Wishes Upon Stars

Prologue

“No Matter how far you run. No matter how hard you try to hide. No matter where you are, it will find you.” That is what Lauren’s grandmother had always told her. At first, Lauren had no idea what her grandmother had meant by that when she was first told and she was only a child at the time. Myra, her grandmother, had mentioned a few more times over the years before she was overcome with madness and perished from this plane of existence.

Lydia, Lauren’s mother, didn’t respond to some of the questions Lauren had about her grandmother and some things that were happening to her when she became sixteen. Lydia just didn’t want to talk about it. Until she no longer had a choice when something happened to Lauren one day and needed to be picked up from school. She no longer had a choice. Mr. Morgan, her math teacher, was not too pleased either. There was an allegation of cheating against Lauren. Lauren hadn’t turned in any class work, yet she got all the test answers right. The reason Mr. Morgan waited until midterms to make his claim was a mystery.

After a pause, Lydia shook her head and said, “Lauren.” After exhaling deeply, Lydia tightly blew her breath out. “I’m not sure where to begin and I know that you have many questions.” She ran her hands along her face and growled softly. “I don’t know what to do and I’m trying so hard not to get in the same boat as grandmother Myra.” Lydia ran her fingers along her face. The truth is that no matter how hard we try, we can't hide from it. I didn't want it and I didn't want it for you.

“Grandma Myra used to say something like that when I was growing up,” Lauren recalled.

Lydia nodded in agreement. “Yes, she did. What else did she tell to you?”

Lauren shrugged. She was only sixteen at the time and had no idea what was going on with her. All she knew what that every time it came time for the math test, she somehow saw the answers and wrote them down as she saw them. She hated math. And now, she’s going to be known as a cheater. She had enrolled in a martial arts class to help with her anger and frustration at Mr. Morgan. And realized she was real good and began to enter tournaments and win championships.

“Lauren, what's going on with you? Please be honest with me. I can tell when you are lying to me.”

There was no doubt in Lauren's mind about that. Lauren's mother always knew when something was wrong with her before she even knew it herself. She inhaled deeply, then let out a long breath. “I have no idea, momma. Math is something I am not good at, you know that. Despite not doing the work, I seem to know the answers to the tests.”

Lydia nodded knowingly. “You can see the answers in your mind?”

Lauren’s head bowed. “Is there anything else that you can see in your mind? Anything that you know will happen that you want to know about in advance? Do you see something happening elsewhere at the same time you are here?”

While Lauren’s pulse rose and she breathed deeply, her heart began to beat a little faster. “Yes.”

Lydia suddenly sprang to her feet. “This is something I fear. I hope that it will skip a generation.” She placed her hands on her hips.

Lauren was baffled. “What are you saying?”

Quite harshly, Lydia began, “Second sight it’s clairvoyance. Remote viewing. Whatever you call it, it is a claim that we can perceive objects, people, events, and locations through extrasensory perception. Such a person is said to be clairvoyant.”

Even though she was still puzzled, Lauren nodded. In her young life, she had never heard of such a thing.

Her eyes widened as she turned to face her daughter. “Don’t say a word to anyone about this ability.” She stomped closer to where Lauren sat. “Try not to use it. Grandma Myra did and the military dragged her into this group that used her. They used her badly that damaged her. Grandma tried to live a normal life afterward. She married grandpa and had a few kids. Me and Auntie Ruth but grandma wasn’t normal after what they had put her through. She made us promise not to use our gifts when we first started having visions because she didn’t want the military to use us the same way they did her. She saw things she wanted to forget but couldn’t that it drove her to madness.” Lydia knelt in front of Lauren and looked up.

“Please, promise me not to use it,” Lydia muttered.

The only thing Lauren could do was nod. She wanted to ask more questions, but she was afraid to do so. Her mother's look was something she had never seen before, and it terrified her.

Her mother died after a car accident three years later, when she was nineteen. Lauren wasn’t sure what her future had in store for her. There were no scholarships for college because of the allegation of cheating on her tests. Her mother didn’t save either. She had no idea who her father was since he was never in the picture and Lydia never mentioned his name.

So she did the only thing left for her to do at the time. She enlisted in the military. Lauren broke her promise and joined the Air Force.