Premo...What?

As I lay in bed, I thought about my day. I got a pop quiz in history which I'm pretty sure I flunked, I finally worked up enough courage to ask a girl to the dance, and my best friend said he was quitting our band. It was a pretty mixed day, but it's not as bad as I think about it now. I’ve had worse days at school. I'm the only boy in our family of three sisters, a divorced mom, and an annoying cat. At twelve years old, I'm pretty sure I'm just as ordinary as anybody else. No one in my family ever listens to me, especially when I'm right and they think I'm wrong. My mom says I 'hyperbolize' everything- whatever that's supposed to mean.

Anyways, I always thought I was just another random kid in the world, until the night of my premonition. (yes, as a sixth grader I had to look that word up in the dictionary.) That basically means I had a feeling something crazy or bad was going to happen, and guess what... no one believed me! Some people might call it a type of Physic, but I don’t really care for names. It happened on a night pretty much like this one. I had stayed up most of the night worrying about my first day of middle school, and was almost asleep- when I saw this insane shimmering light appear in front of me! At first I thought it looked biblical, but then realized it couldn't, because I was almost sure God didn't look like a hurricane. The light shifted forms, and it turned to water. There were waves crashing down on my bedroom, and rain pelting my face. The water started rising, filling my bedroom. 

I completely freaked out, and didn't know what to do... so I screamed. My mother came running through the hallway, but as soon as she opened my door, all of the water disappeared.

"Issac what's wrong? Are you alright? I heard you scream."

"There was water everywhere! Like a hurricane! Mom you didn't hear it? You didn't see it leaking out of my door?"

"No honey, I didn't. You must have just had a bad dream."

I heard three more doors open and footsteps headed toward my room. It could only be my sisters.

"What's wrong with him?"

"Is he dying mommy?"

"No stupid, he had a bad dream."

Now my fear turned to frustration. I couldn't imagine they wouldn't believe something as big as this! I would never lie to them, and I had practically been awake all night so I couldn't have been dreaming.

"I wasn't dreaming! I swear! There was water everywhere, I'm not lying."

My mother looked at me affectionately "Honey it's alright, there's no more water. We're all safe and sound. Now just go back to sleep."

"But I wasn't asleep to begin with! Don't you believe me?"

My oldest sister Anna, who was a senior in high school, acted all smart wanting to become a physiologist. "Mother, he probably just had a night terror due to his lack of sleep and stress over starting school tomorrow morning. Although, night terrors are usually just for children, proving his ineligibility to attend middle school. I diagnose you hold him back a year."

I frowned at my sister "Nice try Dr. Psycho I'm going to school."

My mother, clearly exhausted, said "Why don't we all just go back to sleep and discuss this in the morning. Alright? We have a big day tomorrow with everyone starting school and need our rest."

We all grudgingly agreed, and everyone left my room. The light didn't come again that night, but I slept with one eye open just in case.

* * *

Whatever mom said about ‘we’ll talk about last night’ never happened. I almost missed the bus and mom didn’t look like she was in the mood to talk anyways. My Kindergarten little sister wouldn’t leave the house because she didn’t want to go to school, so mom basically had to drag her to the car. I thought it would be best not to mention the water thing. My middle aged sister who was only two years older than me and in eighth grade, told me all these scary stories about middle school like kissing hallways and teenage druggists to watch out for. Mom said she was just trying to scare me, but I don’t know. 

“And don’t forget to watch out for Shorty Thomas okay Isacc? He’ll tear you to pieces since you're a sixth grader.” came her taunting voice. I tried to get my own seat on the bus, but there were none left. So I ended up sitting next to my scary sister Amber. 

When we reached school, I met up with my best friend Oliver. During lunch I told him all about the strange water incident. About how it looked like light and then flooded my room. 

“Sure Isaac, you’re my friend. I believe you.” He said to me, “It does sound a bit like a fantasy, so I can see why your mom and sisters don’t believe you. But I think I do.” 

I was relieved at his response! A smile spread across my face “Really? I didn’t think you would. You’ve got to be the best friend in the world Oliver.” 

“Eh, no problem. Next time you see this thing though, let me know.” 

As we walked through the hallways, I couldn’t believe my luck. My best friend would believe me even if no one else did. It would be nice to have someone ‘on my side’. 

Right as we passed the boys bathroom headed to our homeroom though, I heard something strange. It was almost like a gurgling dripping noise. It took me a while to figure it out, but right when I did, a HUGE wave of crashing water blew out of the bathroom and smacked me and Oliver right in our faces. It continued to fill the hallways and I screamed, telling Oliver to run to higher ground or else we’d drown. But as soon as I looked at him, the water disappeared. When I looked down, my clothes were completely dry without even a single drop of water on it! The bathroom door was still intact, and nobody looked the least bit scared. Actually, everyone in the hallway- including seventh and eighth graders, were looking at me. I looked at Oliver, remembered what he said about believing me, and hoped he still would. But his face was shocked, and almost looked disapprovingly at me. 

“Didn’t anybody see that?” I asked desperately, hoping I didn’t make a fool of myself. 

“No Issac! Nobody saw anything. What are you even doing acting like this?” Oliver slightly yelled. I could tell he was ticked off at me.

As we walked away from the drawing crowd, I confronted him about our recent conversation. 

“Hold on, you SAID you would believe me! I’m not lying to you Oliver, and I wasn’t lying to my family. Trust me, I would never do that in school unless there actually was any water.” 

Oliver stopped walking and stared at me. 

“Issac, I can’t believe you're doing this. First off, you ARE lying to me, second, you just want to draw attention to yourself on the first day of school, and third, well- I can’t think of a third. But if I did, it would be a good one.” 

“But you said you would believe me! That’s what friends do!” 

“I SAID, I would believe it when I see it. I’m sorry.”

As he walked away, my heart felt heavier than ever. I couldn’t believe my friend had pushed me away in a time I needed him most! Before I had much time to think about my disappearing friend though, a girl around my age walked up and tapped me on my shoulder. She had long red hair, and light freckles sprinkled across her cheeks. She was taller than me, but I could tell she was a sixth grader as well. 

“Um, hey. My name’s Abigail. I couldn't help but hear you and your friend talking over there…and”

“Don’t worry about it, I’m just crazy.” I started to walk away from her, but then she said something that made me stop. 

“I see it too.” 

“What?” I spun around on my heels. 

“You’re like me... I can see the water too. And not just that, but- other things as well.” 

I could tell she was hesitant to share this with me, and could also see she was telling the truth. 

“Explain it to me then.” I said, still a bit unsure myself. 

“I can’t here, but come over to my house after school and I’ll show you.” 

I raced through the rest of my classes that day, excited to get to Abigail’s house. Maybe I could actually figure out what’s happening to me.

At 3:30pm, I walked up to a small one story white house with a big Maple tree in the front. When I told mom about Abigail, (Leaving out the whole water conversation) she got all excited saying stuff like, ‘Oh Issac! You’ve finally met a lady.’ and ‘You need to go over there right now’ So here I was, about to walk up her front porch completely petrified. As I gave a tiny knock, Abigail's dad opened the door. I thought he was going to be one of those protective father’s that never smiled, but surprisingly he welcomed me right in and offered me a snack while I waited for Abigail. He said she was out walking the dog, but would be right back. He took a quick look at me, then laughed.

“So you’re the boy Abby’s been talking about?” 

“Um, I guess so?” 

“Oh yes. Abby came home excited that she finally met someone her age like her.” 

“What do you mean, like her?” 

“She hasn’t told you yet? Oh well I assume she can’t in school.” 

Almost as soon as he spoke, Abigail walked in with the dog. 

“Oh hey Issac! You’re here early. I guess I can’t blame you since you’re probably eager to hear what I had to say.” 

Not wanting to act like I was too excited, (and slightly wanting to impress her) I just shrugged it off. 

“Nah, I just had some spare time and decided to come a bit early.” 

“Okay” She laughed. 

We went into her bedroom which was painted a deep shade of blue. She had lots of hiking pictures on her wall, as well as some medals which looked like they were for soccer. I was kinda relieved she wouldn’t be one of those stereotypical girly girls.  

“So… You’re probably wondering about this water thing and why it’s happening to you. Am I right? And don’t try and impress me by saying you’re not.” 

Man, she nailed me. 

“Okay, fine. I am really wondering. Can’t you just tell me?” I said.

“Yes, but that wouldn’t give it much suspense, now would it.” She smiled before continuing. “Only very few people in the world can experience what we do, Issac. Usually it runs in families, although sometimes it will occur randomly… which I’m assuming happened to you. Nobody really knows what it’s called yet…” She paused. 

“...It’s when you think you can predict the future.” 

“Whoa, what?” I said enthusiastically. 

“You mean I can literally predict the future?” 

“Not necessarily. Sometimes our predictions can be false, which is why we have to be careful about what we say to others.”

“I thought if you saw the future it’s always right.”

“Well, the moment you see it, it's right. Even the tiniest thing can mess your premonition up. Oh, but also sometime’s your premonition is wrong and it never even happens. It’s basically just a really strong feeling, so it can change based on how you're doing that day. If you're mad at your sister, you might have a bad prediction about her that never even happens.” 

“Oh, that makes sense. But since I had a water premo… thingy, doesn't that mean there’s going to be some huge hurricane or monsoon?” 

“Not necessarily. I highly doubt that it will actually come true Issac, especially on your first time. You have to practice a ton to get an accurate outcome.” 

Over the next hour, Abigail explained to me everything that came with having this special ability. If I wasn’t in such a messed up state like I was then, I may have never even believed her. She told me that her whole family actually had this as well, and I wasn’t alone. Even her parents! I couldn’t believe it. 

Secretly, I started to like Abigail. But there was no way I was going to tell her that! 

I decided, if I was going to hang out with my new friend, I needed to catch up on some vocabulary. So that was the night I looked up ‘premonition’ in the dictionary. 

* * * 

Well, my water prediction kind of came true. We had a lot of rain one week, but it wasn’t really that big of a deal. I guess these future things are going to be pretty  confusing at times. 

Now it’s spring and the school year’s almost over. I asked Abigail to our upcoming school dance, and she said yes! I’ve gotten to know her family really well, because I spend so much time over there. She has an older brother that I like to hang out with, and it’s nice since I don’t have a brother myself. My mom is really happy I found some friends my age to be with, and doesn't mind me going over so often. I still haven’t told her about my secret, but soon enough I will. My sisters are just as annoying as ever, but luckily Anna is going to college next year. That’s one down and two to go! No, I’m just kidding I’ll miss her a ton. 

Even though this water thing was super scary and embarrassing at first, I would have never got to meet Abigail without it, and wouldn’t be where I am now. 

I still have a lot more adventurous to go on with my future predictions… but at least I know I’m not alone in the struggle. And just to put this out for my family’s reference, I’m still right and you’re wrong.