Clairvoyance

Clairvoyance

“Yo! Where’s my science textbook?” William asked no one in particular. He was standing in the middle of his dorm room that was covered in piles of clothes, empty chip bags, a half-crushed soda can, and important-seeming papers. The desk that should be hosting his textbooks was, in fact, hosting his laptop, more empty containers of food, and assorted clothing items.

Roy and William are stereotypical polar opposites. William gives very little care to his academics, while school is a main priority for Roy. He spends hours studying for tests in every subject, but William would rather spend his time partying with their fraternity. However, despite all of their differences, Roy and William are extremely close; opposites attract.

Groggy and stumbling, Roy went downstairs to answer the incessant pounding on the door. Of course it was William. To Roy, it seemed like it was every other day that William came bounding over to Roy’s house with some “important news.” Today, apparently, was going to be no different.

Roy opened the door and saw William, twelve years old. “You will never believe it!” William yelled-slash-whispered. “Come on, come on!”

Begrudgingly, Roy followed William, but he didn’t see how there could be any more “important news.”

William led Roy to the backyard, and just barely into the trees that made up the forest behind their house. With intensity, William said, “Okay, so a couple days ago I had a dream, and I swear the exact same thing happened the following day!”

“I - I don’t understand. What are you talking about?”

“A few nights ago. I had a dream about that test we had to take today, you know the math one that everyone was freaking out about. I saw the questions that were on it and everything. It was the most detailed, crystal-clear dream that I’ve ever had. I didn’t think about it again, though, until we took the test and Roy -” William stopped, ensuring that he had Roy’s full attention. “The test was the exact same.”

Still baffled, Roy asked, “So… what are you saying?”

To this, William replied simply, “Roy, I can see the future.”

The divulgence between William and Roy academically really started after William discovered his clairvoyance. William became more concerned with his new, intriguing powers, and less focused on schoolwork. Roy, on the other hand, seemed to throw himself into academics. William thought that maybe Roy was trying to compensate for William’s abilities by excelling academically.

Soon, William realized that he could see the future’s of specific people if he focused and thought of that particular person before falling asleep. When William first discovered this aspect of his powers he immediately wanted to foretell his own future, but-as can be expected-he was never able to. After many failed attempts, William offered to try to see Roy’s future, but Roy adamantly refused. He had no desire to see his future, and he definitely did not want William to see his future, so he pleaded that William never tried. He never did.

“Will! I have no idea where you put your textbook. It’s probably under the bed or somewhere.” Roy said across the messy dorm room to William. Roy was attempting to subtly pack up his things for his next class, but William was unusually concerned over the loss of his textbook that was likely just in a pile under his bed. One would be surprised at the amount of times that Roy has found things missing under the bed of William’s.

“I checked! It’s not there!” Roy couldn’t detect it, but there was a strange edge of urgency to William’s voice. He was frantically tossing things around, he was turning the room more upside down than it already was.

“Then just go to class without it, you barely use it anyway.” Roy, waiting anxiously by the door to their dorm room, really needed to leave, he was about to be late for his class, and he made it a priority of his to never be late to any of his classes. “Look, I really need to go, you know I hate being late.” Roy said apologetically.

“‘Ight, man. This is just weird.” William gave one last look around their disheveled dorm room before shrugging his backpack on one shoulder and heading out the door.

Roy grabbed a few essentials from his desk - calculator, textbook, and notebook - then left his dorm room and headed off to calculus.

***

Since it was Friday, the next time that William and Roy saw each other was at eight o’clock at their fraternity preparing the house for one of their infamous parties. Roy was designated with choosing what music would play and in what order since he’s the best DJ the fraternity has. William’s task was to get many people to come to the party. He was basically the advertiser for the fraternities parties. To Roy, his job seemed pretty easy since most students on campus already knew about the regular Friday night parties, but Will always claimed that it was a demanding job.

“Hey man how’s it going?” Roy left his computer station in the corner of the main room, where the dancing and such normally happens, when he saw William walk into the room, his eyes searching the room.

William looked up, apparently startled to see Roy for some reason. “Oh. Hey.” He paused, seemingly thinking of what he wanted to say. “I was just looking for you actually.”

“Really? Why?”

“I - um - need to talk to you.” William was glancing around the room nervously when he continued, “It’s a magic thing.”

“Oh.” Realization dawned on Roy, something must be wrong. When something went wrong with William’s clairvoyance, well, it was the only thing he seemed to take seriously. “Here, follow me.” Roy led him to a secluded room on one of the upper floors that no one ever visited so they could talk without being overheard.

They entered a dusty room with the only furnishings being a small, twin-sized bed and a desk. William sat on the bed and Roy moved the chair over towards the bed, so they could sit down and talk.

“So what’s wrong?” Roy asked, the curiosity was killing him.

“My dreams are gone. When I sleep, I don’t hear anything and I don’t see anything. I haven’t been able to tell anyone’s future, and I can’t tell where any of my stuff is.” That’s when it dawned on Roy why William had been so concerned about the disappearance of his chemistry textbook. Normally, he can use his clairvoyance to determine where the missing item is - he just focuses on the item and has a vision of him finding it. William has never had a day go by without a futuristic dream since that first day, this was something really bad.

“What does that mean?” For once, Roy had no idea what to do.

“I don’t know…”

All of a sudden, the door to the secluded room burst open with a loud thud, but there was no one on the other side of the door. William, scared but trying to act like it’s just agitation, rushed to the door and tried to see down the hallways, but no one was there. The only thing that he found was a single letter lying on the wooden floor just outside the door.

“What the…” William trailed off, slowly picking up the letter.

“What is it?” Roy asks approaching slowly behind William.

“A letter.”

“To who?”

“Me.” William said, staring blankly at his name handwritten neatly on the front of a yellowish envelope.

“Are you going to open it?”

“Duh.” William says, yet again trying to mask his fear.

Without hesitation William tore open the envelope, not bothering to be neat about it, and dropped the envelope on the ground as he pulled out the letter. His eyes darted back and forth as he scanned the letter.

“Well?”

“Man, some idiot is just messing with us.” William laughed, and handed the letter to Roy. “He challenged me to a ‘dual’, can you believe this?”

Roy took the letter hesitantly, “Who is it?”

“Well of course he didn’t leave a name. He just tells me to meet him behind this frat house at midnight.”

Suddenly and with uncharacteristic intent, Roy blurted out, “Don’t go.”

“What?”

“Just - don’t go. You don’t know if this guy is crazy or what. He might even be trying to frame you for something serious.”

“I have to be here anyways, we both do. You know the rules.” William was referring to the fraternity rules that no one under any circumstances is to miss one of the traditional Friday parties. “It’ll look like I’m chickening out if I purposefully avoid the back of the house.” William always was overly concerned with his image, it was his Kryptonite. “Plus,” He added in a lowered voice, “I have my powers on my side.” He said with a wink.

Roy knew it was a bad idea, but he also knew how stubborn William was when he got like this. “Okay. But I’m coming with you.”

William let out a sudden laugh, “One, I don’t need your permission and two no you’re not coming with me. I don’t need a freaking babysitter.”

“Okay, okay, whatever. But don’t come crying to me.” With that, Roy stormed out of the room.

***

William snuck out of the house and into the back just before he was supposed to confront the letter guy. He’d never admit it, but the shaking in his hands and the slight sheen of sweat on his forehead showed that he was nervous to not have Roy by his side.

The back of the house was really just a stereotypical dark alley that you see in the movies. There were a few dumpsters, countless beer cans scattering the floor, and other assorted garbage littering the ground. It was October, so the night was cold and - since William refuses to wear anything but t-shirts - he was shivering, especially as the wind picked up. Slowly William realized that this wasn’t just the breeze, there was something unnatural in the air.

He spun around, searching for what was causing the wind. It couldn’t possibly be a person, especially not the guy who wrote the letter. He’d never heard of anyone else with powers, and with his future telling abilities, he would have seen if others had powers. At least if they were someone with whom he interacted with.

“Looking for someone?” A man - more like a hooded figure since that’s all William could make out of him - appeared to be floating a good 15 feet above the ground. He was slowly lowering himself, and staring directly at William as if he was waiting for a reply.

There’s no way that he is real. This must be some messed up dream. There’s no way there are others with powers.

“Shocked to see that you’re not as special as you thought?” The guy gracefully landed, and when the light shone onto his face, William could have recognized that ignorant smirk from a mile away. It was Harry, head of the rival fraternity’s house. William’s hate of Harry went much farther than just that, however, he was - let’s just put it simply - completely oblivious to the fact that the world does not revolve around him.

“What the.. What are you?” With all of the questions circling in his head, that’s all he could get out.

“Same as you; clairvoyant I think is the term you use.”

“Oh so you can see people’s futures as well?” William asked doubtfully, a part of him was wondering the important question; why did he want to meet William in this dark alley?

“No, I have other abilities, but we’re not here to discuss that, we have an issue that needs to be dealt with.”

“What issue?”

“Rebecca.”

A flood of memories assaulted William with the mention of that one name. William dated Rebecca throughout high school, they were the “it” couple. They spent every weekend going on dates and every night after school studying together or hanging out somewhere. However, the summer before they would go off to college William decided that he didn’t want to be tied down, so he dumped her. It was rude and abrupt and to this day William hasn’t dated anyone else because of what happened.

One summer night Rebecca called William in the middle of the night. She was frantic-sounding and pleading for just one more chance. Speechless, William said nothing - absolutely nothing. Slowly, she seemed to cry herself out, and she hung up the phone. That seemed to snap William out of his silence. He immediately called her back, 24 times specifically, but she never answered. The next morning William was informed that Rebecca had killed herself.

“I’m sorry.” The simple, insufficient apology was all that William could get out. “I never meant for that to happen.” William appeared to realize something, “Wait - how do you know about that and why are you questioning me about it?”

“Because I loved her before you ever knew her. I was in love with her, and she chose you. Then what did you do? You killed her.”

“I didn’t -” William’s voice was cut off, and suddenly he couldn’t breathe in, something that he couldn’t see was cutting off his air circulation. Kicking his feet, he tried desperately to escape whatever the force was, but the realization came to him too late. Harry had yet another power and he was using it right now. William’s vision started blacking out when suddenly someone else seemed to fly through the air and knock Harry off his feet.

The single, yet forceful, blow was all Harry needed - it probably helped that he was taken by surprise. He fainted, crumpling to the ground, and the mysterious savior walked over to William, who was lying on the ground, moments from passing out. The last thought William had before passing out was, he looks familiar…

***

Slowly opening his eyes, William woke up in an unfamiliar room. He was laying in a soft bed with the same clothes he remembered having on last. The room was a pale shade of blue and the flooring was a dark wood. The only furnishings was a dresser, desk, and a chair. As soon as William noticed the chair, he noticed the person who was sitting in it, Roy,

“Roy..?” William’s voice was a hoarse whisper, “What… Where am I?”

“William! You’re awake finally.” Roy said this quickly and all in one breath. The following was also said in a rush, “I just took you up to a room, pretended like you were just drunk and out of it so no one would ask questions. I -”

“What are you doing here?”

Roy paused for only a moment before saying, “Well I just saw you unconscious in the alley behind the house and -”

“Don’t lie to me.”

“I…” A pained expression crossed Roy’s face, as he was about to reveal something to William that he has hidden from him for his entire life. “I’m the guy that knocked out Harry when he was suffocating you. I have powers too…”

There was a long, treacherous silence before William spoke. “You let me talk to you endlessly about my powers and you never even mentioned that you had the same abilities? You let me feel like I was different and alienated? Why?”

“I hate my powers. I don’t like using them. It was stupid, but I thought that if I never talked about them, then I could just pretend like they didn’t exist…”

A stunned silence, then William replies inquiring, “You hate them?”

“Yes. Don’t yours just make you feel so… so different? I hate that feeling.”

“I guess…” It was clear that William lived for the feeling that Roy would avoid at all costs, even if it meant lying to a friend.

“So what do we do about Harry?” William asked, attempting to switch topics.

“I already dealt with him, explained the situation, and made him listen for once in his life.” Annoyance laced Roy’s voice. “He’ll stop being such an idiot now, and now that he knows it’s the two of us versus him, he won’t go trying that again.”

William - contemplating the fact that there were two more people who had powers, and the fact that one of them is his friend and the other his enemy, wondered aloud, “So… What now?”

“Now, we adjust I guess.”