Amethyst (5 page)

After expressing
his gratitude, the man and his blissful toddler went on their way. I was
commending Jessica on her uncanny ability to calm the little girl when our
third checker, Tori, arrived. Her eyelids were heavily coated with sparkly
shades of gold, and her fruity perfume blasted through the front end like a bad
air freshener. Jessica immediately sent Tori down to take the produce test.

“She’ll drive
you nuts,” Jessica warned under her breath. “She’ll talk continuously about
make-up, fashion, and her secret admirers.”

“Secret
admirers?” I gave her a funny look.

She nodded
vigorously. “Female checkers receive flowers all the time. In fact, a couple
weeks after a new checker starts, male shoppers go into a buying frenzy. It’s a
bizarre grocery store phenomenon. Just you wait and see. Your time is coming.”
With a sparkle in her eye she added, “You might want to consider wearing a ring
on your left hand; that helps a little.”

“That’s crazy,”
I said dubiously.

“You’re telling
me, but back to Tori.” She turned her head slightly, as if trying to avoid a
rotten smell. “She doesn’t let anyone forget that she’s received the
most
flowers of all the girls in the front end.”

I laughed. “I
can’t imagine she’s really that bad—”

“Oh, she is.
She’ll make you feel like you never left high school.”

“Okay, well thanks
for the heads up then,” I said and diverted my attention to a lady whose cart
was chalked full of groceries. After she left, I noticed Jessica drumming her
fingers on the credit card machine. She was staring at me with a mischievous
grin.

“Jessica, I don’t
like that look…”

She rubbed her
hands together and said in a hushed voice, “I’ve just devised the perfect
plan.” She smacked her lips together. “I’ll send you flowers once a week and
sign the cards from,
Your Secret Admirer
.” She winked and giggled. “Of
course, I’ll plan it for the days you and Tori are both working. Ohhh, this
could be hilariously fun. Maybe that would shut her up for awhile…”

“You wouldn’t
dare,” I scolded and threw my pen at her.

She caught it
and laughed, “Sorry Lexi, but I’m onto something here.” Regaining some
composure, she stood tall and said dismissively, “We’ll talk more later.”

“Jessica…” I
threatened, but a throng of customers bombarded the front end and we went to
work. I listened in as an older couple discussed the headlines of the Herald,
but the topic soon turned morbid.

“Oh, how awful!”
exclaimed the lady holding the newspaper.

“What?” her
husband asked.

Without looking
up she said, “You know that man they found in the alley in Fairhaven yesterday
morning?” The words
Fairhaven
and
alley
immediately caught my
attention.

“Yes.”

“Well, he never
regained consciousness, and now he’s slipped into a coma. He’s been identified
as a Western student, but they won’t publish his name until his family has been
notified.” She looked up and caught my horrified expression. “Oh dear, hadn’t
you heard?” Another wave of apprehension swept over me, and I shook my head.
“Oh, it’s really awful. It looks like this young man was outside in the rain
all night – you know, the night of the terrible thunderstorm.”

With my mouth
hanging open, I nodded and listened in stunned silence, finding it difficult to
scan their items.

She pointed to
the article and kept on talking. “Anyways, they aren’t releasing a lot of
information, but it says here there was no evidence of foul play; although,
they did find two empty bottles of Safire in the alley.”

“Outrageous,”
her husband said angrily, shaking his head. “That Safire crap is fused with
enough malt liquor, vitamins, and caffeine to wake a dead person.” He banged a
few cans onto the belt. “If you ask me, I think these new energy drinks are
responsible for all the strange illnesses surfacing across college campuses.”
He narrowed his eyes at me. “Tell me you don’t drink that stuff.”

“Uh, no sir,” I
said, wide-eyed.

“Good, and don’t
start.” Emphatically, he waved a box of pasta in the air.

The woman
grabbed the pasta box. “Honey, there hasn’t been any link between those drinks
and the hospitalizations. It’s more likely it is some new strain of human influenza.”

I didn’t follow
the news very closely, but it would have been near impossible not to have heard
about the incidents they were referring to. Over the last few years, an
alarming number of people, mostly students, were being treated for mysterious
medical conditions, like severe disorientation or complete memory loss. A few
had even died. Experts didn’t have any answers, which made it that much more
terrifying and perplexing. But nothing like that had occurred in Western
Washington. Until now.

“Well Louise,”
the man rolled a cantaloupe onto the belt and put the grocery divider down, “I
hope that’s not the case.” He took a deep breath and pulled his wallet out of
his pocket. “At least the young man is not dead. Whatever the cause, let’s just
hope it wasn’t foul play. We don’t want a serial killer on the loose here like
they’ve got across the border.” He looked at me and shook his head.

“Mmm hmm,” I
murmured, with a nod. I hadn’t heard anything about a serial killer in Canada.

“That’s for
sure,” the lady agreed. She pointed at the newspaper again. “It says here it
will be a few weeks until the toxicology reports come in. I just hope the dear
boy wakes up from the coma before then.” She stretched the paper out. “Strange.
It says he was covered with muddy paw prints, and they don’t know what to make
of that.”

My eyes popped
open at that bit of information, and I tried to remain calm. I was relieved
when they finally left, but I couldn’t help wondering if there was a connection
between the Mastiff and the comatose student. The fact that he’d been out
during the same storm as me and the jogger and had been covered with paw prints
seemed way too coincidental. And I didn’t believe in coincidences. What
bothered me most, though, was that I still hadn’t been able to figure out what
the Mastiff and the bare-chested guy had been after that night in the alley.

Three o’clock
rolled around before I knew it. Jessica and I clocked out together and she
said, “Thanks for all your help today. Let’s do lunch…like this week.” I nodded
and she added, “Perfect. I gotta run now, but I’ll call ya tomorrow and we’ll
compare schedules.” She paused and her eyes widened. “This is so amazing; I
can’t wait. There’s so much for us to talk about. More than you know,” she
said, slapping me on the back.

I had no idea
what she was talking about but said, “Oh, I’m sure we do.” As she hurried away
I shook my head. The girl was strange. In fact, everything about my life and
this town was getting stranger by the minute. I groaned inwardly; I really
didn’t need more drama or intrigue.

Light raindrops
fell as I walked through the employee parking lot. All at once a queasy feeling
formed in the pit of my stomach. “Oh no,” I moaned, leaning against my car. I
was so not ready for more snapshots. As I closed my eyes, the images rushed
forth with a vengeance:

Two mountain
lions seizing and slashing each other with fierce brutality

Myself,
watching the battle in a sun-streaked forest

The tawny
mountain lion, spotting me and springing forth from an evergreen bough

The reddish
mountain lion, looking at me hungrily with evil, golden eyes then leaping
towards me with claws extended

My eyes shot
open, and I gasped for air. This was unreal! This was the first time
I’d
ever
been depicted in my snapshots. What was going on?

Shuddering, I
realized I had insight into my own death. I opened the car door and slid behind
the wheel. All my life premonitions had commanded me to act instantly and save
someone. Only this time, I appeared to be the one who needed saving, and I’d
looked like I did now at age 18, except I’d been in a sun-lit forest.

Raindrops
splattered against my windshield just confirming sun was not part of today’s
forecast. And I had no intention of going near the woods anyways. So when?

For some reason,
I wasn’t terrified; although, I knew I should be. Not normal. Then again,
nothing about me was normal. Gripping the steering wheel, I remembered that
momentary sense of relief in the alley when I’d known the end was near. Knowing
there would be no more guilt, responsibility, or loneliness had been
liberating. How ironic was it that I would escape the premonitions by dying
myself? So simple.

How my death
would impact my family and friends was not so simple.

One thing was
certain – my snapshots always came true. But how I chose to respond had always
been up to me.

“It’s time you
found you a man. Preferably, Mr. Right. That way you could share your secret
with him, and I wouldn’t have to worry about you all the time,” Ally said.

We were relaxing
on the living room couch, chatting about life in general, i.e. premonitions and
people dying. Since Ben was at work we had no reason to filter our
conversation, but now that she’d brought up men, I couldn’t wait for our one on
one time to end. Luckily, she had to go to work, and I had plans to meet up
with Jessica.

“Absolutely
not,” I replied. “Mr. Right will just think I’m some crazy paranormal chick, or
he’ll think I’m completely psychotic, therefore making him Mr. Wrong.”

“No he
wouldn’t.” She crossed her arms. “The right guy will think you’re wonderful,
and he’ll be completely enthralled by your amazing
gift
.”

“You mean
curse,” I huffed. “Besides, you know I can’t get involved with someone. It’s
too risky.” I didn’t mention the fact that I wouldn’t be around long enough to
find a man anyways. While I normally told Ally everything, I hadn’t told her
about the premonition of my own death; she’d totally freak.

She smoothed out
her skirt. “Well, I worry about you being alone so much, especially since they
found that college student. Everyone in this town is on edge, including me. I
know this sounds horrible,” she said, crinkling her nose, “but I’m hoping he
OD’d or something. That would be much better than the alternatives – like he
was attacked by that same psycho guy and dog that you met up with in the
alley,” she shivered, “or that maybe that viral thing has finally made its way
here to our campus.” She clutched the new, bright red throw pillow. “And worst
of all, I don’t even
want
to think about the possibility there’s some
connection between him and the murders in B.C.” She shivered. “You know…where
all the victims have been college students.”

My stomach churned.
“Unfortunately, I do. And another thing I know is it that all we ever talk
about these days is people dying.” I checked the time on my cell phone and
stood up. “Luckily, we both have places to be right now.”

Standing, she
shrugged and tossed the pillow over her head. “You’re right. That’s enough
morbidity for one day.” She grabbed her purse off the table and dug for her
keys. “Hey, I still want to meet Jessica; Ben’s had nothing but good things to
say about her. You could invite her over sometime or we could go to dinner or
something.”

“I’ll keep it in
mind,” I said as we locked up the house.

A short time
later, I arrived at Jessica’s house. She lived with her parents in a huge white
Victorian home that overlooked the city and bay. A water garden trickled with
miniature waterfalls, and the grounds burst with colors: red begonias, purple
hydrangeas, and beautiful yellow dahlias to name a few. Silently, I
acknowledged my mother for passing her gardening knowledge on to me. Or maybe
it was when I’d weeded her flower beds that I’d learned so many plant names.
One thing was for certain, this yard was professionally maintained; there
wasn’t a weed in sight.

Jessica ushered
me into a grand foyer and lead me into an impressive, recently remodeled
kitchen. When she answered a phone call, I wandered onto the massive wrap
around deck. The view was incredible. Sun reflected brightly off the bay, and
the snow-capped Canadian Rockies sparkled on the northern horizon. As I sat
down on a wicker rocking chair my phone beeped with a text from my dad. As
usual he addressed me with his special pet name.

Alex – miss u.
The house is 2 quiet w/out u. I wanted u to know I’m really proud of u getting
a job and working so hard. Don’t get mad but I transferred $200 in2 your account.
Buy some new books and go out 2 dinner. Don’t tell your mom.
J
LYL - dad

I sent a quick
thank you and reassured him that he was equally missed. Blades of guilt sliced
through my heart as I thought of his and mom’s reactions when they learned I’d
died in a brutal mountain lion attack.

The screen door
opened. “Let’s burn off some calories,” Jessica called out, looking stylish in
her black and red activewear. A few minutes later she whistled and raised her
eyebrows as we hopped into my high school graduation present, a white, 2010
Nissan 350z. “Wow! I wouldn’t have pegged you for the sports car type.”

“Yeah, you and
my parents both.” I clicked on my seatbelt. “This baby caused quite an argument
between them and my very wealthy aunt and uncle – who also happen to be my
Godparents, and who have no kids of their own.” Jessica was still shaking her
head, so I added, “I, of course, saw no problem with the gift.”

“I’ll bet.”

As was expected
for any hot July day, Lake Padden was bursting with people. On the ball fields
and in the playground area, children laughed and screamed with delight. Burning
briquettes and BBQ’d ribs drifted on the breeze as we accessed the trail along
the south end of the lake. A group of crows cawed overhead as we walked along a
gravel path of hilly terrain. After a few minutes we emerged into a forested
area.