Fulfill Thyself
Chapter 2: Shaping Futures
It wasn’t until the next night that I was able to piece it together. Danielle had called: they had Jimmy home safe. They found him exactly where I’d said he was, on exactly the same night. That was what made sense of everything, in fact: the timing. When they’d gotten home, they immediately tried to go find the lost boy, but the snowfall had gotten heavier, and Reina couldn’t see any landmarks to remember where the hill was. The longer they looked, the more the snow covered up everything, until finally they had to give up the search. The next day, the snow had stopped falling, and by nightfall, enough had melted that Reina could once again navigate to the hill. That’s when they found and rescued Jimmy.
It was as though fate had ensured they wouldn’t find Jimmy until the next night, to match my vision. Which was normal for my visions, except this time, fate ensured that the second vision came true. The first one was forgotten, discarded by the universe as unimportant, something that had never occurred to any vision I’d ever had. The vision I’d imagined had actually replaced the one I didn’t want, and then fate stepped in to make it real. The more I considered this startling news, the more the phrase “self-fulfilling prophecy” came to mind. All my visions were self-fulfilling prophecies, but what if that wasn’t a coincidence? What if that’s all they ever were: arbitrary predictions that ultimately made themselves real, rather than real events destined to happen and broadcast into my brain? What if all this time, I wasn’t predicting the future, but I was actually creating the future without knowing?
Maybe I had saved Jimmy by forcing myself into a vision that he had been saved. And if I had... if I could do that for Jimmy... could I shape the future into whatever I wanted? On Sunday, I opened up shop. I was always closed on the weekends, but I needed a client so I could have a vision and test this new idea. See, the one person I’ve never had a vision about is myself; for some reason, I’m only able to see into other peoples’ futures, but not my own. So if I was going to change someone’s future, it would have to be a client’s. (Technically, I could have experimented on my friends, but that didn’t seem moral somehow. At least these were strangers.)
The morning passed excruciatingly slowly, with not a single client. My regulars didn’t expect me to be open today, but no new customers showed up, either. At least, not until after the church bells rang. As the congregation disbanded, I watched from my window as a couple of twenty-something women in fancy church dresses covered themselves in fluffy, fur-collared coats and headed my way. I’m not religious, but I was internally amused as they entered my shop; I was fairly certain that psychics like me would have been considered demons or witches and burned at the stake in Biblical times. Either way, I wanted a client, so I wasn’t going to be choosy about the two who were making their way over to the counter behind which I stood.
“Good morning, ladies,” I said in my cheeriest voice. “What can I do for you?”
“That depends,” answered the blonde in the sunglasses. “Are you the real deal?”
“Of course he’s not, Mari, psychics aren’t real.” The black-haired woman rolled her eyes at her friend’s perceived gullibility.
“Most psychics aren’t real,” I agreed. “But me? I am. In fact, I have an offer for skeptics: your first reading is free, and if it comes true, you can come back for your next reading at full price.” I truly did offer that, just as a good business practice, but I had never pushed it so hard as I was doing now. That’s because I had never needed a client so desperately as I did now.
“See?” Mari said. “If he’s not real, nothing lost. If he is, then you can finally shut your closed-minded mouth.”
“Gee, love you too, bitch,” her friend replied facetiously. They both giggled. It was painful to listen to, honestly.
“Step into my office and we’ll get started.”
Mari told me about her life, about her new husband the banker (who was at least a decade older than her), et cetera, et cetera. I held her hands and closed my eyes while she talked. As she mentioned her husband, I found myself in a dusty office, staring at a man who was probably him. He was on the phone with someone, and I distinctly heard him say, “No, don’t worry, Mari doesn’t know anything. Don’t be so paranoid. Yes, definitely, I’ll see you tomorrow night.” He marked an X on tomorrow’s date on his calendar. “You could wear that lingerie I bought you... But I like it, baby... Good, I’ll see you then.” So he was cheating on her. Go figure.
Then the vision shifted. Suddenly, I was in a bedroom. I assumed it was Mari’s only because I couldn’t imagine it being anyone else’s. The sound of moaning was unmistakable and in my ears before I had even adjusted to sight again, after which point I saw Mari ass-naked, riding some dude. It certainly was not her husband. The man was much younger, closer to Mari’s age, and the Slayer T-shirt and 420 baseball cap I saw on the floor meant he probably wasn’t a banker, either.
“Oh, fuck, yes! Mari, that’s so good!”
“Shut...up...and fuck me!” Mari moaned, forming each word between pelvic thrusts into the man’s member. He immediately stopped talking, but continued moaning with her as he reached around to grab her breasts.
I was glad that, in the real world, I was sitting at a desk, because it would hide the erection that the scene was causing in my pants. Mari was nothing short of a bombshell, no doubt thanks to her banker papi’s money and lots of time at the gym, and watching her tits bounce as she tried tirelessly to achieve orgasm would make any straight man (or gay woman) cum. Luckily, I didn’t, and after watching for a few minutes, I regained my focus.
I wasn’t here to watch porn. I wasn’t even here to tell Mari her future. I was here to see if I could change that future if I wanted. But to what? Maybe I could envision Mari’s husband walking in and catching her in the act? But if he was cheating, too, did he really deserve the satisfaction of taking the high road in all this?
“OH, GOD, YES!” Mari screamed out. While I had been lost in thought, they’d changed positions, and now Mari was on all fours on the bed, the man behind her pulling her ponytail towards him with each thrust. “JUST...LIKE...THAT...”
I couldn’t help but be distracted. And once I was distracted, it was easier for my mind to wander. And once that happened... all I could do was fantasize about being the one behind her. About me pulling her hair, about me shoving my dick into her. About her yelling my name (although, I admit, she never did say the man’s name after all). And then...the fantasy became the vision.
I was still standing in the room watching, but suddenly the man behind Mari... it was me. I was there fucking her brains out. I imagined “slipping” and ramming her ass, and suddenly, I watched myself do that. “OW! Oh, God, what are you doing?!” Mari yelled. I watched myself slow and stop. “No, don’t stop! Keep going! Fuck my ass, baby!” I watched myself get back up to speed, and the mixture of pain and pleasure on Mari’s face almost made me cum in real life.
I was so lost in the fantasy, almost forgetting it was a vision, that I jumped when I was pulled back into reality. “Well?” Mari asked, looking at me impatiently. “Did you see anything about me?”
I wasn’t sure what to say. If I lied, she’d think I was a fraud. But if I told her everything, she’d think I was a pervert. “Your husband... I’m afraid he’s cheating on you,” I said. “He’s going to meet up with his mistress tomorrow night. He’ll be making those plans tonight in his office.” I decided to stop there. She didn’t need to know all of it. Besides, maybe I was overthinking everything, and there was no way a client was going to be fucking me just because I fantasized that she would, right? Maybe the first visions of the cheating couple would come true, not the replacement.
“What?!” Mari yelled. “Gerald, you cheating son of a bitch!” She stood up quickly and ran out the door, presumably, in her mind, to catch him in the act. Her friend stood up shyly and apologized for her, then followed after. Now all that was left was to wait and see what happened. I closed the shop immediately: no sense working on the weekend if I already had a test client out in the world. I got home and fell asleep to dreams of Mari and her perfect body on mine.
On Monday evening, as I sat around doing some paperwork, the shop door burst open to reveal none other than Mari herself. “You were right!” she yelled, approaching the counter furiously. “Gerald is a cheating fucker. A fucking cheater. HE CHEATS AND FUCKS OTHER WOMEN!” Clearly, she was so upset that she couldn’t decide which insult to use or how sophisticated to be.
“Calm down,” I urged gently. “It’s okay.”
“It’s NOT okay!” she yelled, slightly more quietly. “You said he was going to cheat on me, and he did! I stopped by his office last night, to try and catch him, but he was already on his way home. I asked him about it when I got back, and he denied it. Got upset and defensive that I accused him. Said he needed some fresh air to clear his head and left. But I followed him, and he wound up at some slut’s house! And the way she said hi to him—with her lips on his—she’s not just a friend! You were right...” As if a switch had flipped in her brain, Mari went from screaming furiously to sobbing in her arms on my counter in an instant.
I put my hand on her shoulder, trying to comfort her. “I’m sorry, Mari. I should have warned you. My visions always come true, even if they’re... unwanted outcomes.”
“’Unwanted outcomes?’” she sobbed. “My husband is sticking his cock in another woman behind my back, and you call that an ‘unwanted outcome’?”
“I don’t really know what to say...”
She looked up at me, and I saw a glint of vengeance behind the tears in her eyes. “Then just say you’ll come home with me tonight.”
I was taken aback. “What?”
“If Gerald gets to fuck a side piece, why can’t I? And you helped me see the truth, so it’s only right that you get to be the first.”
“Mari, I... don’t think that’s a good idea. I think you’re emotional, and you just—”
“Of course I’m emotional!” she yelled. “But if you’re worried I’ll cry rape, don’t. I want this. I want Gerald to pay, and I want you inside me. Come home with me, Wes. I promise it’ll be a good time...”
Remember when I said my visions always come true, like fate? In that moment, I could think of nothing except my vision. I knew I should say no, but the vision had been so arousing... and if it came true, it would also prove my ability to change the future... the temptation was too much. I agreed, closed the shop, and got into Mari’s car. The next few hours played out exactly as I’d seen, “accidental slippage” and all. The severe amount of deja vu would have been crippling if I wasn’t almost literally a hound in heat. After the act, Mari and I cuddled naked for a bit.
“Do you... do you think Gerald is having fun with his hussy right now?” she asked, facing the wall as the little spoon often does.
“I don’t know...” I said honestly. “But this probably wasn’t a good idea.”
“It definitely wasn’t,” she said. “But I’m glad we did it.”
I brushed a few strands of hair off her sweaty forehead. “Did you just... say you wanted to keep going after I slipped in case Gerald came home?”
“No,” she said encouragingly. “I mean, at first I did, I think. I didn’t think I’d like anal, but... turns out, I do. Weird, huh?”
I wondered if she would have liked anal anyway, or if by envisioning her saying she liked it, I had made that part of her. Nah, I told myself. She could have easily just said it for Gerald and the vision would still be true. That means she actually likes it. I was giving myself too much credit, surely.
Then again, the only reason I was sweaty and naked, holding a beautiful woman after pulling out of her, was because of my visions. Surely I deserved some credit after all.