Out of the Darkness

84

"I'm not sure. It seems like you did it last time by accident. I want to know if she knows why that happened. I want to know if it's safe...or as safe as it can be." His voice trailed off, leaving a solemn feel behind. "Thanks for this Sam. For what you're doing," I said, clearing my throat when it felt like I was choking up. "You'd do the same for me," he replied simply, looking out the window. I had no argument. I would do anything he needed me to do. When we pulled up to the run down shop, with the neon lights on the window, I noticed that it didn't look half as scary in the daytime. I remembered something that I had read a while back. It went something like "I fear not the dark itself, but what may lurk within it." I shivered as a cold chill went up my spine. The vast empty Darkness that we were trying to go to today could have anything lurking in it's depths. "This is it?" Sam asked, eyeing the little run down shop, with it's eye inside a triangle symbol on the front door. I couldn't remember where I had seen it before, but the term "evil eye" sprang to mind. I nodded, hit the lock on my keychain, and walked towards the front door with Sam. When I opened it, a bell dinged from the top, loud and unsteady. "Oh Ms. Johnson, you're early." Amethyst walked into the front room, her head down as she went to the front desk. The lighting inside the shop was dim, and dusty, as it had been before, but I hadn't seen the front of the shop. There was a small, dark blue couch against the wall, with light blue pillows to counteract the color. A glossy, dark wood, circle coffee table sat in front of it. On the table was one of those small waterfall things, and a box of sand with a little rake next to it. Incense burned on the smaller table on the far side of the couch. It smelled familiar but I couldn't place it. It kind of reminded me of this shampoo that my mom had gotten me years ago. Sandalwood, I think. The atmosphere of the room almost made me drowsy. "You're not Ms. Johnson," I heard her say, and snapped my head in her direction. "I can't see you without an appointment. The sign on the outside clearly says to call for an appointment. I can set you up one now, if you'd like." Her eyes were on Sam. I didn't think that she had even seen me yet. "Oh, yeah, sorry about that," I replied. When her gaze met mine, recognition and maybe a little fear washed over her face. "Colby Brock. I remember you very well." She glanced at the computer on the desktop, and scrolled the mouse a little. "I think that I have a small amount of time before my next appointment. What can I help you with?" Sam smirked a little at her change of attitude. "We'd like to talk to you. About what happened last time that I was here," I replied. "Hmm," she sighed, looking at her computer screen again. "Okay, let's go to the back. Follow me." Sam and I followed her through a beaded doorway, to the familiar room with the crystal ball. "A crystal ball? An actual crystal ball?" Sam exclaimed, the humor evident in his tone. "Yes," Amethyst replied, her voice going a little hard. "You know, this will be even harder to do if you aren't willing to open yourself up to the unknown." "What will be harder to do?" he asked, shrugging. "We haven't even asked anything yet." She glared at Sam for just a second, before jabbing her hand outwards, indicating for us to sit. "Besides, Colby is just as much of a skeptic as I am, and it seemed pretty easy with him." She took her seat at the front of the table after Sam and I sat next to each other, me being the closest to her. "Hmm, yes, that's true. I don't know what happened then. I read his cards, just like anyone else and I told him what I felt. I can...'see' things." Sam glanced at the crystal ball and tried to hide his smirk. I smacked his leg under the table. "OW," he mouthed at me, a grin forming on his face anyway. "No, I don't always need the ball. It's simply a tool to make things easier. To focus the thoughts and visions somewhere," she answered the unasked question that Sam had." He raised his eyebrows at her, but didn't say anything. "So what would you like to know?" she continued. I cleared my throat and leaned towards her a little. "I want to know where I went. How did I go there? Was it astral projection? Was it another realm? I'm so confused and I want to help Anna, but I don't know where to start. Sam thought it would be a good idea to come back here and see if you could explain some things." "Or help us travel back to that place that you took Colby. The dark place," Sam added, folding his hands together on the table top. He looked all business, like he did in our meetings, instead of at a damn witch/fortune tellers shop. "No," she replied quickly, shaking her head. "No, I can't do that. I won't go back there. I didn't mean to in the first place. It just happened. That place was...evil, empty...nothing but despair. If your friend is there, you should just find a way to release her spirit. Let her go. Being nonexistent would be better than being there." She stood up then, and looked down at me. "If that's all I can help you with gentlemen, I have an appointment in a few minutes. I'll kindly ask you to leave." I stood up, towering over the shorter lady. "Amethyst, please! I know you don't know me, but you have to understand. You're my only hope. I have to help her. You saw how bad it was there. I have to try!" She bit her lip, looking up at me with fearful eyes. Sam had stood up behind me but wasn't speaking.