Author's Notes: I'm glad I could still update despite the really depressing shortage of brain fluids in our area. I swear, I thought I was about to just drop this story coz I had opened the file so many times this past week and tried to add something, anything, but came up short of nothing but a whisk of air. Thank God I had managed to get through that awful writer's block! Why must I have to still be awake at 4 in the morning just to get something out of my head? Sheesh. My eyes are already drooping and yet it is only now that I had squeezed out some creative juices.

Echoes Of The Past

Gut Feeling

Kaede twirled before the wide brass-framed mirror, her face illuminated by a genuinely beautiful smile. She had never felt this happy before...

It was barely a year ago that she had met the man of her dreams. Now, she was about to marry him. It was like a fairytale come true. He was kind, intelligent, and charming. He had a way to make her feel so special, like she was the only woman in this world. All her crushed hopes in love were rebuilt by this man, her husband-to-be.

Drifting somewhere in a dream-like state, Kaede could hardly contain all the happiness inside of her. It was a day that she had dreamt as a young child. Now everything was falling perfectly into place.

She remembered how she dressed her dolls in white gowns and frocks, how she would cover their faces with sheer cloths and how she would imagine a handsome groom waiting for the bride in the church. She would be dressed in an immaculately beautiful gown with a veil that would stretch from the back to the front of the church aisle. On the other hand, he would be neatly combed, clean-shaven, standing straight in his tuxedo with a pinned rose near his heart and patiently waiting for his wife to be. It was her favorite scene in every romantic movie.

She could imagine herself now, in her white strapless gown that could almost beam in its spotlessness. She gently touched the white almost fluid fabric, feeling its smooth texture underneath her fingertips only to be obstructed by beads. Swarovski crystals and light colored gems adorned the top trimming of her dress and then was scattered from the waist down in a carefree manner. She smiled at her reflection, like the bride she had always dreamed to be.

"Miss, are you finished?" The accented voice accompanied by a rapping on the wood by the foreign seamstress sounded behind the door, snapping her from her thoughts.

"Nearly," she said, twirling around once more in her ballooning gown before opening the door for the seamstress to make any final adjustments. Just three weeks from now, Ms. Kaede Nagasaki was to become Mrs. Doumyouji. Ah, how she basked in the sheer pleasure of the sound of it.

Almost whistling in giddiness, she opened the door to let the old woman enter. The woman had graying hair, more white than black actually. She wore thick glasses that she kept hanging around her neck with thin silver chains, magnifying her eyes to three times as large. And with frail, veined legs, she walked ever so slowly, but on the contrary, her gnarled fingers that looked to have been suffering from years of arthritis were fast and adept, quickly going to work on the expensive, exquisite and extravagant dress. Oddly though, she kept clucking her tongue, shaking her head as she worked.

"What's wrong?" Kaede could not help but worry that something might be wrong from her dress. She of course wanted to look like the most beautiful woman on earth on her wedding day, which is why she didn't even question the price of the gown as she had it sketched and tailored by the most famous designer in Italy. The dress was delivered just this morning and it looked extremely magnificent. But being the perfectionist that she is, she had wanted to make sure every bead and every stitch was in place.

"The bride should not wear the gown before her wedding day. It brings bad luck," the woman stated, not looking away from her work.

Kaede sighed. Of course this woman was traditional, still bound by those superstitious beliefs. She couldn't help but smile and release a breath of relief, glad that it wasn't because her dress might've been found with a rip or a missing button or something just horrible.

"Do not laugh, Miss Nagasaki." The old woman, although was clearly past retirement age, apparently still had a sharp sense of hearing. "Events, call it unnatural coincidences if you wish, have happened in the past that best not be mentioned anymore."

There was something just eerie as the old woman's heavy accented voice said it that sent shivers up and down Kaede's spine. It was as if she had heard it from some ancient, kooky, medicine woman in a faraway tribal ceremony in the middle of a dense rainforest somewhere in an unmapped desert island. Weird. She shook herself of the thoughts. Nobody believed those superstitious crap anymore, so why should she? She was after all a woman of the millennium. She didn't need to follow the old rules set by the society long ago. If she didn't believe it, it couldn't happen to her. She was comforted by her words, but it proved to only be temporary as the woman spoke again.

"Take caution," was the old woman's last words before she left the room so that bride to be could undress in private. Kaede shivered once again as if a cold breeze just blew right past her, but thought nothing of it. It must've just been the air conditioner that she had felt as she exposed her bare back while peeling the gown off. But as she walked out of the boutique, she couldn't quite explain that sudden heavy feeling at the pit of her stomach.

The afternoon went by quickly as she finished up more paperwork for that new merger with an automobile exchange. There were plenty of little clauses in the thirty-paged contract that had to be noted and straightened out by the next day, but for once, the temperamental president wasn't screaming at all. In fact, Kaede had been smiling the whole time.

This phenomenon that made all the employees wonder if that day might have been a miracle could simply be explained with the reason that Kaede was going out with Hisaki that evening to meet his family. She was anxious of course, but made confident by Hisaki's assurance that his family would definitely love such a beautiful, intelligent and well-mannered young woman. It was Hisaki who made Kaede feel so secure that nothing could ever shake her picture-perfect world.

Soon, it was already five o' clock. Time to go home from work. Kaede's cellphone started vibrating and ringing in her handbag. She fished it out from her bag and was pleased to see Hisaki's name and number flashing on the lighted screen. He probably wanted to remind her of their date this evening, (as if she would forget when it was the only thing in her mind all afternoon) or perhaps wanted to go out for coffee first.

But the smile was quickly wiped off her face as she cupped her mouth with one hand before going weak in the knees and falling back down to sit limply on her chair.

"I'm sorry ma'am... There was nothing more we could do."

THANK YOOOOU TO ALL REVIEWERS!!!

Madame Toinks foretells: I see that the future holds more angst and pain and grief rather than these mushy ones. I want to know just what you think...and more reviews really work to help alleviate a mental block. So, PLEASE LEAVE A REVIEW!!! Click on that lefthand bottom button! Thanks! Hehehe!!!