The sound in the alley grew quiet, the people frozen in place. Just the maintenance man moved. The machinery between us groaned and screeched as the pin holder rose after resetting the pins for the next bowler. But one pin jammed. The arm tried to retract, but the bowling pin blocked it. The machine whirred. The sound bounced off the cinderblock walls.
The man put down the tool he was using and stood. He pushed a button on the machine, but the pin stayed wedged in the holder. He pushed the button a second time. Nothing.
With a curse, he reached his hand inside. His fingers closed around the neck of the bowling pin. The arm of the pin setter gave way and dropped. The maintenance man’s hand was caught in the pin’s slot. The sharp metal edge sliced through his flesh. The weight of the metal pushed him to the floor. The machine landed on top of his wrist, breaking through the bone. He screamed in pain. His blood pooled on the polished wood floor. He yanked his arm from under the pinsetter, holding it close to his chest. His hand lay in the middle of the bloody mess on the floor.
I sucked in a breath and opened my eyes. The room righted itself, and the vision fizzled away.
“What’d you see?” Chay rubbed his hand up and down my back softly.
“There’s going to be an accident.”
“When?”
“I don’t know.” I shrugged, rubbing my temples with the heels of my hands to erase the remnants of the vision. It was a particularly graphic vision. “The vision is gone. There’s nothing I can do now. Let’s just finish our game. Whose turn is it?”
“Yours,” Muriel said.
I grabbed my ball and stepped up to the alley to take my turn. It was after my second throw, when I turned around to walk back to the chairs, that everything turned sideways. I saw Muriel and Drew sitting next to each other. Muriel giggled at something Drew said. Drew leaned in and kissed her. Chay rolled his eyes and turned toward the bowling balls…
Oh, no. Oh crap.
I turned around. The pin setter was lowering to reset the pins for the next player. Hesitating for only a millisecond before running down the alley, I slid on my knees when I reached the pin setter. The machine was just starting to rise. I slid under it, reached up and grabbed the bottom of the pin that was stuck, and pulled. The machine pulled up and I pulled down—tug-of-war with a bowling pin. Not to mention that the machine could fall on me any second.
“What are you doing? Let go of that and get off the lane!” the maintenance man yelled, running toward me. He reached out to grab the pin.
“Don’t put your hand in there! It’s going to fall.”
The pin gave way, sending me flying backward. My head bounced against the lane so hard stars danced in front of my eyes.
I heard the pin setter groan and creak. When I looked up, I saw it shimmy. I rolled out from under it just as it fell with a loud crash. The force of its fall cracked the wooden floor.
I sat up and looked at the large, metal contraption that was lying on the floor where I’d just been. A strong wind blew in my face, the smell of sulfur unmistakable. I put my hand behind me to brace myself against the force of the air.
He’s here, Milayna. Your time is near.
Gasping, I scrambled backward, kicking my feet against the floor. I jumped when I heard someone shout my name.
“Milayna!” Chay ran down the aisle toward me. “Are you okay?” He folded me in his arms before he pulled back and looked me over. “Are you hurt?”
“I’m fine.”
“What were you thinking?”
“I wasn’t—”
“Obviously! You could have been killed if that had landed on you.” He hugged me tight against his chest.
“It was the vision, Chay. You know I don’t have control over them.”
“You kids get off the lane. What the hell were you doing running down here like a madwoman?”
“I’m sorry, but—”
“I think your night of bowling is finished. Get your things together and get on out before you get into any more trouble,” the maintenance man snapped before turning and walking back into his hallway behind the lanes.
Geez, I save the guy from losing a hand and he kicks us out of the bowling alley. Nice. Real nice. Just once I’d like to tell people what we’ve done for them. Doesn’t matter. They’d never believe it anyway.
“Sorry, guys,” I mumbled.
“For what?” Muriel looked at me.
“I ruined the night.” I threw my arms up in the air, letting them fall and smack my thighs.
“What did you see in your vision?”
“He was gonna stick his hand in the machine to get the pin, and it was going to get stuck and sliced off.”
“Holy shit,” Drew whispered.
Muriel shuddered. “How can you think you ruined anything after seeing that?”
I shrugged.
“Geez.” Drew looked at me with wide eyes. “Are all your visions like that?”
“Like what?”
“So gruesome. I don’t get visions very often, but when I do, they’re about helping little old ladies cross the road or keeping kids from running out in the street, not about severed hands.”
“No, not all my visions are that gory. But the ones that are, aren’t the most fun.”