Recall

Astrea

From the moment she woke up, she knew it was going to be an awful day. Rain drizzled down from the darkened sky every few seconds, and the town was covered in a sheet of mist. Astrea couldn't stop thinking about the boy in her visions, and she had barely slept that night because of them. Just thinking about that feeling of standing in the shallow water made her shoulders start to shake.

"Astrea?" A small voice asked from behind her. Astrea spun around to see who it was, as she had been standing under the awning of the school waiting for her friends. A slightly shorter girl than Astrea was standing there, an oversized raincoat wrapped around her.

"Alexis?" She asked, not being able to see the girls face completely, as she had the hood of the coat falling over her eyes.

Alexis threw the hood back and smiled brightly. "I thought I might see you here," she said. "We're starting school today."

Astrea clutched her hands together to stop her shoulders from shaking any further. "We?" She asked, not noticing the two boys heading up the path towards them.

"These are two of my brothers," she said. The two boys also pulled off their raincoats in order to greet her. "Jason," she gestured to the taller of the two, who also looked the most similar to herself. He had been the boy in tears at the clinic. "And Gabe," the shortest and youngest brother smiled in greeting.

"Hey," Astrea said, returning the smile. "Nice to meet you both."

The boys then retreated to inside the school, leaving Astrea with Alexis. She didn't mind though, the school bell had rung, and she didn't expect the strangers to hang around. "Are you okay?" Alexis asked.

"Y-yeah, why?" Astrea stuttered, while forcing a smile to her face.

"You're shaking and now stuttering," she pointed out. "Are you sure there's nothing I can do?"

Astrea knew she was just trying to be nice, but for the moment all she wanted to get away from school. "No, I'm fine," Astrea assured her. "I just need to get out of here," she gestured to the school.

"Just like my brother," Alexis laughed. "He stayed home from school today, but I know he went somewhere."

Alexis took a few steps towards the front entrance, but Astrea stopped her. She saw no point in going with her friends when she could invite Alexis. Perhaps the girl would be better company than Izzy and Haley. "I was going to wait for my friends..." She trailed off. "But how do you feel about psychics?"

~~~~~

"Why are we here again?" Alexis asked, standing outside the psychic's shop. The lights inside were all off, and only a faint glow could be seen through the dark purple curtains. Astrea hesitated outside the store, seeing that the sign on the door was turned to read: Closed. The shop looked dark and rundown from outside, but Astrea now knew better.

"I was here yesterday, and she told me some weird stuff that I need to ask her about," she replied vaguely. Astrea then tried the doorknob, and to both of their surprises, it opened. "Hello?" Astrea called inside. She had just stuck her head through the door, but when there was no answer, she walked inside. Alexis quickly followed her in, not wanting to be left alone. "I'm sorry," she whispered to Alexis, "I didn't mean to get you involved in all this."

Alexis shook her head, "Don't apologize, this is actually kind of cool," she said. "This place looks like a scene out of a movie."

"You're back," the woman interrupted, pushing the curtains aside, as she entered the room. "I thought I flipped the sign," she whispered over her shoulder.

Alexis looked to Astrea wide-eyed, it had been Astrea's first impression as well. "You did," Astrea admitted. "I just really need your help."

The woman stared out at the empty space next to her, nodding her head every few seconds, before turning back to the girls. "Take a seat."

The girls followed her instructions and sat in the two seats across from the woman. The table still had the tarot cards and the glass ball, but it was different. The cards were scattered across the table as if she was in the middle of a reading and the ball was placed off to the side. "What can I help you with?" The woman asked.

Astrea hesitated, she didn't know what to say, and she wasn't sure what Alexis would think of it. "About what you told me last time, and what happened," Astrea said. "Is it true?"

The old woman dropped her head back and cackled. "Of course it's true," she said. "Why would I lie?"

Money was the first thing that came to her mind, but after Astrea had collapsed the woman never charged them. "Can you tell me more about it then?" She questioned.

The psychic nodded and grabbed Astrea's hand off the table. "I will read your palm one last time." The woman closed her eyes and rubbed her fingers across Astrea's hand, as she had done before. Except this time nothing happened, there were no visions. "You had a sister," she stated.

Astrea looked to Alexis and tried to pull her hand back. "This isn't what I was talking about," she said. Though the woman didn't listen, she tightened her hold on Astrea's hand instead.

The woman's eyes shot open and she started into Astrea's in wonder. "I see her death," the psychic whispered. "You blame yourself."

"Stop," Astrea demanded. "Just stop."

The woman's blotchy red lips curved up into a smile and her head slowly shook back and forth. "The car went into the lake?" she asked.

Astrea nodded, but clenched her fists together. "I want to know more about past lives," she begged. "Not this."

The woman looked to her right and tilted her head as if she was listening to something. "She will figure it out soon enough," she said into the empty space. "Trust me."

Then Astrea got the strange feeling that the woman was talking about her. "Figure what out?" Astrea exclaimed. She couldn't take the woman's antics any longer, she just wanted to know about the visions.

"That is all I can tell you today," she said, standing up from her seat. She motioned Astrea and Alexis to follow her to the door, not leaving any room for argument. "It wasn't your fault," she said, looking to Astrea. Sincerity had clouded her eyes, but Astrea didn't want to hear it. She had heard that same line far too many times.

"You don't know me," Astrea replied. "You weren't there." She then grabbed Alexis's arm and pulled her out of the shop. She didn't want to talk about her sister, if she had known the woman would talk about Vera she wouldn't have gone to see her in the first place.

"Are you okay?" Alexis asked. She was frowning and looked to be concerned.

"I'm fine," Astrea said, dismissing her with the wave of a hand. "I didn't think that would happen."

"What was she talking about anyways?" Alexis asked.

"It's nothing," she responded. "I need to go." Then Astrea smiled weakly at Alexis, and took off down the street, giving her no chance to say anything else.

___________

Thanks for reading! I'm not sure how many chapters there are going to be of this story, but I know it won't be too many. Do you guys think it's too long to be a short story?

I think it just feels that way because of the perspective switches.

If you liked this chapter, don't forget to vote and comment!