Premonitions

Prologue

My nightmares have haunted me ever since I turned six. I know, I know, normal kids get nightmares, so what's so odd about mine? Strangely enough, the nightmares I get recur until they actually come true. You could call me a prophet, I guess.

     The kids at school have known I was different as soon as I showed up on that first day. The only physical thing setting me off from the other girls was my hair. My hair was a dark maroon sweep of hair that cascaded down my shoulders all the way to my knees. At first, my first grade teacher thought I had dyed my hair.

     "No," I'd told her, "this is my natural color."

     From that day on, I was the girl with the cool (but odd) hair.

     Then, in the third grade, I had a dream that Danny Melchowitz would pee his pants while Mr. Smith's class was out sledding. I had that dream for four straight nights, and on the day after the fourth night, a Wednesday, he peed his pants while out sledding. Of course, I'd told my friends about the dream beforehand, and when it actually happened, they'd thought it was amazing. I went from the girl with the cool hair to the girl with the cool hair and possible psychic powers.

     From that day on, I had dreams that came true. Dreams that recurred for four consecutive days before they happened. The dreams happened once or more every two months, but sometimes I'd gone months at a time without a single recurring dream.

     Most of the time, it'd been good things happening. Getting an A plus on a final assessment. Receiving an award. Auditioning for a solo in the chorus and then getting the solo.

     In sixth grade, though, everything changed. I started to get less good dreams and more nightmares. They'd started off as small things, like flunking a quiz or getting a C on my report card. They escalated quickly, though; halfway through the school year I started having nightmares of a girl in my class getting hit by a bus and then dying. I'd told my friends in a panic, but they didn't believe anymore; told me it was just a dream. Four days later the girl was hit by a bus. She died instantly.

     They weren't just dreams anymore; they were premonitions.

     And there were more of them coming.