Split

by Alicia Rades

CHAPTER 2

  Alaina and I pulled up to a small shop that read “Psychic Advisor” in the window and advertised crystal ball and palm readings. I’d noticed the place before but never paid much attention to it. It sat in an older part of our small town where all the shops were smashed together and had apartments above them. That left little parking out front. Apparently no one wanted to park in front of the psychic’s shop, though, because we found a spot waiting for us.

  “I think the world can sense this psychic is crazy,” I joked about the parking.

  “Oh, stop it,” Alaina scolded, swatting at me lightly while an amused smile crossed her face. “It’s just for kicks. Now get your butt in there or I’m not taking you to the buffet.”

  I slumped out of the car and took a cautious step forward. Before I reached the door, I turned to Alaina to make sure she was coming.

  She threw her purse over her shoulder and locked the car with the key fob in her hand. “I’m coming.” I could almost hear the laughter in her voice, like she thought it was hilarious to see me turning to a psychic for help.

  “This is crazy,” I muttered before pulling the door open.

  “Well, you need someone to make a decision for you.”

  I let out a puff of air and entered the shop. Shades of purple and pink hit me as we walked in. Shelves of tarot cards, books on psychic practice, and magic kits lined one wall while dream catchers of all colors and sizes took up space on another. A couple of crystal balls sat on display on the far wall, and candles lined a small table in front of us. The check-out counter stood in the back left corner of the shop, and a doorway covered by a curtain of pink and purple beads interrupted the flow of shelving on the right. The whole place smelled strongly of lemongrass incense. It all seemed over the top to me.

  Alaina picked up one of the candles and gave it a big whiff. She let out a breath of satisfaction before shoving it in my face.

  “Yuck!” I pulled away instantly. “What is that?”

  She checked the label and shrugged. “Chamomile. It smells good.”

  I turned up my nose the same time I heard the beads in the doorway jingle as they bounced off one another. A smiling woman who looked to be in her early thirties stepped into the room. Her curly strawberry blond hair fell to her shoulders, and she wore slim blue jeans and a pale green shirt. If this was the psychic, she was totally not what I was expecting. She looked so normal.

  “Can I help you ladies with something?” She spoke in a soft, calming tone.

  A brief silence passed before Alaina spoke. “My friend wants a psychic reading.”

  “Well, I can certainly help with that. I’m Chloe.” She extended her hand, and I warily shook it.

  “Madelyn.” I cleared my throat before clarifying. “Maddie.” If she’s psychic, shouldn’t she already know my name?

  “And you’re the painter,” Chloe greeted, shaking Alaina’s hand.

  “Yep.” She smiled. “I’m Alaina. Any chance you’re ready for that painting?”

  Chloe let out a light laugh. “Honestly, I’m not sure I have the room for it.” She gestured around the shop, which didn’t have a free inch of space anywhere on the walls. “So, you’re interested in a reading?” she asked, turning back to me.

  I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. There’s no way this lady was psychic. She didn’t even play the part well. Alaina elbowed me in the ribs when I didn’t answer.

  “Yep,” I managed to say, playing along.

  “Well, if it’s okay with you two, I’ll have Alaina stay out here, and I can give you a reading in the other room.”

  I exchanged a quick glance with Alaina. “I guess that’s okay.”

  I nervously followed behind Chloe and through the beaded curtain. This room wasn’t much different from the one I’d just been standing in, though it was smaller and didn’t have a window. Hues of pink and purple blanketed the space, and soft lighting gave off a mysterious vibe. A round table with two chairs stood in the middle of the floor, and a crystal ball sat on top. I did my best not to burst out laughing. It’s like she was trying to cater to pre-teen girls who were still infatuated by unicorns and glitter.

  “Please, take a seat.” Chloe gestured to one of the chairs. “We won’t need this.” She picked up her crystal ball and moved it to another table in the corner, which held a collection of neatly-situated framed photographs.

  I eyed the photos. The one to the furthest left showed Chloe in a graduation uniform. Another showed her in what looked like a rainforest surrounded by a group of indigenous people. In another, she stood in front of a large building that looked like a temple of some sort.

  “You travel a lot?” I asked in an attempt to ease the awkwardness. If anything, it only fueled the tension in the air.

  “Yes.” Chloe smiled, glancing at the photographs. “These photos document my journey to where I am today.” She spoke slowly like time didn’t matter to her.

  I should have kept my mouth shut.

  Chloe sat across from me. “During college, I spent some time traveling, learning about ancient religions and cultures. It taught me a lot about spiritualism and gave me the chance to explore so much about the universe.”

  By “universe,” did she mean this psychic thing? She couldn’t actually believe she was psychic. Or maybe she spent her time learning how to deceive others into believing it. Well, it’s not going to work on me, I thought. I’m only doing this to appease Alaina.

  “Eventually, I decided to return home,” she continued. “What better way to use that knowledge than helping people?”

  This was her idea of helping people?

  “So, uh, how does this work?” I asked, hoping to get this over with as soon as possible. My gaze shifted around the room. I spotted a couple of open spaces where Alaina’s painting could hang if Chloe actually bought it.

  Chloe’s sweet smile returned. “That depends on what you’re interested in. I can give you a palm reading or a tarot card reading. We can talk about your past, present, or future. I sense you’re here about your future, Maddie.”

  Easy guess. I was a teen girl. Of course I was curious about my future.

  “You’re here about a boy, aren’t you?”

  I gave her an uncertain smile and nodded. Another easy guess.

  “Oh,” she said with surprise. “Two boys?”

  Now that was a lucky guess. Or maybe Alaina had talked to her about me already. I nodded again.

  “Ooh. Tell me about them.” Her slow, calming voice began to sound more normal, like we were best friends spilling our secrets at a slumber party.

  “Well.” I dragged out the word, unsure of what to say to her. If I didn’t say much, I could test just how much of a psychic she was.

  Next, she’ll probably say something like, “I’m getting an ‘A’ name,” and I’ll say something like, “Alex!” and she’ll be like, “Right, Alex,” and I’ll be like, “Fraud! I don’t know an Alex. His name is Aaron.”

  I laughed at myself internally, really starting to feel my mischievous evil side emerging. But I couldn’t bring myself to be that mean, so I decided to play along instead for both Chloe and Alana’s sake.

  “They’re both pretty good,” I told her vaguely.

  “Maddie, I’m getting the sense that you have a big decision to make.”

  Again, what teenage girl my age wasn’t stressing over some big decision? For some girls my age, it was what car they were going to buy for their eighteenth birthday, and for others, it was already about which college they’d attend next year. For me, it was which guy I wanted to spend my senior year with—and hopefully long after.

  “Yep. Big decisions.” I hoped I didn’t come off sounding too unimpressed.

  “And this decision has to do with these two boys?” She smiled at me again, easing some of my anxiety.

  “You’re good,” I complimented, but I was totally bluffing. These were easy guesses. They would have been even easier if Alaina had said something to her about me.
Maybe that’s why she made Alaina sit outside, so she wouldn’t realize Chloe was a fraud.

  “So, your heart belongs to two men,” Chloe mused thoughtfully, not even looking at me now. “Tell me how you feel about them.”

  What, was she some type of therapist now? And how does that make you feel?

  I shrugged, but I’d already told myself I’d play along. As soon as the boys entered my mind, Chloe and the shop seemed to fade away. I stared into the distance as I spoke. “Well, one of them is smart, and he’s a really good musician. He makes me feel safe and comfortable when I’m around him, you know?” I paused for a moment, forcing my heart to slow after picturing Logan in my mind. “The other guy makes me laugh and brings out a side of me that I really enjoy. He really cares about me, too.” The butterflies in my stomach sprang to life when I thought about Aaron. Calm down, girl, I told myself. You could give yourself a heart attack the way you react when they’re both on your mind. “They’re both very different, but in their own way, they both bring out the best in me. And strangely, I think I bring out the best in them. One calls me his muse. The other calls me his angel.”

  “And you? Do you have a nick name for either of them?”

  “No,” I answered, still staring off into space where I could picture their faces in my mind.

  “Well, Maddie.”

  The sound of my name pulled me out of my daydream, and I looked back at Chloe.

  “I can tell that you love both of them very much. It’s written all over your face when you talk about them.” She pressed her lips together in thought. “I may be able to help you.”

  Just tell me which guy I end up with, I silently begged, even though I was sure she couldn’t read my mind or tell the future.

  Chloe sat up a little bit straighter. “Here’s what we can do. Since you obviously love both of them, why don’t you choose them both?”

  What a load of crap, I thought, but I kept my cool. “I can’t choose both of them. They told me I have to choose or they’ll both move on.”

  “Ah,” she said with a gleam in her eyes, “but they’ll be none the wiser. You see, how this works is that you can have both boys. You can live a life with both of them, but it will feel like you only chose one.”

  “I don’t understand. What’s the point in that?”

  Chloe leaned in closer across the table. “Think of it like alternate universes. One single decision will split your heart in two. One half of your heart will go one way and live in a universe with the first boy. The other half of your heart will live in a world with the second boy.”

  “Split my heart?” I asked warily. She made it sound like I’d be placing my beating heart on a butcher’s table. I still wasn’t sure I understood, and I’d never been great at following those alternate universe sci-fi movies.

  “Do you happen to have something that belongs to the boys with you?”

  I was ready to shake my head when I realized I still had their jewelry in my pocket. I could hardly believe my luck. I dug into my jeans and pulled out the necklace and bracelet and set them on the table in front of me. What exactly did she have in mind?

  Chloe stared down at them like I’d just placed a bag of diamonds in front of her. “This is perfect.” She held onto each one in a separate hand and placed them behind her back. “Maddie, in a moment, I’m going to ask you to choose a piece of jewelry. Whatever decision you make, you will also choose the other, allowing you to live a life with both boys.”

  I still wasn’t following her logic, but it didn’t matter because I didn’t believe her anyway. At the same time, I liked the idea of choosing a boy at random. It was the best solution anyone had come up with by this point, so I figured I’d go with it and be happy with whichever decision I made. I couldn’t keep dragging this out. It didn’t matter whether I made my decision today or next week; someone was still going to get hurt. So, I’d have to settle with random.

  “Okay,” Chloe announced once she’d mixed the jewelry up in her hands. She stuck two fists out toward me, and I eyed them. She began chanting something incoherent under her breath, but a second later, she went abruptly silent and pulled back slightly. “Wait. I must warn you that if you change your mind about the boy you choose, you risk losing them both. Do you understand?”

  The look in her eyes made it seem like she was warning me of my own death. She was taking this way too seriously, but I nodded anyway. Then I took a deep breath to prepare myself for the big reveal. Which hand would I choose, and which boy’s jewelry lay inside?

  Chloe extended her fists again. “So, which boy will it be? Logan, or Aaron?”

  CHAPTER 3

  LOGAN

  “How’d it go?” Alaina asked in a high pitched teasing voice when we exited the shop.

  My cheeks flamed. Finally, I had made a decision. I mean, Chloe’s whole “splitting my heart” spiel was a load of crap, but at least I’d chosen someone. She didn’t make me pay, so I didn’t feel so bad about coming to a psychic.

  “I have a feeling you’ll be back,” she’d said when I tried to pay her for her time. I wasn’t going to argue and make her take my money since I didn’t have much to begin with.

  I fingered the bracelet around my wrist and barely noticed the smile that crossed my face. I didn’t answer Alaina’s question until I slid into the passenger seat. “She helped me make a choice.” The smile on my face spread wider.

  Alaina started the car. “So, what’d she do? Look into her crystal ball and see which guy you’d end up with?”

  I laughed as we drove along the street. “No. She was a complete fake, but she made me pick one at random. I figured it was the best way to go about it. And you know what? I’m happy with my decision.”

  One of Alaina’s brows shot up. “Who’d you choose, then?”

  I glanced down at the bracelet and smiled again. “Logan.”

  “Good. I’m happy for you. Is that buffet on this street or the next one?”

  “It’s just past the next stop light,” I told her.

  It wasn’t long before we found a parking spot.

  “By the way,” I said as we walked toward the restaurant. “Did you and Chloe talk about me before we went there?”

  “What? No.”

  “Oh,” was all I said before I entered the restaurant and became distracted by the delicious aroma.

  ***

  “How are you going to tell them?” Alaina asked in the car on our way back to my house from lunch.

  I shrugged. “I think I should sleep on it, just to make sure. I’ll text them tomorrow morning and see if they’re available to meet up.”

  “Sounds like a plan. Can I be there to see Aaron’s reaction?” She looked at me sideways before fixing her eyes back on the road. She couldn’t hide the grin creeping onto her face.

  I swatted at her playfully. “No, you can’t. Don’t be so mean to him. Just because I’m not picking him doesn’t mean I don’t like him anymore. He’s still a good person.”

  It had never been a secret that Alaina preferred Logan over Aaron. Logan was one of our friends, and Aaron was too popular for her.

  “Oh, come on. It’ll be great,” she teased, but I wasn’t amused. I didn’t want to hurt Aaron, but I didn’t have any other option.

  We pulled into my driveway a couple of minutes later. “You’re so lucky to have a car,” I told Alaina on our way to the front door.

  I had access to a car over the summer when Kayla and Amy were around, but now that they were off at two different colleges, they’d taken both our extra vehicles with them. Mom and Dad said that if I wanted a car, I needed to get a job to pay for the insurance first like my sisters did. I’d been looking, but there weren’t a lot of open opportunities for someone under eighteen in our small town. My parents didn’t even want to hire me at their real estate company.

  “You know that if you ever need a car, you can borrow mine, right?” Alaina told me.

  “Yeah.”

  It’s not like I r
eally needed a car anyway. Pretty much everything in town was within walking or biking distance, and if I needed to head out of town, Alaina was always willing to give me a ride.

  We headed to my bedroom, where Parrot unsurprisingly hadn’t moved from his spot on my bed.

  “What now?” Alaina asked.

  I dropped Aaron’s angel necklace into my jewelry box, briefly wondering if I should give it back to him. Then I turned my attention to my wrist and admired Logan’s bracelet. It was perfect. How could I not see that before?

  I shrugged in response to Alaina’s question. “I have some watercolors if you want to play around with them.”

  She shrugged back. “Sounds good.”

  I gathered some painting supplies for Alaina and grabbed the new set of pencils my parents had given me for my seventeenth birthday. We sat in the chairs on my back patio and practiced our art. Alaina painted an image of the flowers lining the fence in my backyard while I sketched Logan’s face. Placing my pencil to the paper was unlike anything else. It filled me with a sense of comfort and pride. As Logan’s features began to take shape inside the sketchbook, another wave of bliss overcame me.

  The sun shone bright above us. We talked about boys and the upcoming school year until my parents arrived home. They’d brought home Italian takeout.

  “How’d we know you’d be here, Alaina?” my mother joked when Alaina and I entered the kitchen. She balanced gracefully on her high heels and leaned across the table to unload her bag. “We brought extra for you.”

  “Aww, that’s really sweet of you, Mrs. Rose, but I think my parents would prefer I eat at home for once. I was actually going to head home pretty soon.”

  “Okay, drive safe,” my mom told her.

  Alaina gathered her purse and keys. Her latest painting was already dry and in her hands. “Bye, Maddie.”

  I pulled her into a hug. “Bye. See you later.”

  A moment after Alaina exited the kitchen, the sound of the door clicking behind her reached my ears.

  “What’d you two do all day?” my dad asked as he loosened his tie. He hated the darn thing but insisted on wearing it day in and day out. It was part of the job, he said.