CHAPTER 4

Lora woke up later than she usually did each day for five days, of course it was a Saturday, the time was 8am in the morning and she was only going to leave home at 10:30am. She already told Mathew and Samantha about the 'paint ball thing'. She stared at her phone…(hmm, 30 more minutes.) She fell asleep for another hour. When she woke up, it was with a bang, she went straight to the bathroom, took a shower and got herself dressed up in a sapphire blue hoodie, black jeans and dark blue nikes. She did her hair, grabbed her bag and went down stairs to the kitchen where she grabbed a box of cereal and put some into a bowl, she fetched some milk and just as she's pouting she hears a knock at the front door. She walks to the door and opens it to see who's there.

A middle-aged man in a blue uniform, a holster in his right hip and a badge greets her.

"Good morning miss, I'm looking for Mrs Hellen sullivan."

"That's my mom." Lora replied.

"I'd like to have a word with her on a serious matter."

Lora, feeling uneasy about what she just heard called for her mother.

"Mom! There's an officer here to see you!" She yelled.

"An officer!? ' there was a short pause…' I will be right down!"

She came down the stairs with her husband following after her, the cop greeted them both as they invited him in. Hey took a sit in the living room.

"So what's the matter officer?" Asked gregory, Hellen's husband. The officer suddenly became tense and asked the question…

"Sir, Madam… might you share any relation with Lana Edina?"

Lora's parents took concerned glances at each other, Lora was listening in from the kitchen.

"Yes, she's my younger sister." Hellen answered.

"Well miss I have some unfortunate news."

At this point Lora suddenly found herself leaning by the entrance to the living room. The cop continued.

"We just discovered her body in a house by restock lane,' Hellen's mouth was already open with shock and her eyes were tearing up. Lora couldn't believe what she just heard, 'we found her druised beaten and stabbed in the chest, the weapon used was besides her as she was strapped to her bed."

When the cop said these words, images of her dream started flashing in her head, and she just realised something….. it did rain that day. Her mother already broke into tears and greg began to comfort her.

"I'm very sorry for your loss but I still need to ask a few question." Said the cop.

"I'm all ears." Said Greg.

"We found a ring on the crim e scene and had forensics do some tests, it turns out it belongs to her ex-husband Lenn-"

"Hold on,' Hellen interceded after gaining some composure, 'Lana has never married in her life, not to mention she didn't tell me about any man in her life."

"Well the information we dug up says she was, and she just recently got a divorce, the man who she was married to goes by the name Lennard Bryler, you must have at least heard of him?"

"No! I haven't heard of anyone with that name, is he the one responsible for this?!"

" We're not sure, but-"

*SLAM!*

The sound of the door slamming upstairs was loud enough to startle everyone in the living room. Greg got up and good at the foot of the stairs, feeling sorry for his daughter. At the same moment he heard a knock at the front door and when he opened it he found Mathew and Samantha at the door.

"Hello Mr Sullivan, Is Lora home?" Asked sam.

"Well yes, she's upstairs but I dont-"

"Thanks Mr Sullivan!" Mathew said insensitive to his intrusion as he and Sam entered the house and made their was upstairs. Mathew knocked at Lora's door, but there was no response. He knocked again and yelled.

"Hello! Lora? I'm coming in."

When he opened the door, Lora was seated on the floor against her bed, sobbing into a pillow. Her friends were startled to see her in such a state. Samantha asked softly "hey Lora, why are you crying-"

"It happened… Samantha….. Aunt Lana is dead!" Lora said. Mathew, as oblivious as always,

"(Chuckle) you're joking!", Lora lifted her head and Mathew saw her teary eyes bloodshot from the streams of tears she released. He looked away, Sam sat down besides her to comfort her.

"Don't worry Lora, everything will be fine-"

"Whet are you talking about!? My Aunt just died exactly the way I dreamed of it and I just sat back and did nothing!"

"I know this is hard and all, Lora but just calm down, let's think about this." Said Mathew.

Lora inwardly felt annoyed by his immunity to human emotion, but he was right. She wiped her tears and nose, then sat quietly. Sam and Mathew glanced at each other, then focused on Lora, Sam then asked.

"Now, let's be reasonable, are you sure Aunt Lana's death is related to your nightmare-"

" Yes, I'm dead sure this time. It was raining last night and there was also lightning and thunder. In my dream, my aunt was murdered by her ex-husband, the police found a wedding ring at the crime scene this morning belonging to a man named Lennard Bryler.' her friends were startled by how seriously calm she became but what shocked them more is how they were weighing the odds that she's a talented prankster going undercover.

'Remember how I told you that I felt the glass pierce my organs?.. The police also found a broken wine bottle stained with blood beside her body."

LORA: "Even I don't believe what I'm about to say but… I think I have the ability to foresee people's deaths."

The deafening silence that filled the room would be comical under different circumstances. Mathew adjusts his glasses then spoke,

"This define every shred of science i have in my brain, but the evidence suggests so, but we can't be completely sure until there's one more death to confirm it."

"Are you saying we just wait for someone else to suffer and die? Do u even care about Lora's feelings-" Sam replies to Mathew before being interrupted.

"No Sam, I'm saying it's better to be sure so we don't jump to conclusions, this would end up bothersome especially for Lora if it turns out we're wrong.' Sam kept silent. '(Sigh) Look, I care for Lora just as much as you do Sam, it's why I'm insisting we be rational, I won't be satisfied until I'm sure." Says Mathew.

"Mathew, I don't want to be a bother, we don't even know how my ability actually works." Lora says as she looks at Mathew with contempt.

"That's simple, we can start with the weird spacing between your first and second dream. Usually when sequences begin, they're gonna be organized or random. Skilled genius's like me are already able to tell at the beginning, the difference between the two." Mathew takes a seat bear Lora's computer and continues. "In this case, next time you have A weird dream, the reality will take place 3 days later. I drew this from the progression of your last two dreams, in your first, it was a day before it became reality, in your second it was two, therefore the pattern is already quite visible."

Lora lifts her hand as if to teacher.

" Oh and there's another thing, between these, say, waking periods, I never have a normal dream… as in all I see is black emptiness."

Mathew keeps quiet for a bit, putting his hand to his chin.

"The only thing that matters here is the dreams. All you can draw from your black empty experience is that if this is actually a real thing, you're gonna have to forget about sweet dreams for a long time." Mathew replies.

06:00am CEMETERY, MONDAY, 6TH NOVEMBER, 2021

The sky is covered and grey, withholding any hint of blue from the mourners below.

Music plays as two coffins are carried to their destinations, Lora felt like time froze, she never thought in all her life, that she'd be attending two funerals at the same time. Her friends were right besides her. Her mother couldn't go 3 minutes without sobbing and her dad couldn't even keep a straight face. They held on to each other tightly, wishing they were dreaming. Strangely, Lora wished the same thing. Her little sister was in the arms of relatives, crying loudly. Lora pitied her, she really loved her sister, and she knew how much her sister loved her aunties. Her grand mother just stood there shocked, she didn't say a word the whole time. Soon enough, people started to pay their final respects. Lora walked patiently towards the two coffins with two bouquets of flowers in her hands. She knelt at the first one, which belonged to her aunt Cassie. She felt weird as she placed the flowers on top of it. When she got up and knelt at the next one, her body froze… she didn't know why she froze, but she did. The hand in which she held the bouquet began to tremble.

She started telling herself to calm down, taking deep breaths repeatedly. But then, when she looked at the coffin,a vivid image of her aunt Lana resting peacefully inside it revealed itself in her imagination. She never dared to take a look at her when body viewing took place in the church, but the thought was vivid enough to make her heart swallow itself. Tears suddenly started running down her cheeks and as she placed the flowers there, she started sobbing. Her friends came to comfort her and take her back to her seat as others came to pay respects. Mathew couldn't do anything but look at this point. As usual, Samantha comforted her. (Why!?) She wondered.

(Why is this happening to me!?) She stared on at her aunt's coffins. (Why them!?) The thoughts kept beating at the walls of her mind as she cried. The grief, pain, regret and confusion was too much. Then from all these emotions, a new one began to grow until she felt like she could burst. She didn't know if this ability actually worked but she hated it, she hated seeing those coffins, she despised the very thought of dreaming. Then her mind went quiet, and began to repeat a thought, an ambition. (I'll find you, I'll find you, I'll find you!)

It came and went, and everytime it returned, her lust for vengeance returned stronger with it, until it stood still. (I WILL YOU… YOU WILL PAY!)

She ended up thinking aloud and her friends simply stated on. Until Mathew spoke… "Lora, you do not have to worry about that… leave it to us. All you need to do right now is get some rest… it's been a long week."

He stood up and went on his way. Lora was inclined to ask but she didn't Sam only wondered in her head. They watched him take off.