by Safa Shaqsy
Lama motioned to follow her husband but halted a few feet from him as they all turned to the front door as the doorbell rang aloud.
“That’s odd”, Lama muttered.
Muzin lost the smile on his face and replaced it with a frown immediately.
Nora motioned to the door and held her hand out to her father to not bother himself. “I’ll get it”.
Muzin raced past her, almost as if he had a motive against whoever was on the other side of the door. He yanked the door open, stood face to face with the young man about to punch the doorbell again, and asked, no question.
“Good Morning Sir”, the young man managed his words.
Nora gasped and felt her eyes widen as she recognized the boy, and the lady standing by his side.
“Shit!” she muttered, before catching her father’s stinging gaze.
“What do you want at my home at this hour of the day?” Muzin asked the boy.
The young man rolled up his sleeve, stared at his watch and held it out for Muzin to look at.
“This is past nine”, he said.
The skies looked somewhat dull, and the clouds were static. Muzin couldn’t believe his eyes when he took a look at his own watch and wondered if someone was trying to play some odd trick on him. He rushed back inside the house and past his daughter to look at the wall clocks, before placing both hands on his head and wearing that worried look which they had seen on him earlier.
“I burnt the damn thing! I burnt it! This shouldn’t be happening!” he muttered in worried tone.
Nora hurried to meet with her friends.
“What are you guys doing here?’ she asked.
Naomi held out her cellphone with a text message clearly stating from Nora that read, “It is urgent… come over!!”
“I burned it!” her father raged while Lama attempted to keep him calm but to no avail.
Nora took out her cellphone and toggled through her messages, trying to ascertain when she had sent such message but there was no record of it on her phone.
“That’s odd”, she noted. “I could have sworn I didn’t send that message”.
Naomi and Daren shared a brief look before Daren took out his cell phone and drew up the same and exact message he had received from her.
“I swear, I did not send those messages”, Nora remained defiant.
Naomi sighed, placed her hand on her friend’s shoulder and walked into the house while they watched their friend’s father threaten to have a meltdown.
“First it finds her, then the darn tattoo, and now, time”, he whispered and demonstrated with his hands in dramatic fashion.
“Am I in the right house?” Daren looked around.
Naomi shot him a rather glum look.
“What? I’m hearing tattoo and this has to be the freakiest way to begin the day in your house, considering your parents are who they are and all”, he teased.
Nora kicked him in the ankle before leading them to the couch to sit. The smoke from the burnt deck of tarot cards had slowly begun to dissipate, but it left a stinging and rather odd taste in their throats as they sucked in the remnant.
“What is that”, Naomi asked.
Muzin hurried over in dramatic manner. “That is meant to be the smell of freedom for my family! Yet, it doesn’t feel like it!”
Nora had witnessed such bizarre occurrence about time jumping past what she had expected it to be, but her father’s drama only made it more baffling for her. More, so, the other two before her had witnessed it too.
“Papa is just worried because we totally missed out on time and realized it was morning before we could blink twice:, she tried to cast off his actions as nothing major.
Muzin shot his daughter and unappreciated look, and slot himself into an empty seat. “What brings you guys here?”
Naomi thought of replying with the only reason she knew of, but even after telling it to Nora, it had brought a weird reaction so she remained silent.
“Well, for starters, I was hoping on returning this… to Nora”, Daren began searching through his backpack.
Nora looked at Naomi who shot her a bewildered look, before the room fell ominously silent. Daren slid his hand further into his backpack, keeping everyone in silence without realizing the amount of suspense he was creating in the room. He finally took out a large Algebra textbook and placed it on the couch’s arm rest.
Muzin sighed in relief and Naomi caught the odd reaction duly. Nora turned around to head to the kitchen and get her friends some drink, while Lama decided it was time she returned to bed and sleep the remaining of the bizarre day off.
“I also might have taken this with me by mistake, but I cannot recall handling the odd thing or even being there when they delivered it to your place”, Daren added.
He held out the same tarot card Muzin had burnt to crisp in the fireplace earlier in his hand, and Nora slowly turned around with her breath ceasing, and her father’s eyes bulging from their sockets.
“Where did you get that thing!?” Muzin shot to his feet and turned red all over as he hurriedly got himself well distanced from Daren.
Her father had asked the exact question Nora was about pelting out of her mouth too.
Muzin motioned towards Daren with an angry looking expression, but his daughter stepped in and stopped him from collecting the tarot cards from her friend.
“Obviously this is freaky, but can we just for a moment, access things and be sure we know what we are dealing with?’ Nora asked.
Naomi bore a lost expression on her face while she shared it with Lama. The air had gone pretty eerie within seconds, and everyone seemed more agitated than they were some minutes ago.
“The tarot cards”, Nora snapped her fingers and demanded them from Daren.
Daren let go of the old looking thing and seemed gladdened at heart that it was no longer in his possession. Muzin eyed his daughter awkwardly and bit his lip as she kept her distance from him.
“Whatever this thing is, we need to find out more about it”, Nora explained.
She gently began opening the deck to see the cards firsthand. Old and dingy it was, but it held enough beauty in it for her to want to take the whole thing out. On the edges were blood smears, which made her stomach crawl, but Nora could not help but continue to feel fascinated by the different cards and the possibility of using them in ways she had never envisaged before.
Just in the nick of time, while they all waited for Nora to take out all the cards, a loud knock hammered into the front door and caused everyone to almost jump out of their skin. One of the cards fell to the ground face down, but Nora looked to the door and ignored it momentarily while her father walked over to see who was on the other side.
He walked over without much purpose in his steps, and leaned closer to the door to view through the peep hole before mumbling in disheartened tone. “You have got to be kidding me!”
Nora asked. “What?”
Muzin shook his head and waved her question away. It felt odd, and it was without doubt something everyone in the room could notice. The man began walking away from the door, but the person on the other side had no intent on leaving.
“Muzin! Muzin! Muzin!” the feminine voice cried aloud. “You had better open this bloody door!”
Lama looked to her husband with a frown, while Daren slowly upped himself from the seat.
“Nobody should dare open that door!” Muzin warned with a growl.
Lama marched to the door and the man attempted to stop her but failed. His obvious desire not to grant whoever was screaming his name on the other side entrance was loud and clear and Nora wished to know why. Lama yanked open the door and stood before a dark skinned, tall looking lady with rather rough edges and features.
Her long jawline made her look freaky, and her unkempt hair only added to the disturbing look she had all over her. She eyed Lama oddly, but said nothing to her while she extended her gaze into the house.
“It is you!” she said, point
ing in Nora’s direction.
Her action terrified and left Nora short on words as the woman walked past Lama and barely recognized the lady that had granted her entrance.
“Laura”, Muzin called to her. ‘We don’t need any of this right now! There are important family matters which we need to discuss”.
The lady scoffed, yanked at Nora’s arm and took a good look at the tattoo stretching up her skin.
Nora parted her lips in shock. “How did you… who are… “.
Muzin stepped in to clear the air immediately. ‘This is your mother’s crazy sister, Laura”.
Laura shot him a distasteful look.
“I’m not crazy!” she yelled at him.
Muzin snickered, causing the woman to lunge at him with her fist, before pinning him to the ground in an aggressive manner. Darn raced over to try and yank her off but found her surprisingly strong, in difference to what her lanky frame might suggest.
“A little hand over here, please!” he called out to the others.
Lama raced over to assist, as did Naomi, while Nora didn’t seem to care a bit, but rather seemed occupied in mind to find out about whatever was going on. For some reason or the other, people kept showing up at her house and it was beginning to freak her out.
“I spent my entire life learning the cards, but it does not make me crazy you dumbass!” Laura yelled at Muzin. “You are the crazy one foe believing my sister is dead and that you cannot bring her back!”
Nora’s senses suddenly felt nicked and she hurried over to her bizarre looking and sounding aunt.
“Oh no!” Muzin protested whilst waving his hands. “You will not poison my daughter’s mind!”
Laura held out her hand and demanded that he stopped speaking while Laura stared blankly into Nora’s eyes.
‘What did you mean we can bring my mother back?” Nora sounded intrigued by the odd words.
Laura held the hand which bore the tarot cards in them and smiled weirdly. “My sister isn’t dead… it took her and only one with the gift to read cards like you have been chosen to, can really bring her back from the other side”.
Nora yanked her arm out from her deranged sounding aunt’s and looked to her father.
“I told you she was nuts!” Muzin mused.
Nora wasn’t sure she had taken her hand out because she didn’t believe the woman. On the contrary, she believed every single word, but the fact that she was ready to harken her belief unto something of such nature was what terrified her.
“My sister is alive!” she yelled. “She is alive and I have proof!”
Everyone stopped to stare at the woman. Laura knew she had gotten their attention and it seemed to be exactly what she wanted.
“She came to me last night”, she muttered. “In fuzzy white fumes, but I saw her face and there was the sign that the veil between this world and hers is weakened”.
Nora turned to her father. “I felt and saw the same thing too… you made me feel like I was crazy”.
Laura shot Muzin a distasteful look, before turning her attention back to the girl.
“Let’s say we believe all these things you guys are saying, then what do we do?” Naomi broke out her voice. “I mean, how do we even get or bring back her mother?”
Laura pointed at the cards in Nora’s hand.
“This?” Nora looked at the cards and held it out. “I don’t even know anything about these cards because I just got them off of EBay and more so, I’m still learning to read cards”.
Laura slapped her face with her hand gently and sighed.
“Trust me, you didn’t get that card from EBay, because it was willed down to you”, Laura replied.
Nora marched towards the book shelf on the wall where she had placed her tab to retrieve it. She toggled through the screen and searched her browser history for the page she had gotten the cards from.
“That’s odd”, she mumbled.
“What?” Daren moved closer and asked.
She held out her tab and gave it to him; there were no records of ever attaining anything online or even searching for tarot cards. She checked through her accounts to show payment receipt as well, but found her account balance as it had been before she made the payment. Naomi drew closer to observe the conundrum and sighed.
“Do you believe me now?” Laura asked with a raised brow.
Something about the woman threatened to freak Nora out, but so far she had been spot on.
“What do we do?” Nora asked.
Laura pointed at the round table in the dining room and replied, ‘You need to read the cards… I wasn’t chosen down my bloodline, but I can provide you helpful tips when reading it if you want”.
Muzin boiled hard and looked red in his face. Lama tried to calm the man down as best as she could, but he began to pace around, obviously agitated and unwelcoming of Laura in his house.
“Last time we used those cards in this house, evil things began to happen”, he mumbled in discontent.
Lama rubbed down his back and replied, “At least this way, you’d find some closure and bring this entire thing down as nothing but total hokum”.
Muzin didn’t like any bit of what they were about doing, but a part of him wanted to truly see if his wife was indeed on the other side.
“What do we have to do?” he asked out of the blue.
Everyone turned and looked at him, with the exception of Laura who gave her response as she walked away. “We need to make this room dark enough”.
CHAPTER FIVE
The previously bright room suddenly donned the darkest shadow. Curtains were drawn and light dimed, while colored candles retrieved from Nora’s mother’s stuffs were lit around the entire living room. Daren watched on somewhat nervously while trying hard not to show it. Naomi on the other hand, seemed rather excited to be involved in the entire event, but Muzin still donned his gloomy look.
“I don’t think I like this at all”, he mentioned again, staring at his daughter while she ignorantly toyed with the cards.
Nora looked away from her father and began counting the cards to ascertain they were complete, before letting out her worry. “One is missing!”
Laura stopped setting candles on the dining table to look at her niece. “Which one?”
Nora shrugged and began retracing her steps. She walked back to the door and flicked on the lights, before spotting the card lying face down just some feet from the couch. Relieved, as was Laura, Nora knelt closer to pick it up, but found herself slumping to the ground immediately. Muzin raced over to meet his daughter, but stopped a feet from her as a rattling wind of rather aggressive nature threatened to hammer through the windows.
Electricity flickered all around the house, while the candle lights burned wilder and brighter to no end. Laura raced over and gently lifted Nora’s head so the girl could rest on her chest.
“We need to start now!” Laura yelled.
Muzin got to his feet and raced back to the table to finish the preparations. He set down the remaining candles and watched the fire burn brighter and more violently as though it was about to consume the entire room.
“Naomi!’ Lama yelled out of the blue, causing everyone to look in Naomi’s direction.
Naomi ducked just in time as a fiery looking ball of flame shaping out to be a skull hurried towards her.
“Save us! Save us! Save us!” the chilling voices alarmed while they ducked to the floor and watched the fires circle the room momentarily.
Nora coughed aloud, slowly dragged herself to an upright position and watched her family and friends cowering in fear to the floor. She laced the single card in her right hand back into the full deck, and everything within the room and around the house stabilized.
“I saw mom”, Nora whispered to her father. ‘I actually saw mom”.
Muzin locked gaze with his daughter and held her face in his hands. “Where?”
Nora got to her feet and hurried to the table set for her. She began laying out the cards
in specific fashion which her father seemed rather puzzled by, while Laura smiled from the corners of her mouth.
“How did you learn to use the Celtic Cross?” Laura slowly turned her smile into frown.
Nora looked up and shrugged. “I learnt card reading online , but this called to me the most and I like it”.
Laura pulled at Muzin’s shirt and led him to the side so they could speak in private. Reluctant, yet interested in finding out what she intended to voice about, he followed her.
“What now?” he asked with a thick frown.
“Our family never uses that”, he replied. “I don’t know what it is about your daughter, but something doesn’t feel right about her technique”.
Muzin looked back at the girl who was done laying out her cards and smiling wildly as the lit candles illuminated her face.
“Well, you encouraged her into this and if what you’re saying about my wife being alive is true, I don’t care”, he shut her down and walked back to the table.
Nora hovered her hand over the cards and began flipping those she had laid down over, smiling to herself and staring into the faces of the cards, before reshuffling them and stacking them neatly atop one another again.
“So?” Daren asked, seemingly nervous as he looked at the others.
“So what?” Naomi asked.
He pointed at the empty seat before Nora and nudged his head, indicating who was going to sit in it or try to have their fortunes read.
“You guys are chickens”, Lama giggled and slid into the seat.
Laura exchanged a bewildered look with Muzin who looked like he was about passing out, but bit on his nails nervously to keep himself from doing so.
“Are you sure?” Nora asked her stepmother.
Lama tapped the edge of the table in affirmation, smiled and held out her hand immediately. She seemed pretty confident and the air within the room and around the table suddenly felt better.
“I need your hands”, Nora demanded, reaching out her pair over the table to receive the woman’s.
Upon holding her step mother’s hand in hers, Nora felt her heart thump aloud and suddenly slow its beating. Her breathe took on a relaxed form too and she slowly closed her eyes to feel every essence of the moment at hand. Lama’s cold fragile hands remained steady and without any nervous feeling in them, but Nora’s had suddenly begun exuding copious amount of sweat threatening to slide out from her stepmother’s.