"Would you like something to drink?" Zachary asked going over to the bar and pouring himself a club soda.
"No," Ciara replied.
Ciara sat on the couch and Zach sat beside her.
"Why didn't you tell me?" Zach asked beginning the conversation.
"You wouldn't have believed me," Ciara said.
"How long has she had her ability?" Zach asked.
"I noticed it a few weeks before her accident," Ciara replied. "She would tell me we're going to have visitors and who the visitors were before they knocked on the door. I chalked it up as a coincidence."
"What changed your mind?"
"Emilee's accident," Ciara replied moving away from Zach, closer to the end of the couch as a wave of pain rushed through her body as memories of the accident that put Emilee in the wheelchair came rushing back into her mind.
"What happened?" Zach asked.
"Before Emilee's accident, I was a proofreader for a publishing company," Ciara said. "Because of modern technology I could do my job, which I was very good at and paid very well for, from my home. I normally worked while Emilee was in school, and after she went to bed. Allowing me to spend time with her and give her my full attention. The day of her accident Emilee seemed to be having a bad day, and she seemed to want to pass her bad day on to me."
Ciara got up and went over to stand in front of the large picture window that overlooked a breath taking view of London. She looked out of the window trying to hide the guilt she was still feeling from Zach's view.
"She had been extra clingy that day," Ciara said laying her hand on her chest fearing that her heart would burst out because she was desperately trying not to cry. "Emilee wanted me to focus all my attention on her, she wouldn't let me get any work done. I explained to her that I couldn't stop what I was doing because I had a deadline to meet."
Ciara started pacing.
"I sent her to her room to go play with her video games, but instead of distracting her that caused her to come running into my office every few minutes to tell me how great she was doing. I was about to yell at her and tell her to go back into her room when someone knocked on the door of our apartment."
Ciara stopped in front of the window, reached up and wiped away a tear that had escaped from her eye. Her voice shaky she continued her story.
"It was one of Emilee's friends wanting to know if Emilee could go to the movies with her and her parents. They told her that she could invite one friend, and she chose Emilee."
Ciara turned to face Zach and found him standing behind her. Unable to face him she turned back towards the window.
"I don't normally like spur of the moment or last minute outings," Ciara said. "So, normally I wouldn't have even considered letting Emilee go. But, she was behaving so badly that I felt we both needed to take a break from each other. She could go out and enjoy herself, and I could get my work done. So, I considered this to be a win-win situation for the both of us. I told the little girl to wait in the living room while I went to get Emilee. Emilee was playing with her video game. I told her, her friend was in the living room, waiting for to take her to the movies. I expected her to jump for joy."
"But she didn't?" Zach asked.
"No, she didn't," Ciara replied. "She asked me whom she would be going with. When I told her the little girl's name a look of shear panic appeared on Emilee's face, and she told me she didn't want to go. I asked her why she didn't want to go, and she said that something bad was going to happen. I asked her what did she think was going to happen, and she said she didn't know, but that it was going to be very bad. I thought she didn't want to go because she was having too much fun aggravating me."
"So, you made her go?"
"Yes," Ciara replied turning to face Zach. "The only thing I saw was an opportunity to get Emilee out of my hair for a few hours. She could have some fun, and I could get my work done and meet my deadline. I told Emilee that she was going whether she wanted to go or not, and that she would behave and enjoy herself."
"I bet Emilee wasn't happy about that."
"She wasn't. She began to beg me not to make her go with her friend. She promised that she would stay in her room, and she would stop bothering me. I didn't believe her. I told her that getting out of the house would do her some good, and that she might as well get dressed because she was going, and she'd better behave herself and have fun, or she would answer to me when she returned home. Emilee got dressed, put a smile on her face and left with her friend."
"What happened next?" Zach asked when Ciara remained silent, and it appeared that she wasn't going to continue.
"A few hours later I received a phone call from A.P.D. informing me that there had been a bad car accident," Ciara said staring out of the window once again. "The officer said that Emilee had been seriously hurt and that I needed to get to the hospital. I told the officer that he'd dialed the wrong number and hung up the phone. I told myself that it was a crank call, but the phone rung less than a minute later. I looked at the caller I.D. and saw that it was from an officer Frank. I almost didn't pick up the phone thinking that it would go away if I didn't answer it, but I answered it. The officer on the other end explained that he understood how I felt but that he needed me to come down to the hospital. He said that a officer was coming to pick me up so that I could be with Emilee. I asked him what was wrong with Emilee, he said he couldn't tell me, that the doctors would tell me when I reached the hospital. He said they were treating her injuries."
"That must've been the longest wait and drive of your life," Zachary remarked.
"No, Ciara replied. "Everything seemed to happen very quickly after I talked to the officer. The officer that was to take me to the hospital seemed to arrive at my door in less than five minutes. The drive to the hospital seemed to take less time than that. Before I knew it I was at the hospital listening to the doctor as he told me about Emilee's injuries."
"What did he say?" Zach asked.
"He said that Emilee had a concussion," Ciara replied wrapping her arms around herself, "and two broken legs, but other than that she was fine. He said the words so nonchalantly, I stopped moving and looked at him. The look on my face must've told him that I was shocked by the callous way he spoke about my little girl because he apologized saying that he was only saying that her injuries could've been worse. I didn't want to start yelling at the doctor, so I told him to take me to Emilee."
Feeling that he should, comfort Ciara as she continued to tell him what happened, Zachary moved towards her intending to put his arms around her, but she moved away from him and continued telling him how Emilee ended up in a wheelchair.
"When I walked into the stall where Emilee was being treated, she was lying on a gurney covered with a sheet, an I.V. was in her arm. Her head was wrapped in a bandage, she was unconscious and her legs were wrapped in casts. The doctor explained how they were treating her, but I didn't hear a word he said. My eyes, my thoughts were trained on Emilee and trying to come to terms with what I was seeing. I couldn't believe that this was my daughter lying in the bed all broken and bruised, not when she'd just left me a few hours ago angry but alright. That was when I remembered what Emilee said to me before she left home. How she begged me not to force her to go with her friend. That's when I realized that I was responsible for her lying on that gurney, unconscious with both her legs broken. That's when guilt landed on me like a two ton boulder. I stood beside that gurney and promised myself that I would never again doubt anything she ever told me again."
"Has she had anymore visions besides the one she had at the airport?" Zachary asked.
"Yes," Ciara replied. "We came to be homeless because after Emilee's accident my focus became her, taking care of her and making sure she was alright. And because of that I missed a few deadlines and I lost my job. Which, meant I lost my health insurance, which meant I was totally responsible for Emilee's hospital bills. Which I was able to pay with my savings and my 401(k) account."
"Which probably didn't leave you much to pay for other things like rent and food," Zachary remarked.
"You guessed it," Ciara said her eyes still staring out of the window. "The apartment manager was a really nice lady who helped me out by paying our rent for two months after Emilee was released from the hospital. But, that still left me with the electrical, gas and groceries, which was impossible with the little bit of money I got from unemployment. By the third month, the manager and I realized that I was fighting a losing battle. So, she did the only thing she could do, which was to evict us. But, she gave us sixty days to find a new place to live, but with Emilee being in a wheelchair that was almost impossible. I didn't know what I was going to do until Emilee told me to go to my sister's job and talk to her. She said that I would find the help I needed there."
"Did you believe her," Zachary asked.
"Not really," Ciara replied. "Because I thought she was talking about my sister, and I had already talked to Brie about, Emilee, and I, staying with her, and she turned me down. But, remembering the promise, I made to believe Emilee when she had her visions, I went anyway, and just as I expected she turned me down again. I thought Emilee had gotten her signals crossed. I left Brie not knowing what I was going to do, or what I was going to tell Emilee."
