Anomaly

Chapter 1

Is this what death looks like? Surely it can't be this lame?

I stared down at the street below. With my left eye, I could see the cars speeding down the empty night road. With my right eye, which usually showed me the future as far into my lifespan as my heart desired, I was looking at the same thing. This was where my future ended.

My Vision was like a broken record: it showed me how the lights of the city would whirl past me, how the strong air current would push against my body as I plummeted towards the street below. The cars would grow bigger, the tiny ant shapes would turn into normal-sized humans. With one final jolt of adrenaline, I'd hit the ground, and my Vision would turn black. I guess that's what you see when you fall on your face from a 20-story building.

You could say I was too young to jump. At 21 I didn't have a particularly good reason to end my life. I was fit as fuck, filthy rich, and I always got what I wanted. But see, the reason I always got what I wanted wasn't just because I was rich and good looking, though I'm sure those things on their own would have gotten me pretty far in life. My real problem was being a Seer, and a ridiculously powerful one at that.

Most Seers only got glimpses of the future. Short flashes of what was to come if they continued down the path they were currently on. Good Seers knew how to summon their Vision when they had to make an important decision, or when they were facing imminent danger. And those guys were like kindergartners compared to me. My right eye showed me the whole future, like a movie reel of my life, with millions of different endings, influenced by the smallest decisions I made.

You think your life is boring? Well let me tell you something, I didn't even know what it felt like to be excited. Or surprised. Or scared. I'd tried everything. Everything! I'd had bullets flying at me. Big scary guys coming at me with knives. Sexy top-of-the-shelf escorts trying to poison me...

And nothing. My heart rate never even went up. It's just not the same when you're expecting it. You take a step to the side and the bullet misses you. You kick the big guy in the shins, and he falls over and hurts himself with the knife meant for you. You swap the martini glasses while the lady of the night is trying to seduce you, and she ends up in an ambulance with an overdose.

Where was the adventure? Where was the adrenaline? Where was the thrill of the unexpected?

I had looked at a million different versions of my future. I'd seen all the different outcomes based on all the different choices I could make. The only amusing thing to note was that in at least one-third of all possible futures, I ended up marrying my toxic ex. I guess some catastrophes you can't avoid even if you see them coming for you.

Smoking wasn't really my thing, but this seemed like an appropriate setting for a cigarette, so I tried my best not to cough as I puffed out a cloud of smoke. The humid September wind dragged the smoke across the clear night sky with a satisfactory degree of dramatic flair. I flicked the cigarette butt and watched it disappear among the bright streetlights down below. There was no point in putting it off any longer. My Vision wouldn't change. I made up my mind. I put one foot on the ledge, and just as I was about to step up, something happened. Something completely out of the ordinary.

Something bloody impossible.

"Excuse me," a voice called from behind.

I turned around slower than I'd ever done in my life. This couldn't be happening. Nothing ever happened without me seeing it in my Vision first. At least a flicker of it. At least something.

But there she was.

A young girl, probably a few years younger than me, was standing between the big blocks of concrete stacked on the roof, intended to someday serve as benches for the residents of this building. She had a bob of messy black hair and her heavy black eyeliner was running down her cheeks. She wore white denim trousers and a black blouse which billowed in the night wind.