Joshua badgered me with questions about the how, when and where it was going to happen. The only thing I knew was that, I wasn't actually there at the store. It was as if my mind was projected into the situation rather than me actually being there.

In all the other dreams I was actually there. Most times things were happening to me, but this time I wouldn't be there but it was going to happen. I didn't know the time. But it was going to happen.

Joshua had insisted on staying with me for the night. Under the usual circumstances I would never have agreed, but he was the only one who knew my situation. He was the only person that is helping or at least trying to.

He tapped my shoulder for the millionth time to keep me awake. My eyes were drifting shut.

"Tell me again, some guy came in the store dressed in all black and you don't know him?"

"No, and I didn't see his face. I just saw him walk in, he went up to one of the cash registers, held up the young lady, but she screamed and drew attention. The security guard stepped in, he got shot, then another civilian stepped in and he got shot."

"And you say there's another robber?"

"Yea some other guy in another line shot the cashier? I don't know my mind is fuzzy." I rubbed my temples, I was developing a headache.

"And you say you weren't actually there?"

"No, I wasn't"

"How do you know?"

"I don't know Joshua, it just felt different like my physical self wasn't there. I can't explain it." I was beginning to get irritated. He must have sensed it.

"I'm sorry, this must be real stressful for you."

"You think?"

"Do you want me to go?"

It was getting late and I couldn't relax with him asking me questions. Still, I couldn't decide if he should go or not.

"I need to sleep"

He sighed heavily. I really did. Avoiding sleep was senseless and I couldn't keep it up.

"Ok."

He picked up a notepad I kept on my coffee table and scribbled something down before handing it to me.

"This is my cell number. Call me if you need anything or if you want to talk. I don't have work so..."

"Thanks" I said as I took the notepad from him. I walked him to the door. He really was just trying to help but I have to figure this out on my own. It is happening to me. I don't think anyone else could truly be of any help.

At least I found a term for it, Nabi, not that I'm sure it's correct but it's the only thing that makes sense right now.

My dive into the deep web, turned up nothing of substance, but then I never clicked further than the first two google search result pages. I'd do more research in the morning. My bed called out to me. It yearned for me to come to it. Who was I to deny it my warmth?

I know the dangers of sleep but I already had my predictive dream, maybe, hopefully I won't dream at all.

~~~~

Shauni: Girl I'm dying save me please!

Shauni: This woman is driving me crazy

Shauni: Kill me now, she won't stop obsessing talking about physical therapy

Shauni: She'll need therapy if she doesn't let me be

Shauni: hello? Earth to best friend?

I woke up to texts from Shauni. I had severely overslept. It was now 11 am, normally I wouldn't be caught in bed passed 7.

Valerie: What's up?

Shauni: My mother is driving me crazy talking about how I wouldn't be in this position if I'd just stayed with Jeremy.

It was just like Mrs Hopewell to bring up her ex-boyfriend and make him the reason she was in her predicament.

Valerie: Well if you had stayed with him, you would probably be married and would never have moved out here for work which means you wouldn't have celebrated my birthday and had an accident.

Shauni: Ha you're so funny.

Part of me was not joking. The reality is that I saw all of this coming and I couldn't stop it.

I started to type an apology that I soon retracted and decided to try to make her laugh instead. She didn't need my dreary energy pressing down on her more than her over bearing mother.

Valerie: I see your sarcasm wasn't injured in the accident.

She replied with several laughing emojis. I spent some time texting her in bed before getting up and starting my day at nearly noon.

I was grateful that I only dreamed of minor things happening to myself today. I knew I was going to spill water when I poured it into the cup, so I tried drinking some orange juice, only to find out that I was out of orange juice. Just my luck I thought as I carefully poured the water into the glass.

As careful as I was, my hand still slipped and the contents spilled onto the counter.

I made a mental note to buy some orange juice at the supermarket. Then it all came back to me. The robbery, the shooting, it all rushed back and my mood dipped.

I decided to text Joshua. I asked him what he thought I should do about the robbery that was going to happen. Instead of replying with a text, he called.

"Hey"

"Hey, I think we should try and stop it."

"Stop it? How?" I've tried to stop things from happening before and they never worked out.

"We're not vigilantes"

"I know, but we could try to go to the police or something"

"And say what? Oh I saw a robbery happen in my dream last night by the way, you should definitely believe me"

"I believe you". That comment threw me. He did believe me, but why? Why was it so easy for him to hop on the "I see the future train". He probably watched way too many sci-fi movies.

"I don't know why you do." He insisted on picking me up so we could talk about this. I refused until finally he convinced me that I had nothing to lose.

I took a chance and told him my secret, what could go wrong with the police? Everything, everything could go wrong.

He stopped in front of the Santa Cruz Police Station, that was fairly close to the hospital.

"Do you want me to come in with you?"

"No it's ok. I can do this. I mean I'm just saying that I think a robbery is going to happen but I do not know when or how."

We had agreed to not mention the whole dream thing to them. They would probably label me as crazy from the get go. I still hoped they'd take it a little serious, people were going to die.

I walked into the station with clenched fists. I couldn't believe I was doing this. I had half of mind to turn around and beg Joshua to drive as far away as possible, but I was here. It was too late, the officer had already asked if she could help me.

"Yes, um may I speak to a detective?"

"What is this concerning?"

"I would really love to talk to a detective of some.."

"What is this concerning ma'am?" she asked sternly.

"A robbery."

"Were you robbed?"

"No. Well I was but that's not what..."

"Were you robbed or not?" she began to raise her voice.

"No, the robbery I am talking about, hasn't happened yet"

She looked at me confused.

"May I have your name please?" I wasn't comfortable giving my name. I didn't want to be tied to this event like that.

"Is that really necessary?"

"Do you want to see the detective or not?"

"Yes, it's Valerie Anderson "

She picked up the phone and dialed a detective named Wade. She briefly said who I was and why I was there before buzzing me through. I was directed to an office that was down a narrow hall to the left.

When I got to the second to last door on the right, I knocked gently.

"Come in"

I slowly pushed the door open to see a dark skinned man, maybe in his mid-thirties dressed in a black dress pants and a black t-shirt. He stood up to greet me. His handshake was firm.

"So Ms. Anderson I have a seat."

I sat in one of the plastic chairs set out for guests. The space was tiny, it barely fit his desk and chair, let alone filing cabinets, and two additional chairs.

"I hear you have some information regarding a robbery that is going to happen?"

He opened is laptop and began to type.

"Yes, at the small supermarket over on Caledonia road."

"I see. Do you know when this is going to happen?"

"Yes, today, at some point"

"At some point? No specific time?" He tapped on his keys.

"Uh I'm not sure."

"Do you know who the robber is?"

"No, but I know that they're male"

"They? More than one?"

"Two, that I know of"

"How did you come by this information Ms. Anderson?" I hesitated.

"Ms. Anderson" Joshua and I had discussed not telling them the truth but we didn't really think of what we would say if they asked how we knew.

"Um, I, just a hunch?"

"A hunch?" he closed his laptop.

"Do you know that reporting a fake crime is a criminal offense?"

"Well technically I'm not reporting, since it hasn't happened yet"

" You are interrupting real police business here based on a hunch?"

"I know, it sounds weird but this is going to happen if you don't do something about it"

"A robbery that you don't know when or how or who is going to do it"

"Yes, I can't tell you how I know but people, they're going to die."

He shook his head before standing.

"Thank you Ms. Anderson the Santa Cruz police will take it under advisement."

His face was blank emotionless, something I'm sure he learned in the police academy.

I walked out feeling even more defeated. Joshua was waiting for me right outside the entrance.

"How'd it go?"

"As well as you'd expect. The police detective person, he didn't believe me"

"What?" Joshua was genuinely shocked at that.

"Well I didn't have much information to give apart from where it's going to happen"

"Ok I get that, but they should at least check it out. I mean it is going to happen but they don't know if it's fake or not"

"You have a point, but there's nothing we can do, another thing that I won't be able to stop."

Tears were beginning to pool in my eyes. I looked away from him, I hated crying, especially before people, and especially before people I barely knew. There was a level of vulnerability that crying made me feel, that I was never comfortable with.

"Maybe we should go to the supermarket."

"Are you crazy?"

"I don't mean we go in but we can just stay outside, and when something happens, we call the police?"

It was the only thing that made sense at this point. I couldn't stand by and let this happen but I also wasn't brave enough to run in to the line of fire. I would settle for being just a concerned citizen.

~~~~

We were on our way to the little supermarket, that wasn't more than a few minutes drive down the street. The sound of police sirens grew steadily behind us. They sped down the road, until the front of their cars nearly bumped into Joshua's. They would have rear ended him if he hadn't swung out of the way.

I looked at him in despair. It couldn't be. They were heading in the same direction as us. Maybe there was another emergency. We continued on. Joshua pressed a little bit harder on the gas pedal.

As we approached, my windpipe tightened up. All the police vehicles were pulled up on the outside of the supermarket. Their weapons were drawn, but people were running out of the entrance; which meant that whatever we were going to try and stop, it had already happened.

"Oh shit!" he took the words right out of my mouth as we pulled into the parking lot. A crowd had begun to form around the building. The officers, were doing their best to calm down the now frantic shoppers who were no doubt in fear for their life.

"They shot him! They just shot him!" I heard a lady bawl as she fell to her knees. I tried to get closer, but they were quick to set up a perimeter of police tape.

In no time, a TVM news van had pulled up to the crime scene, already capturing the horror of what had taken place.

I stiffened as I saw detective Wade walk out with, a young lady who I recognized as the cashier from my dream. Her arms and apron were bloodied, but she didn't look wounded. I'm not sure what could have happened to her.

"We should uhhh... we should go." Joshua suggested as the detective made eye contact with me.

I barely felt as Joshua pulled me away from the police barricade. I was physically numb. I didn't even realize when he brought me home and laid me on my settee. I don't think I said two words to him, neither did I hear what he was saying.

I just wanted it all to be over. I wanted to wake up from this dream, this nightmare. I pinched my wrist several times, but I was still there. Why couldn't they have just believed me? Just trust the crazy person for once?

Joshua had turned the television on at some point. The 6 o'clock news was reiterating my dream. 6 o'clock ? Was it that late already? I listened as they spoke to eye witnesses about the incident.

People said all sorts of crazy things. Talking about there were 5 men that rushed in with ak47s. One man even said that they had a bomb. Another man who looked homeless kept saying that it was the government trying to take from the poor.

"Well if I didn't believe you before, I sure do now" Joshua said for the first time in a while, he must have stopped talking when he realized I wasn't answering.

"I shouldn't have turned it on. Lemme see, wanna watch reruns of The Fresh Prince of Bel-air"

"No leave it".

He was about to switch the channel back when someone knocked on my door.

"Ms. Anderson this is detective Wade. I havesome questions regarding the robbery. Please open the door".