Murder by Medium

Chapter 1-Veils of Deception

—-——Veils of Deception—-——

Rain pattered lightly against the window, creating a subdued melody that encircled Phaedra like a lover's embrace. A flickering candle inside her dingy little apartment created looming shadows on the walls that transformed the peeling wallpaper into a gloomy and uninviting scene. From the disorganized shelves, crystals clinked melodiously, creating a symphony of dashed hopes and flimsy attempts at spirituality.

Phaedra fiddled with the once baby pink, now grey silk scarf around her neck, a last-minute addition to draw attention away from the tattered sweater that was trying its hardest to undermine her 'mysterious, psychic' nature

Every session had been a farce and every session a client left her with their hopes inflated like dead balloons by the all too real mystery of her fake psychic aura and her so-called "abilities.

She'd made enough vacuous recommendations and hollow platitudes to make a modest living, but the façade was wearing thin. She hadn't accurately forecast a single thing in months. 'Psychic Phaedra-Medium of the beyond' was now nothing more than a burden, not a title. With every lie and vague suggestion her crystal ball of conscience was slowly but surely filling, almost overflowing, with regret, grief and guilt. After all, the world was full of pain and she was profiting from its frayed edges.

She waved a hand over the crystal ball that was resting on the table in front of her with a well-practised flick of her wrist, but it was no longer mysterious. It had become somewhat more of a forgotten trinket basking in the light of the pre-tense of what it should be.

"provide me with transparency" she murmured, rolling her eyes at her own theatricality, this was wearing thin, even on her. As she gazed into the swirling depths, a shiver of disillusionment slithered down her spine. There was really only one way to solve this- get drunk.