“My head hurts like a son of a bitch.” He croaked. “Help me up. Come on. You know you have to.”

“I don’t have to do anything.” She retorted.

“Vanessa sees the future. Dying on this floor isn’t in my future. But it’s yours. No matter what happens, your fate is sealed. So—stop wasting time. Help me up.”

“Are you really going to keep at this because of some stupid dream? You know, she’s showed me things, too.” Said Allison as she sat back on her heels.

“That means nothing to me. You might as well trade places with me and hand me the syringe. Take your fate like a man, as it were.”

“The things she showed me were also from the future. But they were in a future I could change.”

“Yes, yes, of course.” He said impatiently. “But it has all led you to this point. You can’t fight your destiny. One way or another you will die tonight, and she will be on this plane again.”

Allison cocked her head as she watched him talk. His immutable faith amused her. He was rather like a freakish oddity at a carnival show. You’re almost certain that it’s not real, but there’s still that little darkened corner of your mind that’s still unsure.

“Though I don’t respect you, I do admire the part of you that persist in believing.” She toyed with the syringe in her hand.

“Here! Stop dallying and help me up. I can’t seem to move anything.”

“You forgot a key element of the statement you made earlier.” Allison inched closer to the man’s head.

He groaned. “You keep delaying this—”

“You said, ‘she sees things that have not yet come to pass.’”

“Yes, the future, you imbecile.”

“If it’s not yet come to pass, then anything can happen to derail it. It’s not immutable, Professor. ‘Yet’ is the operative word. And I’m willing to bet that Vanessa showed you something that had not yet come to pass because, like my photos, these were futures she wanted me to stop from happening.” Swiftly and wordlessly, Allison pulled apart the lids of Phillip’s right eye.

“No! No! She loves me!” He screamed in his helplessness. “You can’t do this! It’s against all that’s right!”