The Hunch

For the second time that day, I stopped in my tracks, feeling a strangeness in my chest, and faced her. "About me?"

"Yes." She nodded, glancing away for a moment as she explained how they didn't start until the day she'd seen me at the cemetery. "Before that, I didn't know you existed."

"And they're nightmares?"

She nodded and took a deep breath before she started walking again, and of course, I followed along like a puppy dog—hanging on her every word—like I used to anytime I was around Madeline. "I have no idea what to make of them. Maybe I was just in so much shock to learn you even existed, but I started to dream of you that day. That day, when I first saw you . . . there were flashes"—she seemed to hesitate but went on anyway— "mainly of your face, your eyes, everything I was seeing at that moment anyway, so like the others, it didn't make sense. You've seen for yourself. The flashes can be traumatic, so I think there's this sense of negativity that comes with them sometimes. F