What Do You Want the Most

I could just what was going to happen. The red truck driver wasn’t paying any attention. He seemed more concerned with the police with his sirens behind him but had no intentions of slowing down or pulling over. The man crossing the street, Alex Melken, was too distracted with something he was holding to see what he was doing. I watched with a silent scream as he stepped off the curb. A brief horn caused him to look up just in time to see the red truck barrel into him. There was no way he could have survived.

I awoke suddenly from yet another vision. I had three days. Three days to find this guy and give him whatever he wanted. I had tried in the past to warn, but when death picks a victim, his grip is tight and he finds you one way or another. I was lucky this time, the vision had given me his name and I had noticed an address on the brief case he was carrying.

I hopped out of bed and wrapped my quilted blanket around myself. Boxers and a tank top don’t do the best to keep you warm once you’re out of bed. I slid into my computer chair and began to type rapidly; doing everything I could for this guy to have the most time. Finally I found his number. Amazing what Google can do. Ugh, he was all the way in California. Well, at least he was in the same country. And Virginia wasn’t too far away. I began packing my bags and got a ticket off the internet. Now my job may seem pretty expensive, but luckily I also work as an engineer. So I have a pretty large sum of money.

My flight wasn’t until tomorrow so I got dressed for work and ate a breakfast of waffles drowning in syrup. With a “gift” like mine it tends to make you think more on the dark side of things. Hence the drowning waffles.

Work was the same as any other day. Once again I was anxious about the next person I would try to help. I got home and watched Scrubs. I don’t normally go out and hang out with friends because I have seen too many people go. You never know when it’s going to be you, and it’s kind of hard to make friends who understand my visions. I can be crazy even to me.

I slipped into bed and snuggled down, listening to some Jack Johnson. Soon I was fast a sleep into a visionless night. The lucky thing was I only ever got one at a time. This made it easy to keep track. Technically I don’t even need to do anything, but ever since I was born I witnessed deaths of people. It started with my best friend James. We were both about three and were swimming in a river. While our moms were occupied we swam into the faster part of the current and he drowned. Ever since then, when I get an image of what will happen in the future I try to do what I can to make the rest of their life as pleasant full as possible.

A repetitive beeping awoke me in my dark apartment. I had two hours till my flight left. I got up, showered, got in the car and drove to the airport in a half daze. I boarded the plane and within three hours we had landed. I caught a cab and gave them the address I had seen in the vision. Now came the difficult part. How do I explain to Alex what I am doing? I thought through a few scenarios in my head and decided, like usual, to play it by ear. It really depends on the person’s personality.

We pulled up to a brick house and I got out. I only had a backpack with me because I wasn’t planning on staying long. I had already found the guy so there wasn’t much left to do. I approached cautiously and rang the doorbell. I heard a pair of feet scurry to the front door and a little boy opened the door.

“Hello,” I said in that voice we all save for younger children. I already felt sorry for this boy who would be loosing his father soon. “Is Alex home?” He nodded and scurried off, returning with the man I had dreamed about.

“Can I help you?” He asked as he picked his son up.

“Yes, I am from a local newspaper and we are doing a survey on what the average citizen wants most. If you had one day to live, what would you do or want to have?” He considered this for a moment as I pulled out a pad and pencil. All props of course.

“Time with my family. And to see a play at Broadway. I’ve always wanted to go.” I smiled, thanked him for his time and walked around the corner, pretending I was moving on to the next house. I had spotted a hotel on my way to the house and I checked in there and got a room. Unpacking the little I had I began to search the internet. The Lion King was playing at Broadway and that seemed like a family show. I booked tickets to New York and bought some for The Lion King online. Then I printed off the receipts and put them in an envelope which I would place in Alex’s mailbox for him to receive later today. Now I had the rest of my day free and enjoyed sightseeing around the small town in California. I checked out some neat antique stores and bought a jacket that I really liked. I went to sleep that night feeling confident and productive.

Two days later I was sitting at home eating breakfast for dinner, drowning cheerio’s this time, when an interesting story popped up on the news. A young man had been hit by a red pick up truck trying to escape from the police. The killer was a suspect of a bank robbery and was now under arrest.

“Well that’s that.” I thought to myself. As I got ready for bed I began to dread the actual sleep, but it came soon enough. Along with the next vision.