Chapter Eleven



The next morning, Annabel decided to pay a visit to Joshua. She printed out all the stuff on Death Omens and packed them in her school backpack, which she would need the following week when Spring Break finished, and headed to Joshua's house. Even if she had decided not to go to Joshua's house, she would have wanted to leave her own house anyway, after everything that had happened yesterday.
Annabel left her neighbor hood and into the main part of the "town" she lived it; it was really just a small part of Pasadena and at times like this, Annabel was happy that she lived in a small place where you could practically walk everywhere.
As Annabel crossed the street and stepped on the sidewalk in front of a small coffee shop, she ran right into someone exiting the shop. Both she and the person stumbled backward.
"Oh God, I'm sorry." Annabel said, realizing that she was running into people a lot lately. Annabel looked up to see whom she had run into; it was someone she didn't really recognize but he looked about her age and looked somewhat familiar.
The boy looked down at her. "That's okay, no harm, no foul." He said.
Annabel couldn't help but smile at him; he had dusty brown hair and brown eyes to match, his skin was the tan color that skin became after spending too much time at the beach.
The boy looked down at her as if he suddenly recognized her. "You, you look really familiar." He muttered.
Annabel didn't know how to answer his question, even though it really wasn't a question.
The boy shook his head. "Look, I know this is a really weird question and all but- wait, let me introduce myself." The boy said as he motioned to one of the nearby tables, indicating for Annabel to sit.
Annabel sat down, resting her backpack against her leg; the boy sat across from her.
"First things first, my name is Nicolas Kennedy. And, if I'm right, you're Annabel Tomas." The boy, Nicolas, said, smiling at Annabel.
Annabel frowned. "Is there anyone who doesn't know who I am? Let me guess, you saw me on the news as the girl that predicated the overhang collapse, am I right? Everyone in Pasadena as well as in California must know who am I; the girl that 'predicts death.'" Annabel said with a certain edge to her voice.
"Well, not exactly. You see," Nicolas took a death breath as he paused. "You saved me as well as my sister that day."
Annabel didn't know what to say; she wasn't sure if she could say anything at all. Annabel let out a sharp gasp and realized that she hadn't taken a breath since Nicolas had spoken. Finally she managed to whisper, "Wha…" in response to what Nicolas said.
"Look, like I said before it's really weird but let me explain. My sister and I -she is two years older then me, by the way- were going to Pasadena Airport to catch a flight to Long Island to see our cousin; we were caught in the 'traffic jam' because of the construction on the overhang. We saw you start to freak out and get out of the car with your friends and my sister -she's so cautious you wouldn't believe it- figured that we'd better pull over or something.
We pulled off the main road -deciding to catch a later flight- and we saw the overhang collapse and the explosion and everything. It was so hard to believe that if we had driven under the overhang that we would have died as well.
Later, like earlier this week or something, I turned on the news and saw that they were still covering the story. I learned about your 'vision' and all that stuff. Like I said, it's weird and all but you know…." Nicolas let the words trail.
Annabel almost couldn't believe what Nicolas had just told her; she stared at him, too surprised and confused to say anything. "Oh…" She managed to whisper, seeming incapable of more than one word at a time.
Nicolas seemed to sense Annabel's confusion; he stood up. "Sorry if I like ruined your day or anything, I didn't mean to spring that on you. After all, you don't even know me or anything. Sorry but at the same time I have to say thanks. Because of you I'm still alive; thank you."