After I Saw a Bad Omen

After I Saw a Bad Omen

I woke up on Sunday and remembered the disturbing dream I had experienced which foretold what my week was going to be like. I had dreamt about an interaction with angry people who were yelling at me and it brought back a reminder of past threatening experiences with neighbours in my former unit. Fortunately I had been able to move into a safe house on a quiet street with friendly residents. After breakfast I went outside to get the mail and I immediately saw a dead bird in the garden and my next door neighbours who was at her letter box told me she had also seen a dead bird in her garden. Sue said “ it is a sign that something bad is going to happen to us. Was she right. Where these bad omens strange coincidences or where they foretelling that we were facing a challenging time. Sue’s prediction came true and it wasn’t long before we found out what this unforeseen trauma was.

When I came home from work the following day I heard the sirens and I saw a police car outside my neighbour’s house across the street. There was also an ambulance and I was very concerned about the family’s welfare. John and Moira lived there with their two young children and I had visited them a number of times, leaving each time with positive feelings and appreciation. I knew that someone had broken the law and the paramedics were treating an injured person. News reporters from the local TV channel drove into the street, parked near the targeted house and the full story was revealed to me later as I watched the news on TV.

The incident in our street was the first story on the news. The news reporter described the break-in at my neighbours’ house as images of the ambulance and police cars flashed across the screen. I found out that two men had entered the house and one pointed a gun at my neighbours as the other went through the house and grabbed the expensive belongings including jewelry, an iPad, a laptop and two mobile phones. He put them in his suitcase and joined the other man in the loungeroom before the man with the gun shot Paul. Then Moira’s sister who I had never met came on the TV and spoke about the devastation her family had been through and she shared the news that Paul was in hospital in a critical condition. After the news report I turned off the TV and tried to come to terms with the challenging news and realised there was something questionable about what had happened.

The thieves had taken everything they had wanted while John and Moira were held up by someone aiming a gun at them. The thieves could have got away but instead one had shot John before they left and I wondered why this had happened. Was the thief an angry and aggressive person with everyone or did he have a grudge against John. Had something happened in the past and I soon found out that this was true. Moira came to visit me the next day and her children were staying with Jodie, Paul’s sister, to give her time to visit Paul in hospital. She told be that Paul’s surgery had been successful and he was recovering and while we enjoyed a cup of coffee she shared John’s past with me.

Jodie had been in an abusive relationship for a number of years. It had started with her partner’s ongoing control and verbal abuse when he got angry. Craig prevented her from seeing her family and friends and he controlled all the money. The control finally led to physical abuse and a hospital visit and Jodie told the staff that she had fallen because she was too scared to report the abuse knowing that intervention by the hospital staff and the police would result in Craig getting more angry and seeking revenge. Jodie wasn’t confident that she would be given a safe place to live immediately. Paul lived close to his family and about two hours drive from Jodie. He had not seen her for a number of years as she had cut ties with the whole family which was something they couldn’t understand but they respected her decision. They were upset but they had decided to let her decide what she wanted to do. Paul did not understand why Jodie had not contacted her family who she had always been close to. There had never been an argument and Paul felt something was definitely wrong and he decided he had to go and see her.

Paul drove the two hours drive to Jodie’s house and walked up the driveway and knocked on the door. Jodie opened the door and she looked at him with a terrified look on her face. She asked him to leave and he knew immediately that she needed help. Before he could talk to her he heard someone running up the driveway and yelling at him. When he turned around he saw Craig who was about to punch him. Paul immediately defended himself knocking Craig to the ground and he hit his head on the concrete and passed out. Moira told me that Paul had called an ambulance and Craig was transported to hospital and after surgery he recovered. Jodie decided it was time to report Craig for the abuse she had endured and after recovering he was arrested went to court and he was sentenced to five years in jail. While Craig was in hospital Jodie moved and rented a unit close to Paul. She got counselling and she was able to move on and get a job in a local supermarket. Paul wasn’t charged with assault because he had acted in self defense and he had been able to move on and leave it all behind him until Craig decided to get revenge. Moira said they were going to stay with her cousin who lived interstate until they were able to make a permanent move. Jodie would move with them to ensure they were all safe. The two dead bird omens had changed our safe street into a crime scene which we would never forget.