Ordinary Man

Jake was just an ordinary man. Nothing interesting ever happened to him, but that was all about to change. One morning while going for a run, just like he did every other morning, Jake got a strange feeling in the pit of his stomach. Something told him he needed to to go to the gas station at the corner of Freeman and Rallison. He tried to ignore the strange feeling but it only grew stronger. Finally, Jake changed his course and ended up going to the gas station, not sure of what he would find. As the gas station came into focus Jake noticed that something was off, he got a little closer and another strange feeling began brewing in his stomach only this time he saw a flash in his head. Fire, an explosion, people dying. Jake shook his head and looked back at the store in front of him. The smell of gas assaulted his nostrils, the gas pump was leaking. Jake’s eyes widened as he noticed a man casually walking by smoking a cigarette. The man probably had no idea that the gas pump was leaking when he threw his cigarette out. It flew right beside the leaking pump and instantly sparked a fire. Jake knee what was about to happen, he had to think fast. There was a woman with a baby who had just exited the store, Jake ran to her.

“Hey! You gotta get out of here! The pumps about to blow!”

Sheer panic washed over the woman as she turned and ran as far from the pump as she could, leaving her car behind. Jake ran into the store yelling for everyone to get down. Right as the bell chimes on the door the explosion was heard. The pumps were far enough away from the store that there wasn’t much damage, but Jake couldn’t help but think about what would have happened if that woman and her baby had been in their vehicle. He shook his head at the thought. The fire department came and managed to get the fire out safely and the police took statements from everyone who was in the store. Everyone was praising Jake for his quick thinking, but he couldn’t help but wonder what just happened? How did he know what was going to happen before it happened? He played over the strange events of the morning as he made his way back to his apartment. He sat on the couch trying to find a rational explanation for what happened, if there even was one. Maybe it was just luck? That had to be it Jake thought to himself. He decided to take a shower to wash off the events from the day and then head out to a new restaurant that had opened up just down the street. As he made his way down the street letting the wind hit him in the face and feeling the sun shining down on him he noticed another strange feeling in the pit of his stomach, and just like before it was accompanied with images flashing in his mind. The images were different this time though, they were images of an elderly couple being robbed at gunpoint. Jake couldn’t quite make out where the couple was, then he got another image flash, it was a street sign, ‘Morton St’ that was just a few streets over. Jake ran through the alleyways as fast as his legs could take him. He knew if this was like the last time he didn’t have much time to get there. Breathing heavily and sweat pouring off his face he finally reached the street in his vision. He looked around in all directions for the elderly couple, but not a soul was in sight. He took a deep breath and was just about to head back to the restaurant when he heard a voice from the other end of the alley. It was the elderly couple he had just saw in his mind. Jake took off down the alley running right toward the couple. As he reached where the couple had stopped, staring at him in confusion he took a deep breath as the elderly man asked.

“Are you alright, son? You look like you’ve just seen a ghost.”

Jake took another deep breath and said, “You guys can’t come down this way. Something bad is about to happen.”

“What are you talking about?” asked the elderly woman, “this is a shortcut to our house.”

“You don’t understand,” Jake said, “it’s not safe. You need to go around the other way. Please, just trust me.”

The elderly woman grabbed her husbands arm, “Maybe we should go the long way, Harold.”

Harold agreed and the couple turned and made their way back to the main road, looking back cautiously at Jake as he breathed a long sigh of relief. He had saved someone else, now if he only knew why he kept having these visions. He made his way back to his apartment and climbed into bed. Maybe he could figure it out tomorrow, but for tonight he needed some sleep. Jake awoke the next morning and went out for the morning paper. Right in front of his eyes on the front page was an article,

“Man arrested last night in the alley at Morton Street. He appeared to have been waiting on an elderly couple to rob. However the couple, who always cuts through that alley on their way home took a different route.”

Jake’s eyes widened as he realized that once again his vision was right. He wondered again how this was happening to him. At that moment he felt a sharp pain in his head as another vision came through. This time it was a man wearing a bomb walking into a bank. He recognized the bank almost instantly, but it was all the way on the far end of town. It would take Jake at least twenty minutes to get there. He quickly called a taxi and waited outside his apartment. As the taxi pulled to a halt Jake jumped in and gave the driver the address to the bank. The driver pulled out as Jake sat in the back, his leg shaking in anticipation. As the taxi pulled up to the bank Jake jumped out before it even had a chance to stop and ran into the bank. He looked around desperately for the man he saw in his vision. Jake caught a glimpse of the man on the sidewalk across the street near a small park heading toward the bank. He had to think quick, there wasn’t enough time to get everyone out of the bank safely. He yelled for the teller to call the police and ran outside, he wasn’t sure what he was going to do, but he had to do something. Anything. He felt a tear form in his eye as he realized what he had to do. He closed his eyes and took a breath before running as fast as he could toward the man. If he could time it right, he could get him in the park. There was nobody there so it was the safest place. He braced himself as the man saw him coming and turned to run away. Jake jumped toward the man and tackled him to the ground. A loud explosion was heard as police cars pulled up. It turns out Jake was more than just an ordinary man.