Final Mission

We are hurtling back towards Earth. We will be landing in a matter of minutes. The mission has been successful and I can’t wait to be home. My heart soars at the very thought. Has it just been only a few days since we’ve been away? The journey seems so long, perhaps I’m getting a bit sentimental. But wait, something doesn’t seem right. The feeling of elation is replaced by rapid anxiety as the entire shuttle begins to shudder. Oh no, what’s happening? Panic rises like bile as I realize that we are destabilizing and breaking apart. I’m about to die, the thought enters my mind, along with a flash, the number “107” burning bright. There is a deafening blast, a massive ball of fire, then an all encompassing darkness.

I jolt out of sleep, sweaty and breathless. My heart is beating so fast I can hear it pounding in my ears. It takes me a few seconds to realize it was just a dream. It had been so lucid and real, I can still feel the terror of my dreadful last moments. I look around the room to reassure myself that I’m indeed safe in my home and not dead. It takes me a while to calm my frayed nerves and get back to sleep.

I remember the dream vividly when I wake up the next morning. My mind is still on it while I drive to work, recalling even more details from the scene.

I tell my colleagues, Sally and Melissa as we have lunch. They are suitably intrigued.

‘You know I’ve heard about people getting premonitions like this,’ I say.

‘It was just a dream. I would hardly call it a premonition,’ laughs Sally. ‘Have you ever had a premonition before?’

‘Well, sometimes I know instinctively that I’m going to have a bad day or get that raise I asked for.’

‘That’s just good sense. Most women have some intuition.’

‘Why are you so sure this is a premonition?’ Melissa asks me.

It was true that we had mundane jobs. It was the last place one would have a breakthrough. I mean whoever heard of someone in retail turning out to be a genius.

‘It just felt so real,’ I try to explain. ‘It was as if I was really inside that thing. I’ve had dreams before. This didn’t feel like one. It was as good as a near death experience.’

Sally rolls her eyes. ‘You were in your bed.’

‘I know. I just…’ I don’t know what to say anymore. It seems ridiculous mentioning it out loud to them.

Melissa stops eating midway to add, ‘You know I saw a movie where the protagonist has a premonition that he is going to die in a plane crash. He gets off the plane along with a few others but Death catches up with them one by one.’

‘Yeah, we have all seen that movie. It has many sequels as well,’ mocks Sally.

‘Guys, this is not funny. It’s not a movie, okay? It was real for me.’

‘Fine. Don’t bite our heads off.’

‘Should I do something about it? Maybe tell someone?’ I wonder.

‘Tell them what? That you had a dream in which you blew up? They might think you were associated with a terror group or something.’

‘Take my advice. Do nothing,’ Sally says, closing the topic.

I read up on premonitions sneakily on my computer whenever I have some free time at work. There are certainly documented instances of people seeing into the future, of unexplained events prior to imminent disaster.

I call my mother that evening. She is pleasantly surprised as it is the middle of the week. I tell her the whole story.

‘Should I go to the police?’ I ask her.

She is more sympathetic than my colleagues. She doesn’t make fun of me, but I think she doesn’t believe me as well.

‘What will you tell them exactly? They should investigate a dream? Honey, that’s preposterous. I don’t want you to feel bad. They are likely to make fun of you.’

‘But Mom, what if it’s true?’

‘So what? No one can tie you to it.’

‘I mean, what if I’m the one meant to stop it?’

‘You are just putting too much pressure on yourself, dear.’

‘Have I ever had such a dream when I was little? Was I the intuitive kind?’

‘I don’t think so. You were such a nice, sweet girl.’

‘What has that got to with anything?’ I am getting irritated.

‘Well, there was this one time when your pet dog got lost. You remember Cookie, right? She just went away and couldn’t be found. You were so upset. We tried to calm you down but you just wouldn’t listen. You stopped eating and cried the whole day. You slipped out of the house somehow and found her. The poor dog was stuck inside some bushes some distance away.’

‘How the hell is that helpful?’ I fume.

‘Well, we all looked for her, didn’t we? You were the only one who knew where to look.’

I roll my eyes. ‘It was just a coincidence. I probably knew the places she liked to wander about.’

I get off the call after making some more small talk.

My hand hovers over the phone. I am still indecisive about who to call. Perhaps they were right. Those who knew me didn’t take me seriously. What could I expect from others? This was probably a one off event and happened to many people without them even realizing. I sigh and decide to watch a movie instead.

I forget all about it until a week later, I’m holed up at home and watching television at night. I mindlessly switch channels and reach the news. Chaos reigns supreme on the screen. Visuals of a blast, distraught family members all over. The television news anchor announces, “The Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated today, upon re-entering Earth's atmosphere, killing all seven crew members.”

She goes on to describe the tragedy in detail. I am stunned into silence, no longer aware of my surroundings. .

“NASA confirms that investigations are on to determine the cause of damage, near the end of Columbia’s 28th mission, STS-107…”

107, the number rings in my ears. Horrified, I gasp aloud, numb, unwilling to believe it.