Chapter 2

Alice heard his thoughts while she quickly ran to the bathroom. She splashed her face with cold water thinking about what she saw in her vision. She can see what will happen but she doesn’t know when will it happen. ‘I don’t have to tell him about this. He might think I am a freak!’ she said to herself. She calmed down and went out of the bathroom with a smiling face even if her mind was in turmoil.

“I’m sorry, it must be the alcohol. I suddenly felt that I needed to vomit.” She said embarrassedly knowing that she was lying through her teeth.

“Well, why don’t you come here and let’s have some star-gazing, we’ll just go home later.” Johnson patted the space on the bed beside him.

“Okay.” She lay on the bed beside him and stared at the galaxy through the glass roof of the room.

“Get some rest first, then we will leave later.” They stared at the sky in comfortable silence while lying on the bed. Alice is always amazed at the movement of the moon, stars, and clouds. She felt that she had a connection with the universe and nature. She watched the sky and saw a falling star.

She turned her head and was about to ask Johnson if he saw it, only to realize that he had fallen asleep.

She stared at his handsome face and tried to get a clue of when her vision would occur. She suddenly remembered the actor who played Finn in the ‘The Glee’ series that she watched before, they looked alike. The same smile, and same smirk, they would have passed for twins if they were the same age.

“I don’t want something to happen to you and Odette.” She said softly as she touched his forehead. She fell asleep beside him and started dreaming of Odette again.

In her dreams, Odette is still naked but she is swimming in a deep lake. Alice waved at her while she was riding on a small boat.

“It is so cold and yet you want to swim naked. Are you out of your mind? Do you want to die of hypothermia?” she started rowing her boat in Odette’s direction.

“You don’t understand honey. I don’t have a choice.” Her eyes are sad while she is trying to float in the water.

“Stop talking nonsense and come aboard so we can go home!” Alice got angry. She knew that Odette had a strong personality and was courageous so it didn’t make sense when she said she didn’t have a choice.

“No one can pull me out of this water, a mermaid is holding on to my legs.” She whispered nervously.

Suddenly, the water becomes so clear in Alice’s eyes and she sees that a beautiful mermaid is holding onto Odette’s legs, trying to pull her deep into the water. When she looked at her friend again, the water was now almost reaching her nose. She tried to pull Odette out of the water.

“Tssss!” the mermaid sounded like an angry snake. She suddenly surfaced to the water to face Alice with an angry expression. “Do not snatch her away from me!” she yelled.

“What do you want?” Alice said, disgusted at the smell of the mermaid. It smelled like a rotten fish.

“I want to bring her down with me and you can’t do anything about it! You cannot bring back the past!” the mermaid hissed and started to drag Odette violently to the bottom of the lake. She dove into the water and tried to remove the grip of the mermaid on her friend’s legs but the mermaid just laughed.

“You cannot bring back the past…you cannot bring back the past…you cannot bring back the past…” the mermaid said repeatedly while swimming down below with Odette to what seemed like a bottomless lake. She tried to follow them but she could not breathe in the water. She had no choice but to go back to the boat but she could still hear the voice of the mermaid. “You cannot bring back the past…”

She looked around to ask for help but the people that she saw were the ones who were chasing Odette during her previous dream. They only stared coldly at her and began to go away when she tried to ask for help. “Odette, why didn’t you fight back?” she cried.

Alice woke up and saw that it was almost dawn. She stared at the stars which were now beginning to fade in the sky. She knew that her friend would encounter a big problem in the future according to the interpretation of her dreams. She doesn’t have an idea why her friend will encounter difficulty in the future because she is very friendly and seems to have excellent interpersonal skills.

She felt that a long time had already passed but it was only three hours. She looked beside her and saw Johnson still sleeping. He hugged her waist and snuggled in her neck but she didn’t mind. She sent a message to her parents saying that she is still with Johnson, then went back to sleep again.

- - - -

“Mom, Dad, why don’t we go out for dinner tonight? I don’t have a schedule for this week so I think we can spend more time together before I move out.” Alice said to her parents. She just got home earlier at noon and she has this feeling that she will not often see her parents especially when she starts her classes at the university.

“I would love that dear, maybe we can go to that restaurant where they are serving unlimited seafood.” Said her mom.

“You know I hate eating fish Alyssa!” her dad glared at her mom.

“Don’t be such a grumpy old man, Cole, it doesn’t mean that you are going to eat fish when you hear the word seafood. There will be crabs, shrimps, oysters, and other sea creatures that you can enjoy.” Her mom laughed when she said this.

It is soon dinner time and they are about to go out for dinner. Alice turned off her ‘freak’ self so she couldn’t hear a lot of thoughts and she wanted to enjoy this opportunity to be a ‘normal’ person in the company of her parents. She can turn on and off her extrasensory perception at will so as not to spook the people around her, especially those who don’t know anything about her.

As soon as they got out of the car, some people recognized her. “Isn’t it the girl from the shampoo advertisement?” said a girl to her companion.

“Oh, it is the girl from the toothpaste ad!” said another person to his friends.

Alice just smiled at both parties. She is used to being recognized by people who see her advertisements or commercials. She is very beautiful in the eyes of the people who will see her with her straight, thick long chocolate brown hair, her Barbie-doll figure even if she is too lazy to work out or exercise, her innocent-looking pretty face, and a height of five feet and nine inches but it seems that she is exuding an aura that said she cannot be approached easily so the people who recognized her can just admire her from a distance. There were a few courageous people who would sometimes ask for her autograph or take a selfie with her after nervously asking for permission.

They entered the restaurant and the waiter led them to the table that they had booked earlier. It is not the first time that the three of them eat dinner outside but it is the first time that they will be eating at this particular restaurant where they serve unlimited kinds of seafood. “Alyssa dear, how did you find out about this place?” asked Cole to his wife.

“I’ve been reading about the reviews for this great restaurant after I saw it on social media. I want to visit this place and I’m sure our Alice will love this but she’s been busy with school and her shooting schedules so this is the perfect opportunity for us to dine here.” Alyssa looked at her daughter lovingly.

“Oh Mom, you knew well about my favorite food. I have one request though, I want Dad to eat more seafood in the future, especially fish. It will be good for his health. It is not healthy to always eat a lot of meat. I will be moving out of the house and you two will have to take care of yourselves.” She looked at her father with an expectant face.

“Alright, I’ll try.” Her dad said seriously. “And you too, Mom, you should eat a lot of fruits and vegetables in the future.” She turned to her mother this time.

“Hey, I am eating fruits!” Alyssa laughed softly.

“Yeah, just fruits but not vegetables!” Cole said.

They were interrupted when the waiter served the food that they ordered. The mother and daughter stared at the delicious-looking big crabs and giant shrimps on the table while Cole was eyeing the oysters and buttered mussels preferring to eat them rather than the crabs and shrimps. “Oh my! This looks and smells heavenly!” exclaimed Alyssa.

“It is delicious!” said Alice after tasting the sauce of the huge crab. They eat for more than an hour and they have several fillings of crabs and shrimps. The dessert finally arrived and the mother and daughter rested for several minutes before eating the desserts that they ordered.

“This is indeed delicious!” Cole said while eating the salad. This is the only time that Cole enjoyed eating at this restaurant. The oysters and mussels are fine but he is not fond of eating seafood.

It is a good thing that no matter what Alice eats, her body remains the same. This is because she is doing internal strength exercises, which is similar to yoga but this is to strengthen her abilities and to take full control of them.  If she were a normal girl, she would have broken the world record of being the heaviest girl on earth because of how she consumed a lot of food.

The Meyers family continued eating out for the whole week. Good thing that Cole’s business is steady and smooth. He runs a big agency that trains and deploys security guards and bodyguards, it is very well known among the upper class and the rich because of the characters of the people who were trained under his agency. As a former soldier, he is very strict and straightforward when it comes to training, labeling their people as belonging to the world-class security service.

Now it is almost time for Alice to move out of the house, it is very normal for every family to be separated from their children after reaching the legal age. Johnson and Odette already turned eighteen before Alice did, they just waited for Alice to turn eighteen before they decided to move out of their parents’ homes.

“Alice dear, don’t forget to write. We will miss you so much!” Alyssa’s eyes were red while holding back her tears. She doted on her daughter since she was a baby.

“Mom, what writing are you talking about? It is already the millennium and we have a lot of ways to communicate!” Alice almost rolled her eyes and laughed out loud at her mother’s words. “Besides, Los Angeles is just near and I can easily visit you every week if my schedule allows it.” She assured both her parents.

“Alright my baby, just don’t forget to have a video call with us every once in a while. You know this is the first time you will be living without us. If you don’t have enough money just tell us.” Cole said to his daughter.

“You both know that I have a lot of savings. I earned a lot from the advertisements and movies that I had plus the photoshoots for the magazines are not really rare. You don’t have to worry about me but just concentrate on giving me a baby brother or sister!” The couple’s eyes almost bulged out of their sockets upon hearing their daughter’s request.

Alice said seriously, “You don’t have to look so shocked mom, both of you are still young and you haven’t even reached menopausal age yet so there is still a chance. Just believe in miracles.”

A loud honk from a car sounded at the front gate. Odette yelled from the window of the car, “Alice, honey you ready yet? Hi uncle and auntie!” she waved at Cole and Alyssa.

“I am ready, I was just about to get to my car!” Alice already got her license after her birthday and can now drive on her own. She learned how to drive when she was still young by observing her parents how to drive when they drove her to and from school before. That is also one of her abilities, she can easily learn by observation or by reading and also by touching something.

“You go now, baby. Take care and drive safely!” said Cole. She hugged both her parents before riding in the car. Her parents waved goodbye to her even when the car was already running down the road.