Vivid Vision (2nd Posting)
This is the second posting of Vivid Vision. To read the beginning click here
I'm taking my time getting off the plane, I feel glued to my seat. Mainly what’s holding me here is my shame; this will be the first time I saw Carmen in five years, I don’t want her to see me like this. On the flight I took a short knap and dreamt Mike and I had another fight. It was way too real for me, and the vision I had earlier inched its way back into my mind. I have never had a vision such as that one before; not saying I have visions at all, but it scared the heck out of me. The lady at the ticket counter called my name three times before I answered her. I told her I was a little shaken up and assured her she didn’t have to worry, but she had already called security. They took me in the back and started interrogating me, and when they asked me to remove my shades their eyes widened. I explained to them what was going on and they asked if I needed them to call the police. I told them all I wanted to do was get on the plane to leave. They were very nice to me after that, and told me they had a sitting room I could sit in until it was time to get on the plane. They even allowed me to board the plane before any of the other passengers.
I hope Carmen is here; people are already looking at me whispering as I walk through the airport. As I grab my luggage off the conveyor belt I spot Carmen talking on her cell phone; since she hasn’t seen me yet I decided to call her and tell her that I missed my flight in Atlanta.
“Why didn’t you call me back to let me know you missed the flight? “ She says throwing her free hand in the air. “I live an hour away from the airport.”
“I didn’t want to upset you,” I say approaching her, she still doesn't recognize me. “I didn’t realize I missed the flight until about 20 minutes ago, and my cell kept loosing reception.” I can tell she’s getting upset by the look on her face. I walk right up to her, cell phone in hand, and bump into her.
“Excuse you!” She says rolling her eyes.
“No, excuse you.” I said standing beside her. It took her a second to realize it was me.
“Kya!” She yells when she finally figures out it’s me. “You’re an idiot! I’m glad to see you still have your sense of humor.”
“I had to get you.” I say letting her hugs me. She is half Chilean and half black, and she has the curliest hair I’ve ever seen; that’s why it was so easy for me to spot her.
“You know you was about to get cussed out.” She says grabbing one of my bags. Walking through the parking lot we talk about my vision and about the courtesy of the security officers. I wait until we get to the car before taking my glasses off. She goes berserk looking at my bruises, rushes me in the car, and speeds to a 24 hour women’s clinic.
The people at this clinic say they deal with domestic violence cases on a regular basis, and they promise confidentiality. The optometrist looking at my eye says I will be fine. When it’s time for me to sign my discharge papers one of the nurses comes in and explains the service would be free of charge if I promise to attend a few meetings on domestic violence with a group called Prosperous Women. She says there will be some information on how and where to get help relocating if I need to. I sign the forms, take the pamphlets, and get dressed.
The ride to Carmen’s apartment is long and quiet; neither of us has opened our mouths to speak. I can tell she wants to ask lots of questions I’m not prepared to answer at this time. I take my cell phone out and turn it on; it says I have 43 messages, and I know most of them are from my mother and Mike. I’m going to call her as soon as I get settled because I know she can’t sleep for worrying about me. I dial my voicemail to check my messages and the first one is from Mike so I delete it and move on. I begin listening to a message that sounds like someone I know but then Mike gets on the line and says when I get back he’s going to ‘F-me up’. That eerie feeling comes over me again and I power my phone off and glare out the window.
“This is it.” Carmen says pulling into a brightly lit parking lot. She pulls into a parking space and turns to me. “Kya just to let you know I understand if you don’t want to talk about this right now. My roommate is going away for the weekend to give us some privacy.” She says getting out of the car.
“Yeah I don’t feel like talking about it right now. I have to call my mother and talk with her about it when I really want to forget it ever happened.” I say following her into her apartment.
“You can sleep in my room tonight; I’m going to sleep on the couch so you can have some privacy.” She says walking through the living room into a spacious bedroom. She sits my bag down, turns on the light, opens her closet, and pulls out a blanket.
“I don’t mind sleeping on the couch.” I say.
“I actually have a cot in the closet to sleep on, but I figured you’d want your privacy, and I need sleep. I have a class at 8:15 in the morning and I am not missing it.” She says walking over to give me a hug. “You’re safe here now, so don’t worry about anything. Call your mom before she has a heart attack or something girl.” She says walking out the door and shutting it behind her.
I talked to my mother all night reassuring her that everything was going to be okay. She said she was taking my word for it, but as we wrapped up the conversation she didn’t sound sure; neither was I. I’ve been reading some of the material they gave me regarding the program. They provide you with a safe place to stay, financial assistance, and they even help you get back into school if that’s something you want to do. They also help with divorces and other legal matters. I am going to divorce Mike; there is no need for us to be together, I can’t stick around and hope things get better when they have only gotten worse. I read one story about a man who burned his girlfriend, and another story about a man who chopped his wife’s arm off.
My first meeting with Prosperous Women went okay; there were only seven women in my group, mainly we introduced ourselves to one another. Two of us were assigned to share a safe-house together for four months or until we got on our feet. Jenessa and I will be living in a two bedroom apartment with high security. We were chosen as roommates because we were the ones who made the choice to return to school. The apartment will be ready in three days and I am very excited, I feel that things are going to work out fine for all of us.
After the meeting I met with my case worker and she helped get the paperwork ready for my order of protection. When I signed the papers I felt as if a ton of bricks were taken off my shoulders. I still haven’t talked to Mike; there isn’t much to say but goodbye. He’s been leaving messages on my voicemail talking about how he loves me and misses me. I’m not falling for that crap anymore; it’s not much different than what he always says when we have a fight. I don’t know though, I have to admit I do miss him; he wasn’t always like this. He used to be very sensitive when it came down to my needs, but that was pre-marriage. Now, both of us are in a bad situation and I am not willing to reconcile with him.
“Kya will you hurry up, we don’t have much time!” Carmen yells slamming the front door. Today is the day I will be moving into the safe house, and she has made plans for us to go out and get a bite to eat before we go off to Prosperous Women. I talked to my mother for about and hour and she is happy I will be in a safe place while I am preparing to go through a divorce. She’s still a little concerned about me being all the way in North Carolina; she says it’s just not setting well with her. Within the first 30 minutes of meeting my mother you will find nothing sets well with her.
“I’m coming goodness!” I say grabbing my purse to head out the door.
“You know I’m going to miss you, but I am so glad I’m going to be sleeping in my bed tonight.” Carmen says closing the car door.
“Now you’re hurting my feelings. I told you I didn’t mind sleeping on the cot.”
“Whatever girl, like I was really going to make you sleep on a hard-as-nails cot with bruises all over your body. Yeah right. But I’m kidding anyway chill out a little bit.”
“I know I’m just a little nervous about going to this house. I’m trying to calm my mother down and tell her everything is going to be okay when it doesn’t feel right.” I say buckling my seatbelt.
“What doesn’t feel right Ky?”
“You know, I really don’t know. I’ve been feeling really weird since I had that vision at the airport. It’s making me real nervous that Mike hasn’t called me in a few days. I feel like something is going to happen.”
“Girl there’s nothing to worry about Ky, he probably hasn’t called because he’s gotten the order of protection. I think you’re worrying about nothing.” She says starting the car, but her attempt to reassure me is not working.
“What if he’s on his way here? He knows my grandmother lives here.”
“First of all your grandmother doesn’t live here so he won’t have a clue as to where you are going. The safe house is in an undisclosed area. Hell I don’t even know where you’re going to be staying so stop worrying.”
“Yeah, but my vision was so…”
“Did it ever occur to you that you only had the vision because you were running from your husband who had just beaten the crap out of you? Listen, Mike is not coming down here. I really think your worried about nothing honey. Your safe now and you should try to relax a little bit.” She says turning out of the parking lot.
“Hi, you must be Kya?” A lady says holding her hand out. I am the first one to arrive at Prosperous Women out of my group.
“Yes ma’am I am, and who are you?” I say reluctantly taking her hand.
“My name is Kristal and I will be handling all your school information. Since you will be starting in the middle of a semester we have special programs to get you ready for reentrance into our normal semesters. I just have a few papers I need you to fill out if you’re going to start programs by the beginning of next week.” She says shoving papers in my face.
“Oh…okay…but how did you know my name?” I say some what intimidated.
“You know I am so sorry,” she says. “I have all your information, and I was at the welcome meeting you first attended. There were two advisors who spoke with everyone who signed up for classes; I’m one of them, but I will be handling everything from now on. I also have your picture right here.” She says opening a folder with a picture of me clipped to the front. “But I tell you Kya, I’m really psychic and just know these things.” She says laughing, I let out a relieved laugh also.
“What’s so funny?” Carmen says walking in from parking the car. I explain to her everything that just happened and she gives me one of her famous eye rolls. Since we will be saying goodbye to our friends and families for at least two months, Prosperous Woman has decided to throw a party for all the women who are new to the organization. After the party there’s more paper work to be filled out, some video’s to watch, and a small lecture on what’s expected of tenants at the safe houses.
As I was about to sit down I spot my soon-to-be housemate Jenessa who stood with a frail looking woman about the age of 60 give or take a few years, I motioned for them to come sit with Carmen and me. Jenessa seemed like a good person, kind of timid, but good natured. She had this kind of iridescent glow about her; it was almost as if she was glowing from the inside, only you could tell she had lost some of her shine.
“Jenessa this is my best friend Carmen,” I say pointing toward Carmen, “And Carmen this is Jenessa.”
“Nice to meet you,” she says putting her hand out to shake Carmen’s, “This is my mother Aubry Kouse.”
“Nice to meet you Ms. Kouse,” I say taking her hand; I noticed it was clammy and cold, not at all what I see when I look in her eyes. I can tell she’s tired and worn, and as I look deeper into her ebony brown eyes I can feel her desperation. Jenessa physically resembles her mother in some ways and as I look even deeper, in spirit too.
“Welcome to Prosperous Women...” the speaker begins. I drift off into a deep thought wondering about where the future will lead me; lead all of the battered women in the room. I look to my left and notice Carmen listening to the speaker. Jenessa sits to my right and is shaking uncontrollably, I put my hand on her knee to assure her we will be okay, and she looks at me and closes her eyes; It is at that moment that another vision pops into my head, I shake it off and begin paying attention to what the speaker is saying. “No matter what you have been through, no matter who you have been through it with…Your life is about to change dramatically so embrace it.” I close my eyes, take a deep breath and pray all these changes she’s talking about are positive.
© All rights reserved · Ms. Blyss · 2008
To read more of this story come back in a few days. This is the only short story I will have open for the public to read, the others will be for friends only. I welcome feedback and I hope you enjoy. Peace, love, and, and live Blyssful!
I'm taking my time getting off the plane, I feel glued to my seat. Mainly what’s holding me here is my shame; this will be the first time I saw Carmen in five years, I don’t want her to see me like this. On the flight I took a short knap and dreamt Mike and I had another fight. It was way too real for me, and the vision I had earlier inched its way back into my mind. I have never had a vision such as that one before; not saying I have visions at all, but it scared the heck out of me. The lady at the ticket counter called my name three times before I answered her. I told her I was a little shaken up and assured her she didn’t have to worry, but she had already called security. They took me in the back and started interrogating me, and when they asked me to remove my shades their eyes widened. I explained to them what was going on and they asked if I needed them to call the police. I told them all I wanted to do was get on the plane to leave. They were very nice to me after that, and told me they had a sitting room I could sit in until it was time to get on the plane. They even allowed me to board the plane before any of the other passengers.
I hope Carmen is here; people are already looking at me whispering as I walk through the airport. As I grab my luggage off the conveyor belt I spot Carmen talking on her cell phone; since she hasn’t seen me yet I decided to call her and tell her that I missed my flight in Atlanta.
“Why didn’t you call me back to let me know you missed the flight? “ She says throwing her free hand in the air. “I live an hour away from the airport.”
“I didn’t want to upset you,” I say approaching her, she still doesn't recognize me. “I didn’t realize I missed the flight until about 20 minutes ago, and my cell kept loosing reception.” I can tell she’s getting upset by the look on her face. I walk right up to her, cell phone in hand, and bump into her.
“Excuse you!” She says rolling her eyes.
“No, excuse you.” I said standing beside her. It took her a second to realize it was me.
“Kya!” She yells when she finally figures out it’s me. “You’re an idiot! I’m glad to see you still have your sense of humor.”
“I had to get you.” I say letting her hugs me. She is half Chilean and half black, and she has the curliest hair I’ve ever seen; that’s why it was so easy for me to spot her.
“You know you was about to get cussed out.” She says grabbing one of my bags. Walking through the parking lot we talk about my vision and about the courtesy of the security officers. I wait until we get to the car before taking my glasses off. She goes berserk looking at my bruises, rushes me in the car, and speeds to a 24 hour women’s clinic.
The people at this clinic say they deal with domestic violence cases on a regular basis, and they promise confidentiality. The optometrist looking at my eye says I will be fine. When it’s time for me to sign my discharge papers one of the nurses comes in and explains the service would be free of charge if I promise to attend a few meetings on domestic violence with a group called Prosperous Women. She says there will be some information on how and where to get help relocating if I need to. I sign the forms, take the pamphlets, and get dressed.
The ride to Carmen’s apartment is long and quiet; neither of us has opened our mouths to speak. I can tell she wants to ask lots of questions I’m not prepared to answer at this time. I take my cell phone out and turn it on; it says I have 43 messages, and I know most of them are from my mother and Mike. I’m going to call her as soon as I get settled because I know she can’t sleep for worrying about me. I dial my voicemail to check my messages and the first one is from Mike so I delete it and move on. I begin listening to a message that sounds like someone I know but then Mike gets on the line and says when I get back he’s going to ‘F-me up’. That eerie feeling comes over me again and I power my phone off and glare out the window.
“This is it.” Carmen says pulling into a brightly lit parking lot. She pulls into a parking space and turns to me. “Kya just to let you know I understand if you don’t want to talk about this right now. My roommate is going away for the weekend to give us some privacy.” She says getting out of the car.
“Yeah I don’t feel like talking about it right now. I have to call my mother and talk with her about it when I really want to forget it ever happened.” I say following her into her apartment.
“You can sleep in my room tonight; I’m going to sleep on the couch so you can have some privacy.” She says walking through the living room into a spacious bedroom. She sits my bag down, turns on the light, opens her closet, and pulls out a blanket.
“I don’t mind sleeping on the couch.” I say.
“I actually have a cot in the closet to sleep on, but I figured you’d want your privacy, and I need sleep. I have a class at 8:15 in the morning and I am not missing it.” She says walking over to give me a hug. “You’re safe here now, so don’t worry about anything. Call your mom before she has a heart attack or something girl.” She says walking out the door and shutting it behind her.
I talked to my mother all night reassuring her that everything was going to be okay. She said she was taking my word for it, but as we wrapped up the conversation she didn’t sound sure; neither was I. I’ve been reading some of the material they gave me regarding the program. They provide you with a safe place to stay, financial assistance, and they even help you get back into school if that’s something you want to do. They also help with divorces and other legal matters. I am going to divorce Mike; there is no need for us to be together, I can’t stick around and hope things get better when they have only gotten worse. I read one story about a man who burned his girlfriend, and another story about a man who chopped his wife’s arm off.
My first meeting with Prosperous Women went okay; there were only seven women in my group, mainly we introduced ourselves to one another. Two of us were assigned to share a safe-house together for four months or until we got on our feet. Jenessa and I will be living in a two bedroom apartment with high security. We were chosen as roommates because we were the ones who made the choice to return to school. The apartment will be ready in three days and I am very excited, I feel that things are going to work out fine for all of us.
After the meeting I met with my case worker and she helped get the paperwork ready for my order of protection. When I signed the papers I felt as if a ton of bricks were taken off my shoulders. I still haven’t talked to Mike; there isn’t much to say but goodbye. He’s been leaving messages on my voicemail talking about how he loves me and misses me. I’m not falling for that crap anymore; it’s not much different than what he always says when we have a fight. I don’t know though, I have to admit I do miss him; he wasn’t always like this. He used to be very sensitive when it came down to my needs, but that was pre-marriage. Now, both of us are in a bad situation and I am not willing to reconcile with him.
“Kya will you hurry up, we don’t have much time!” Carmen yells slamming the front door. Today is the day I will be moving into the safe house, and she has made plans for us to go out and get a bite to eat before we go off to Prosperous Women. I talked to my mother for about and hour and she is happy I will be in a safe place while I am preparing to go through a divorce. She’s still a little concerned about me being all the way in North Carolina; she says it’s just not setting well with her. Within the first 30 minutes of meeting my mother you will find nothing sets well with her.
“I’m coming goodness!” I say grabbing my purse to head out the door.
“You know I’m going to miss you, but I am so glad I’m going to be sleeping in my bed tonight.” Carmen says closing the car door.
“Now you’re hurting my feelings. I told you I didn’t mind sleeping on the cot.”
“Whatever girl, like I was really going to make you sleep on a hard-as-nails cot with bruises all over your body. Yeah right. But I’m kidding anyway chill out a little bit.”
“I know I’m just a little nervous about going to this house. I’m trying to calm my mother down and tell her everything is going to be okay when it doesn’t feel right.” I say buckling my seatbelt.
“What doesn’t feel right Ky?”
“You know, I really don’t know. I’ve been feeling really weird since I had that vision at the airport. It’s making me real nervous that Mike hasn’t called me in a few days. I feel like something is going to happen.”
“Girl there’s nothing to worry about Ky, he probably hasn’t called because he’s gotten the order of protection. I think you’re worrying about nothing.” She says starting the car, but her attempt to reassure me is not working.
“What if he’s on his way here? He knows my grandmother lives here.”
“First of all your grandmother doesn’t live here so he won’t have a clue as to where you are going. The safe house is in an undisclosed area. Hell I don’t even know where you’re going to be staying so stop worrying.”
“Yeah, but my vision was so…”
“Did it ever occur to you that you only had the vision because you were running from your husband who had just beaten the crap out of you? Listen, Mike is not coming down here. I really think your worried about nothing honey. Your safe now and you should try to relax a little bit.” She says turning out of the parking lot.
“Hi, you must be Kya?” A lady says holding her hand out. I am the first one to arrive at Prosperous Women out of my group.
“Yes ma’am I am, and who are you?” I say reluctantly taking her hand.
“My name is Kristal and I will be handling all your school information. Since you will be starting in the middle of a semester we have special programs to get you ready for reentrance into our normal semesters. I just have a few papers I need you to fill out if you’re going to start programs by the beginning of next week.” She says shoving papers in my face.
“Oh…okay…but how did you know my name?” I say some what intimidated.
“You know I am so sorry,” she says. “I have all your information, and I was at the welcome meeting you first attended. There were two advisors who spoke with everyone who signed up for classes; I’m one of them, but I will be handling everything from now on. I also have your picture right here.” She says opening a folder with a picture of me clipped to the front. “But I tell you Kya, I’m really psychic and just know these things.” She says laughing, I let out a relieved laugh also.
“What’s so funny?” Carmen says walking in from parking the car. I explain to her everything that just happened and she gives me one of her famous eye rolls. Since we will be saying goodbye to our friends and families for at least two months, Prosperous Woman has decided to throw a party for all the women who are new to the organization. After the party there’s more paper work to be filled out, some video’s to watch, and a small lecture on what’s expected of tenants at the safe houses.
As I was about to sit down I spot my soon-to-be housemate Jenessa who stood with a frail looking woman about the age of 60 give or take a few years, I motioned for them to come sit with Carmen and me. Jenessa seemed like a good person, kind of timid, but good natured. She had this kind of iridescent glow about her; it was almost as if she was glowing from the inside, only you could tell she had lost some of her shine.
“Jenessa this is my best friend Carmen,” I say pointing toward Carmen, “And Carmen this is Jenessa.”
“Nice to meet you,” she says putting her hand out to shake Carmen’s, “This is my mother Aubry Kouse.”
“Nice to meet you Ms. Kouse,” I say taking her hand; I noticed it was clammy and cold, not at all what I see when I look in her eyes. I can tell she’s tired and worn, and as I look deeper into her ebony brown eyes I can feel her desperation. Jenessa physically resembles her mother in some ways and as I look even deeper, in spirit too.
“Welcome to Prosperous Women...” the speaker begins. I drift off into a deep thought wondering about where the future will lead me; lead all of the battered women in the room. I look to my left and notice Carmen listening to the speaker. Jenessa sits to my right and is shaking uncontrollably, I put my hand on her knee to assure her we will be okay, and she looks at me and closes her eyes; It is at that moment that another vision pops into my head, I shake it off and begin paying attention to what the speaker is saying. “No matter what you have been through, no matter who you have been through it with…Your life is about to change dramatically so embrace it.” I close my eyes, take a deep breath and pray all these changes she’s talking about are positive.
© All rights reserved · Ms. Blyss · 2008
To read more of this story come back in a few days. This is the only short story I will have open for the public to read, the others will be for friends only. I welcome feedback and I hope you enjoy. Peace, love, and, and live Blyssful!