The Color of Clairvoyance

Trigger warning: violence and domestic abuse

   A burst of red. A dash of blue. A spiral of black slowly absorbing all the other colors around it. Taking over. The void grew bigger and bigger until there was nothing left. 

   That’s when Amie woke up. Her dreams were always strange in a way like that. She could never make sense of them, but she liked seeing the colors. Unless it was a black void of emptiness. She didn’t like that at all. 

   She always associated colors with her dreams and feelings. That day she chose a purple shirt, a color she hadn’t seen in her dream.

   “Hey, Aims,” her older brother, Dal, said as she sat down next to him on the couch. He was wearing a yellow t-shirt for a camp he’d spent the summer at. 

   “Hey,” she replied. 

   School was nerve racking. She kept waiting and waiting for the void to slowly suck everything up and for a life changing event to happen, but it didn’t. Then it didn’t. And still didn’t. 

   Nothing happened all day, setting Amie on edge even more than ever.

   The car ride home was an experience. “Mom don’t go down that road.” As soon as the words came out of Amie’s mouth, she didn’t know why she said it. She just knew something bad would happen if her mother drove down that road.

   “Aim, we go down this road everyday to get home. It’s the quickest way there and I’m in a hurry to get to my shift at the hospital,” her mother answered, turning the steering wheel and driving onto the road Amie had warned her against. 

   They had almost made it to the end of the road, when the car vibrated with a thump. 

   Amie’s mother cussed, “No, no, no. The tire can’t be flat!” She took a deep breath before adding, “You two stay in here, I’ll be right back.” 

   As soon as their mother was out of the car to investigate the tires, Dal turned around from the front seat to speak to his little sister,

“Why did you tell Mom not to go down this road?” 

   “I don’t know. It just felt . . .wrong.” Amie answered. 

   Dal looked at her like he was expecting more of an answer when their mother got back into the driver’s seat. “You guys are gonna have to walk home. I called someone to come fix the tire, but I’m not going to have time to go by the house before rushing to work.” 

   “Walk home?” Dal asked. 

   “Yes. Walk home with your sister. Your dad should be home. He’ll leave around eight, and be home around midnight. I should be home around that time too.” 

   “Ok, Mom.” Amie and Dal said in chorus. 

   They’re house sat about a half a mile from where the car’s tire had blown. They knew the directions to get there-a right at the end of the road, turn left onto Tegan Drive, the house was on the corner. A simple route to follow. 

   There weren’t any problems getting home. The pair watched for traffic, and got to their detonation safely. 

   Their father was waiting for them on the front porch. “Oh, good. You’re here. I’m going to call your mother back.” And suddenly he was gone. Just like always, Amie thought. Then she shook the thought out of her mind and went inside to get a snack. 

   “Has anyone seen my keys?” Their dad, now in his black bar t-shirt, asked coming out of his bedroom around seven thirty. 

   “On the table by the door.” Amie answered absentmindedly. She was zoned out attempting a math problem for that she had given up on caring about. Her brother was playing video games instead of homework, which he tried then decided he didn’t care about and could lie to Mom that he did. 

   “Okay,” their Dad came back to where his children were, “Leftover pizza is in the fridge, and your mom will be back later, so will I. Bye, guys.” And he was gone again, off to work. 

   “Bye, dad.” Amie and Dal said lamely as he was already out the door. 

   Amie went into her room shortly after eleven. There was a word written on the wall in huge letters. CLAIRVOYANT. 

   Clairvoyance. The power to see events that will happen in the future. 

   She blinked, and the message was gone. 

   Amie had never thought the fact that her dreams came true made her different. Was she clairvoyant? Probably not. How could a vision of colors be considered to come true? Besides, superheroes weren’t real even if she’s watched tons of those movies. 

   Amie tried to ignore these thoughts as she went to sleep. 

   A burst of red. A dash of blue.  A spiral of black slowly absorbing all the other colors around it. Taking over. The void grew bigger and bigger until there was nothing left. 

   Amie woke up to voices yelling in the hallway outside her room. When she went to investigate, she found her father waving a lit cigarette in her mother’s face. 

   “Amie, go back to bed.” Her mother said, but Amie wasn’t paying any attention. 

   The cigarette. A burst of red. Her mother’s scrubs. A dash of blue. 

   In her mind’s eye, she saw her father’s cigarette less than an inch away from her mother’s face, threatening to burn her. 

   When she snapped out of it, the same thing was happening. Without thinking, or breathing, Amie pushed her mother out of the cigarette’s path. She took the burn herself. 

   It was hot. Hotter than she imagined, not that she had time to imagine it. It burned, as fire does, and her immediate reaction would be to pull away, but she couldn’t do that. Whimpering, she stayed planted to the ground, watching her father’s reaction as the black void swallowed everything she saw. 

   The first thing she saw was the ceiling. More yelling in the background, and something poking her in the temple. That something turned out to be Dal. 

   “Ow!” she exclaimed. 

   “Oh thank God, you’re awake.” 

   “What happened?” She sat up, and leaned against the wall. 

   “Don’t know, I found you passed out on the floor a second ag-” 

   He was interrupted by their mother, now yelling at them. “Dallas! Amie! Get in the car. We’re leaving!” She grabbed her keys. 

   Their dad made a stern face and said something Amie didn’t understand, but when he raised his hand and their mother flinched, Dal intervened. Amie watched as he punched their father straight in the eye. That would leave a mark. 

   This started a fight between their father and Dal. Dal won, in the end, to spare the details. When their father was on the floor, their mother, along with Amie and Dal, rushed out the door and into the car.

   They didn’t know where they were going but one answer was clear. Away. 

   Amie thought about the word on her wall. She had seen what was going to happen to her mother, and helped her. No matter how that burn hurt, it was worth it. 

   She knew deep down that she was a clairvoyant; she had the power to see the future. She wouldn’t be able to tell anyone because they would think she was crazy, but that was just fine with her. She had a new life to start anyway.