The Soothsayer..........................................Nathan Cushing

And from that moment, we were inseparable.

I can still remember everything like it was in the movies. The echo of the telephone crept through the hallway and into my ears. I make my way towards the kitchen. I grab the receiver and answer. “Jeremy?” Speaking. “Hi,” she says. “It’s Allison.” Her voice is straight, serious. I sit down, scratching the legs of the chair against the ground. I ask her what is the matter. She pauses for a second. “I have AIDS,” she says. “You should get tested.” The dial tone blares against my ear. Her words were quick and cold. Bitter and unforgiving.

The doctor’s office flies by and I’m left in the waiting room, tearing through the pages of a gossip magazine. Counting the ticks of the clock in my head. “Jeremy Cornwell?” A voice calls. I stand up and look at the doctor standing in the doorway, “Come with me.”

I’m going to shoot her in the face, I think. I’m going to knock on her door, pull out my gun, and shoot her in the fucking face. I walk up her front steps and check the address on my palm against the one on the door. I give the door three hard pounds.