Through the Mind of a Seer

Drysti cannot finish typical a day without having a vision, encountering a ghost, or sensing things about people she wouldn't normally know, but even being a seer isn't helping her as the line between

Chapter One

 “Can I just wear shoes?” The stones digging into Drysti Basir's feet were keeping her from walking as fast as they wished, whoever they were. She had been wearing the same hot cloth bag over her head for hours now, and nobody had said a word to her. She was taken after she had just gotten home from work and put on her favorite pajama pants with cupcakes and matching shirt. Drysti didn't even hear or feel them coming which startled her the most. As someone who called herself a seer, Drysti usually prided herself on sensing certain futures. One moment she was reaching up to the cupboard for her nightly water glass, and the next moment, everything went dark as a bag was put over her head, and her hands were tied behind her back. Screaming and fighting back did no good, because she felt a blow to the side of her face.

She woke up later as she was being pulled out of some kind of van by multiple hands all around to assist her. They continued to let her scream and cry, but there was no way to fight back. She was tired of being scared. She was tired of being thirsty. Her feet hurt from walking miles on some kind of gravel road. She was tired of asking about who her captures were and what they wanted. She was tired of looking and feeling weak. The only thing that would keep her going would be her attitude. “Shoes. I need shoes. If you wish me to continue walking, give me shoes.” Her voice was shaking much more than she wished. She wouldn't be able to pull off an attitude. A moment later, she felt hands on her shoulders pushing her downwards to her knees. It gave her feet a rest, but now her knees were aching from the rocks. The situation became clearer. This was an execution. Before she could begin to do anything to defend herself, she felt someone grab a hold of her neck. Others were holding her still as she tried to fight them off, but slowly her lungs began to burn. Tears were rolling down her eyes. There was nothing she could do. She was losing air, and she was dying. Someone was murdering her.

Drysti sat right up in bed. Sweat was pouring down her forehead, and her cheeks were wet from crying. She wheezed in air as if she hadn't breathed in years. She reached up to her neck where she still felt as if someone's fingers were just there. She swore it was real. She came home the day before and put on her cupcake pajamas, and then she was kidnapped. It was vivid and real. Wasn't it? She never even went to sleep that night. Didn't she? Her heart felt like it was doing a drum solo in her chest. Her clock read slightly after midnight. Her feet were still aching as she turned on her lamp next to her bed and checked them out. There were no effects from a gravel road. Her mouth was dry from thirst, and she immediately grabbed for her normal cup of water, but it wasn't there.

Her immediate thought was to call her friend Nitya, who was the one to always help her sort out weird dreams or visions. That thought became depressing in an instant. She needed to talk to someone, or a panic attack would fester. Her fingers began scrolling through her phone without her control, and she came across the first number she knew would help. Her ex-husband. They had separated a year ago, because the fighting became too much for them. Drysti's gifts of visions, seeing ghosts, and feeling everyone around her got in the way of normality. Alik wished for an average life, and it didn't help that she felt his need, his craving to escape, and his depression. Their ten years of marriage was for nothing.

It rang four times before he answered. “What do you want?” Her ex-husband grumbled, and regret immediately poured out of her. She hadn't heard his voice in six months, and the last time she called was after a funeral and ten shots of tequila. “Dree, it's late.”

Drysti felt her eyes roll. Midnight was not late for him, and he knew it. Somehow, even though it was full of aggravation, his voice calmed her down. “I had a dream. I think.”

The silence on Alik's end was unnerving. Although the drum solo in her chest slowed down, her heart beat was faster than usual. He was taking time to sort out her words. He had to know she wouldn't call unless it was serious, or she was drunk. “Tell me about it.”

She had no time to feel relieved he was going to hear her out. “Somebody killed me. Somebody took me last night, drove me out to God knows where, made me walk barefoot forever on this stupid gravel road, then killed me. Strangled me. It was real, Alik. I don't even remember going to bed last night, because they took me before I even got my glass of water. I have no water next to me. Alik, I have no water.”

“Slow down. You need to breathe between your words.” He was more kind than she expected him to be. Drysti didn't even know why she called him. He wanted a normal life, and she wasn't helping. “Nobody killed you. Dree, do you understand that? Nobody killed you. You're fine. Say it. 'Nobody killed me.'”

“Nobody killed me.” She repeated, but it still didn't make her feel better. “But they did. Alik, I felt myself die.”

“Maybe in your dream, or vision, or whatever it was you had this time, but unless you bestowed your gift upon me in your demise, you are very much alive. I'm not talking to a dead person. Say it, Dree. 'I am alive.'”

“I am alive.” She repeated feeling her heartbeat slow more. He was the only one that could calm her down like that.

“Now, walk me through last night.” Aggravation was creeping into his tone. He had to be figuring out her problems were sucking him back in again. Drysti hated burdening him.

“I'm sorry.” She felt her voice crack. Her mouth was still dry, and she needed water badly. Venturing down stairs terrified her, and being thirsty was the better option.

“Walk me through last night.” He repeated ignoring her apology. “What time did you get home from work?”

“Uh. Nine?” The thirst was starting to annoy her too much. “I need water. I have to go downstairs, Alik. I don't want to go downstairs.” Her heart began pounding again as she remembered the bag over her head. “I didn't even see them. I didn't even feel them coming.”

“More proof it never happened.” He tried to speak calmly. She felt his annoyance over the phone, or most likely just knew. They had been together for so long that she knew his all tones. He cared, though. “Nine? Why did they keep you so late?”

“Deadline.” She worked for the newspaper and had a story due in the morning about scandal in the local big wig company. “But it did happen. I experienced everything. I felt everything. Time was real.”

“Dree. Walk me through last night. Everything you did when you got home.”

Dystri closed her eyes to remember but shot them open quickly. Not being able to see everything around her made her nervous. “I rummaged through the mail. You have mail, by the way. I ran upstairs to change into my pajamas. I went to charge my phone then came downstairs to grab water. Then they got me.”

“Was the phone charger by the bed?” Alik asked her quickly.

“Yeh.”

“Did you sit down on the bed. Were you looking at you phone?”

Everything in Drysti's body became lighter. “Yeh I laid in bed for a moment to check my e-mail.” Extreme embarrassment and stupidity overwhelmed her. At least she wasn't terrified anymore, but now she called him for nothing. “I must have fallen asleep.”

“You did have a late night at work.” He reminded her.

“Alik, I'm so sorry.”

“Whatever. Just be careful, alright.”

“I will.”

His phone clicked off, and Drysti laid back down on her pillow. How could she bother Alik like that? They hadn't even had a real conversation in a year. Her mouth was still dry, and she knew it was time to go downstairs for water.