Post 15

“I’m not sure. I could have totally made that up, no visions necessary. I mean, I didn’t see anything that was new to me. I just extrapolated from what I knew already.”

“Maybe that’s the point. Whatever is trying to show you something wants to show you something you’d be familiar with. Look on the bright side. If something freaks you out, it seems like you’re able to just stop and step out of it. You’ve already proven that.”

“But what is the point of showing me Aura Man?” Peter asked, becoming more animated. “I see him, I walk up to him, he bumps into me, boom.” Peter clapped his hands. “All of a sudden I’m sick? How does that happen? I’m not sure he’s the reason I’m seeing things in the first place, but I keep coming back to him.”

“Why don’t you give it another try? You were only out for about five seconds that time, and what you described took far longer than five seconds to happen in real life.” Peter inwardly cringed at her words, not wanting her to think he his lost in some fantasy world. Laura continued, “Let’s just see where it takes you.”

“Okay,” said Peter, getting back into the position. He noticed that the blanket had come undone, so he re-wrapped it around his ankles and feet, looking around once again to see if anyone was watching. He didn’t see anybody. “Ready?” he asked. Laura nodded. “Here we go.”

Peter closed his eyes and went immediately back to the vision, almost as though he hadn’t pulled himself out of it the first time. He was actually surprised at how quickly it took over again. He was at baggage claim now, having just bumped into himself. He watched as Aura Man began walking towards one of the exit doors when his attention was drawn to a woman standing in the middle of the wide corridor between him and the door. Her flame-red hair fell loosely around her slender face. She wore a tight red sweater that augmented the curve of her breasts, and a black skirt that ended just above her knee. As she started to walk towards him, the clicking of her shoes was audible in Peter’s ears above the low din of the terminal.

He hugged her. Was it Peter or was it Aura Man doing the hugging? At first, something inside Peter reacted. He wanted to protect this woman, but simultaneously, he wanted to avoid her. His emotions were in conflict. Peter realized he was picking up on emotions within the vision that he knew weren’t his, while at the same time feeling emotions of his own. It was very confusing. He had never seen this woman before in his life. The hug lingered longer than he expected, and Peter could smell her perfume as it filled his nostrils. It was stronger than expected, but pleasant. Her body was soft and sensual, and Peter liked the sensation of holding her close. He was also conflicted, thinking of Laura and the touch of her body. Laura was more athletic than this woman, taller and less busty.

Peter focused on the redhead again, and the embrace. The world swirled around them. Peter found himself on top of her in bed, holding her arms down as he thrust his penis into her deeply. Though he had masturbated, Peter was still a virgin, and the sensations he felt during this part of the vision were very new and arousing to him. He could feel her soft, warm body underneath his. It was confusing, as well, because her face clearly showed that she was in pain. Her voice cried out because he was hurting her, and he felt that some part of him liked to see her in pain. Another swirl and he was standing near the door to the bedroom. He was dressed, and he felt a weight in his hands, as though he was carrying something. She was lying on the bed asleep, still naked from their lovemaking. The bed sheet covered her from her stomach to her knees. One leg was uncovered, as were her breasts. One arm was across the sheet at her stomach and the other was up by her face. She was gorgeous.

Then the scene dissolved away. Before he could see that he was back in the airport, he heard the sounds of the terminal around him, and heard himself say, “How in the hell did you find out about my flight in?” Peter now saw baggage claim again, but he was moving towards the door with the woman walking next to him. The scene moved past him quickly, and as it did so, he heard scraps of conversation between him and her.

“...Jordon...” she said. “...wanted to surprise me...”

“...kill that motherfucker...” Aura Man said.

“...just outside...” she said.

“...get a hotel...” he said. Then, “...I’ll drive...”

Peter heard a car door slam as he got his bearings. He was on the top level of the parking garage, on the west side. He could see the mountains in the distance as he stood next to an older blue Chevy Cavalier. The car looked familiar to him. No, it looked familiar to Aura Man. This is a car that he remembers from the last time they saw each other.

Peter furrowed his brow and focused. He was able to slow the vision down, and saw Aura Man getting into the car on the driver’s side. Looking up, Peter could see Aura Man’s face reflected in the rear view mirror. He focused on that face, on Aura Man’s eyes. Time slowed to a crawl. What was he trying to find? What was he pulling himself towards? He stared into those hazel eyes, saw individual eyelashes surrounding them, and saw the pupil constrict ever so slightly. He went deeper, looking into the pupil itself and strained to pull back what he could barely sense.

Gerald.

Aura Man’s name was Gerald. With the realization, Peter snapped back away from the mirror, away from those eyes staring back at him. The vision Peter was seeing sped up again, surprising him. He was barely able to keep up with the exchange: “You’d prob’ly just get us into an accident,” Gerald said. Peter looked at her and watched as emotions played out across her face. First came a quick flash of anger as she turned her head away slightly. Then came submission, as her eyes came back to his. To Gerald’s, he reminded himself. Finally, she turned her head back to him and smiled.

Peter looked once more at the mirror in which he had seen Gerald’s reflection. This time, when he looked, the eyes he saw were hard, angry eyes. He realized that before, he was looking into and seeing through those eyes as though a door had been opened to him. This time, though, he was locked out of them. The stare was from Gerald directly to him. Could Aura Man see him now? Did he know that Peter’s visions were watching him?

With that, he snapped out of his trance again. His hands were in front of him as though they were gripping an unseen steering wheel. When his eyes opened to the world around him, he was whipping his head back and forth, vigilantly watching with the sense that some sort of attack could come to him at any time.

“Laura?” he called.

“I’m here, Pete.”

Laura was standing a few feet away, closer to the car than she was when he closed his eyes. “How long was I out? Hey, why’d you move away?”

“I was just a little nervous. You were pretty into it this time. I guess it scared me a little. You were out for about two minutes. At first, everything seemed alright, but then you grabbed your crotch and leaned forward onto your hands. Then you punched the ground a couple times. That’s when I stood up. I didn’t know where that was going. But you sat back down and then you didn’t move for probably a full minute. And then you started to do what you were doing when you woke up, driving some imaginary car and looking around.”

“All that in two minutes? Wow.”

Peter told her what he saw, leaving out the part about making love to her. He was too embarrassed to reveal that part of it, and too ashamed that it had aroused him. They estimated that what he saw in his vision would have taken ten to fifteen minutes when it originally happened. Between them they tried to correlate the vision he saw with the actions he performed. They figured out that while he was trying to focus on Aura Man’s – Gerald’s – face is when Peter sat perfectly still. Before that, the leaning forward and hitting the ground didn’t make sense, and after the lull, the driving followed along with driving the Cavalier, but the fear or vigilance that drove him to constantly sweep the area left him wondering what Gerald was afraid of, especially while on the road.

“Everything that you’ve seen... These are things that Gerald did as far as you can tell, right?” asked Laura.

“He definitely ran into me at baggage claim. I guess that means he met with this girl and left the airport with her. But half the time he didn’t seem to want to be with her and the other half, he did.”

“Peter, what about your first vision? Do you remember the shooting that you described to me?”

Peter nodded as the meaning of Laura’s words dawned on him. “He’s a soldier, he was stationed in the desert, and he shot someone while he was there,” Peter said, certain that he put the pieces together right. “That makes sense as far as something that would have come to me quickly. Something like that has to be a very emotional experience.”

“That makes a lot of sense, Pete. Did you pick up on any sense of emotions from that? Was he scared? Angry? Remorseful?”

“I don’t know. I don’t remember any real emotions from that vision. This time, I definitely felt some emotion around the girl.” In his mind, he remembered the feeling of making love to her. He hoped he wasn’t getting his own emotions confused with the vision. “It definitely alternated between wanting her around and wanting to leave her behind.”

“How do you feel, Pete?”

Peter thought for a moment, checking himself over. “I feel fine. No headache, no blurry vision.” He put his hand to his face and pulled it away to check for blood. “No nosebleed, either.” He held up his hand to show Laura that there was no blood on it, and as he was looking at her over his hand, Peter passed out.

He woke up to an awful smell, and his head was in Laura’s lap. Someone else was here! He sat up quickly and came face-to-face with a man in his mid-forties who was holding smelling salts out. He wore jeans, a t-shirt and hiking boots.

“Easy, Pete. Easy,” Laura was saying. Pete rested against his elbows and looked around. Behind the man was a woman, about the same age, dressed in jeans and a t-shirt. Her sweatshirt was tied around her waist. A small first aid kit was open on the ground next to him. Laura’s pink blanket was covering him up.

“I’m okay now,” said Peter as he set Laura’s blanket aside, somewhat embarrassed to have been found with it over him. As soon as he did, though, he got a chill.

Laura looked at him skeptically. “Why don’t you just sit and rest for a moment before we get you back into the car?”

Peter agreed, and accepted the bottle of water that the man was offering him. Laura had apparently made up a story about him being anemic, and that walking around was a little too much for him, which she hinted at during their conversation with the couple. When she said the word “anemic” she squeezed his arm. He picked up on it, and just kept quiet most of the time. After a few minutes, the couple gathered up their first aid kit and walked to their car, the other car in the parking lot, wishing Peter and Laura luck. They got in and left before Laura made any move to get up. She stood up first and helped Peter to his feet. They walked to the car together, arm in arm. Once he was in the car, he said, “I’m hungry.”

Laura got in, started the car and reminded Peter to put his seat belt on, which he usually did automatically. This time, he was too distracted, lost in thought. She took him to Taco Bell and rather than deal with him getting out of the car again, just went through the drive through. Peter got a six-pack of crunchy tacos – his favorite – and a drink. Laura just got a drink for herself. She then drove them back to Peter’s house. Before they reached his house, Peter had eaten all six tacos and finished most of his drink.

They chatted for a short time while sitting in the car, and then Peter got out. Laura promised to pick him up for graduation the next morning. He stood by the curb and watched Laura pull away while he waved at her. He then went inside. His parents were sitting in the living room watching TV.

“I’m home,” he said.

“Hey, Pete. How as your night?” asked his mother.

“It was fine. We went to the park and talked for a while. We got tacos,” he said, showing them the bag of fast food wrappers.

“Are those grass stains on your knees?” asked his father. “That must have been some conversation.”

“Don’t worry, Dad, all we did was talk,” he said. “I’m going to go take a shower and get ready for bed now.”

His parents looked at each other, and then looked back at him. “Peter, are you sure nothing went on between you two tonight?”

“Yes, dad,” Peter said unenthusiastically before turning to go up the stairs. He climbed a few stairs up when he heard his parents laugh quietly. As if he weren’t already feeling self-conscious!

He went upstairs and took a longer-than-usual shower to help him relax a bit. The day was definitely stressful for him. He laid out his clothes for the morning, and went to bed a little earlier than usual.

In the middle of the night, with the moonlight from the half moon shining into his room, Peter sat up in bed, suddenly awake. His eyes were opened wide as he voiced his realization: “I saw his memories.” Peter consciously played back through the vision where he, as Gerald, was making love with the redhead. Before that, he was at the airport. After that, he was driving away from the airport. So that part of his vision had to be a memory, one that was particularly strong for Gerald at that moment in time. He sat awake thinking about it, the whole time resisting two competing urges. On the one hand, he wanted to call Laura and tell her what he realized. She had said he could call any time, but Peter didn’t want to take her up on it yet. On the other hand, he could scarcely get the sight of the naked, sleeping redhead out of his mind, and he wanted to satisfy that urge in an orgasm as he remembered the touch of skin he had never felt. After about an hour, he was finally able to relax again and went back to sleep. In the morning, he remembered his realization, but didn’t remember any dreams all night.