by Safa Shaqsy
“Relax your mind and focus all your inner energy”, Laura whispered, trying to guide her niece through the process.
The table began to shudder as the earth beneath them slowly began to tremble as well. Nora finally opened her eyes to the sight of a visibly shaken Lama who tried hard to hold her nerves as the candles around the table began to go off one at a time. They all watched four candles successfully blow out, leaving three to illuminate Nora’s table.
“Is that a good sign?” Daren asked in a concerned tone.
Naomi shot him a bizarre look and caused him to fall silent immediately. Nora felt the rush of excitement and a sting of worry trickle down her spine as she gently picked up the stacks of tarot cards. The trembling beneath them seemed to intensify while she held the cards in her hand, before one more candle light blew out while she laid to rest the first card on the table.
Nerves felt rattled beyond words, and those within the room held their breaths to find out what Nora had to interpret of whatever cards she would pick from the deck. She laid them out in the same Crescent Cross that seemed to bother Laura badly, before slowly hovering her hand over the entire lot and halting on the first card at the top of the cross.
She flipped it over gently, bringing to light a card bearing a cloaked image with no face, drawing some degree of unrest from Lama as she adjusted in her seat.
“That’s a good sign right?” she asked, knowing something about the card was odd.
Nora ignored her, almost as though she could not perceive those around at that point in time, to flip open another. The next card drew out an image of darkened clouds with lightening slicing through them, as Muzin bit his fingers hard and well and looked to Laura who watched the girl keenly.
“The hooded figure can be anyone, but he is coming”, Nora muttered in a rather odd tone of voice. “On a day the clouds will weep, your fate shall come to past”.
Lama upped herself from her seat as Nora shot her a stern look and commanded her to sit back without having to use her words. She flipped open the third card and slowly looked back up at Laura with somewhat disturbing flickers in her eyes.
“I don’t think I want to do this anymore”, Nora suddenly seemed to gain her consciousness and dragged herself out from the persona she had been working with.
Lama sighed in exhaustion, while Laura looked at the girl sternly.
“We should take a break”, Nora demanded as she got out from her seat to go and put on the lights.
Daren sighed exhaustively and smiled at Naomi. “That was freaking scary”.
Naomi seconded his words with a nod, even while she wasn’t at all terrified by anything that had occurred.
“Why didn’t she open the third card for us to see?” Naomi asked Laura.
Laura shrugged her shoulder, motioning towards the table when Muzin walked past her and yanked at the unopened card his daughter had refused to open. He flipped it over and gasped in fright, with widened eyes and widely open mouth.
“No!” he muttered, prompting everyone to run back to where he stood.
His face suddenly whitened and his eyes veered towards Lama where she stood taking some water from a bottle in her hand.
“Nora”, her father called out to her.
Nora turned around slowly and clenched her fists nervously as she looked into her father’s eyes. Muzin held out the card he had picked up with the image of the Grimm Reaper on it, too scared to ask in words what it meant, as he hoped his daughter would tell him something soothing.
“I don’t want to do this anymore”, Nora pleaded, before racing up the stairs.
Those in the living room exchanged bewildering gazes with one another, while Laura relieved the card from Muzin and returned it to the deck.
“We need her to come back and finish the readings, or we are all going to die”, Laura let out the pretty disturbing words without blinking.
Muzin felt his lower jaw drop and his fists clench tighter as he cursed the fact he permitted the woman entrance into their house. A loud rumbling followed by really troubling flashes of lightning made everyone cower in fear, while Lama jetted for the door and made a run outside the house immediately.
“Lama!” Muzin yelled after his wife.
Naomi looked at Laura and noticed a sneer on the woman’s face that made her stomach crawl in discomfort.
“What exactly is your end game?” she thought to herself.
***
Muzin slid towards the bed slowly and without making his presence known as the lady crouched with her head in her hands and the muffled sounds from cries airing aloud. He paused momentarily, hearing something behind him and prompting him to look back but without any view of a person tailing him.
“Lama”, he called out, startling his wife.
Lama sat up hurriedly and wiped her face before turning around to beckon on her husband with a subtle smile.
“Yes?” she asked, trying hard to chuck away the obvious paranoia lining her eyes and trembling lips.
Muzin approached. Sighing exhaustively as he planted himself into bed by her side. They locked gaze momentarily, but felt too stiff and lost to utter any words. Everything about what had ensued was worrisome not just for her, but to him too. It felt like dejavu and as much as his daughter remained innocent and unknowing of how things had transpired in the past, he was worried sick that the little practice might doom them all.
“Are you scared?” Lama asked her husband.
Muzin shrugged, sighed again and looked to his feet. “I have lived in fear from the first time I saw those cards, and seeing them again only reinforces that fear beyond anything I can say”.
Lama sighed too and nodded her head. “What happens now?”
Muzin wasn’t sure answering the question would bring any good and he decided to keep his response to himself. For now, at least, they were all safe and as far as he could wish, his daughter might be wrong from being an inexperienced tarot card reader.
“We will put an end to the card thing by tonight and nothing of such will prevail in this house any longer”, he assured her.
Lama bobbed her head gladly and seemed to sigh out in relief.
“Insha Allah, we are protected and Allah will continue to have us under his covering”, he smiled.
“Insha Allah!” Lama smiled.
Muzin felt the smile he intended for his wife stiffen before it even grew, while his mind wandered off to the last card his daughter refused to flip open.
“Why didn’t she flip it open>?” he asked himself inwardly. “Perhaps she knew what it held”.
He felt scared, and the peeping lady standing by the door could see the fear on her father’s face too. Nora turned around before her father could look in her direction.
***
“How exactly are you related to Nora?’ Daren asked with stuffed mouth and little breath as he multitasked on chewing his sandwich and speaking at the same time.
Laura shook her head and looked away while she picked a bottle of water from the fridge. “I’m surprised you still have the stomach to eat, when death is literarily on your doorstep”.
Daren halted with his eyes widened and his face turning white immediately. He looked at the half eaten sandwich in his hand and then back at the woman. “What do you mean?”
Laura snickered oddly and began to gulp down her bottle of water without granting the boy the answer he sought. Naomi looked from the crazy lady to Daren and then back again.
“What kind of grownup are you when you scare kids?” Naomi muttered, casting a rather annoyed look at Laura.
Laura slowly took away the bottle from her mouth and locked her gaze on Naomi. The air in the room seemed to change and shift oddly as the woman slowly beckoned towards Naomi.
“You should be careful little one”, she whispered. “As much as your fires burn brightly together, yours bears a more cynical tune to it which might serve for a perfectly bitter ending to this little union of ours”.
Naomi gulped down h
ard, staggered backwards as Laura pressed closer to her until her back met the wall. She looked away from the terrifying lady and to the ground, hoping the current situation would come to an end, but Laura seemed to be enjoying every bit of the torture and had no intent to stop.
“Why are you here?’ Naomi asked, doing well not to stutter her words. “If you are welcome in this family and so important, how come I have never heard of you from Nora or even her father?”
Laura chuckled derisively and gulped the last of her water before jamming her hand into Naomi’s throat and pinning the girl hard into the wall. She held Naomi’s face in place and stared directly into her eyes as though she was searching for something.
“I saw you in my readings before I came here”, she giggled and purred. “I am well prepared for whatever the card has to offer or whatever it demands of us”.
Daren shot up from his seat and drew closer but suddenly stopped. “Leave her be!”
His words had been intended to air as loud as possible and with some degree of ferociousness to it but the disappointing tone with which it escaped his lips only caused Laura to laugh aloud and mockingly.
“It is a pity you didn’t get your reading done first”, Laura shook her head. “It would be lovely to find out how you die”.
Still digging her nails into Naomi’s throat, while casting a taunting stare at Daren, Laura fell silent, closed her eyes and parted her lips to speak just before she got interrupted.
“What on earth do you think you’re doing!?” an enraged sounding Nora asked.
Laura loosened her grip around Naomi’s throat, and immediately switched her countenance into one of absolute innocence as she smiled at Nora and giggled.
“Your friends and I are just getting to know each other”, she muttered. “If we must survive or face whatever is coming next, then we must get along well enough”.
“What are we facing?” Nora inquired. ‘If you are talking about the tarot cards, I’d suggest you go out that door and forget about everything, because I am doing dealing those cards”.
Naomi raced over to meet with Daren, who gladly took her into his arms. She looked white with fright and barely uttered a word as she cast really angry gaze towards Laura.
Laura waved her hand and declined Nora’s notion and words. “You don’t decide when you’re done with the cards, and especially when things are yet to even begin”.
Daren let off a rather irritating laughter. “Lady, it is embarrassing when you perceive yourself to be some kind of messenger for a freaking stack of cards gotten online”.
Nora and Naomi broke out laughing, causing Laura to fume and turn red in the face.
“This is no joke, you fools! You think and believe this is a television show where some puny minded kids go scot free for dealing a card damned for ages and sent down upon this earth to tear the balance between life and death?”
Howling winds began hammering against the window panes, causing those within the living room to stare at them in frightened manner.
Holding her arms wide and apart from her body whilst she cackled, Laura continued. “The cards chose you, as it did your mother, and it will ask for more which you dare not hold back!”
The howling wind became a menacing sight for them, sending chills down Nora’s spine as she clenched her fists and closed her eyes. Unknown noises began to hammer into the rooftop, causing Daren and Naomi to fall back into the chair. Loud caws could be heard from every corner of the house, while the heavens blackened outside within seconds.
“What is happening!?’ a frightened sounding Nora asked her aunt. “If this is some kind of trick, you have to stop it”.
Laura shook her head and looked down at the ignorant girl. “How I wish it was my dear… how I wish it was”.
The cawing sound suddenly stopped, before the loud crashing sound of the kitchen window, which caused Nora and her friends to flinch and scream in terror. A raven flew into the room and fell dead at Nora’s feet, before two more swarmed in to similar fate. Terrified stiff and unable to move, Nora shuddered with fright and mumbled incoherently as Laura neared her.
Placing a hand on her niece’s shoulder, Laura leaned her head closer to the girl’s ear and whispered, “You command death now, and it is all around you”.
She cackled aloud and began to walk away, just as the cawing noise from the birds stopped and the skies cleared outside the house miraculously. Naomi breathed loudly in relief where she remained entangled with Daren, both whitened in their faces, and too frightened to move a muscle.
“What is happening, Nora?’ Naomi asked.
Nora wished she knew. She was as lost as they were and even more terrified than they could ever be.
“I don’t know about you, but your freaky aunt scares the living crap out of me and I think it is time we left!” Daren jumped to his feet and held Naomi up with him.
Naomi seemed too stricken with fear to speak as she agreed with a nod. They picked up their bags and immediately headed for the door. Daren reached for the doorknob, paused and took another look in Nora’s direction before sighing softly.
“Thanks for having us”, he manages to smile.
Nora waved and responded, “The pleasure is all mine”.
Naomi walked onto the front porch first, gasping aloud as she stopped dead in her tracks.
“Oh my God!” she screamed atop her voice, clenching her hands over her mouth to prevent herself from screaming any louder.
Daren turned around and looked away from Nora to catch sight of the disturbing image before them. ‘Nora! Nora!”
Nora raced out of the room and shoved them both aside to see what was getting them both riled up. Her eyes widened with fear and disbelief, while her lower jaw dropped. She motioned forward, but Naomi yanked at her arm and prevented her from foraying ahead any further. Their breaths soon took a synced rhythm, heaving out from their chest heavily, and causing them to pant as they drew backwards.
“I don’t think we are being permitted to go home”, Daren noted.
The message was clear and the sight was pretty much glaring.
“Go and call my father!” Nora ordered Naomi.
Naomi hurried away, leaving the duo on the porch to stare down on what they could tell to be no less than fifty dead bodies surrounding the house with their faces plunged into the earth.
“Do… do… do you think that damned card has anything to do with this?” Daren asked nervously.
It was a question even Nora was too scared to give an answer to. Scared and worried in almost eeuql mix, she wondered if ever coming across the tarot card was a good idea.
Laura came running out of the house with a wild smirk on her face. “Do you people believe me now?”
She giggled and smiled at Nora, before patting Daren hard on his back.
“They have been sent this early… looks like things will be tougher this time around”, Laura spoke in completely ominous tone.
CHAPTER SIX
Fueled by confusion and completely taken aback by the blinding scene around their house, Muzin, Nora and Lama stood side by die, almost with no meaningful expressions on their faces as they tried to decipher what exactly they ought to do next. Muzin looked to his daughter, who suddenly seemed to be drowning in the reality that her life wasn’t going to be in any way the same with other girls her age.
“What have we done?” Nora asked, staring at a dead raven with deep darkened eyes just at her feet.
The ravens asides, the dead bodies lining the yard around their house was the more disturbing debacle to figure out.
“Are they dead?” Daren asked. “I mean… is this some kind o sick prank or something?’
Laura leaned against the wall and smiled eerily without uttering a word. There was the sense amongst the others that she might be trying to play some bizarre prank or possibly even be the one who had orchestrated the entire ordeal. Yet, the reasons behind her action towards doing so baffled everyone and continued to leave them in loss.
“Before any of you point accusatory fingers towards me, I have to say that I had nothing to do with it”, Laura declared immediately. “I warned you, but you wouldn’t listen… it has begun”.
Daren scoffed, trying his best to remain and seem brave as he made the first step towards the eerie sight before them. One step after the other, pretty nervous and almost without any understanding as to what he was doing, he stopped before a bald looking figure whose face was sunk into the sand just like the rest of them.
On his back was a picture of a bird, disturbingly scary and in no way peaceful in sight as it stretched along the pale white skin with no sign of life in it.
“I think they are all dead”, Daren sighed in relief.
Laura shrugged, smiled and ran her finger along her lip while she watched Daren keenly. He smiled and wove back at Naomi, seemingly trying to show off as he struck the dead body with his foot and felt it remain still and unwilling to move under his pretty heavy kick. He struck it once again, feeling the body remain on the spot as though it had been nailed down.
Naomi shrieked, “Daren, stop goofing around and get the hell out of there!”
He shrugged, smiled and waved her words away without any intention of listening to her.
“Pretty tough thing… it isn’t even… “, he turned to look at Naomi once again just before a tightened grip around his right foot made him squirm and halt his words.
Their faces bore grimaces and their expressions suddenly sent shiver mixed with fright down his spine. He could tell something was definitely not right and he didn’t need much to ascertain such fact.
“Daren… whatever you do, please don’t make a sound”, Muzin pleaded with the boy.
Daren nodded his head while drops of sweat fell from his face unto his chest. Slowly, but carefully, he looked down at the body whose face remained embedded in the soil, and motioned to take his foot out but it remained unmovable with the dead man’s grip not easing off regardless.
