New short story series idea. I think so. the writing prompt is “Premonition.” I have this idea that the news articles that come out will be from this unknown character. but these news articles can change someone’s life. this time its Weston’s life. leave a comment of another situation that could be predicted.
I have no magical abilities. I can’t see the future; I can’t even tell you what the weather will be like that day. But the strangest thing happened to me today and I don’t know what if anything I should do about it.
I was scrolling through my phone early this morning. I woke up before my alarm and couldn’t go back to sleep. A notification popped up about a pile up on the highway. I opened it up because that is the route I take to work every day and I wanted to plan my commute.
“25 car accident- one confirmed fatality- many others critically injured. No known cause yet.”
It couldn’t help but feel heartache for those people involved in the accident but I decided to get up since I will have to take a different route to work.
When I make it into the office that day, no one is late. No one is talking about the accident. No one even mentioned having to take a detour. When I mentioned the accident, I got a few looks of confusion. I put it out of my mind as I sat down to get to work. That was until lunch.
I pulled out my phone, and the same notification was there. This time I looked at it closer. It was not from a local news station; in fact, I’ve never even heard of this site before. And then I saw the date. Tomorrow’s date. I looked closer at the details of the report. A pit growing in my stomach.
“At 8:42 am on the morning of July 8th a simi truck lost control on the I-50 going east. Causing a chain reaction across three lanes of traffic. Initially only crashing into 4 cars. Twenty other vehicles, reacting too late, plowed right into the simi and other cars. This caused one of the original cars to be pushed deep under the semi wheel. The driver of that vehicle is the only confirmed fatality at this time, while many others are critically injured. Weston Lowe, 28, of Livingston was pronounced dead at the scene after an hour of attempting to reach his car. The reason for the semi losing control is undetermined at this time.”
I froze. I’m Weston!
Am I really reading an article about how I’m going to die? And in less than 24 hours? I feel sick. This could be some elaborate prank, but something is telling me it’s not.
I decided to look up this news site. It’s called the Forward Horizon and when I look it up, I can’t find anything. There is no website, no social media, nothing, even on a search engine. I have a hard time concentrating the rest of the day not sure what I should do.
When I get home that evening my girlfriend can tell something is bothering me. Against my better judgment I tell her about the news article. Of course, she assumes that it is just a prank like I had initially believed as well. When I explain why I don’t think it is she just shrugs and starts cleaning up from dinner.
I can’t sleep that night. I lay in bed thinking about that article. When my alarm finally went off in the morning, I’ve made up my mind. I’m calling off work. My girlfriend is not happy about it but I’m too scared and tired. I just want to go with my gut this time.
I’m glad I did because within a few hours the news of the pile up has reached everyone I know. I’m happy to hear that there is no reported death in this accident. I spent the day answering phone calls, explaining that I had called in sick, so I wasn’t on the road this morning. My girlfriend even apologized for not believing me. Sitting at the table that afternoon I silently thanked whoever was responsible for sending me that warning.
Meanwhile, unknown to Wetson, I was also following the reports of the accident coming in. I am relieved to see that Wetson’s name is not mentioned. Maybe I can save lives in this manner. I won’t get brushed off; I won’t have people trying to send me to the psych ward. I can warn every one of the premonitions I have through this news site method. And I won’t need to approach anyone.
A Writer's Starting Line 
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