TEMPERANCE | jack wilder

i. the meeting

XIV

Temperance

March 29
4:44 PM
45 East Evan Street
NY, NY

According to a random tarot card website, the temperance card is about balance, purpose, and meaning. Honestly, those are lot of things that makes Evelynn Park want to puke. She was in a taxi cab headed to the address that was given to her. She was curious about her tarot card so she did some research. With her phone illuminating her face, she scrolled throughout the article on her card. However, as much as she didn't like her card she had to agree that it was somewhat accurate. I suppose it can't be helped, she thought as she turned off her phone and took a sip of her coffee.

Looking out the window of her cab Evelynn was greeted by the lovely afternoon traffic of New York. It was currently 3:58 PM, she suspected that she would arrive at around 4:30. A tad bit early but she could deal with it. For the majority of the time, she yawned during the taxi ride. Unfortunately, last night she didn't receive much sleep. She stayed up practicing a trick for an upcoming act that she was experimenting with. It was risky since she wasn't as experienced in stage illusions but she was trying to give it a shot. People loved those types of performances.

When she arrived, she paid the taxi driver. As she predicted she arrived at the apartment buildings at around 4:30, it was 4:34. She looked at the building, it looked very old and very worn down. You can detect faint residue of what Evelynn could only assume was blood. Looked like a struggled, knives were involved, men, most likely gang involvement, skilled. She had a quick look at the rest of the apartment building and sighed. She threw her cup of coffee away when she headed towards the entrance of the building.

Opening the door, she tried not to think too hard about everything around her. She had a habit of overanalyzing every single thing she saw, currently she's been trying to stop that. Head whipping in every direction, taking in every detail as she walked up the staircase.

When she got up she saw an older man in his forties. Based on appearance she saw that he was a strong alcohol user, occasional smoker, he isn't attached to anything, nor did he have anything to lose. Just by the way he stood can tell you as much as that. He was probably a magician, his fingers didn't indicate nimbleness, therefore he couldn't be any use with cards. He's too unstable to be able to perform any stage tricks. However, the fact that he was unstable led clues to the magic he did perform. He was a mentalist. A tricky type of magician to deal with because no one can truly understand how they function, however, she had practice with a mentalist.

"Hello, Sweetheart," he greeted her with a false smile.

"Mister," she responded with the same false smile and a nodded at him. "May I ask, are you here because of a tarot card?"

"Formal, I like it but I'm sure that'll stop soon enough," he said as he held up his tarot card as his response. "You?"

She held up her own for her response. "I wasn't expecting anyone else here."

"You and me both, kind of makes me feel less special."

She faked a chuckle, "And the door?"

"Locked."

"Of course," she sighed and leaned on the railing while he leaned on the door. She was about to speak when she was interrupted.

"Evelynn Park, I know. I've seen you perform before. Merrit McKinney."

"Pleasure." silence enveloped them as they waited for, something.

Then at a certain point, they both heard the door to the building open and voices were heard. It seemed to be two people arguing. It must be torture to associate yourself with those type of people all the time, Evelyn thought as she ignored their constant chatter. However, it couldn't be ignored since they stopped once they saw McKinney and Evelynn. Why did I have to speak too soon, Evelyn thought bitterly. "Oh-kay. So apparently, none of us was the only chosen one." As he spoke, the two new-comers both looked at each other in confusion trying to figure out an answer.