Chapter 7 - Owen - Purge With My Demons

Cora, Finn, and I ran through our Saturday workouts. We’d gotten into a good groove working out around each other. We started winding down when Cora sat against the wall with her eyes closed.

“Cora?” I asked, walking to her.

Eyes still closed, she gave us a thumbs up.

Finn looked over to me from where he was stretching, worry and concern written across his face.

Finally, she looked me dead in the eyes. “I think my episodes are premonitions. Maybe?”

I returned her stare with a quizzical look, not totally comprehending what she was saying.

She grabbed a yoga block and began to fiddle with it while clearly trying to gather her thoughts. Maneuvering to sit criss-cross with her back against the wall, she straightens her back and stretches her neck from side to side. Eyes closed and measured, practiced breaths are her tell, I know she will share what’s on her mind any moment.

“Last night, my episode was only the feeling, and it was horrible. I didn’t see or hear anything, so trying to figure something out from it was impossible. Other episodes were similar, just sounds or I could only see bits and pieces and I felt absolutely horrible after. But just now, I saw something. I saw and heard everything, and I feel fine.” She gave us the details—a man and woman arguing at an intersection in Brooklyn. A car took a corner way too fast and hit the man, and the woman screamed. Cora couldn’t say why she saw this, but she did.

“Let’s go check it out, that intersection isn’t far from here. Maybe we can get some answers as to why you are having these episodes,” I said matter-of-factly. “And you don’t have a headache? Nothing?” I wanted to make sure she was okay, considering how she reacted yesterday.

With wide eyes, she shook her head. “No, I feel fine. This just came as a bit of a shudder through my body. Nothing bad at all. I just wasn’t expecting it. But we don’t know that this hasn’t already happened. Is it worth it?”

“Let’s just go, why not? Maybe we will get answers,” Finn added.

The three of us left as soon as we could.

As we begin walking, Finn grabs our attention. “Hey, what’s going to be the quickest way to get there?”

“We just need to head east. Should only be 15 or so blocks,” Cora answers.

“East? Okay, Lewis and Clark, let me get my compass. Do we need to go toward the coffee shop or not?”

“Fuck Finn,” I groaned, rubbing my face before rolling my eyes. “Just follow us.”

“Okay, but if we do go by Roasters, can we stop on the way home? I’m in the mood for a stupid expensive coffee.”

Cora and I made a point to ignore him and continued our speedy walk.

We made it to the intersection, and it was immediately clear we had missed the exact scene that played out in Cora’s mind. In the distance, sirens wailed, steadily getting louder. A woman was crouched, hovering over a man in the street.

Cora was looking around frantically. “I can tell we are supposed to be here. There’s a pull in my chest that I’ve never felt before.” She side-eyed us as she finished her statement. “But I don’t know what we are supposed to be doing.”

“Don’t look at me, Cora, I have no fucking clue.” I began scanning the surrounding area, walking away from the commotion. That's when I saw her, and my chest tightened, filling with warmth. My soul. Eleanor.

She was huddled on the sidewalk wearing a baseball cap and headphones. Her head was resting on her knees, and she looked like she’s shaking. My protective instincts for my soul kicked into gear, and the pull to her was nearly impossible to ignore.

The incessant tapping on my shoulder brought me back to reality. “Hello! Earth to Owen. What are you staring at?” Cora followed my gaze to the beautiful being sitting on the sidewalk outside of a grocery store.

Hesitantly, without taking my eyes off of Eleanor, I responded to Cora, “That’s her.”

Peaking over my shoulder, she asked, “Her who?”

I simply replied, “Her.”

“Oh shit, it is her!” Finn exclaimed.

“Oh fuck, like her, her?” Cora was stunned, and that didn’t happen often. She made her way to my side for a better look. “Is she okay? She looks upset.”

“You’re right. Maybe we should go check on her.” I started walking over to where she was sitting, but Cora stopped me with a hand on my forearm.

“Whoa there, Mr. White Knight. This woman has no idea who you are, and you’re going to go over there and say what exactly? ‘Hi there, I noticed you look a bit upset, please let me help you feel better.’ Wink wink.” Her impersonation of me was both infuriating and made total sense.

“Yeah, she makes a good point, dude. You can’t just rush up to her,” Finn added.

“I guess we can just walk over, see if she’s okay, and if there is anything we can do for her.” My eyes dared to look in her direction once more. “It looks like she’s alone; no one is with her.”

Cora just shrugged and waved me in Eleanor’s direction.

I approached with hesitancy, Cora and Finn hot on my heels. The last thing I wanted to do was scare the shit out of her when I have no clue what got her in her current situation.

Everyone around was distracted by the ambulance and flashing lights that had arrived to assist the man. Her head was tucked down on her knees, and she didn’t register that I had gotten down in front of her. “Excuse me, are you okay?”

She jolted, dropping her phone. “Shit! Holy fuck, you scared me!”

I grabbed her phone and handed it back to her. “I’m sorry. I wasn’t trying to scare you.” I gestured to my friends, who were standing not far from us. “We saw you sitting here and wanted to make sure you weren’t hurt or anything. There was an accident right over there.” I pointed over toward the ambulance, and she followed my gaze.

With shifty eyes, she replied, “Oh, yeah. No, um, I’m fine.” She was clearly flustered. Looking me directly in the eyes, she asked, “Was someone hurt over there?”

I thought pictures of her eyes had me entranced, fuck was I mistaken. Those chocolate pools had captivated me. I apparently forgot how to speak and how to comprehend being spoken to. She asked me a question, and it requires an answer, but I don’t have any idea what she asked. Luckily, Cora saved my ass.

Cora sat down next to her. “Yeah, we don’t have any idea what happened, but it looks like paramedics are taking care of someone.”

“Oh wow, I hope they’re okay,” Eleanor replied with almost no emotion. She pulled her phone out and was fixated on the screen.

Finn thumped me in the back of my head, knocking me out of my trance. “Are you sure you’re okay? Do you want to go sit inside somewhere? There’s a coffee shop just over there,” I added, pointing to a small cafe.

She looked in that direction, and familiarity washed over her face. “Yeah, that’s not a bad idea, actually.”

Reaching for the bag of groceries discarded by her, Cora stepped closer. “Here, let me grab those for you. My name is Cora, by the way. This is Finn and that’s Owen.” She pointed to us, respectively. “What was your name?”

“Eleanor.”

Hearing her name, officially being introduced to her, was a dream. What is it about this woman that was so intoxicating? I was always pulled to my soul, but not like this, this felt so much different.

My hand extended to help her stand from where she was sitting. “It’s great to meet you, Eleanor. Let’s get inside and grab something warm.”

She gingerly placed her hand in mine, and a burning, almost immediate sizzling sensation traveled all over my body.

“Ouch!” she gasped, jerking her hand back, then chuckled with a dumbfounded look on her face, inspecting her hand. “Sorry, I have no idea what that was.”

Okay, she felt that too. Good, I wasn’t crazy.

That has never happened before with my soul. I decided to write it off as a weird, spontaneous occurrence. It had to be just part of the insane magnetism I had to Eleanor. That was the only somewhat logical explanation.

With a smile, I took her hand. “It’s okay, I think it was me.” I helped her to stand, and she was so close to me now. She smelled like cinnamon and vanilla. I wanted to wrap myself in her scent and never let it go.

Once she was standing, we began our walk to the cafe.

Walking next to Finn, I said to him in a hushed tone, “Dude, when I touched her, I felt a burning, sizzling sensation through my entire body.”

“Yeah man, we see, she’s hot,” he replied, matching my whisper so that Eleanor didn’t hear.

I shoved him lightly. “No, it’s not that. I mean, yes, she’s beautiful. But this was…it was like nothing I’ve ever felt before.” Finn looked at me warily.

I increased my pace in order to get to the cafe entrance before Cora and Eleanor, and open the door for them. This wasn’t a gesture I typically did. Finn was very much the gentleman of the group. Hell, even Tristan more so than me. Cora gave me a questioning look as she walked past.