𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐄 𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐄𝐒 by A.P.Mary

05:00 pm

I'm obsessive over things I can't control, and It really gets me stressing. 

Just like time. Time just flows, we decide what we do with It really, but for those like me who, always pressured by others with the perfect image, never got to experience stuff normal teenagers already did, makes me think I'm always running out of time. Does It even make sense? Maybe, but back to the present moment. My future is about to be shown to me. Or at least this lady tells me this.

We sit at a table near a window, where you can barely see, from the trees in front of it, a small sad park, with old metal games for kids, and as she starts pulling out a deck of cards, I feel a bit nervous, maybe from social anxiety or just from being startled by the woman in front of me. Her cards are visibly old, coffee stains on them and some even half ripped, and somehow this makes me believe her more. I take a deep breath.

"How does this work then?" I put a fork full of pasta in my mouth, and as I see she's not paying attention to me, I get hard second hand embarrassment. I won't be speaking again unless she asks me something, noted. Also, this pasta makes me understand why the hotel has just three stars on booking.

I see her mouthing something under her breath while she shuffles a bunch of cards, which have a peculiar smell to them, like incense or something smoky. All my knowledge is heavily based on fantasy books and movies. I'm starting to be more and more skeptical about this, although I am very interested, but something about her still distances me from the logic.

"Tell me dear, what would you want to ask the cards? The first question is free, and you can be granted only three cards" I look at her and something is starting to be questionable about this. I look at her intensely and, besides the fact that I understand I forgot to put on my contacts from the way I'm squinting, she seems actually serious. I've seen women just being ridiculous about it, telling me stuff just to pay for more readings and advice, and shit.

"Why did you want to ask me though?"

"Nothing special, you looked at me with those pretty blue eyes and I thought my old self could use some young publicity. Don't flatter yourself too much dear" I smile, and I think about what I can ask. I have many questions in mind, such as how will life in college be, when will I find someone that's not complete bull-crap, and I think I have the right question, but my mouth works without my brain. "What does life have for me in the next 24 hours?", ok Dante.

The lady smiles at me, closing her eyes to shuffle the cards again. This time I'm careful to not interrupt her, and I'm halfway through my pasta. As much as I don't like it, It could be my last meal for the hours to come. She shuffles more aggressively, and a card flies from the deck to the floor. I bend to take it for her "here, you can shuffle again". My gesture apparently is wrong, because she starts laughing, leaving me confused as fuck. I'm tempted to put it back on the ground.

"Sweetie it's not a mistake that it fell, that card is one of the three I told you about" I feel relieved I haven't ruined anything, and I look at the card. There are two cups in it, one whiter and one darker, almost rotten. Something it's not adding up. I hand it to her, having no clue what to think about it. Maybe I'll get drunk tonight for the first time. I hope not.

"The two of cups, this one is always lovely to get" I feel the small panic rest, and I see her putting on a pair of purple glasses. I need some too. "Usually this means new connections, maybe you're getting out of your comfort zone and starting to socialize with someone special, maybe a handsome young boy" she winks at me, and I laugh. I really hope she's right, and she's not just raising my expectations for tonight. I hope she's not talking about my friend from the plane either though.

"Then let's see what could link up..oh there, the fool" the cards have some beef with me "this means you're taking a limp of faith, starting a new journey, maybe with the previous person or because of the leaving your comfort zone" she analyzes the card "This boy looks like you, blonde hair, blue eyes, innocent, without a clue in what he's jumping in, does this resonate with you?" I look at her with wide eyes. I nod without saying a thing, and she seems to understand something I don't. "You're taking the necessities from your old journey and then getting a new start, what will those be?" She's asking a rhetorical question, and I won't answer. I didn't even know what to take with me from home to here, let alone in my life. "Lastly the third card will be..oh" she stops speaking and I panic.

I take the last bite of pasta and I almost choke on It. This must be a bad sign. She looks at me with pity, and she turns a card with what seems like a tower and a bunch of lightning striking it. "Baby this is the tower, something is changing and it's coming in quickly. You might not like what will happen and, if it does it will hurt" She seems genuinely sad for me. Makes me sad too even if I'm very confused. Am I dying or something?

"Is someone dying?"I ask her genuinely, but again she laughs at me, and somehow it makes me feel more relieved than offended.

"No, not necessarily" now I panic again "It might be just a dispute or a misunderstanding. But it is deep and it's not just a surface type of hurt anyway. Just be aware of people around you" well, now i'm scared as fuck to go to that goddamn concert. "Also, sweetie, never trust people for what energy they give to you at the moment, be always alert. Use any moment as your own weapon and never let distraction lead you astray from your old goal"

"That goes for you too then" whatever that can really mean. I laugh as she puts her deck away. "Here five bucks, thank you for your patience" she looks at me strangely, smiling. She seems almost incredulous, thinking maybe I mistook her free service.

"I told you it's free sweetie, unless you want another reading" I shake my head rapidly and hand her the money. This time she takes it.

"It was a pleasure, maybe get some overpriced food from here if you don't want to keep them" we both smile, and she sweetly thanks me back; I need more people like her.

~

I take the elevator to our room, and as I enter I hear chaos from the blow drier and the loud music, while lots of clothes now sit on the floor. I hardly close the door and jump from one blank space on the floor to another. Never thought I'd do parkour today too. "The fuck did you do in twenty minutes" I scream. She is in the bathroom clearly.

She comes out of the bathroom fully baked and served, dressed elegant like we are about to go to a wedding, not a mere club concert. "I made some arrangements in my life" I laugh as I notice she literally cut a bunch of her hair. "I had some split ends, and I had scissors too close to my hand" I collect some clothes from the floor and arrange them on the bed. I need to find those contact lenses somewhere in my luggage, which is currently buried by a mountain of her clothes.

"It looks great but we have to go, in 25 minutes it starts and we spend 10 minutes just to arrive again near that cafe" She scoffs, signing me to relax with her hand. I finally see the handle of my luggage, and I just scatter the other clothes over it back on the floor.

I find my contacts, and I rapidly put them on. I finally see. And now that I can clearly see the whole room, I almost consider taking them back off. I close everything so as soon as we come back I won't need to prepare anything. I put some clothes I folded in her luggage. I take my jacket on and run to the bathroom. "Come on, let's go"

She puts on some shoes and I take the portable charger, throwing it in my purse. I scream to her "Don't forget your wallet". She screams back a thank you over the loud music, and I finally go to stop it. I almost cry as I stop it, my ears are thanking me deeply.

We close the door, and as I rotate the key one last time, I feel agitation building up. The lady forgot to mention that the tower might be me throwing myself from a building. Never say never. Let's pray no one breaks in this room, the security system doesn't seem too safe to be honest.

We run down the stairs and she trips over her heels. I almost faint from laughing, and she does too. God I love her. We storm out of the spinning doors of the hotel and we run. We try to run actually, because she really couldn't have worn some normal platform shoes. I take her hand and walk faster. I hope we get there in time.

Maybe It's the right time for the lightning from the card to strike me. I hope so at least.