The Bucket-List Romance

Three: Not Just Another Dream

"Are you okay?" Eunice asked.

"Yeah, I'm good now," Anika answered without actually looking at her road manager. They're on the van and were heading back to her condo unit.

"You want us to get something before we head home?"

"No, I'm good."

"But you have basically thrown up everything you had for lunch. Aren't you hungry?"

"No, I'm not actually hungry. Can you please hand me some paracetamol instead? I am having a migraine," Anika asked.

"Yeah, sure." Eunice rummaged through her bag, took one paracetamol and handed it to her before she went to open a bottle of water and also gave it to her.

"Thanks." Anika took the pill, popped it in her mouth and flushed it down her throat with just one gulp. "I'm just gonna take a nap."

Eunice handed her her eye mask.

Anika took the eye mask and put it on. She then reclined her seat without looking, made herself comfortable, and got herself ready to take a nap. She felt so drained after what happened earlier.

"Do you mind if we drop by at McDonald's for some burgers? I'm craving for one right now," she heard Eunice say.

"Sure," Anika replied without even bothering to take her eye mask off. "And make it three. Plus some large fries and nuggets. And oh, get me some iced coffee, too."

She was suddenly craving for some junk food.

"Alright," Eunice said before she instructed their driver to drop by at the nearest McDonald's.

Anika doesn't usually eat junk food. It's a major no-no for her. Since she started working in show business, she had been following a strict diet. It was something her 13-year-old self did not understand at first. She remembered an instance when she sneaked in a cheeseburger in her bedroom but her mother caught her and took it away. She cried the whole night because of that.

She was getting ready for her first ever acting stint at that time. She landed a minor role in a TV drama and her mother was making sure that she's getting the part. The character was boyish so they even had to chop off her long, shiny, black hair that made her land her very first TV commercial. She remembered she cried the whole night because of that, too.

Those were probably two of her first heartbreaks, the cheeseburger she couldn't eat and having to cut her hair really, really short.

But as time went by she had come to understand that for her to stay in the business, she had to make sacrifices. And yes, she sacrificed a lot.

Thirty minutes and she's still very much awake. Even with her eyes closed, she's still very much aware of her surroundings. She could hear everything --- the traffic, Eunice and their driver's casual chit chat from time to time, even when the service crew from McDonald's handed them their orders at the drive-thru station. It was frustrating so she eventually gave up the idea of taking a nap.

"Can you please hand me the burger and the iced coffee?" she asked Eunice after she took the eye mask off.

"Oh, you're still awake?" Eunice asked before she handed her a burger.

"I couldn't really sleep," Anika said before she took one big bite from her burger.

"How's your headache?" Eunice asked as she started munching on the fries.

"Not that bad anymore. Can you hand me those fries, too?"

Eunice hesitated for a while before she handed her a box of French fries. "Are you sure it's okay for you to eat this much?"

"Gaining weight is better than losing my sanity," she said before she shoved a handful of fries into her mouth, chewed it, and flushed it down with iced coffee.

"Easy, girl. You might get choked." Eunice looked worried.

"Come to think about it, Eunice," she said after she took another bite from her burger. She was talking while chewing her burger, something she doesn't normally do. "What if you're actually right? What if I am actually dying anytime soon? Do you think I should start living my life now?"

"Anika…"

"It's funny, I know. How I don't believe you. How I tell you that your visions are nonsense and purely coincidental. But seeing how James died… how he comitted suicide like you have predicted… I couldn't help but think that, yes, maybe you are actually correct. Maybe I was really dying anytime soon."

"Anika, how many times do I have to tell you that not all my precognitive dreams come true? Shut up! You're not dying!" Eunice firmly said though her eyes were saying something else. Anika knew that she was just trying to convince herself otherwise.

"But what if I will really die anytime soon? Come to think of it, I haven't really lived my life. I've been working all my life; I haven't really done anything for myself."

"Stop saying that! Nothing's gonna bad happen to you. You're not gonna die!" Eunice snapped at her.

But Anika could see that she's scared, too. It's written all over her face.

"I dunno. Honestly, I do not know what to think anymore," Anika said as she handed her unfinished burger and fries to Eunice. She suddenly lost her appetite.

She took one last sip from her iced coffee before she handed it to Eunice, as well. She'll try to take a nap again. Though she had a feeling that she couldn't really get some sleep considering how bothered she was right now.

What happened to James earlier had made her realize that life is so unpredictable. Who would've thought that the very successful James Guevarra, who always seemed to appear happy and contented with life, would commit suicide?

When Eunice told her about her dream about James commiting suicide, Anika just laughed it off. Like why would James, who seemed to have everything he needed and wanted in life, end his life? Plus she knew James, he's a happy person. He always had this positive approach in life.

Eunice had been having precognitive dreams. Yes, some of her dreams would come true.

She said she started having it when she was a child. Her mother would be surprised because she would tell her some of her dreams and it would actually happen. Like how a five-year-old version of herself told her family beforehand about how her best friend then would drown and die.

But growing up, Eunice had lost the ability to see the future through her dreams. It just resurfaced when she was already in her last year in college. She couldn't really tell how and why but her precognitive dreams just started showing up again. And this time, these were more detailed.

Eunice has been working as Anika's road manager for two years now. Her past road manager, who had been with her ever since she started, had to quit after getting married.

Anika remembered how she would just laugh it off whenever Eunice would tell her about her dreams. When Eunice had predicted that she would win a major acting award, and she actually did, she called it purely coincidental. There were other instances, too, where her dreams actually came true but Anika didn't take it seriously.

When Eunice told her that she dreamt about James committing suicide, she called it nonsense. Like why would James do that?

"I dunno," Eunice told her that time. "I see him bathed in his own blood… it's like he had slashed his wrist or something… he was in a bathroom, right beside the bathtub… but before that I saw him fighting with another guy… I couldn't really recognize the face of the other guy... but they were arguing about something… I couldn't really remember what they were talking about but it looks like they were having a lovers' quarrel… the other guy left and that's when James killed himself…"

Anika remembered what she said to Eunice when she told her about that dream.

"That's crazy," she said. "I mean James? Really? James Guevarra who dated almost all the actresses and female models he had worked with? You're telling me he's actually gay and that he would commit suicide because of a supposedly lovers' quarrel with another man? I'm so sorry, Eunice, but that's plain nonsense."

Eunice had shared to her about that dream more than a year ago and somehow, they have both forgotten about it. Until the incident this morning.

But what bothers Anika more was a dream Eunice had like probably eight or nine months ago.

They were in an out-of-town location at that time. They were both sleeping in a tent because they were shooting in a secluded area. She woke up in the middle of the night because Eunice was crying aloud. She was having a bad dream.

Anika had to vigorously shake Eunice to wake her up.

"Ohmigod, ohmigod, it was just a dream. Thank goodness you're okay!" Eunice cried even more as she hugged Anika as tight as she could.

"It felt so real," she continued. "You were with me… we were riding in a car… then we met with an accident. The impact was so huge that our car had turned over a few times before it stopped spinning. Then I saw you... you were barely breathing… you were covered with your own blood. I cried for help but no one heard me. And the next thing I know, I was at a funeral. People we know we're there crying. Ohmigod, it felt so real!"

Eunice was crying and shaking.

"Shhhh! It was just a dream. I'm okay, I'm okay. It was just a dream," Anika tried to calm her down.

At that time, she was so sure that it was just a bad dream. But now, after what happened to James, it was no longer "just a dream".

What if it's actually another premonition?