THE PREMONITION

She woke and lay still, like every morning, taking stock of the day before it arrived . It was her quiet time, when she made decisions and set goals for the day. She lay, deciding what she would achieve this day. The morning was cool so that meant perhaps a day in the garden. The air was still, no pollens she thought. And it was quiet, that meant no distractions. So very quiet. Quiet for a change. No birds tweeting. No bugs calling. No dogs barking. Silence. She smiled to herself even that damn cockatoo that shrilled like a telephone every god damn morning was quiet. She curled deeper into her warm bed, yawning, and then squirmed to roll over to take in the view through the floor to ceiling glass windows down to the beach. She squinted her eyes as she peered sleepily towards the sun, only just above the horizon, glowing soft amber. The winter dawns were always pretty, the colours, the clarity in the air. Winters without humidity were heaven on earth. She noticed the calm quicksilver ocean undulating as if breathing. She saw it. A shimmer above the horizon, she tilted her head slightly to one side, wondering how to explain what she was seeing, her tongue stopped mid lick of her lip as she watched. She recollected herself and finished the lick before leaning forward as if to look closer, as if to get closer to whatever it was. She squinted as if to make the apparition clearer, and pouted when it did not help at all. She couldn't even explain what she was seeing to herself. A shimmer, no it was a quivering of the air, a movement. No it was like liquid frosting, like jigsaw puzzle pieces dissolving and moving into each other. She blinked. She watched. And blinked again. Her head tilting the other way. Silence. Dismay. The roar of silence. The she felt it. Everything she was seeing she could now feel, she shafted up in the bed, sitting bolt upright. She felt it all over and through. It felt like pure angst. Inside on its way out. Outside on its way in. An entity washing over her and inside her, that feeling of her body separating, melting back together to again separate. She wriggled almost in a serpentine manner, body twisting one way, then the other, feeling the quiver through her body. Only then did she notice she had stopped breathing, and cognisant of this she drew in a shaky breath, it caught in her throat and she bounded from the bed. Looking back at the bed as if something had stung her, whilst her body still twitched from the shimmery shake inside her. Something wasn't right, something just wasn't like it always was. Dread invaded her. There was something… she just didn't know what it was. Yes, Yes she did know what it was, it was fear. She flashed a quick look over her other shoulder out to the horizon again and then she ran. She scooted across the slippery tiles and rushed down the stairs to her family. As she tore around the corner of the stairwell and skidded to a stop, both to listen for her family and also to see if that craziness had been left behind. Her whole body jolted as if hit by a strike of electricity , the shot through her body warned her, told her to panic, screamed at her very instincts - something was happening. Her heart felt a shard of fear that made it double its beat. Her family were in the kitchen, she could barely hear them over the roar in her ears, the pounding zhooshing sound that was her heart beat that drummed inside her head in pulsing crashing waves. She rushed to her family, she told them, they looked at her and a gentle hand reached out to calm her, as they kept right on talking and not listening. They just kept talking like they always did, They were not listening. She rushed from one to the other telling them something was happening, something… She didn't know what Just something. They didn't listen. She looked everywhere for salvation, someone, anyone. But they just kept talking and then laughing. Oh my lawdy she thought, there is nothing funny, what is wrong with you people. She screamed. They jumped. She ran, Up the stairs, back to her room. It was silent. She hid. Her leap under the bed was so forceful she got a fright when she plummeted out the other side back into daylight and danger, she scrambled quickly back into the middle, then up to the head of the bed against the wall. Pressing her back into the wall she wished she could melt into the safety of its cold stone strength. She could not hear her family anymore she curled up, the waves of distress turned into a caldron of being washed back and forth, tumbling her around like a towel in the washing machine. She felt ill, physically ill. She counted her breaths trying to calm, trying to take her mind away from the terror tearing through her mind and body. One. Two. what is it ? Three. I don't now what it is. Four. Breathe again, breathe. just keep breathing . Five. She closed her eyes, if she couldn't see it , it couldn't hurt her. Six. Horror struck with a force like a kick, her eyes flashed open. Seven, eight nine ten. She wasn't breathing anymore. She let out the breath. Forced herself to draw in a long slow breath. Eleven. Nothing had happened. Twelve. Another breath in and out. Thirteen…. A deep cavernous rumble began, followed by a jolt so hard she was thrown away from the wall. She dug her nails into the carpet and held on, the whole floor began to undulate, much like the ocean, and the shaking began. She heard screams, crying, sobbing, anguish and pain. For a split second she wondered who it was before realising it was her. The room was tossed violently back and forth, things fell and crashed, smashed and broke. She kept her nails dug into the carpet and her head down. Then it stopped. It was no longer quiet, there were sirens that matched her shivering body's crescendo of quaking fear. Family yelling and screaming. That damn cockatoo screeching. She stayed. Shaking. Throat and jaw clenched, knowing if she opened her mouth she may begin to scream and never stop. Her name was called, she could hear them calling her, but she could not move. Her nails were still caught in the carpet and her body would not stop quivering, She felt like she couldn't breathe. And still she stayed under the bed. She could feel the difference in the air, as if a window had opened. and more of her family were calling her name. Then hands reached under the bed and drew her out, her nails still tore at the carpet , making a rasping pluck sound as she was dragged out. They spoke soft words, made nice assurances, cuddled her and she could tell it was terrible because she could feel the fear in their bodies, the hands that stroked her shook, their eyes were wild like that one time a poisonous snake was in the house. someone wrapped her in their jumper and she lowered her head. Hidden. She thought, no one ever listens to cats.