Murder to Come.

He was struggling, but it was no use. There was a familiarity to the man being attacked, I couldn’t quite place him, but I knew I had met him at some time. The assailant plunged the knife into the man many times in his frenzied attack. Then stepping back, he let the mortally wounded man sink to the ground. Seemingly complete with his task, the attacker turned and let the knife fall to the ground and stumbled away. The scene faded before my eyes and once again I knew I was witnessing what would be, not what is now. But this time I was motivated to cast any reticence aside to seek to prevent what I knew would happen. 

When and where this assault would occur, I did not know. From past experience, information would come to me later via newspapers or some broadcast without my being able to intervene and save any person. I used to anguish about it, but now I tended to ignore them to protect my own sanity. 

The closest I ever got to being able to do something to change the situation was with a man boarding a bus and gunning down many of the passengers. I saw a partial sign on the bus which in my investigation I was able to locate the district, but only two days later after the event had taken place. I wasn’t even able to discern the features of the assailant, so was no help in his apprehension. 

I racked my brains to connect the familiar individual to a location or time, but it eluded my desperate search. I settled down to see if without straining some elucidation would come to me. 

I was very young when my first memory of future murder registered as something that shouldn't be. I watched an agitated man shoot a woman many times. It was like a holographic television program. Its reality impressed itself upon me to the degree that some years later I came across a simulated television portraying what had happened to this couple. It was so close to what I had witnessed that I checked it out in a library. 

Gradually, more and more of these instances occurred leading to much frustrated heartbreak in myself. For self-protection I tried to ignore the happening unless some ‘landmark’ or familiarity existed. With this present murder, only that sense of having seen this person at some time was there something there to egg me on. 

I was willing to clutch at any straws. If a scene or location came into my mind I went there to see if it would throw up a memory, but so far without success. 

I replayed the whole ‘murder’ scene many times in my mind hoping to capture something, but then I started to suspect that I was inadvertently adding substance to the event which I had not witnessed at that time. However, there definitely was a tree in my scene that tickled my awareness, but for the life of me I couldn’t place it, but the slight trace of snow triggered something. I still had time, at least two months before there would be any sign of snow. 

I visited parks and walkways within a very wide area and finally found the tree. I was pretty sure that this was the spot as my whole body buzzed in the recognition and acknowledgement of success. It was a mystery to me why it resonated to the degree it did, but I viewed the tree with a certainty that I knew the first part of my searching was complete. Now, did I just come back with the police after spinning some fabricated story to explain my concern. Even as I thought it, I knew it wouldn’t wash. 

I had to find a way to avert the impending murder. Can the march of time be changed? Would there be a new probability? Am I trying to buck what has already been lain down? I dismissed my thoughts in this area as a type of mental obfuscation to not confront the more practical issues at hand. A practical solution formed in my head; I would co-opt someone. Money had never been difficult for me to acquire, and I would pay to prevent the possible outcome. 

Based upon past experience, no vision had ever been greater than three months hence, so I assumed this predicted event would follow a similar time-line. I would pay someone very generously to overcome any reticence on their part as to the strange circumstance of what I had maintained would happen. My recruit may think me nutty, but the financial recompense would enable him to get over any reluctance as to whom he was dealing with. 

From my memory, I knew the assailant to be a large man, and I being of a smaller stature, would need to carry some ‘equalising’ implements if I was to have any chance of prevailing in my attempt to alter my peculiar history. 

I was filled with righteous endeavour. I trained not only physically, but under an expert in unarmed combat in small arms. I purchased a small pistol which I thought would be adequate for any close contact combat. I radiated with health and determination by the time the first signs that colder weather was approaching. 

I told my tale to the man that trained me, but only after a suitable time to let a familiarity take place between us. He listened to me with a straight face and neither protested nor sought to offer an alternative explanation. The money I offered him was satisfactory and we agreed to take turns to be on guard close by the tree that I had found. The daylight hours had shortened by this time to about ten hours so we would alternate each day. 

I was doing my shift in the afternoon when a prickling went through my body and I caught my breath. This was an unusual experience for me, but I treated it as a portent of action, or that something would occur and I looked around to see if I could see anyone. 

There was a solitary man walking his dog and he nodded as he passed me. I turned to look for anybody else when I was grabbed by the throat and I struggled, but to no avail. I felt pain in my stomach as the man stabbed me over and over again. Finally, he let my body sink to the ground.