What Would You Do If You Knew?

Chapter 13

I should've given the nurse my phone number with May's so I wouldn't have all this uncertainty. For the first time, I was uncertain of my curse. When I saw May on the bus, she didn't mention the man in the hospital, so he hadn't died yet. Or maybe I was wrong and he didn't die. May would never trust me again and wouldn't be my friend. All I could do was wait and see. But what if when May found out that what I had told her was true? Would she ever want to talk to me again?

I waited on the couch with my cell phone in my hands, clutching it tightly. I'd been waiting like this ever since I got home from school. My mom entered the living room dressed up and pretty. I tilted my head to the side in confusion. Why was she dressed up? Was she going somewhere? She saw me and smiled lightly. "I'm going out to dinner with Dave since it's Lucy's birthday. I don't need to go if you don't want to be alone."

 "I'll be fine, go ahead." She smiled gratefully, as if she needed my permission.

 "I won't be gone too long. Just a small little dinner, fast and quick." She rambled on as if she needed to convince herself. I went back to watching the wall and waiting for May. I heard pattering on the window and I knew it was raining. My mom pulled the drape aside and proved that it was raining. "Can I still go to dinner? Well, the weather doesn't matter unless the roads aren't too slippery."

The doorbell rang and Mom ran to the door. I heard her talking to someone who must have been Dave. She came back into the living room and kissed me on the forehead. "Love you," she said quickly and then she was gone.

 "Bye," I said to a now empty room. I looked at my phone in my clutched hands and sighed. The rain came down in buckets, so I almost didn't hear the knocking sound. Mom must have forgotten something. I opened the door to see a drenched person standing on the porch. She wrung out her soaking coat and shook her hair as if that would dry it. She laid an umbrella against one of the railings. It was May.

 "Can I come in, please?" May asked nervously. I nodded and she darted inside. She took her raincoat and hung it on a hook so it would dry. She slipped off her boots, too. She followed me into the living room and sat on the couch. "Thana, we need to talk. When I got home, my mom told me that I had gotten a phone call from the hospital telling her that my grandfather had unfortunately died about a few hours ago. I want to know if you gave the nurse my number yesterday." I nodded. "Did you know that man would die today?" I nodded, avoiding her eyes. She sighed and said with a rather annoyed voice, "Listen, I know you might not feel comfortable talking to me, but you're going to have to. No more silent head nods. "

I almost nodded again, but caught myself and said, "All right, I understand. And, yes, I did know he was going to pass away today."

 "Then why didn't you do anything?" May questioned. "You could have saved him!"

 "Understand that yesterday, I didn't know how he was going to die. For all I knew, if I tried to help him, I might have caused his death," I explained as calmly as I could.

 "Why did you tell the nurse to call me?"

 "You asked for proof. It was the only thing I could think of. If you remember, we're a bit short on time."

May looked confused for a minute then paled. "New York," she whispered.

"It's true. This Sunday, people will die. I don't know how though," I told her.

 "We have to do something, we can't let them die," May rambled. In some part, far off in my mind, I was happy that she said we not me.

 "I don't know what to do. What can I do? I just don't know. I'm almost beginning to believe we can't do anything to help them." I told May what had been bothering me.