Vatic Utterings (SWC) Supernatural Writing Contest

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I think it started when I was about seven years old. Although back then I didn't know much about anything so it felt quite natural to me. I was in primary school then, I remember, it was break time and most of my classmates were out playing on the swing. Male students like me were playing soccer on the large field opposite the swing, but I didn't like soccer much so I decided to play on the swing too. I had barely got there, however, when my head began to ring.

I went to a pavement just before where the swing was, and sat down, supporting my head with my hand because it felt so heavy and dazed i thought it was going to fall off.

I couldn't tell exactly what caused the headache, but at the end of the day after it subsided I decided to blame it on the fact that Hope, the little angel in my class whom I had a mad crush on, was also on the swing. I was young then and very shy and I'd never been able to bring myself to stay near Hope, talk less of talk to her.

So on that day as I sat on the pavement, the headache relieving a bit, I decided no more going to the swing, at least not until Hope left, but as I stood up to leave again, another weird thing happened: the headache returns again. And in the midst of the pain and frenzy I swear I saw Hope in my head, swinging and laughing, and next thing I knew was she fell down and hit her head on the ground.

There was a lot of blood and everyone shouting and screaming and the pain becoming louder in my head. I sat down again and after about twenty seconds I felt relieved again.

I moved closer to the swing to check on Hope, but I saw she had left the swing, she was now playing hide and seek with her friends. I was mighty relieved and I went back to the classroom. Play was over for me on that day.

I had barely spent ten minutes in the class, though, when I heard shouts and screams coming from the playground. My headache started again and I was disconcerted and couldn't get myself for a long time. By the time I came to and went to the playground I saw an ambulance on its way out of the school.

Apparently Hope had fallen from the swing and was badly injured. She lost a lot of blood.

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Over the years I started seeing things. Okay not really seeing them. That day with Hope was the first time I had actually seen it happen. But over the years I felt things.

All I know is whenever something terrible was about to happen, the headache came again. And depending on the magnitude was the pain that came from the headache. And sometimes it came in the form of a dream. Sometimes clear and coherent; sometimes mumbled, and I'd have to think and think to decipher what it meant. Most times I failed and something terrible happened.

But like I said sometimes it was always obvious. Because right at the time there'd be an event about to happen and I could tell it was going to be bad whenever the headache started.

For example at my thirteenth birthday. Or rather the day before. My parents had just received their paychecks and wanted to celebrate big, so the previous night they'd gotten everything needed and alongside some of our neighbors we sat outside on the balcony cooking foods on a big pot that we'd serve the next day.

It was getting very dark, though, so I decided to go inside and sleep. In my dreams the headache started. Banging headache. More terrible than it had ever been. Then I had a dream and saw the whole place on fire. I sprang up immediately and I was all covered in sweat. I rushed outside the room and in the kitchen I could smell gas coming from the burner. Someone had obviously left the gas opened and the stench had overtaken the whole house.

The cooking was being done outside, like I said, so I had no idea how come the gas was on inside the kitchen. Well I called everyones attention and disaster was averted. But like I said, I didn't always succeed.

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Worst day of my life was when I had a dream. In the dream I saw my father in an airplane and the plane caught fire and crashed.

The message was clear enough. Father was not to travel anywhere in an airplane. At that time, though, I was about twenty years old and I was in college already. The signs had also stopped for a while, and over the years I'd had a lot of wrong ones too. I never believed they were wrong but, well, somethings happened and what I saw didn't quite happen like I saw it, or maybe I'd averted it without knowing.

Anyway the signals weren't as strong and frequent as before, but I never doubted. My college was in another state, so I called home to warn them that father mustn't travel. The call didn't go through. This was also very weird because my parents were very careful about having bars on their phone. I don't think I'd ever called them and it didn't go through before, until that day. Both their numbers were off.

I was pretty uncomfortable and the headache was the worst it'd been. I paced and paced until my roommates became worried themselves. I'd already began packing my bag for a journey home when the call finally went through.

It was mother's. I didn't even start on pleasantries. I asked where father was and she said he was at work. There hadn't been electricity for a while so all their phones were down. I asked if father was planning on a trip and she said no. So I told her to tell him he mustn't go anywhere. She was skeptical at first, but she always believed in vatic utterances and that some people could give out genuine warnings, and although she didn't know I could, she believed me and said she'd warn father when he arrived.

I slept peacefully that night, knowing I'd gotten my message across. Next morning I was woken up by a call from father. He said something has come up at work and they must take a trip to the Capital, him along with his workmates. My heart thumped and the headache started again, furiously.

I begged him not to go but he said it was too late and too important. In fact they were on the way together. I was begging and crying on the phone for him not to go and he got worried too and said its okay. The lord will watch over him.

The only thing I could hold on to was that he agreed they wouldn't take a plane. So I was relieved a bit. I kept on bombarding his phones with calls, but after a while his number stopped going through. I assumed they were in a place with no signals. But it lasted for the whole of the day. The journey was supposed to take 11 hours max.

It was mother who called to tell me. Father had been in an accident. Everybody died, except him. He's in critical condition at the general hospital at the Capital.

Thankfully my father survived. He spent a year at the hospital and he lost both his legs. But he survived. That was the last time I had any signal of things to come. I'm glad it's gone though. I swear.

Well, this is my entry for Jerry Banfield's supernatural writing contest. Whao, was it emotional writing that or what!