"My Subsequent Life" By Juliana Cooper

When I turned 12, in a small town in New York, I knew my future. I knew it from the beginning of my life but I didn't accept my future thoughts until I turned 12. I thought that everyone had their own set path. I guess I was erroneous.

"What do you wish for?" My mother asked me on my twelfth birthday.

"What's there to wish for? I already know my future outcome. You got me a makeup set and a diary with a purple pen that you got from A.C. Moore," I said without any form of hesitation.

My mother cocked her head and stared at me with such confusion that it began to scare me.

"How did you know that? Did your daddy tell you? Did you peek into the bag?" She interrogated.

"No, I just know," I said, even more confused that she was.

"How?" She asked.

"Doesn't everyone know? I thought that everyone knew things like that," I said. "For instance, you and daddy have been wanting to take me to Poland to see our family and that's your suprise to me for Christmas this year," I said with a bemused face.

My mother didn't even answer. She went straight to my father and screamed at him for telling me about our Poland trip. He swore that he didn't tell me and I told her to stop yelling at him because he really didn't tell me. I just knew.

"Margaret," My mother said. "If you know all of your future then what is the profession that you will take for life?"

She kept a profound look on face. She seemed interested and her captivated look honestly made me shudder. I have never been put on the spot like that but I knew the answer, I just wasn't sure whether or not I was right.

"I'm going to be a background dancer in musicals on broadway," I said without any assertiveness. It didn't sound right. It wasn't a realistic job. I didn't even dance but that's what my mind told me, so I said it.

My mother seemed relieved. She laughed and told me to get some "shut-eye" before I scare her again.

That night, I got a vivid dream of me dancing on the Broadway Stage for "Hairspray". I did the entire dance when I awoke from my slumber. My mother came up to my room and saw me dancing. She was surprised by how good and professional it was for never even taking a single dance class in my life.

"Are you trying to tell me that you want to take dance lessons?" She said with a grin. "Why didn't you ask me yesterday?"

"I guess so, it's very fun, and oh I don't know, didn't come to mind," I said.

10 years later, I became a professional dancer for broadway. I've only ever danced in Hairspray and the routine that I had memorized from my dream was the same exact choreography that I had to re-learn for the play. I wasn't sure why I could know my future. I thought everyone did but I guess it was only I who had that talent. Some call it stupid and don't believe me. Others find me eccentric and say that I probably just think I knew it. I didn't just think I knew it, I did know it.

I've gotten interviewed by plenty of people. The interviewers seemed to be either intrigued with my capabilities or quite doubtful. There was barely an inbetween. Although it seems extremely unrealistic, I knew my entire outcome of my life. I always had known what would happen to me.

When I got married at the age of 27, my husband wanted kids. I told him that I wasn't going to be able to. We will end up trying for four years and then we will give up because of all the miscarriages I will go through. My husband thought that I was out of my mind crazy. I bet him one hundred dollars that if I don't have children with him in the next four years then I'm not crazy. We shook on it and let's just say, I was a hundred dollars richer after four years.

Still to this day, he doesn't know how I predicted it. I told him that because I was a woman, I knew everything. Of course, I said this as a joke but at the end of the day, I did know everything.

Twenty years later, my husband booked a surprise trip. Sadly, it wasn't a surprise for me because I knew he would do it. He came home with roses and chocolates and told me that we were going to Hawaii. It was hard to tell him no, for I would end up being diagnosed with colon cancer on Friday of next week. His face had gone white when I told him. He began to cry. He believed and trusted my "instincts", that's what he referred to them as even though they were facts. He truly didn't believe that I knew my entire life until the Friday of that next week when I was diagnosed with colon cancer. It was really bad.

The doctors told me that I wouldn't make it. They were wrong. I knew they were wrong. Of course, I would end up dying from it but not anytime soon. My life is to end when I am eighty two. My body is very strong and my cancer will lay dormant for ten years and then come back again. I told my husband this and he just began to cry. He couldn't understand how I had so much information. He told me that as crazy as it may sound, someone or something read me the story of my life at a young age and I just remembered everything about it. I don't know if I believe that. It's a good theory, considering all that I know but who would do such a thing?