Premonition

My name is Simon Beck and I am 32 years of age, in a stable job and living with my beloved girlfriend Kara in our one bedroom apartment in Central London. Things were going well for us both, both in comfortable jobs and a happy relationship. All that was to change and it began on 23rd April with a rather innocuous dream. 

Wednesday 23rd April. 6.23am

I awoke with a start. I had been dreaming. I am not normally one who dreams, or at least I never remembered any with much clarity anyway. This morning was different. I could recall it very clearly. I was driving home from work along the A14 as I often do if I have been based in the office. It was 5.45pm and the air conditioning was set to nineteen degrees. It was an early spring afternoon, the sun starting to wind its way back down. A gentle breeze was giving the trees a hint of movement. I was listening to the Drivetime show on the radio and an Alicia Keys song was playing. The car at the junction ahead was giving way and looking for an opportunity to join the stream of homeward bound traffic. It was a blue Peageot, 2018 model if not mistaken. How is this all so clear? The car, as if for no reason, just pulled out in front of me. There was not a lot I could do but I braked hard and hit the side driver door. Fortunately I had been able to reduce my speed quite significantly making the impact relatively minor. We got out and I exchanged some angry words with him. After calming down we exchanged insurance details. I even remember what he was wearing and the name of his insurance company. 

Kara asks me if I am ok.

“Yeah, it's nothing really, just a silly dream”

“Ok, sweetie”

Kara gives me a reassuring rub on the shoulder in her half awake state before turning over and falling straight back to sleep. The dream felt so vivid, something I had never experienced before. Are dreams supposed to feel like this? I wasn’t sure but I knew I had a busy day ahead of me so thought nothing more of it and headed for shower to start the process of getting to work.

On my drive into work the dream kept naggiing at me. What was with the clarity of the dream? How could I recall so much detail? I shook myself quite literally to stop these silly thoughts. I had a busy day ahead, I wanted to get everything done so Kara and I could spend some quality time together this evening. I managed to get through the day without paying any more attention to the events played out in my sleeping cinema of a brain overnight.

Wednesday 23rd April 5.44pm.

The day at work had been undeniably tough. There had been so much to do but so much more I still had not done. I was determined to keep my evening free for Kara. We had spent so little time together recently I was concerned a little about the stability of our relationship. Mixed in with the stress of work there was a lot on my mind. It was whilst mulling over all of this that I saw the car and slammed on my brakes and I went into the side of it. Straight away I knew. The blue Peaugeot. Alicia Keys playing on the radio. The temperature set to 19 degrees and the gentle breeze of a late April day. 

I exchanged details with the driver but fortunately my car had come off far better than his and I was able to drive the few short miles home though I knew it would need some attention at a garage. I was a little numb driving back, no more than that, but a little scared about what had just happened. Yes, it ended up being quite a minor prang but it was more than that. This sort of thing happened in films, but didn’t it just happen to me? I played what had happened over and over in my head against what I had dreamt with such clarity. When I got home I told Kara what had happened but, in her kind hearted way, she brushed it aside as a bit of a coincidence and told me my dream was probably not as similar to the real thing as I thought. When I was not calming she then started getting concerned that I was overworked and needed some time out. She suggested we could head away to the coast for the weekend. It took a glass or two of wine before I agreed and she booked us a nice little place for 2 nights this coming weekend. It was probably just the tonic I needed.

Friday 25th April 6.03am

I awoke soaked in sweat, heart pounding, clutching my pillow and crying. Kara was trying to calm me but I was distressed beyond belief. However, on seeing Lara an overwhelming sense of relief also washed over me. She was here and she was with me and it had all just been a dream. Kara tried to sooth me then went to make me a coffee. I reflected on what I had just dreamt. Kara and I were walking along the beach, hand in hand. The sun was just beginning to set behind the cliffs in the distance and everything seemed perfect. We were discussing where we might go for dinner and our plans for the rest of the evening. All of a sudden Lara simply collapsed in front of me and was immediately unconscious. I did all I could to try and revive her but she had gone very pale and was not breathing. I called an ambulance and some passers by came to try and help. I tried in vain to resuscitate her with heart with compressions, but it was to no avail. She was limp and lifeless. As we waited for the ambulance I held her in my arms and just wailed. When the medics finally arrived they assessed her before declaring her dead at the scene. I was inconsolable. Later at the hospital I was told Kara suffered a massive brain aneurysm. There was nothing anyone could have done for her and it was an inevitability this was going to happen.   

It was at that point that I woke up in my bed with Kara beside me.

After sitting in bed, Kara showered and got ready for work. We were heading for the coast later that day after work. The place we were going to, we had visited many times before, and I knew it was the same place I had seen in my dream. A terrible sense of dread came over me. We could not go this weekend, we just couldn’t. Before Kara left for work I tried to talk her out of it by saying I had a lot of work to do and perhaps it was a better idea to stay home. She was having none of this however, she looked into my eyes, held my hands in hers and said:

“You need this weekend away. Look at you, you’re a mess. I love you and I am worried about you. Please”

Kara was so caring it was untrue. I was so scared it was untrue. I tried to brush aside my dream and tell myself it was nonsensical. I could tell her what I had dreamt but I didn’t want to worry her and again, she probably wouldn’t believe it anyway. I got no work done that day whatsoever. It’s hard to describe but a feeling of finality, dread and inevitability washed over me. 

It was a beautiful walk on the beach. My dreams all came true that day.