Meeting Destiny (20 page)

We drove the twenty minutes comfortably, not in silence but not wrapped in a gripping conversation either. I hadn’t mentioned anything to her about my dreams about Max, meeting Rewsna, or any of her advice. It would have taken longer to explain all of these events to her than we had time for. I had always considered Rachael one of my closest friends, but as far-fetched as most of these events were, I was not ready to share them with her yet.

“
Okay, here you are. Are you sure you want to wander around alone? I don’t mind keeping you company?” Her look was hopeful, and it hit me that she was still a little freaked out about the mall.

“
No, I’ll be fine. I just need to look for something at a vendor I saw a while back. I still haven’t found your graduation present.” I knew that would keep her from feeling like I was ditching her.

“
Oh, me neither. We could just buy ourselves presents and tell each other what we got?”

Her practical suggestion elicited a laugh from both of us.

“
Oh, go ahead, just make sure I can return it! Call me later.” Rachael drove off as I started walking through the market. I wasn’t certain that I would even see Rewsna, but I really wanted to try. She had been dressed like one of the sweet grass basket weavers, so maybe I would get lucky.

I walked up one side and down the other of the entire market. I saw venders selling fragrances, t-shirts, baskets, jewelry, candy, but no sign of Rewsna. Every few feet I would stop, look at something and scan the area for her. When I didn’t see anyone familiar or anything that heightened my senses, frustration set in. I needed to talk to her. She had to be here. I closed my eyes and stood still for a long moment imagining her face as best I could, focusing on details like the loose fitting clothing she wore, the style of her hair and how it fell easily at her shoulders, her eyes the one time they made contact with mine on the bus. After visualizing her for several long moments, I silently thought as clearly as I could, “Where – are - you?”

The answer was almost instant, “I told you not so loud! I’m behind you.” As I wheeled around, across the narrow street I could see Rewsna sitting at a table in a coffee house, near the window. Relief sweeping over me, I gave a wave and went directly over. When I got inside the café, she had a piece of coconut cream pie and a bunch of scrabble tiles in front of her.

“
Rewsna, I’m so glad to see you. I was worried I might not be able to find you.”

She answered me, but not with her voice; she was speaking telepathically again, “Lauren, I know you’ve got a lot on your mind, I can hear it, but I have already answered all your questions that I am able to.” She had the tiles laid out in front of her in various words, almost the way you would expect to lay out words if you were playing an actual game. No one else shared her table and there was no board, just the tiles.

I sat across from her in the other chair at her table. I was trying to ignore the tabletop as she moved the letters around in circles and kept recreating new words. I asked, “You didn’t tell me how to unlock Max. Can you give me a clue?”

Speaking out loud, “There is no specific process. Each soul and their human mind is different. As you get to know each other better, you will figure out what his key is.” I looked at the tabletop and saw that she had just assembled five tiles. They spelled H-E-A-R-T. As she was talking to me she took away the T and said, “Sometimes your mate will hear,” she replaced the T, “With his heart. You are the only one who can make him remember. Just keep doing what you are doing.”

“
But that’s just it, I don’t know what I’m doing.”

“
Your skills are even sharper than I gave you credit for; very impressive the way you kept Paul from leaving today.” Rewsna had switched subjects so quickly, I had hardly noticed.

I couldn’t help but ask what I’d been feeling since it happened, “You knew I was going to meet him, didn’t you? That is why you wouldn’t let me follow you off the bus earlier?” She didn’t answer, but for the first time since I had met her, I was able to read her the way I could everyone else, and that was exactly why she made me stay, “on my path,” to the mall.

“
Your love,” again she had the tiles L-O-V-E “for the others around you will,” she moved the tiles and added an additional E-V “evolve to meet your destiny.” E-V-O-L-V-E was staring at me from the tabletop. None of what she was saying made much sense.

I looked back at the tabletop to see her playing with five new tiles. Before she could give me any new message, her lips didn’t move but her voice was clear in my head, “Lauren, you know what you must do. I know you will figure out how. I wish you luck, but I don’t believe you will need it. You do not have to seek me out; I already told you, I will be watching you.”

“
Rewsna, I feel so strange, as if you are the only person I can ask questions. If I share any of this with anyone else I know, they’ll think I’m nuts.”

“
Precious Lauren, you are more sensitive than any soul I’ve met. You see things clearly that others wouldn’t notice if it reached up and slapped them in the face. You don’t need me. The answers to your questions are inside you and with your soul mate. Make him understand the question, and he will give you the answers you seek.”

I knew that our meeting was over, so I thanked her, out loud, of course, and stepped out of the cafe. I hadn’t really learned anything new, but my feelings were confirmed. It’s as if everything is predetermined, but free will results in different outcomes. I looked at my watch and realized it was already two o’clock. I was supposed to meet Max at three, so I made my way to the bus stop across from the library.

The bus let me off right in front of Max’s apartment complex. I was the only one getting off and no one was getting on. I made my way out the back door and onto the sidewalk. I felt someone watching me immediately, but the indicators of danger or fear didn’t accompany the sensation.

I looked across the street and there was Max, walking in my direction. I picked up my pace so we wouldn’t do some sappy greeting in the middle of the street like something from an old movie.

We met in his parking lot and embraced, heat welling up within me, his touch just as electric as always. “So tell me, why is it that I wake up, turn on the news, and see a picture of you being broadcast to the world again? You’re the lead story on all the networks, did you know?”

“
I’m what? Oh crap! I forgot to warn my parents. They’re going to be ticked off if television news crews park outside the house again!” I reached into my pocket and called my house; Mom picked up the phone on the second ring.

“
Lauren, where are you, what happened?” From the panic in her voice, I wondered what the news agencies were saying? It really wasn’t all that impressive. As far as I knew, Rachael and I hadn’t been in any imminent danger. I relayed the events of this morning to her as calmly as I could, trying to downplay my role. “Rachael is fine and the guy was arrested hours ago.” I told her I was going to hang out with Max until he had to work, that I would be home about seven. She reluctantly hung up, but only after warning me that trying to get through our front door would be as difficult as passing through a toy store the day before Christmas.

“
So you caught a murderer this time?” Max’s tone was thoughtful, but his eyes were full of excitement.

“
Can we go inside?”

Max spun around, took my hand, and started walking. I had been so anxious to come back to his apartment yesterday, but his rejection last night still weighed heavily on me. I’ve had condoms since Health class in high school, and had thrown some in my purse this morning – just in case. I reminded myself not to rush him.

As we made our way into his apartment, Max sounded exhausted. “I should be angry with you; I dreamt of you for hours and woke up feeling not so very rested.” I could feel my face flush.

I leaned my lips to Max’s ear and whispered, “I’ve missed you. I hope some of your dreams weren’t rated-G, because I don’t believe I can wait much longer on you.” Now it was his turn to blush.

“
No, not all of them.” I could hear an uneasiness in his voice when he quietly continued, “You are making it impossible for me…to be…respectful.”

“
To be respectful? What century are you from?” The playfulness between us was euphoric, but then I caught the irony of my own question. I knew more about where he came from than he did at this point.

“
I’m worthless. I burned my toast. I forgot to put grounds in the coffee maker. I put my dirty dishes in the dishwasher full of clean dishes. Do you want me to go on? I’m so preoccupied with you that I can’t function anymore. Here I was hoping you were just as much of a blundering idiot, and I turned on the television, only to find out you helped catch a murderer! I can’t imagine how I would function if we were to…”

Max didn’t finish his sentence so I cut in, “Have sex? I’ve got news for you, Max. Unless you’re planning on trading me in on a better model, it’s going to happen.”

Max took me in his arms and kissed me in a not so gentlemanly way. The overflow of my emotions took me by surprise: it was enough to take my breath away, and at the very least it took my voice.

We had only been together for less than forty-eight hours, and I already could hardly remember him not being a part of my life. Maybe because he had been a remote part of me for years? I’m sure that my dream that I’ve had, the restaurant, the hospital, meeting Rewsna were events that were really all supposed to happen, just the way that they did. Rewsna told me I was the only one who could unlock Max.

I remembered watching a show about patients with amnesia, in which their doctors and family members just talked to them about what they liked and disliked, to help unlock memories tucked away.

“
Max, what’s your favorite thing about me?”

That gigantic smile that I love took his entire face, “Honestly?”

“
No, lie to me. Of course, honestly!”

“
The way it feels like I am holding an electric fence when we touch.”

“
You feel that, too?”

“
I feel it, but more than that, I’ve felt it enough times now, that I anticipate it. But I’m much more interested in your adventure at the mall today. What happened?”

I struggled with how much to tell Max. At what point would it be sensory overload or would he think I’m a head case? I settled on, “Before I go into all that, can I tell you something that is a combination of hard to believe and borderline crazy?”

Max nodded without apprehension.

“
That night of the shooting, was there any recognition at all when you saw me?”

His expression was puzzled. “I don’t know how much of the ride in the ambulance you remember, but you asked me that night if you looked familiar to me. The truth is I felt like I knew you, but you really didn’t look familiar to me. Why, did we meet before?”

“
Yes and no. This is the part that sounds a little crazy so hopefully you can keep an open mind.

About four years ago I started having dreams, very vivid dreams. I never shared them with anyone. They were kind of my little secret because they seemed so impossible to believe. Max, I’ve dreamed of you.” I certainly didn’t want to go any further; this information alone would be enough to scare away nearly every guy on the planet.

Max seemed to take my confession in stride, “What kind of dream? You mean like déjà vu?”

“
A little, but not exactly. It was kind of a weird one where you told me that we would meet after I had done something courageous. I know it sounds crazy, and I wouldn’t bring it up at all, except that I met someone today who knew about my dreams. I never told anyone any of this; I want to know what you know about me, about us?”

When Max looked in my eyes, I wanted to melt. Please don’t let him think I am a lunatic. “Lauren, I dreamt about you today - a lot. While I was away for those few months, a day didn’t go by that I didn’t think of you, but I didn’t have any vivid dreams of you before we met. The person you met today - that was the murderer?”

“
No, this was before the mall. Her name was Rewsna. She knew all about you and me, the shooting, and even made me go to the mall. She told me to keep to my path.”

“
You mean like a psychic?”

“
No, she was more than a psychic. She knew about the dream I had about meeting you. She talked to me like I should know more about you than I do. She said all the information I needed was locked away in your mind, and I just needed to unlock it. So without sounding anymore crazy than I already have, how do you suggest I unlock your memories?”