by Safa Shaqsy
Her heart skipped its beats, and her lungs fell flat as she exhaled in fright. His grip was cold and tightly wrapped around her wrist, causing her to squirm in discomfort and pain, and above all, unexpectedly.
“Boo!” he had screamed with an evil grin accompanying his face.
Naomi jumped backwards in shock, while Nora did the same but with much more flight response as she yanked her arm from his grasp and crawled away subsequently. The two girls stared at Daren as he burst out laughing and rolling on his side.
“You’re alive!” Naomi sniffed and joyfully wiped her face before rushing over to hug him.
She pulled him off shortly to take a good look into his eyes, before wrapping her arms around him once again, with her head well-cushioned against his chest, and gentle sobs of happiness following.
Bitter and enraged, Nora folded her arms across her chest and yelled. “What the fuck is wrong with you!?”
He frowned back at her while Naomi continued to tighten her arms around his neck. “You should have seen the look on your face! I was sure you were going to have a heart attack or something!”
Nora slowly crawled back up and looked down at him. ‘it wasn’t funny, Daren!”
Daren continued to laugh hard and mockingly, only pausing to catch his breath and to shoot Nora some more annoying grin.
“That’s what you get for wasting my stash of weed”, he replied. “But i got to tell you, it is the funniest shit I’ve pulled this week!”
Striking him hard with a kick to his chin while he groaned in pain, she muttered, “Asshole!”
Nora turned around immediately, wiping off the beads of tears finally unable to remain hanging in her eyes as they began to roll down her cheek. She couldn’t have the obnoxious boy understand what level of emotions she had for him, talk less of giving him the opportunity to see how well she was beginning to feel for him or like him.
More so, there was also the episode of Naomi, already beginning to fall helplessly for the boy whom they had agreed not to get overly involved with, or even permit themselves to feel anything for. He was beyond reckless and irresponsible and every single opportunity he had to show it, he leapt ahead and displayed it without refrain.
Nora sighed and sought something an alternate form of discussion for the evening. She figured something else would keep the annoying Daren off of his game or at least for the time being and without wasting much time and effort, her mind struck the perfect cause.
“Naomi!” she called out with a smile across her face.
Naomi took a break from hugging Daren, whose face folded slowly, but without Nora caring a single bit.
“Do you remember the tarot cards I told you about?’ Nora asked excitedly.
Naomi fegned temporary ignorance, rubbing her chin almost as though she had forgotten or never knew a thing of what Nora was speaking about.
“Come on!’ Nora pleaded, hoping her excitement wouldn’t get dashed to the ground.
Nora chuckled briefly. “Of course, I remember your sudden and new weird hubby”.
Nora smiled, choosing to let the cheeky remark slide, before clearing her throat and approaching her computer to pull out the chair before it. Daren fixated his gaze staunchly on her, while Naomi got to her feet and proceeded towards standing behind her friend.
“Well, I’ve been doing a lot of reading on them lately on how to use them, read them and a lot more”, Nora booted her computer excitedly and began to toggle through the interphase.
Naomi waited impatiently for the gist attached to what her friend intended telling her.
“It so happens that some tarot cards are centuries old, and I mean really old”, Nora continued, before abruptly halting herself from doing anything to turn around and look at her friend. “Do you know what that means?”
Naomi shrugged her shoulder, twitched her mouth and replied, “That my best friend is a lunatic who fancies crazy old cards laden with cobwebs and dust?”
Daren burst into laughter and immediately stopped upon noticing the stern gaze from Nora.
Nora shook her head willfully and turned back to her computer. “No, but the gist is, the fact they’re old, and I mean really old, means I can get them for knock-off price on EBay without having to drain myself financially”.
Naomi looked disinterested almost immediately, while Nora went about toggling through her browser until she found what she wanted. Satisfied by her pick from the list of old looking tarot cards on sale from very select few sellers, reached for her handbag just by the foot of her chair and took out her i-Pad.
Daren got to his feet immediately, while Nora walked past him as she scrolled through her screen. ‘What are you doing?”
His voice bore enough concern in it to alert Nora of his worries about her choices, while Naomi had joined the bandwagon as well, wearing a frightened expression on her face.
“You guys can chill”, Nora shook her head. ‘I’m not buying uranium or some secret government oil on the black market”, she teased.
Naomi leaned closer to have a look at the screen, without uttering any words yet.
“Remember I told you I’ve been practicing on tarot reading?” Nora asked.
“Yeah”, Naomi replied subtly. “Are you seriously going to buy that shitty old thing!?”
Nora paused from toggling her i=Pad screen to look at her friend. Her eyes bore some intense look, and her forehead squeezed together as she clenched her fist around the edges of the tablet.
“Its not shitty… just old!” Nora ground her teeth and frowned before returning her attention to the screen.
She finally settled upon her desired page, with strange markings along the edges, while the website did just about enough to creep anyone interested in visiting it, out. She flicked through her desired tarot card from the pick of many listed along the page, opting for the cheapest in hopes of getting a good deal and not having to expend herself financially, before feeling her throat glue together, her eyes widen and her nostrils flare.
She hadn’t the slightest idea on just how much or how fast she could get low on breath. Upon viewing the picture of the deck box, her breathing took on a shallow effect, and her stomach sunk with the displayed picture of human skulls in the most haunting manner, bearing devilish wings in pairs. She felt her feet buzz with mix of excitement and fright, but chose the former over the latter.
Naomi pressed her gaze closer from behind, seemingly interested in the page, as Daren drew closer too.
Nora tightened her grasp around her I-Pad and cleared her throat softly. She adjusted in her seat nervously and took a brief look at her friend, Naomi.
‘Just read the damn product description”, Naomi encouraged her.
Naomi shot her a frown before proceeding to read the product description as stated on the page;
“Ancient in grace and forged in ages past, the Tarot of Death was used as a curse to homes and families of their enemies. A silent weapon without a drop of mercy, borne of magic so dark, the darkness itself feels cursed to be in its presence, the Tarot cards in this deck would reveal to you messages of fate, absent passion, love or even positive energy. Read the will of others through the cards, and those whom have had their fate read will suffer one of two fates; disappear or die, within the next few days.”
The room fell silent, and as a cold chill raced down Nora’s spine. She felt herself temporarily immobilized, cringing within, as Naomi tightened her grip into the chair and threatened to puncture through the leather with her fingers.
Daren erupted in hysterical laughter almost immediately. “That is the biggest bull shit I’ve heard in a fucking long time!”
Both girls turned to him with frowns on their faces, but Nora’s bore more sting as she wished she could drag him closer and ram her fist into his precious little nose.
“Seriously?” he stopped laughing momentarily while holding his stomach. “Don’t tell me you’re planning on buying that old piece of crap which is obviously meant to rip you off of your
money”.
His bluntness often times end up being the one side to him that not only infuriated others, but also brought him on the verge of pain if they could deal it to him. Nora still remained without an amiable response, but she wasn’t in any way pleased with the young man.
He shook his head and sighed. “Just don’t buy it! It will be embarrassing for us when story hits the campus about how we got infections from disgusting old tarot cards”.
Nora finally broke through. “Come on, its just a very old looking tarot card and you can sincerely stop being a jerk about it”.
Naomi looked at Nora and nudged on her shoulder gently. ‘Forget the stale look, what if the product description is true? Are we seriously ignoring the fact that we just read that?”
Nora shot them both a rather bewildered look, stretching her gaze from Daren to Naomi, and then back to Daren once again.
“Bunch of pussies”, she thought to herself, whilst trying not to spell the words out in consideration for Naomi alone.
She shrugged subtly, turned to look at her screen to read the description once again, and even she knew darn too well what cold and disturbingly chilling effect it brought to her spine. She closed her eyes shortly, sucked in tender breaths into her lungs, and parted her lids open again to read the descriptive which was getting everyone on edge.
She smirked softly and reached for Naomi’s hand. “There is no harm in trying something new or risky, provided it isn’t weed”.
The snide dig at Daren definitely go the notice it warranted, as he shook his head, flailed his arms in the air and turned around with a disappointed look smeared across his face.
“Unbelievable!” he stated with a grumble.
Nora chuckled, taking pleasure on getting one over the boy, before turning to her screen once again, focused and ready to proceed with her purchase. She flicked through and scrolled downwards some more, before settling upon the “Buy” button situated at the right hand edge of the screen. Without granting it any further thoughts, she clicked hard on it and watched the screen disappear to bring her a fresh on demanding approval of payment.
She proceeded, while Daren slowly dragged his feet back to the girls.
“Done and dusted!” Nora sounded excitedly.
The screen suddenly went off, taking them off of the page immediately, and bringing them nothing but a dark, reflective surface through which they could see themselves. The trio froze and stared into the screen momentarily before Nora placed it away and got to her feet.
Rubbing her hands together in show of excitement, she spoke. “Okay! With that done, I guess the package will arrive in a day or two, depending”.
She reached her left hand over her right shoulder and rubbed down hard against the sprained feel she had awakened too about an hour ago. The tension seemed to ease away, but the pain lingered, deeply seated underneath where any amount of pressure she applied could actually reach it.
Naomi sighed exhaustively, looked at the duo with somewhat sleepy eyes and yawned. “Time to hit the hay for me… Daren, you know your spot, and I’ll take the floor by the dresser”.
Nora watched as Daren walked over to the couch and planted himself into it. He pulled out a comforter he had brought along and slowly wrapped himself with it before turning to face the couch and backing the girls. Nora smiled as Naomi motioned for her to assist in arranging the sleeping bags on the floor. They got through the act in seconds and Nora headed to turn off the lights, with images of her friends being the last thing her eyes successfully picked in the room.
She snuck into her single sized bed and crawled up underneath her duvet, yawning and stretching off the cranky feeling her joints ached off.
“Goodnight”, she whispered to her friends who were ready to drift off into sleep.
“Goodnight”, Nora replied almost immediately.
They waited for Daren but got nothing immediately, prompting Nora to assume the boy had fallen asleep.
A minute passed and he softly chuckled before muttering, “Goodnight and don’t let the bedbugs bite”.
Nora shook her head, sighed softly, and wondered how she could have trusted him. She smiled to herself and held unto her pillow tightly as the world felt perfect and without worries at that moment in time. Her best friend was nearby, and a crush of hers wasn’t far away either, even while there remained some element of uncertainty on what would come of him.
The world definitely felt calm and peaceful, yet, Nora worried about clamping her eyes shot to fall asleep. The images from her current nightmare continued to linger and race across the fields of her mind. She could swear the crunching effect from her foot stepping on the dead crow was real as can be. She could taste the odd air coursing down her lungs, and she could without doubt, still see the strange figure with lengthy dark hair sitting atop the large rock.
The worrying side to it all, was the feeling that she knew who the person was, or at least, the frame looked oddly familiar to her…
CHAPTER TWO
The world continued to feel softer by the passing second, almost like she lay on a field of dandelions and her head was rested on the softest clouds. She groped tightly unto the head rest, and felt her heart mellow in gladness, as her night continued to stretch along perfectly, or at least it was what she assumed. ‘
Subtle, but warm feel stretched across her face and settled over her upper torso within minutes, and while she turned and tossed, hoping to evade the warmth, it remained unprepared to leave, prompting Nora to yank out her cloud of softness from underneath her head, and cover her face with it. She wanted the night to stretch further or at least, last another hour if possible.
Waking up wasn’t the sole concern, and getting out of bed to begin the day wasn’t the second either. There was a specific element to the day’s running which she wished she could avoid as best as possible. She was scheduled to meet with them, and the meetings never really went well. In fact, the only saving grace about such meetings were the fact they never lasted long.
Yet, today promised to be different; the length at which it might extend remained unknown and it haunted her thoughts just thinking about it.
Flickering sounds from the bulb soon came to their hearing, while the ceiling fan began spinning wildly as though it was out of control. The air grew hot and cold and switched faster than anyone could make sense of, prompting the three figures in the room sit up hurriedly and almost in sync as though they had preplanned it.
Naomi looked frightened to death; her face looked pale, and her lips tightened into a snarl, while Daren maintained his usual cocky look. The howling wind swaying the tree branches outside to their tune, hammered into the window panes, causing them to rattle disturbingly, while worrying sounds like footsteps hammered into the rooftop as well.
“Does anyone have any idea what the hell is going on?” Daren asked with a frown.
Naomi shrugged, as did Nora too. The duo shared a brief look, wondering what answers would come of the bizarre occurrence, before the sudden silence aired, and the odd noises stopped. The clouds outside the room drifted about beautifully as they had done through the howling wind, and the birds chirped on as though the trees had not just been dancing wildly and dangerously to the tune of the wind.
Nora looked out the window and wondered when the birds got back there. She was sure something so odd and baffling would terrify the creatures and cause them to fly away never to return immediately, but they all looked rested and well nested on the branches like nothing happened.
“First, you buy some weird cards online, and now one cannot get a good night sleep in your apartment?’ Daren decided to make a joke of the situation.
Nora scoffed and shook her head. “Very funny, Daren!”
She slept back and turned her pillow on her head, but the soft and tender feel she felt from it had suddenly returned to one of reality.
“Guys, look!” Naomi called out, pointing at the wall clock with a frown.
Nora rubbed her eyes clean of
sleep, and yawned as she trailed her friend’s hand towards the south wall bearing the old clock her father had brought back from one of his trip to Iran. Her eyes widened initially while she struggled to reconcile the time to the hour of the day, before hurrying off of her bed to pick up her cellphone from the table.
“That’s odd”, Nora thought to herself while she put on her cellphone and waited for it to boot.
Daren sighed and shook his head.
“What are you two raving about?” he spoke in somewhat uninterested tone while he picked up his phone from the table before him.
Nora held out her phone so he could have a good look and replied, “This!”
His eyes widened immediately, and his lips curled into a snarl as well. He looked away from her cellphone to his and back again, wondering if they had played some form of trick on him. Naomi got up from her sleeping spot immediately to arm herself with her cellphone as well.
“It cannot be possible”, Darren muttered in disbelief.
Naomi shot him a bewildered and somewhat castigating look. “Did you spike out drinks?”
“Weed cannot make us sleep for an entire day, Naomi”, Nora cut through, even while she wanted to believe Daren wouldn’t do something of such.
Yet, there was no reasonable explanation as to why their time showed they were a day ahead after sleeping in on a Saturday night. The fact the watches were synced at Monday and with the exact time as that on the wall with its little digital calendar underneath the arms, brought nothing but absolute concern to their hearts.
“Did you have anything to do with this?” Nora turned to the one culprit capable of trying to play such a silly joke.
Daren looked lost, wearing his brows as low as possible and without the mischievous grin spread across his face. He looked from Naomi to Nora and back again, almost as if he wished Naomi would take his side. Nora could see he knew her friend had a thin for him, but that was going to be a subject for later.
“Is this some kind of pranks from you?” Naomi asked.
He yelled in response. ‘No! I was asleep just like you guys were and what will I gain from altering the clocks and calendar dates on your phones?”
