The Life You Left. Carmel Harrington

closed her eyes and allowed herself to relive her dream.

      Joey sits at a table. In a kitchen by the looks of it. Oak kitchen cabinets are behind him. He walks to the fridge, opens the door and takes out some milk. There’s something on the fridge door. It’s a flyer advertising a table quiz at Freddie’s Bar. The date is the 15^th October. Joey pours himself a glass of milk. He sits down again at the table, his head in his arms. A copy of the local newspaper - The Wexford Echo, dated 16^th October.

      So that confirms it; her dream had not happened yet.

      ‘It hasn’t happened yet. I saw next week’s paper on the table.’ Sarah said triumphantly.

      Edward smiled in return. ‘Well done Sarah. So part of your gift is that of precognition and prophecy.’

      Sarah rolled the words over her tongue. ‘Precognition. Prophecy.’ She stated in wonder.

      ‘I’m struggling with this a bit.’ Sarah said. ‘I’m not sure I can handle it all. Is this it for me? I can look forward to bad dreams every night, about things that are going to happen that I can do nothing about?’

      ‘You might be surprised to know that people have been having prophetic dreams for centuries. Of course many ignore them like Abraham Lincoln did, who had a psychic dream about a funeral at the White House. In the dream, he asked someone who was in the casket and they replied, "The President of the United States". He told his wife about the dream later that day but neither of them took it to heart – on the night of his assassination he gave his only bodyguard the night off. Would he have lived a long life had he taken his dream more seriously?’

      ‘I didn’t know that!’ Sarah exclaimed.

      ‘You know after the Titanic sunk, hundreds of people came forward with reports of premonitions, many of them validated, including one date-stamped letter.’ Edward paused before continuing, ‘Why do you assume that you can do nothing about your dreams? You have been given a unique window into the future. You now have a decision to make. You can ignore the prophecies you dream, sit back and do nothing and wait for the future to unfold, hoping for the best. Or you can apply positive action and do all in your power to change or even create a new future.’

      Sarah held her head in her hands. She was scared and felt very alone. How was she going to stop Joey from committing suicide? She needed to talk to someone, someone who understood. She considered calling James, but she felt guilty about how much she had offloaded on him lately.

      ‘I’m going to call Mary Donegan.’ She suddenly decided. He nodded his approval.

      It was 7am now. Was that too early to call? She’d told her to call anytime.

      She picked up her phone and dialled the number. Mary answered within a couple of rings assuring her that she was an early riser and happy to chat. Sarah quickly brought Mary up to speed on Rachel Finch’s murder and the dream.

      ‘Quite a night and morning pet.’ Mary answered. ‘You’ve been busy!’

      ‘Yes, you could say that.’ Sarah replied with a smile. ‘Help me, Mary. What am I supposed to do?’

      ‘Ah, that’s the million dollar question. I know how overwhelming this must feel for you, pet. I think the first thing you need to do is start understanding all that is going on right now. Something that helps me is keeping a journal. I write all the information I get from either my dreams or from talking to angels down in my journal. It’s always easier seeing something in black and white, gives you a better chance to interpret.’ Mary stated.

      Sarah liked that. ‘That’s a good idea. A dream journal if you like?’

      ‘That’s it, pet.’ Mary answered. ‘You need to start being a detective in your dreams. You need to analyse what you are dreaming and look for clues to help you work out what they are telling you. Like what you did earlier. You looked for clues in your dream to decipher that the event had yet to happen. So at least there is some chance that a new future can happen for Joey, not the one you dreamt.’

      ‘Well, Joey is going to commit suicide in a week’s time. That doesn’t give me much time. How do I stop him?’

      ‘Well that’s a tricky one. You might scare the life out of the man if you confront him about it. Maybe he hasn’t even decided he’s going to do it yet. You’ve got to tread very carefully. And remember, despite all your best efforts, you still may not be able to stop him doing this. If he has chosen this path, well then maybe nobody, not even you, can stop it.’ Mary said.

      Sarah refused to believe that. ‘Why am I dreaming this if I’m not meant to stop him? This gift that Edward keeps referring to, well it has to be a gift so that I can help people. Nothing else makes sense.’

      ‘I understand your frustration, pet, but you only have the power to control your own life. You can’t control what Joey does. But you can influence it. Remember that. Maybe you can help him if you understand why it is he wants to die.’

      ‘All I know is that I felt an overwhelming surge of sadness and loneliness when I was dreaming.’ Sarah replied. ‘Maybe I should try to talk to Joey? Try to understand why it is he is feeling suicidal?’

      ‘Yes, that has to be your next step. But please be very careful. As I said before don’t scare him by blurting out what you’ve seen.’ Mary implored.

      ‘I understand.’ Sarah replied. ‘I’ll just make an excuse to speak to him when he calls with the post and I’ll play it by ear. Try to get him talking.’

      ‘Ok that sounds like a good plan. Let me know how it goes and now that your psychic self is ‘switched on’; well you have to be prepared to have more dreams. They may not always be precognitive; they may be dreams of the past. They may be symbolic dreams. Get your journal ready and when you wake up, take note.’

      ‘Do you think that my dreams will start to be about Rachel’s murder?’ Sarah said with alarm.

      ‘You have to be prepared for that.’ Mary replied. ‘Be as prepared as you can for what may come. When is Rachel’s wake?’

      ‘I believe that she is being brought home to her parent’s house tomorrow evening. James and I are going together.’

      ‘I think you have a tough few days ahead, Sarah. Look after yourself and keep in touch. I’m here anytime you need me.’ Mary said warmly.

      Sarah thanked her and glancing at the clock ran upstairs to get the kids up and ready for school. She had a shift at the boutique later and needed to get Ella to Paul’s mother. Rita was an amazing help to her, as she took Ella when Sarah was at work. Sarah was sitting at her window watching out for Joey by 8.15am. As soon as she saw the green An Post van pull into her drive she jumped up. She was determined to speak to him.

      She opened the door just as Joey got to it.

      ‘Hi.’ Sarah said brightly. He looked a bit startled by the tone in her voice. Ok, she’d sounded like a freak then. He was used to a half-asleep-Sarah not this overly cheerful, on-a-crusade-to- save-a-life version!

      ‘Morning.’ Joey replied with a smile. He looked tired, like he hadn’t slept well in a long time.

      ‘How are you? You look tired. Is everything ok?’ Sarah blurted out. ‘Yeah subtle!’ she thought. Way to go Sarah.

      ‘Grand. All’s well.’ He replied looking a bit wary. He was clearly wondering what was with the sudden interest was in him.

      Sarah knew that he was lying when he said all was ok. Not because of her dream, but because it was written all over his face. He looked sorrowful again.

      He seemed to pull himself together then and asked, ‘How are your lovely children?’

      ‘They are all a bit shook up at the minute what with Rachel’s murder and all.’ Sarah responded.

      Joey nodded in understanding. ‘Awful shock for them.’ He said. ‘The