Exercise -- Write About a Premonition
As I've mentioned in my profile, I'll occasionally upload things that are snippets, observations, character studies, or just a part of a story that I'm playing with. Writing exercises can sometimes provide a wonderful starting point... or even a very, very short story that could almost be considered complete unto itself...
I don't know if you could call it a "premonition," really. I mean... look, I want to help you with your studies, and I want to be as accurate as possible. This is for a philosophy course, right? Psychology? Oh, parapsychology, I didn't know they were actually offering courses in the subject. A lot different from my day.
Yes, okay. It's late; I know you're pressed for time. I guess I just want to be clear. Prescience is knowing something before it happens; a premonition is more like an impression, or a presentment - like seeing something that hints at the future, right? Okay. Because I've had moments where I was sure something was going to happen, as if I already knew the outcome, but you're just looking for things where it seemed like I was being told something. Got it.
Well, I remember one time in particular, from when I was a child. I had the normal childhood fears and phobias, or at least they seemed reasonably normal at the time. I had a fear of dark places that held unknown things - but not known things. I loved my room when it was dark; I knew where everything was, you see? But unknown spaces, strange rooms that were dark, and I couldn't have a light on to help me... those scared me. So that was why I didn't want to go on the funhouse ride at the carnival. Or at least, that's what it was at first. I saw something on a sign, a billboard, about a horror movie where something bad happened in a funhouse, and for some reason, every time that I saw that sign, it made things worse. I was sure that our local funhouse was somehow a terrible place.
My sister called me "fraidy-cat" and all those other childhood epithets. I hated her for it, truth be known. I've forgiven her since. You see, only a few weeks after all that unpleasantness, a little girl went into the funhouse ride on her own and was abducted and killed. And I always associated it with that billboard, because the day that the girl was abducted, the sign came down. So it was like having a premonition. That memory has stuck with me through all my life...
Oh, something more direct? Okay. And by the way, thank you for seeing me so late this evening, I just didn't have any time away from work except... well, you're very kind. I appreciate it. I'll try to wrap this up quickly. Umm... let's see... a premonition, not prescience...
A feeling of something bad about to happen. Ah! Know just the thing. I was on my way to a very special meeting. This was several years ago, actually, and I'd been preparing for this meeting for quite a while. I was about to leave the house, all ready for the meeting, when all of a sudden, I get this feeling of... well, "dread" is perhaps too strong a word, but more than a simple unease. I would have put unease down to nervousness and dismissed it handily enough. This was more, as if I had been given a command to stay home, not to go out, not to keep the meeting time. My logical mind told me that I was mad, gave me all the proper reasons for keeping my promise to get this meeting out of the way... I just couldn't get this feeling to go away. I felt like a fool, for various reasons, but I listened to this feeling. I stayed home.
...oh yes, it was a good thing I did! There was one horrible mess going on in town, something with as many as a hundred law enforcement officers, from local and state branches, maybe even federal. They were trying to track down a serial killer, according to the news, and they had some sort of information that led them to that town on that night, and if I'd gotten myself in the middle of all that cop circus, I'm not sure I'd have ever gotten back to my home without a huge amount of hassle. All the roads were bottled up, and the part of town where I had my meeting scheduled... what is the collective noun for police officials? Swarm? How about "an officiousness of police?" Well, whatever the word, there were more of them in one place than I'd ever seen before.
Hm? Oh, no - I have no real understanding of where the feeling came from. I wasn't watching the news much in those days, so I didn't get any sort of clues from that source. And I was still in my house, not on the road, so no radio, and no phone calls, and nothing on the television - I had it off that day, to help me concentrate. So I don't know what it is that gave me that feeling. I really don't think that I had any external, logical reason for the feeling. In its way, it was very indistinct, yet it was insistent. I must confess, I prefer prescience to premonition any day.
Why yes, I've had prescient experiences before. Several times. There are just times when I know, I absolutely know what is going to happen. I can see it clearly in my mind. I have foreknowledge of events. I had an experience like that just recently, in fact. What about? Tonight, actually. I had a very clear image of what would happen tonight. Not so much this interview. Afterward. It was a picture of someone I'd never met before. And I saw what we were doing together. It was very interesting. I think it will come true. I think I'll enjoy it. The other times were enjoyable too, and each time, I met someone new. Like you. We've never met before, have we? But your face was so clear to me. Like the others. I always know when the moment is right. And it's right now, so please forgive me, my dear, it's time for me to put you to sleep... you won't feel a thing...