Page 130 of Inception

“Speaking of the little she-devil,” said an irritatingly familiar voice as I reached for the paper towel to dry my hands. “Here she is now.”

Nikki and Morgan were standing by the door gawking at me, bony shoulder to bony shoulder. Even though Morgan was a good three inches shorter than Nikki, her five inch heels gave her the edge she needed to make the cut.

Wanting to avoid yet another confrontation with them, I tried to bolt for the door but Nikki had already locked it behind her and was walking over to me, slow and steady, like a hungry snake on the hunt.

“What exactly do you think you’re doing out there?” she asked, venom oozing from her accusatory words.

“Can you be more specific?” My patience with her was wearing thin.

“With Trace. I saw you.”

“So?” Trace had made it clear that there was nothing between the two of them. Her days of claiming him were over.

“Are you trying to kill him or are you really that dumb?”

“What the hell are you talking about?”

“Don’t act like you don’t know.”

“I’m not acting,” I snapped back. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“She doesn’t know,” said Morgan suddenly. It was more than just giving me the benefit of the doubt. Sheknewit, sure as fact. “He hasn’t told her.”

“What is he thinking?”

“You know what he’s thinking,” answered Morgan, regretful.

Nikki’s eyes snapped back to me as if she were just seeing me—really seeing me—for the first time. The way she stared at me startled me. For the first time since I met her, her hard, icy facade had faltered. There was something else in her eyes. Fear, pain, worry? I couldn’t quite pinpoint it but it was making me uneasy.

“I won’t let his happen,” she said, a vow of truth that only she understood. “If he won’t stop it,Iwill.”

“Stopwhat? Can someone please tell me what’s going on?” I said, my words crackling as they surfaced.

“Morgan, tell her what you saw.”

“I can’t,” said Morgan as she turned to fluff her red curls in the mirror beside us. “It’s not my future to share.”

“I swear to the heavens,” snapped Nikki, her fists balled up at her sides. “If you don’t tell her right now I will tear this building down, brick by goddamn brick!”

The bathroom lights flickered violently as she spoke. It was almost like her emotions—her fear, or rage, or whatever it was going on inside of her—were manifesting themselves in the electricity around us.

“TELL HER!”

“Alright, alright, just calm down!” shrieked Morgan, pulling her back a step. “You’re gonna to fry us all, for God’s sake.”

“I have perfect control over my ability,” retorted Nikki.

“So you say,” scoffed Morgan, “but I happen to remember a backyard bonfire incident that—”

“Can both of you just shut up and tell me what’s going on?” I said, breaking up their little tiff. “What did you see?”

Morgan shook her head, a subconscious gesture that instantly told me it was going to be bad.

“Look, I didn’t ask for any of this. It’s not like I have control over what I get to see. Sometimes it’s good, sometimes it’s bad, but it’s not like I can do anything about it.”

“I understand,” I nodded, digging deep for patience.

“I promised him I wouldn’t share what I saw with anyone, but I don’t know what else to do, you know? He’s my friend, too, and what he’s doing is just plain wrong. I can’t stand by and watch him throw his life away. I have to believe that I had the vision for a reason, to like, save him.”

---