Sister Psychic

Last night I realized that I'm psychic.  I swear to god.


One morning a couple of weeks ago I was driving around a parking structure looking for a spot when a sound popped into my head.  Not even a song, just a short little jingle.  At first I couldn't place it, but a couple of minutes later it hit me.  It was the sound that I had as my text message alert last September and October.  This is the kind of thing that I absolutely would not be able to think of if I tried, so when it appeared in my brain all of a sudden it took me by surprise.  It's also a sound that became highly connected with a certain person that I was texting a lot those two months.  I hadn't thought about this person in a couple of months and I hadn't talked to them in six months so it was strange.


Later that same day, I was looking around a record store and flipping through some used DVDs.  I came across a movie that this aforementioned person had informed me about and that we were supposed to have watched together.  This was all getting a bit strange.  I told my mom about these two occurrences and she told me that she had had things like this happen to her multiple times before and that I was probably going to end up running into this person now.  Yeah, sure mom, whatever.


I figured that if I were to run into this person it would be at the next Alice Cooper concert, since I met them at an Alice Cooper concert and I know they're a huge fan.  At the time I didn't know when the concert was, but last week I discovered it's going to be in November.  At this point I had completely forgotten about the two weird signs and didn't even think about this person when I bought my concert tickets.


Then the night before last, I was in the shower getting ready for bed and the text message sound popped into my head again.  This time I recognized it right away and thought "Hah!  My mom was wrong, I haven't run into them.  It seems like those things were a bit premature for a concert in November too, so I guess she was wrong.  Things like that don't actually happen."


Yesterday I was very tired when I got up.  I recently started a new exercise routine and I've been very sore and sleeping really late.  I had a lot of work to do and originally decided to skip going to see my friend's band play like I had originally planned on doing.  But I decided that it would be nice to get out of the house and see some people, so I got myself to go.  I drove into L.A. to this little jazz club above a restaurant, got there just before my friend's set started, pulled up a seat at the bar, ordered Jack on the rocks and a caprese sandwich, and sat back to enjoy some music.


I was enjoying myself, feeling like an adult out on my own.  It was nice to be able to have a drink for the first time at this place that I had been so many times before I turned 21.  I had been to multiple shows at this place and even played there a couple of times since discovering it almost three years ago and I always had a nice time and saw people that I knew.


Now it's about halfway through my friend's set and I had just finished the first half of my sandwich.  Very delicious but very messy.  I noticed some people come in and pass by me to go down to the other end of the bar.  I picked up the second half of my sandwich very gingerly to try to keep it from falling apart, and right before I went to take a bite I glanced down at the people who had just come in.  And there they were.  The person that my mom told me I would be running into soon.  For a split second I didn't believe it, this was totally not the kind of place this person would ever be.  But I recognized their profile (with a nose that size, it's hard not to) and the sparkly jacket was exactly their style.  Still the same haircut too.


By this point my heart is going a million miles a minute and I feel like I've swallowed a bag of gravel.  I set down my sandwich, my appetite had been destroyed.  This is a person who had fallen off the face of the earth and broken my heart in the process.  I had finally healed and I never really expected to see them again.  I spent the rest of my friend's set sweaty and shaky, trying not to stare at this person but finding it impossible.  I downed the rest of my Jack Daniels, and when my friend's set ended I hopped off my stool and headed to the end of the bar.


There had never been any kind of negativity between us.  The daily texting had dropped off, but the last of it was funny and typical.  Then there had been a couple of texts about hanging out soon, which never ended up happening.  Then there was a text that even though they had met someone they still wanted to be friends.  The final texts were me wishing them a happy birthday and them sending their thanks in return.  Nothing ever cluing me in to the fact that this person wanted nothing to do with me.  I still had a DVD of theirs that I had borrowed and they had asked my to take care of, which I did, so I wanted to say hello and at least see if they wanted their movie back.


Their back was turned.  I tapped them on the arm once and got no response.  I tapped a second time.  They turned around, I said hi, and after their first glance at me they turned their head and backed against the bar and kept saying "No, I'm sorry, I can't, no..." over and over again.  I was bewildered.  Really, you can't even look at me?  The girl standing next to them was bewildered too.  She started encouraging them to talk to me, but they just kept repeating their new little mantra.  I noticed that they weren't caked in makeup like they usually were.  I asked if they wanted their DVD back.  They managed to slip in a "No, I don't." before sliding back into the chant of "I can't, no, I'm sorry..."  I turned to go back to my seat at the bar.  The girl with them stopped me and asked when this was that I had borrowed the DVD, I told her November or December.  She introduced herself and shook my hand, and then I returned to my seat.


The last performer of the night was someone who I had met once before, so I decided to stick around.  This was apparently the act that they had shown up to see.  I realized that I had seen the girl here last time this guy performed.  I half hoped that after the initial shock of seeing me this person would come to their senses and talk to me, but the other half of me stuck around so I could talk to the performer after his set.  When his set was over, somehow everyone ended up congregating right next to me to talk to him.  Of course that person didn't come up to me.  In fact, they hugged the wall all the way around the opposite side of the room to go hide in the entrance.  If anything, I could be happy that I completely ruined this person's night with my presence.


The girl came over to say goodbye to me, and I said I was sorry.  She said not to be and told me to give her a hug, so I did.  Why this very nice girl was hanging out with someone who was acting like such a tool I have no idea.  My suspicion is that they had started drinking again, which at least partially explains things.  The performer thanked me for staying through his set and gave me a couple of hugs.  Whether he had witnessed what had happened, could sense that I was upset, or if that was just his thing I'm not really sure.


So that's the story of how I realized I was psychic.  At least now I know that if I ever see signs like those again that I can prepare myself for seeing whoever they're related to.  I also know that if I ever see this person somewhere again to avoid them like the plague.  I know that it's a bit odd and confusing that I referred to this person as "them" throughout my entire story.  I didn't want to use names, and honestly using masculine identifiers such as "he", "him", and "his" didn't seem appropriate, because that's not the way a man behaves.


I would also like to mention that a very special person not only made me feel better about the whole situation, but turned a terrible night into a wonderful one.  He's a truly amazing guy and I feel so lucky that I met him.  He's a model for how true gentlemen behave, and for that I'm thankful.