A Sinking Suspicion

I was on the bus going home from a double shift, exhausted but excited to get away to our cottage for the weekend. As I sat in my seat listening to the intermittent ding and that voice that automatically told you the street name, I began to feel myself zone out. The wave of tiredness suddenly washed over me, I heard the rush of water and felt a wet chill. I looked around me and saw water at my feet, smelled that algae-like scent that was familiar at the lake then I blinked at few times and saw the black ribbed floor of the bus return in front of my eyes and all the seats and bars come back into my view. 

I got goose bumps and tried to sit up straight and pay attention to my present. 

What the heck was that?

Why did it feel so real? Like my feet had actually been in water and the dampness had taken over this space. 

I saw the plaza on the corner just before my stop and pushed the button. When I got off, I couldn’t shake the feeling that there was something to it. I saw my Dad loading the car. He waved at me with a huge smile on his face.

“Hey, kiddo! Ready to finally relax? I got your bag in here. Just run up and get a shower and some breakfast and hop in and get some Zs.” 

“Sounds good. Dad, I had the strangest....vision, I guess you say...not a dream because I was awake but I saw water all around me when I was on the bus. I felt it, actually. I felt cold and wet, then it was gone.”

“You’ve worked 16 hours two days in a row. You’ve gotta be beat. Go shower it off and come back down and we’ll go. You’re on vacation now.”

I nodded and went inside and was greeted by my Mom and sister. 

“Hey,” they said in unison. 

“Hi.”

“How are you? You look like you’ve got a story to tell,” my sister said reading my face. 

“Sort of, I just had this odd experience on the bus where I felt like it had filled with water like a leaking submarine.”

“Was there anyone on there huffing glue? I once saw a hotel sign vibrate after inhaling the fumes from someone doing that on the bus,” my sister chimed in trying to explain the experience away.

“I don’t know. It just is bothering me.”

My mom told me not to worry and handed me some toast. I ate it as I trudged up the stairs.

I showered, dressed as comfy as I could and grabbed a few extras, shoved them in a backpack and went down to the car, buckled myself in. I watched as my neighbourhood melted into a blur of colours and shrunk away as my Dad drove out of town. I drifted off to sleep, a sleep that was so dark and peaceful that when I woke 3 hours later, I felt like I’d been floating in space. I saw the town where our cottage was located and had that bubbling expectation that I had felt since i was a kid, knowing that I could spend a week swimming and floating on the lake without a care in the world. 

We drove past the little tourist shop with all the essentials for a week at the beach, then the houses that had been there since the early 1900s and finally the row of rental cottages before a short patch of trees then our place. 

As we pulled in, I felt the hairs on my arm raise. I wondered what was going on.  When we walked up and the key went in the door all of us had different levels of anticipation, but mine was to see what was on the other side of the door. When it was open and we went down the hall, my Mom and sister gasped.

I looked past them and saw the layer on sand on the living room floor. 

“Omg! What happened?!”My sister asked.

“I didn’t hear of any serious storms this week,” my mom said. 

“Is the sliding door open or any windows?” My Dad asked rushing to check. 

It all looked good. 

He felt the carpet and then judged that his fingers were still felt damp. He shook his head in disbelief and began inspecting around.

I felt like my premonition had been answered, but what had happened? 

My sister looked at our deck and pointed to the muskoka chairs covered with sand. 

“There must have been a storm and the water washed up.”

We spent the afternoon cleaning and trying to find someone to check the sliding door that had allowed the outdoors to sneak in.

My Dad chatted with the owner of the rental cabins who had said that a storm had come in and out the previous evening with the anger and intensity of a toddler having a tantrum. He’d guessed that our place and the neighbours had taken the brunt of it since both our yards were filled with a good portion of the beach.  He said that he could contact his fixit guy so my Dad could relax and enjoy his week off.

Once things were fixed up a few days later we chatted about how my odd flood premonition had been. It had been so real; from the sensations and smells to the vision of water at my feet, that it felt like I needed to get a crystal ball for my new career. 

It bothered me that they hadn’t believed the strong feeling I’d had when it had happened. However, in all honesty, what could I have done? What had I wanted them to do? I had a strange vision and hadn’t known why? Would we have brought up some extra cleaning supplies to help us or the name of someone to fix the wonky sliding door? My dream couldn’t have really tipped us off to exactly what had happened. I could have been thinking of any water incident I’d seen. I wasn’t Madame Psychic, so I really needed to let it go.

Maybe I’d have another vision, but most likely I’d be back to taking extra shifts to cover my student loans.