on a smile. “I’ll have that right away.” And without anything else, she left.

As soon as she was out of earshot I glared at Jessie. “Seriously? Why were you so rude to her?” Jessie was always like that to others. Cruel and cold.

Jessie rolled her eyes. “I wasn’t being rude, I was being realistic. Also, you can’t be flirting with some waitress when we’ve got to go find some murderers.” She leaned forward and looked me in my eyes. “Have you even thought anything through, Drew? Have you thought of the danger it could bring to anybody who you want to get close to? Or what if you have a vision of her? Then what are you going to do?”

“What if I have a vision of you?” I shot back, trying to show that what she was saying wasn’t getting to me, but even I didn’t convince myself. She was getting to me, and what she was saying was right.

“Hey, lay off.” Zach patted my back. “Drew here can do whatever he wants. He should be able to live his life still.”

I gave him a limp smile.

“Jessie, I need to talk to you in private.” Wyatt looked at her with strong eyes. Even though I’m the one with the visions, we all knew that he’s the leader.

Jessie sighed and got up, letting him out. He walked away from the table and with a huff, Jessie followed.

“Jeez. Your cousin’s really a downer.” Zach leaned back and whistled. “I mean, it’s like when you go up to a dog, and you’re all like, ‘Aw, puppy,’ and then it turns out to be a rabid Doberman that tries to kill you.” I looked at him and raised an eyebrow. “She’s the Doberman. Cute on the outside but as cold as ice inside.”

I turned away from him and shook my head. I noticed Sophie coming back and again I couldn’t help but stare at her beauty.

She smiled and laid a styrofoam cup in front of me. I muttered a thank you, but she didn’t leave.

“That girl that was here.” She said shyly. “Is she...like your girlfriend or something?” She averted her eyes away from me, embarrassed.

Zach snorted, and I shot him a look.

I looked up at her and shook my head. “No. She’s my cousin, and I’m sorry about her behavior. She’s very protective of me.”

Sophie smiled. “Well, in that case.” She pulled a sharpie out of the little pocket of her apron and grabbed my cup. She scribbled on it and set it back down in front of me.

I twisted it and her name is scrawled across, along with seven digits and a smiley face. I looked up at her and smiled. “Wow, it’s like in a movie.”

She blushed and shrugged. “I think I picked it up somewhere.”

I nodded. “Well, thank you, Sophie. I’ll make sure to cherish this single styrofoam cup forever.” I felt more relaxed, but the moment ended early.

“What’s your name?” She asked.

I opened my mouth to reply. “Busy, his name is busy, because we are currently busy.” Jessie and Wyatt returned, and my moment of casual and normalcy came to a crashing end.

“Jessie, shut up.” Zach snapped, actually seeming to be annoyed.

“Drew. My name’s Drew Holdsman.” I answered. “And this is my cousin, Jessica.” I pointed to Jessie, who scolded me for saying her full name. “My buddy, Zach, and my brother, Wyatt.” Zach clicked his tongue and pointed at her. Wyatt gave a small wave and put a hand on Jessie’s shoulder.

“Well, Drew. We need to go. It’s a long drive.” Wyatt grabbed his jacket and bag. He looked at me with eyes of, Let’s go!

I nodded and looked at Sophie. “Thanks for the latté, and for the extra.” She smiled and Jessie snorted.

“If you don’t mind me asking, where are you going?” She asked innocently.

“I mind you asking, actually.” Jessie growled.

“Wyatt?” I said through gritted teeth. She was really getting on my nerves, and those days, my nerves were very fragile.

He nodded and grabbed Jessie’s arm. “Let’s go, Jessie. See you outside, Drew.” I nodded as he pulled the reluctant Jessie.

Zach patted me on the back and smiled. “Nice to meet you, Sophie, but I need to make sure that she doesn’t kill him.” And with a wink, he trotted off after Wyatt and Jessie.

I exhaled and shook my head. “It’s a complicated family relationship.” She nodded an understanding. “Anyways, we’re going to drive up to Seattle to meet some other family.” I’d gotten very good at telling half truth and half lie over the year and few months I’ve had the visions.

“Oh, cool.” Sophie tilted her head a little to the right, and the sun hit her face at a perfect angle, making her look angelic. “My sister lives in Seattle.”

I smiled. “Really? Why so far away?”

“Well, she wanted to be a writer, so she went to SU. It’s got a good program, and it was close enough to home. She paid for it all by herself, since our dad couldn’t pay for it.” She reached into the pocket of the apron again and pulled out a small purse. She opened it and pulled a small piece of paper out. “I know it’s a huge city, but you know, if you see her, make sure to tell her you know me.” She flipped the paper around showing a familiar brunette.

Almost unrecognizable without dirt splattered on her face, and without the expression of pure and utter fear.

My heart stopped for more beats than I could count. I swallowed hard. “What’s your sister’s name?”

Sophie smiled, “Jamie.”