CHAPTER ONE

"Nineteen, eighteen, seventeen...." Lisa's family and friends counted down in unison. It was her nineteenth birthday and was supposed to be one of the happiest days of her life but she was too far from being happy. Her mind was far lost in thoughts, thoughts of what would happen if what she saw or rather what she thought she saw came to reality.

"Fourteen, thirteen, twelve...." Three days ago, when she first saw it, right after looking into her father's eyes, it was the first time she saw beyond the present while speaking with her father, she had told her parents once again for the first time in eleven years after her mum warned her not to ever mention such nonsense to her hearing, after her father laughed and told her to get some sleep, and once again they ignored her like they did when she was six and seven and eight years old.

"Nine, eight, seven..." They ignored her and that was what annoyed and terrified her at the same time. Jena, her best friend, never believed her for once and she was more than lucky not to end their seventeen years of friendship three days ago when she narrated what she saw about her older brother to her.

"Three, two, one, Lisa!!!!!" They all chorused as she cut her birthday cake. She felt it around her. There was an unending tension nobody else but her could feel. So many times, she had foreseen bad things happening to people after making an eye contact with them. Once, she had been able to save someone, thrice, what she saw never happened, so many times she witnessed people's misery after failing to convince them enough.

"Make a wish, Lisa." Her mum said to her with a bright smile. She closed her eyes tight and prayed that her mum's smile wouldn't turn into bitter tears. She wished that this would be one of those three times when what she saw never came to pass. All she wanted was for her father and Roman, Jena's brother to scale through the doom she foresaw.

"Selfie time!" One of her cousins yelled.

"Isn't it too early to start taking pictures?" Jena asked, although everyone had already gathered together to start taking pictures. Except her.

"Aren't you coming Lisa?" Jena asked.

Why should she, she thought. Why should they be so excited when something wasn't going to be right anytime soon. But she strode along to where they were all waiting for her. She didn't want to make a big deal out of it.

"Everyone say cheese!" Her cousin called out as they all posed before the camera. 'It isn't a big deal' she kept telling herself. 'Nothing's going to happen' Jena's words kept ringing in her ears. 'It's just some stuff going on in your head that doesn't want you to be happy on your big day'. But is it just that? She thought. Was it just some stuff going on in her head when the car accident happened? Or when the fire incident took place? Or when....

"You look like someone that's going to die any minute." Jena whispered to her, interrupting her thoughts.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that you should at least try to force a smile. You don't look so great in the pictures we've been taking. I'm surprised no one has noticed yet."

"I'm not feeling too well," she lied. Just then, Jena's phone rang. She hurriedly excused herself to pick the call outside.

"Can we eat something now?" Lisa's youngest cousin whined while they were still taking pictures.

"What would you like to eat?" Her father asked as the selfie time came to a sudden end. Lisa scanned the room that was mainly filled up with her cousins and few neighbours in search of Jena, who had not returned since she left. When she didn't see her, she decided to look for her outside.

"Jena!" She called when she didn't see her at the front yard, but there was no reply. She took out her phone to call her when she failed to find her at the backyard either, but saw the text Jena had sent her. 'It's Roman. Something came up. I'll be right back.' Her phone was on silence so she could not see it earlier. Satisfied, she turned to walk back to the house but then it struck her. She had seen something bad happen to Roman and had felt uneasy throughout the day.

"Lisa, it's time to receive your birthday presents." Another cousin of hers called out to her. She tried calling Jena's phone as she walked back to the house, but there was no answer.

"Where were you?" Her aunt questioned as she stepped into the house or rather bumped into her at the front door.

"And your friend?" She added, holding out her hand and searching for Jena with her eyes at the same time.

"Something came up, but she'll soon be back."

"Hurry up then. Everyone's waiting for you."

She nodded and walked inside, meanwhile Jena was already at her house, looking for her brother.

"Roman!" Jena called as she ran into the living room. She had been running since Roman called, till she boarded a taxi and she continued her race after the taxi driver dropped her off. She couldn't make out what her brother said before the call ended and when she tried calling again, it didn't go through.

"Roman!" She called again but there was no response.

"Are you there? Roman!" She called out in panic as she ran up the stairs to his room. There was no need for her to be scared, that was the kind of person she was. She hardly feared anything, but something was not right about that call and the fact that she couldn't reach him again was what disturbed her more.

"Roman!" She called again as she entered his room. He was not there. He was at home when she left for Lisa's but he wasn't in his room now. She walked to his bathroom, tapped on the door lightly and turned the door knob when she didn't hear any response.

"Roman?" She whispered as she peeked inside the bathroom. He wasn't there. She remembered he complained of headache before she went out. Could it be that he went to get drugs from a chemist's shop? 'But why did he call and end the call abruptly?' She thought.

After confirming that he was nowhere in the house, she decided to return to Lisa's house with the hope of hearing from him later in the day.

Lisa's mum presented her gift to Lisa first, followed by her dad and the rest of the guests. When Jena didn't return after everyone had presented their gifts and even played few games, she became very anxious.

"Mum, I'll be back soon. There's something I need to check." She whispered to her mum and hurried out before she could stop her.

"What's going on with her?" An uncle of hers asked as he saw her running out.

"Don't mind her. Children of these days are now something else, they don't even know what is important and what is not." Her father replied and they all laughed it out.

"Rivers Street." Lisa called out breathlessly after a taxi pulled up in front of her. She had been running since she left home hoping to meet Jena at her house. Just as she pulled the door of the vehicle open, Jena alighted from a taxi that was just behind the one she was about to board.

"Jena!" She called out, trying to get her attention.

"Hey, Lisa. Where are you going? Aren't you supposed to be at home?"

"Did you see your brother?" She asked, ignoring Jena's question.

"No. He's not at home. I'm sure he'll be back soon.

"Why? Why are you so sure? Did you hear from him?"

"He called, but I couldn't make out what he was say......"

The taxi driver who was beginning to grow annoyed, interrupted them with his car horn.

"I'm sorry." Jena said to him with an apologetic smile. "She was coming to get me, so I don't think she would be needing the ride again." She added, but an already tensed Lisa, blocked her attempt to shut the door and shoved her inside the taxi instead.

"Majesty Avenue." She smiled to the driver after shutting the door.

"What are you doing?" Jena asked in confusion.

"I know you always think I'm mad whenever I bring this up and I really wish that you're right but right now I really need to be sure of something."

"What do you mean. What are you even saying?"

"Remember, I told you three days ago about that stuff I saw about Roman, I'm not...."

"Wait what?" Jena interrupted. "Look I'm already stressed out. I warned you never to bring up this issue again. Are you even okay? How can you wish that for Roman?"

"I'm not wishing him that okay?! I saw something about my father too. I told you so we would be able to figure something out. You're my best friend and you're supposed to support me and not...."

"You girls are quite loud." The driver called out sternly.

"Can you imagine?" Jena started, facing the driver.

"She says she sees things, I don't know what she means by that and I've told her countless time to stop saying stuffs like that."

"That's weird." The driver said, looking at Lisa from the rear-view mirror.

"That's not even the issue. It's not like I believe her or something but she came to me recently and was like she saw something bad happen to my brother, that he was hit by a vehicle and all whatnot. I mean how can she say that to me, her best friend. It's not like they're not even in good terms, I mean they're friends too, so why should she say things like that about him."

"Jena." Lisa called out softly.

"Don't Jena me. What's the meaning of all this?"

"Well I think you should hear her out. I mean she wouldn't make up all this for fun, you know?" The driver spoke up again.

"What? You're even supporting her?"

"I'm not, but you were the one that sought out my opinion so....." He trailed off, expecting Jena to figure the rest of his sentence out.

"Wow," she sighed, expressing her disappointment in that single word.

"Won't you ask me why we are going to Majesty Avenue?" Lisa asked.

"Should I?" She replied sarcastically.

"Well it's because you're going to meet him there."

"That's great isn't it? You should have just told me before now and save me all this stress."

"He complained of headache, didn't he?" Lisa burst out, looking at her intently. "And you told him to check your dresser for any pain relief, didn't you?" She added aware of the shock on Jena's face.

"Well I'm sure you would like to know why he called." She continued. "That's because he was at a chemist's shop and he wanted to get the name of the pain relief you usually use for headaches. But his battery was low and he didn't realise it until it shut down while he was talking to you, then he decided to go with any drug the chemist recommended provided it would stop the headache. He paid for it, left the shop but never made it too far away from the shop. Would you like to know why?" She paused, trying to stop the tears already welling up in her eyes.

"Lisa, nothing bad happened to him right?" Jena asked her, her voice already shaking.

"I told you the rest three days ago." Lisa whispered.

"He's dead." Jena said, like she was asking a question and making a statement at once. "Lisa? What....."

"If we get there on time maybe we can be able to do something. Or I may be wrong as you said. You know these things have a way it works and it might not happen, so there's that too." Lisa said trying to give herself hope, but it was no use because almost immediately, the siren of an ambulance was heard from a distance and where were they???

Majesty Avenue.

"Roman!!!" Jena tore off the car.

"Roman!" She cried out as she ran towards the crowd. She saw someone covered in blood on the floor and immediately recognised him because of the sweatshirt he put on.

"Roman!" Lisa crouched down beside Jena. A very little piece of her heart hoped that things would not turn out this way. She was more than devasted because once again she was reminded of how terrible her life was. Once again, she was reminded of how she failed another person.

"Lisa? He's not answering me." Jena cried, shaking him almost violently.

"Jena." She reached out to comfort her, although she herself was in tears.

"Where are your parents?" A police officer asked Jena after gathering informations from people that witnessed the scene.

"They're not in town." Lisa answered instead, sensing that Jena would be unable to reply any question.

"Well this is a very serious issue. I would appreciate it if you can give them a call right now. I'll love to speak to either of them." He requested.

Taking Jena's phone, she dialed her father's number and handed it to the officer, the moment he picked up. She already knew what the officer was going to say to him, because she had seen that part too.

She called Jena's father because from what she saw, Jena's mum passed out after hearing the news of her son's death from the officer. She watched the police officer walk away with the phone as he explained in details what happened from the moment Roman walked out of the chemist's shop to the time when the drunk driver lost control of his car and knocked him down on the road.

She looked round and saw the shattered car in the same spot where she saw it three days ago. It was very obvious that the owner of the car didn't survive the accident too. She looked down at Jena who was weeping furiously and resumed comforting her. Just then, she heard her phone ring.

"Lisa, I've been calling. Where are you? It's very urgent." Her cousin whined in a tensed tone, when she picked the call. She looked at her screen and realised that she had indeed missed her call twelve times.

"What's going on?" She asked trying to sound normal.

"It's your dad." She replied in between hiccups, an evidence of an ongoing tears. "He got an urgent call from the office, so he rushed out to get there on time and," another hiccup broke off her sentence. "We just got a call that he was involved in an accident....."

And that was all it took for Lisa to pass out.