Chapter 24 - The Fortune-teller

“Do I want to know how it is that you know about this place?” I ask trying not to look at Zayn as we make our way down a street that doesn’t look too nice. Tall buildings and very narrow passages and it’s kind of dark. Like in movies, those kinds of alleys where the character dies in the opening scene.

“I don’t know if you’re prepared for that kind of knowledge, my little padawan,” Zayn jokes and I snort, which makes him laugh. “Once we were with the guys getting drunk, you know, and we dared Josh to come to a medium at midnight for a séance. And you know Josh, you say ghost and the bloke pees himself.”

“Did he come?” I ask.

Zayn starts laughing so I assume Josh came and he probably did more than just peeing himself. I wish I had been there. I don’t know when this happened but it probably was at the beginning, when Zayn and I didn’t use to hang out, when we were just roommates. We became friends later.

We keep walking until Zayn stops in front of a little shop. It has a neon sign that says “Katrina’s” and nothing else. It has three tarot cards below the name and that’s it. Although I don’t think it needs anything else.

Zayn opens the door and a bell rings. Inside it’s very dark and it’s filled with esoteric decorations. Books, voodoo dolls, some amulets, I think, and jars with things I don’t want to find out. From behind a curtain an old woman comes in, her hair is white and messy and she’s wearing gypsy clothes and I feel like snorting. As if the place wasn’t enough, she looks exactly like a medium from movies. I don’t know what I was expecting, but this is too cliché for my liking.

“May I help you?” She asks with a thick accent I can’t recognise.

“You tell me,” I defy and I see the old woman raising her eyebrows in surprise. I’m not normally this rude but what can I say? She makes me sceptical.

“You seek answers,” she tells in an ominous way and Zayn elbows me but I don’t react. That is not specific enough.

“Can you give me the answers I need?” I inquire, folding my arms and she laughs.

“We’ll see, little boys.”

She steps back and grabs the curtain before she waves with her hand so we follow her inside. It’s a dark room with a small table with a dark purple tablecloth. There are two chairs, one across the other and there are a few lit up candles that give the atmosphere a gloomy effect. Again, it’s too cliché for my liking.

She motions to one chair as she takes seat on the other one, I copy her and Zayn stays behind me. She grabs the cards she has at the right and scatters them across the table in one fluid movement and I can see she has loads of practice.

“Pick three without turning them,” she instructs and still sceptical, I do.

One by one, she turns the cards I picked. “You are a lucky man and you know it, you walk by the path of light,” she speaks and yes, I know I’m lucky. Not many people come back from the death like I did. And by the path of light I guess she means the world of the living, not like Jake. “Yet sometimes you do feel like things are not okay,” she adds when she flips over the next card. “And you’re not that lucky in love because your girl is not really yours… yet,” she finishes and yeah, I can see she’s right in many things, but she’s not saying anything I don’t know already.

“What about my future?” I ask, because so far she hasn’t said anything.

“Your future brings complications, young boy. You’ll have to sort out your own feelings because these may not even be yours,” she says and that makes no sense to me. This woman is just making me waste my time.

“Yeah right,” I say and I don’t wait any longer for something about Jake. She clearly doesn’t even know what’s happening. Maybe she’s reading my future, but she’s not explaining what is happening now and I came for that reason. “How much do we owe you?” I ask, clearly finishing this. I don’t even care if she has something else to say.

“A hundred pounds,” she replies and my eyes widen in shock.

“Are you for real?” I exclaim and I feel Zayn’s hand on my shoulder, stopping me. “You didn’t give me the answers I’m seeking!”

“A hundred pounds,” she repeats and I groan, wanting to hurt her in a way.

Knowing it’s pointless to keep discussing this, I take my wallet, angry that I have to pay for this shit. It didn’t even help. And I don’t even have that much cash!

At the end, Zayn and I pay half and half, as it was his idea, he told me. I’m grumpy after seeing that woman and although Zayn tells me we should maybe try to see another medium, someone who has experience with the supernatural, I refuse. I don’t want to see another scam like that medium, or whatever she was. So instead, I text Cass to know if she’s available and when she replies that she is, I ask Zayn to drop me by her building and then he can go back in my car.

It hasn’t been a productive day, but the idea of seeing her makes me happy. Maybe she’ll help me to keep my mind out of all these weird thoughts about ghosts and connections I can’t explain.

Or maybe she’ll make it worse, my inner voice adds and I roll my eyes.

“You’ve been quiet this afternoon,” I whisper as I keep walking towards Cassie’s building.

It’s not my fault. I can’t always reach you, the voice replies and I frown, those words confusing me more.

I shake my head and ignore the voice, focusing on calling Cassie to tell her I’m waiting for her outside, but she doesn’t pick up the phone, it’s not her voice.

“Hey, Liam?” Another feminine voice replies. “I’m Nessa.”

“Hey, Nessa. Is Cassie there?” I ask, surprised that her friend picked up.

“She’s still in the bathroom, but she told me to tell you that you can come in if you want. She has something to lend you,” Nessa tells me and I nod. “It’s the room E seven.”

“Coming,” I say before hanging up.

When I walk inside the building I see some girls coming and leaving, but no one pays me real attention. I take the stairs and when I’m in the C floor I realise I should’ve taken the lift, but I make it to the E floor still alive. Although I still go to physiotherapy twice a week, I’m still kind of out of shape.

I knock at the door and the blonde curly-haired girl opens with a welcoming smile. “Hey there,” she greets and I do the same. “Cass is almost done, of that she shouted through the door. Come in.”

I chuckle a little as I walk in, taking notice of the surroundings. It’s clearly a girly room and I know immediately which side belongs to whom. The right one is Cassie’s, it has loads of old bands’ posters and I see many antiques on the shelves by that side, and the bed has some stuff animals and the cover is a pattern of vintage patches, very girly, yet simple. Like Cassie.

“Make yourself comfortable, I’m off to the library. See you around, Liam.” And she leaves, not waiting for me to say something back.

Maybe she was in a hurry.

Or maybe she just wanted to leave you and Cass alone. You idiot, my inner voice speaks again and I groan.

I’m about to reply to my inner voice —I’m getting awfully used to do that— when I hear the bathroom door opening. My head snaps in that direction just to see Cassie coming out, and no, she’s not in a towel or anything. She’s fully dressed in jeans and a cream coloured jumper. Her hair is wet, though, and for that reason it is not as messy as it usually is. She still looks adorable and at the sight, I can’t help but smile like an idiot.

“Hi, Liam,” she approaches with a smile of her own, lovely as usual. I immediately lean in to kiss her, I can’t help it, I feel like doing that in every bone, but she turns her face and I end up kissing her cheek.

I try not to feel disappointed and I try to remember that she said it was too soon and she didn’t want to feel like she was using me, but still, I’m a bit hurt.

“Hi, Cassie. How are you?” I ask, trying not to think of what just happened, but I see her blushing and it’s hard.

“Good. I went to this orphanage in the morning so it was very eventful. Kids never get tired of playing,” she replies and I smile because it’s so easy to imagine her playing with kids. “What about yours?” She asks next, walking past me to her wardrobe to grab some shoes, I guess.

“Weird… Zayn and I went to a medium kind of thing. Although I think the correct term for her is fortune-teller,” I say and she turns to look at me with a surprised expression.

“Do you believe in those things?” She asks me and I shrug. “Why did you go, then?”

“Zayn’s idea,” I defend myself and I don’t tell her that I may start to believe in supernatural things. She doesn’t seem like the kind who believes in those things, anyways, so I don’t see the point.

“Was the fortune-teller good?” She asks grabbing some boots and then walks to her bed to sit and put them on.

“I dunno,” I reply, shrugging again. “She was kinda a scam.” Cassie laughs and I can’t help it, I smile, too. “However she told me that my girl is not really mine, yet.”

She stops moving when I say that, her eyes fixed on her shoes and I’m serious, too, now; waiting for her reaction to these words. This is probably the most interesting thing the fortune-teller said to me today and I want to know what she thinks about it.

Cassie finally looks in my direction and I see guilt in her eyes, and confusion and I sigh. I wish she would just try to move on, I wish she’d let me help her.

Don’t push her, okay? My inner voice advices and I sigh one more time.

“I’m sorry,” she whispers and I shake my head to put her at ease, but it doesn’t work.

She stands up and approaches me. I’ve been standing on this spot since I arrived. Cassie only stops when we’re face-to-face and I know she’s struggling with her own emotions, I can see it. I wish she could tell me exactly how she feels about it, without mentioning Jake.

Cassie opens her mouth as to say something but then closes it, and then she tries again but nothing. She finally gives up and looks down at the space between our feet. I feel this need to grab her in my arms and hug her, or even kiss her again, but she moves before I can do either.

“I wanted to lend you this,” she says now from behind me and I turn around to find her holding a DVD box. “It’s the second series of Doctor Who, so you can keep watching. This is my favourite. The ending is the most heart-breaking thing, so if you need moral support, let me know.” Then she smiles at me, but it’s not as honest as it was before.

“I’ll let you know if I feel prepared to watch it on my own or not,” I reply, grabbing the DVD box and making sure to touch her hand along the way. “Thank you.”

“No problem,” she says and pulls her hand away. “Let’s go, then? I could totally use some coffee.”

With a deep breath, I nod before we leave.

-:-:-:-

Dedication to @shealawl because I'm really happy you like this story (:

Bel, xx