Beautiful lies and painful truths

Huff...Huff..Evan sprinted through the overly crowded street like a lunatic, and occasionally stopped to fill his exhausted lungs with some air. 'No time to waste,' once again he reminded himself as he continued his journey; his destination was not nearby, he have to make his way to the Arizon Plaza, and no cabs were within sight. His mind was in a tempest of thoughts and his face was displaying various mixed emotions. With forehead breaded with perspiration and eyes full of determination he continued his journey.

Rather than the external pain, internally Evan was fighting with himself. Being born with the ability to foresee the future, Evan believed everyone was the same. That was until he met Emily, she was the love of his life, his world, and his beloved wife, it was by staying with her he understood how different he was from others. Knowing the truth he felt the whole world collapsing upon him. He didn't want to disappoint her with the truth as he himself couldn't draw a conclusion about him being a monster or a human so he decided to take his secret to the grave along with him.

Everything was peaceful until his worst nightmare evaporated to the surface. It was one fateful night when he saw his beloved wife crushed under debris of concretes and bricks and surrounded by her own pool of blood. Her beautiful face rested on the glossy alabaster floor pale and lifeless. Only their wedding ring shone on her long slender finger even though soaked in blood as red as roses. He heard sobs, he heard crying and the voice of reporters telling about the sudden earthquake that made the newly built Arizon Plaza to collapse. He jolted up from his sleep shivering from fear. 'Was it really just a nightmare?' he questioned himself but at the back of his mind he can't really deny his ability as it also can be a fragment of the near future.

He persuaded his wife to stay at home for the whole week. He was determined to fight with whatever the cruel fate of destiny held for them. But it all turned to nothing with a single text message,'Honey I am sorry for not listening to you, I always love you but my bestie came from Canada few days ago and today she told me about her wedding so I came with her to do some shopping at the Arizon Plaza. Don't worry I will be back soon. Love you.' Reading the message numerous emotions rushed through Evan's mind - anger, sadness and mostly guilt.

He didn't remember anything only the last thing he knew that he was running on the street like a lunatic. He hopped the stairs in front of the plaza and took out his phone to call Emily but unfortunately she was not answering his calls. He looked here and there for a long time as his mind had already stopped processing.

Suddenly an idea formed on his mind and he started to sprint again. He opened the door of the announcer's office. The woman seating on the chair in front of the old wooden table with the microphone looked at him and said,'Yes how can I help you?.' Evan told her his wife was lost while shopping and she forgot to bring her phone with her, he told her to tell Emily that her husband is waiting for her outside the plaza. The announcement was long done and he felt relieved as he saw his wife with her friend through the transparent glass windows exiting the plaza.

He was on the second floor suddenly the entire building started to vibrate vigorously and bits of concrete started to fall off the ceiling. He dased through the stairs and was close to the exit, but he stopped to the sound of crying. He turned back and his eyes fell on a small child hugging a brown furry teddy bear. The child was horrified by the entire situation and was paralyzed with fear. He moved towards her and carried her to the exit but unexpectedly a huge concrete block fell of the ceiling on his head and warm liquid rolled down his cheek. The next thing he knew was the darkness consuming him.

Beep..beep..beep..the entire room was filled with this sound and the strong antiseptic smell hitting his nose forced Evan to open his eyes from his long sleep. His surrounding was unfamiliar not the one he saw the last time. He was checking his new surrounding until his eyes fell on the mysterious new visitor. He was wearing a long dull black coat, holding an ancient style analogue clock. 'So how are you feeling?,' the visitor asked like an old friend. Evan stared at him for a long time and then opened his mouth to ask ' who are you?' but was interrupted by Emily's crying she rushed to him and hugged him telling him how sorry she was for not listening to him and it was her fault that he is in that condition. He wanted to confront her but his head throbbed from an unbearable pain and the machine near his bed suddenly went 'beep,beep,beep,beep.' Evan heard footsteps running towards him and realized that it was his machine beeping. Emily rushed forward. She was clearly in a state of panic. She shouted,'Nurse!' just then the nurse dashed in followed closely by the doctor. They did not seem to mind the new visitor sitting on the other side of the bed. Surperisingly the throbbing pain in his head was gone and he was able to stand on his feet. Then, as if he remembered something, he turned towards Emily. She was sobbing and the doctor was consoling her. The nurse was drawing the blinds.

Evan caught a glimpse of someone in the bed. It was a man in his thirties with charcoal black hair. Suddenly he realized that he was looking at himself and that was the time when he heard the new visitor announcing 'it's time to go.' Evan bewilderedly looked at Emily hoping she would stop him from leaving. The visitor patted him on the shoulder and asked 'Now do you regret changing the future?'