Oracle

“Run, Bridget!” 
“What? Why?” 
“Just go! You’re not safe.” 
She didn’t know why, but her feet started off as fast as they would carry her, just like every time before. They were supposed to be safe here. They were supposed to be able to stop running. But they weren’t safe. Nowhere was safe. Bridget could hear the sound of her mom’s footsteps behind her. She looked back to see only her mom trailing behind her in the mist. No one was chasing them. 
Bridget stopped, out of breath and out of patience. “Mom, there’s no one there,” she gestured to the empty boardwalk behind her, most of it swallowed by the rising steam. “Can’t you, please, just stop it? I’m tired of this bullshit! No one’s here, no one’s chasing us.” 
“God damn it, Bridget, just run!” Janice replied, catching up to her daughter’s position on the boardwalk that wound its way through the hot springs. She grabbed Bridget’s arm, trying to pull her further up the path, but she wouldn’t move. Janice’s eyes pleaded with her daughter, but Bridget still remained fixed in place, the stubborn expression on her face unwavering. 
“Stop it, Mom! This needs to end. I’m tired of running from shit that isn’t there. I’m just…tired!” Bridget cried, collapsing on the wooden planks that separated her from the boiling water below. 
Janice knelt down and hugged her daughter as tightly as she could. Bridget began to cry as her mom’s grip tightened. This was supposed to be a vacation. It was supposed to be a time of fun and relaxation with her mom, but it was turning out to be like every other day. She’d been running with her mom her entire life and she didn’t know why. Her mom was always looking over her shoulder. She was suspicious of everyone and everything. Bridget wasn’t allowed to make friends. She wasn’t allowed to talk to anyone about anything, more than just superficial crap. No one could know who they were, because everyone was a threat. 
Bridget knew that she was special and she never doubted that, but she didn’t believe that every creak in the floor board or every person that looked in her direction was dangerous. However, everyone was one of the others as far as her mom was concerned. 
Her mom slowly loosened her grip on Bridget’s shoulder and made her look into her eyes. “Bridget. Baby. We have to go. Please, don’t cry, just trust me, okay. We need to go now.” 
“No.” Bridget pushed her mom’s trembling hands away. “I can’t go any further. There’s no one here except us. Why do you have to keep doing this to me? Look – I understand the need to be cautious. I understand your need to move. I don’t understand running when there’s, obviously, no one chasing us.” 
“Stop it. We don’t have time for this.” 
“You haven’t told me anything. I don’t know why we’re running and I don’t know who the others are! I don’t know who my father is. Hell, I don’t even know who I am. All I know is that you keep saying I’m in danger. But nothing happens, Mom. Nothing ever happens, except that we move to a new town, in a new state, and I have to start all over. I’m tired of starting over. You know, I thought that I’d get to lead a normal life at UU.” 
“Bridget, stop, honey,” she said, but she was no longer pushing Bridget to run. Now she was trying to calm her. 
Bridget kept talking over the top of her mom’s pleadings. “My life is good in Ohio, but now you’re even screwing that up. Why did you have to move up there?” 
“You know why, now stop acting like a child.” 
“No, Mom, I won’t stop, because you won’t stop. Talk to me. Tell me the truth for once.” 
“I’ve never lied to you,” Janice replied. “I’ve always told you the truth.” 
“You haven’t given me any real answers, just half truths. I want to know the whole truth, for once, and I’m not moving until I get it. I’m not running anywhere until I understand.” 
The steam rising from the springs and mud pots enveloped them. Janice looked up and down the boardwalk, but visibility was almost non-existent. She listened carefully, but heard nothing, other than the splishes and splashes of the boiling water and the burping sounds emitted by the mud pots. She sat down next to Bridget and thought a while before answering. 
“I can’t tell you everything, but I can tell you more than you know now.” 
“Okay. Who’s my father?” 
“Not that, honey, not now.” 
Bridget groaned. This was going to be no different than any other talk. She would ask questions and her mom would refuse to answer. 
“Alright then, why did you tell me to stay away from Dr. Weber? I remember him, you know. Not well, but I remember. And now I see him all the time around campus. He was always nice to me my first two years and then you told me to stay away from him. Why?” 
“You just have to trust me, Bridget. He’s a dangerous man. Well, he’s not dangerous, but danger follows him. Your abilities are beginning to manifest themselves and that will make him want to be closer to you, but you can’t let him.” 
“Abilities,” Bridget laughed. “I know what I can and can’t do. I’m not seeing anything new so can you explain these abilities you’re talking about, Mom? Oh and don’t talk about my dreams, they’re just dreams. I have daydreams and nightmares like any normal person. That’s not the definition of a special ability.” 
“I wish you’d stop saying that. They are abilities. I have them too. You get them from me…and your father. You’ve been seeing the past, but it won’t stop there. Soon,” Janice took a breath and peered into the steam, intently. “Soon you’ll be able to see the future too, just like I do.” 
“That’s why we’re always running, because you think you can see the future? Christ, Mom.” 
“I’ve kept you safe. I’ve kept you alive, but I won’t be able to do it forever. Humans die, Bridget.” 
“What the Hell is that supposed to mean? Of course, everyone dies.” Bridget narrowed her gaze to a questioning squint. “Are you dying? Is that what you’re saying?” 
“I’ve been dying for a while now, honey, but I’ve made sure that you’ve been taken care of.” 
“What? Are you being serious right now? You’re dying, right. I know that every day is one day closer to death, but what you said right now isn’t funny mom, it’s really dark.” 
“Breast cancer,” Janice whispered. Bridget stopped breathing, stopped moving. 
“I have stage four breast cancer. I’ve got, maybe, three more months, but I took c