The Family Psychic
Part One
By Stephanie Gilbert
Copyright 2022 Stephanie Gilbert ©
All characters in this story are totally fictional and over the age of eighteen
Staggering home from my birthday party, I realized I might have had to good of a night. I indulged a lot and was struggling to keep my balance as I walked. Leaning back further than I thought was possible, my feet still walked forward. I gritted my teeth and stood straight, but that sent me hurtling forward. Before me was the rail next to the waterway that had attracted my family to this estate in the first place.
My hips hit the rail, but my upper body kept going as the world spun, then I saw darkness as a wet sensation encased my body. It was an eerie feeling as I searched around with my hands and felt the reeds between my fingers. Maybe if I went to sleep, I would find myself in my bed in the morning, and the darkness closed in. I swore I felt something grab my arm, but then nothing, just darkness.
I could see the flashing lights through my eyelids. Fuck, the cops had to bring me home again, I thought. But I could feel someone pushing hard on my chest. Then the urge to throw up hit me. I opened my eyes and tried to turn my head, but a lady held my head still with both hands. A jet of spew came out and hit her square in the face, and it dripped off her chin and covered the front of her shirt.
"Fuck, sorry," I tried to say as I sputtered, and she let me turn my head and gag again.
"It's alright young man, you just let it all out." She wiped her mouth on her arm.
I was bundled into the back of the ambulance and quickly proceeded to paint its floor as well. I was sitting up in the emergency room bed trying to chat up the nurses when my family rushed in, stopping at the end of my bed glaring at me as I flirted with the pretty nurse.
Mum and my four sisters, River, Tegan, Morgan, and my oldest sister, Dianna, came forward once the nurse had finished her notes. "You were supposed to ring me to pick you up," Morgan accused as she took my hand.
"Sorry, I forgot," I said, a pathetic excuse
"You're supposed to be near death?" River said, as she pushed past the others to punch my arm.
"Good, you are all here," the doctor said as he looked at my chart. "David was not breathing and had no pulse when pulled from the water. The paramedics worked on him for thirty minutes before he began breathing again. He will be admitted to a ward at least for the next twenty-four hours while we keep an eye on him. You were fortunate. If a lady hadn't been walking her cat... well, it could have been very different."
Tegan, who had been standing back from the bed with her usual sour look, flung herself over my chest and hugged me for the first time since we were small.
"It's alright. I didn't go into the light," I joked, but none of them even smiled.
Diana put her hand on Tegan's shoulder then pulled my head into her stomach. "You frightened us, David," she said, and I got the message, loud and clear.
"I'm sorry. When I'm sober, I will apologize again," I said after Tegan ran from the room.
Two days later, I was at home, busting to go back to school as I had a remarkable story to tell my friends this time. I was in my last months of high school and couldn't wait to graduate. I dressed and headed down into the bustle of our morning kitchen. "Want a lift, David?" Morgan asked, and I tried to hide my surprise.
"Sure." I stuffed the second piece of toast into my mouth and picked up a third.
I tried not to look at my sister as she drove me to school. She was incredible but also my sister. Her old Mustang convertible was my dream car, and it only made her cooler than ever in my eyes. She rarely let me ride in it, as her brother in the passenger seat was terrible for her image.
"Thanks, Morgan," I said as I pecked her on the cheek and hopped out of the car.
Word must have gotten around because I was a bit of a celebrity for a few hours until the story lost its appeal. I talked to some girls I would have never approached when I spied April.
"Did you feel yourself going?" April asked from behind the other girls.
"Nothing, no light or anything I can remember," I said, but I got a chill through my body.
I began to get nervous, and my brow became sweaty. I couldn't see anyone beside her but could feel a presence next to her. Then I saw the classic scene from a movie where the hand opens on the edge of a bed, and the pill bottle rolls out onto the floor. I knew it was a message for April. I don't know how I knew, but I did.
I had no way of explaining what I felt, and had no idea how I could get anyone to help April. I was beside myself by the time school was out and had to tell someone about my fears. That's when I saw the TV show Mom was watching as I walked through the living room. It was one of the TV psychic shows, where the lady spits out a load of crap and feeds off someone's desperate need to connect with their loved one that has passed.
I watched as they threw out a few words and the first letter of a name, and then a poor old lady jumped up out of her seat, yelling her dead son's name.
"Tegan, I have a strange feeling every time I'm around your friend April," I said, knowing my sister was deep into this shit.
"OK, David. What are you feeling?" she said, trying to fob me off as quickly as possible.
"I see a pill bottle in her hand and April lying on her bed," I said. Tegan turned and looked at me, waiting for me to burst out laughing or something.
"That's not funny, David," she said, her expression unchanged.
"I get that. Why do you think I'm telling you?"
"You're sure?" she asked, now looking me in the eyes.
"No. I don't know what the hell it was, but it has me shaking. April asked what it felt like to die today," I said, and she took my hand.
"You are shaking. Shit. How do I check on her without sounding like I'm a loony?" she asked, hugging me to her, and it did feel a lot better.
"Mrs. Dalton, can I speak to April, please?" Tegan asked as she talked on her phone and held my hand.
"Go knock again, Mrs. Dalton. I'm a little worried about her; she hasn't been herself lately and is asking strange questions about death and the like," Tegan said and tightened her grip on my hand.
"Oh shit, she is yelling for her husband." Even sitting next to her I could hear Mrs. Dalton screaming, "I got to call an ambulance" into the phone loudly.
Tegan crushed me within her arms and sobbed into my neck. I just held her in shock. What I had seen was so vivid and turned out to be so right. "You can't tell anyone about this, Tegan," I said, as she pulled back from me, her beautiful face streaked with tears.
"But why?"
"I will be a freak." She thought for a minute and nodded her head.
April was the new news at school the next day as word about her trip to the hospital raged around the halls. I ignored any attempts to engage and tried to walk past groups of girls quickly in the hope of avoiding the same thing happening again. After school, I was surrounded by my sisters, all talking simultaneously.
"What do you see around me?" Diana asked, and held out her arms like she was on the cross or something.
"It's becoming clearer. It's emerging from the fog. It's, it's a Troll." I said, and they all giggled except Di.
I was lying my ass off of course. I did feel the nervous energy and saw signs like flashcards in front of my face, but they were coming so quickly I couldn't even begin to process them, let alone tell who they were meant for. I chose to keep that to myself for the moment but being around girls was tiring, very tiring.
I was getting another ride to school in the old Mustang and trying not to look at my sister's legs under her short skirt when she looked over, and I pulled my eyes away. "You did a good thing, David, and I'm proud of you," Morgan said. I felt the sweats coming on.
"You should do that work thing," I said as I saw an application for a job flash before my eyes; it was a promotion at her part time job.
"How... What did they say?" she asked, now distracted from her driving.
"It's more of a feeling than anything. Sorry, I'm not very good at this," I said, looking out the front window.
"It's a reach, and I don't have the experience of the others." She looked over at me again.
"That's not the feeling I get," I said as the sweat dried.
The message had been delivered, and the feeling went away for now. I did learn something, though. The school was a bit of a nightmare, as girls hunted in packs, and every time I went past a group, I was hit with a wall of messages. I had to get girls one on one to control the messages. I went to the library at lunch and sat with the nerds among the books.
When a girl went past, I waited for a message, sometimes it came and others nothing. I saw this pretty girl in my year spot me before she turned and walked my way. "David, how are you feeling after your little accident?" Sandy asked, putting her books on my desk and sitting opposite me.
"No different," I lied and tried to ignore the presence I felt beside her.
"It's nice to talk to you, David," she said shyly.
"You are pretty, you know," I said. Suddenly, her mother flashed me a sign, and I blurted it out.
"Your mom wants you to know that she thinks you are beautiful," I said, and Sandy went silent.
"She's gone..." Sandy mumbled, before looking at me like it was some trick.
"She just showed me a ring with a red stone," I said, and she clutched something between her breasts.
Sandy let out the breath she was holding in a loud gasp, then she reached over and took my hand. "I think she is trying to match make here or something," I said as I saw the images her mom was flashing me.
"What is she showing you?" she asked nervously.
"She is showing me some photos of you on a phone, and they are fairly explicit." Sandy went red.
