Crybaby | Michael Langdon

43 - The beggining of the end - 43

Marie nervously fiddled with her mother's deck of tarot cards as her eyes stared off into the distance.

She wanted to know what was going to happen today whilst fighting Satan, yet an invisible force was restraining her fingers from pulling a card. Anxiety wrapped around her body like a snake, suffocating her.

"Marie, how many times have I told you not to touch my cards?"

Her eyes snapped up to meet the blue ones of her mother, narrowed in amusement, and instantly the smell of lavender and incense hit her nose. She was so shocked she didn't feel the deck of cards being plucked away from her hands, and Anne began shuffling them.

"You remember the rules?" Anne asked with a patient smile as she split the deck in three equal parts before gathering them back together right after.

Marie's mouth realized her mouth was wide open, so she closed it promptly. "Um, well...."

"Number one." Anne began as she snapped her fingers, and the white candles placed between them lit up.

"No question that can be answered by yes or no." Marie said in a quiet voice, still unable to believe that her dead mother was right in front of her.

"Number two."

Her mother released the deck, and it began levitating above the table while they kept shuffling by themselves.

"Never project your emotions."

Anne hummed in satisfaction. Marie swallowed thickly as she tried to keep her tears at bay. "Mom, why-" She went quiet when her mother held a hand up.

"Hell is strange, isn't it?" Anne asked softly as she rested her chin on her palm. "Being tortured by living your worst nightmare over and over again... is quite easy in the end."

Marie furrowed her brows in confusion. "What do you mean?"

It's as if she didn't hear her daughter, her empty eyes stared at a candle as her finger hovered over the small flame. Under Marie's worried eyes the skin reddened and slowly blistered, yet Anne did not even bat an eye.

"Hell is predicable, you get used to the torture." Anne whispered. "But Earth is a different kind of cruel."

A tan hand curled around her wrist as Marie forced her to move her hand away from the flame. "On Earth you always have an obstacle to overcome, always a new reason to suffer. Living is like walking in a labyrinth that constantly shifts with the promise that happiness is at the end."

Marie's brows shot up in surprise and disbelief. Her mother really wasn't the type to think so darkly.

What was going on?

Anne's eyes snapped to meet Marie's as her lips curled in a pained grimace. "True Hell is on Earth, Marie. And you're about to face it head on."

The sound of a liquid dripping on the table caught her attention, and Marie dropped her gaze to find a drop of a red substance staining the white lacquer. She then looked up at the floating deck of card now unmoving, and the red liquid dripped from between the cards.

Was that blood?

Her mother grabbed the deck of cards, and she then looked inside her hand to find her palm covered in blood. This didn't seem to alert her as she just shuffled with bloody hands.

"What's the third rule, Marie?"

"The... The future-" Marie stuttered as she watched with wide, incredulous eyes as she tried to make sense of the situation.