LA CANDIDATE

MARABOUT

Severine had to know. She needed to prepare for the future. As intelligent and literate as she was, Severine looked to divinatory art for answers.

Leaders, celebrities, athletes. From a rabbit's foot to tarot cards, people consulted what some called witches to know their future. A dark side or an omitted part of world history, a community still worked as birds of good fortune.

Marabout the word evoked an exotic mysticism, yet the room Severine sat in was anything but transcending. The living room resembled any modern one from a furniture catalog. No darkness or gloom haunted the place.

"Tea?"

The witch herself acted like any old caring aunt one came to visit.

"No, thank you," Severine answered.

"You've grown. You're gorgeous."

"Madame Mado, I haven't got a lot of time."

Mado laughed, "Are you trying to rush me, Madame la candidate? Don't widen your eyes at me. You're still a candidate. By the way, congratulations on the first round. I didn't see it coming."

Severine muffled a laugh. "C'est un blague."

"What? I don't see everything."

"But you told me I'd succeed," Severine replied.

Mado caressed her black cat. "Successes are multiple in one's life."

"Bon, j'y vais, je vois que vous n'etes pas disposée à répondre à mes intérrogations." Severine got up. She hated the nonchalant act Mado put on. It always diverted into long an unlogical conversations that made child Severine restless as she waited for her mother and flustered adult Severine

"Assis toi," Mado ordered.

Severine sat back.

"Pas là, ici."

Severine got up and sat on the floor. Unable to sit in a tailor position in her pencil skirt, Severine posed like a mermaid.

Mado let her cat go, took out a pouch, threw its contents on the floor, and used her hands to spread the seashells.

"I see you updated your esthetic," Severine said.

"They're better than bottle caps," Mado replied and said. "Loss, betrayal."

Severine smiled, "That's done."

"No, you'll be alone. The more power, the more people will leave. There'll be departures and heartbreak."

Severine noted that Mado didn't say death like what she told her mother. She was a teen when Mado revealed to her mother that she wouldn't see Severine achieve her dream.

"Ahlala, too many enemies."

"Madame Mado, can you say something positive, something I don't know, please?"

"There's a man. He's a great enemy. He's determined, sagacious, and bold. Nothing will stop him."

"Alexis," Severine muttered.

"No, he comes from very far. He wants to reclaim something."

"What, what does he want?"

"You," Mado said, widening her eyes so far that Severine thought her eyeballs would drop on the seashells.

"Pardon. Is it revenge?"

Mado stopped playing with the shells and looked at Severine. "Hell will break loose. You'll break." She sighed, got up, opened a drawer, and returned with a pendant.

"A cross?" Severine scoffed.

"Our powers are loans. The only thing that can protect us is the Holy Spirit."

"I don't believe."

"Yes, you do. Your faith got you past that round, and it will take you to the summit. Wear the chain."

"I'll be insulting it. I'm a sinner."

"Aren't we all," Mado said, patting Severine on the shoulder.

"Is that all?" The candidate asked.

"It's all I see for the moment."

"Can't I have a timeline?"

"It's your season."

Severine got up and looked around her before glaring at Mado, "You could at least tell me if I'll win."

"Come on, dear candidate. You don't need my vision to know who the victor will be. Do you really think the country will let the far right pass?" Mado shook her head and got up. "You're afraid, aren't you? Not of losing but of winning," Mado said, grasping her hands.

"I'm all alone."

Mado turned her palms. "Patience, you are not alone. Sometimes, things aren't what they seem. Accept your destiny."

Mado walked her to the door and stopped.

"There's a strong aura behind the door. Like the many people living in these social flat blocks, he believes in you. He is devoted and pure at heart. Don't fail yourself or him."

Mado opened the door to face Faryil's back.

The man immediately turned. He didn't know why they were there. Severine had no family in the banlieu of Trappes. The area was known for its violence and drogue traffic. One had to move elsewhere if they wanted their child to get a proper scolarity. With time, the scenery changed, and the hardness of the area was camouflaged, but the city kept its reputation.

The old lady with full gray hair and colorful mumu didn't look like a menace. Still, Faryil felt a chill as she smiled at him.

"Au revoir madame Mado."

"Au revoir madame la présidente," she said and slammed the door on severine's face.

Her words left both Severine and Faryil stunned in the middle of the corridor.

"Nous devons partir, madame."

Twenty floors later, they were out of the last resisting tour flats in the area. Every party that took the presidency included the destruction of tour flats, which made cities no man's land and danger zones for the police.

Severine looked back at the building and made a mental note to have it torn down if she became president. The rent wasn't high, and the inhabitants were attached to it, but it was part of a sad past full of violence.

Faryil started the car.

"Aren't you going to ask?"

"Ask for what, madame?"

"Why we were there?"

"No, madame."

Severine leaned back, remembering what Mado said. "He believes in you."

"What do you see when you look at me, Faryil?"

"I see someone strong. Someone who can make a difference."

"Do you trust me?"

"Yes," Faryil answered without twitching an eyelid.

"Why?"

"Because you trust me with your life. Such trust should be mutual."

Faryil chose; he chose her and the future she held. He wanted to stand in her corner and swore to be her shield.

Yes, Severine had enemies, but she also had a few who cared. Among her allies hid the one who loved and waited for the right moment.