The Dark Stranger

Fortune teller

"The Dark Stranger"
© VeGirl 2014

"Please come with me!" My friend begs me. "It won't take long." We are at the town fair and I have to sidestep some kids that are running toward us, as she's doing her best to persuade me to join her for some art of divination to predict her future.

"But I don't believe in that psychic stuff!" I laugh a bit. "Fortune-teller; come on! You can't believe that some crazy old lady knows what your future will be like!" I have to stop myself from rolling my eyes at her.

"But I've heard great things about this one," Eddie exclaims. "She's supposed to be really good!"

I wish that my friend would get her head out of the clouds. "Would she work at some small town fair if she knew what she was doing?" My tone of voice may be a bit too demeaning, but how can you take these things seriously when you are an adult smart woman.

"I'm telling you she's good," she claims. "I think you're scared." She flicks her long blond hair over her shoulder and raise her brows challenging. 

Well that certainly hits the nail. "Scared? That is the silliest thing I have ever heard of!" I am not scared of some silly bint! Just because I don't believe it, doesn't mean I'm scared.

"Please Sam, pretty please," she begs when the reversed psykology fails, and that pleading expression in her wide blue eyes makes me smile. I sigh "Alright, I'll better come before you fall on your knees and beg!" But I roll my eyes.

We walk over to the place where a sign says 'Se the Future Here; Esmeralda'.

I snort. "Just look at the name; Esmeralda! Why can't they ever be called Amanda or Berta?" I hiss snickering as we walk in through some beaded curtain into a small room. The walls are covered in red heavy curtains.

Cliché much?

I sigh. This is so going to be a rip off. I look over at my friend who is totally excited; I mean her blue eyes don't just sparkle, they shine like beacons. I can't help but smile at her and shake my head. Eddie has been my friend ever since college and she has an energy and lovable air surrounding her that makes it impossible to not just love her to pieces. The curtain opens and a woman in a long billowing paisley dress, with red long curly hair appears in the room. She stops for a fraction and furrow her brows with her eyes closed, before looking straight at me flinching ever so slightly and a wide smile emerge on her face. "Welcome! My name is..."

"Esmeralda, yeah we saw the sign," I blurt out, feeling that I'm not really the supportive friend that I claim to be, but come on; how many scam-artists are there in this line of business; approximately ninety eight per cent? "I'm not in here to get my future read, she is!" I know I am rude, but really?

The girl is still smiling at me, and I have to say she is actually pretty, even beautiful, I'll give her that and she seems much younger when I take a closer look at her, even my own age. "So, you're not a believer?" she asks with a teasing smile lingering on her face as her green eyes capture me.

"What gave me off?" I think, but realize that I said it out loud; Eddie's glare is seething. "Perhaps I should wait outside?" I suggest shamefaced, feeling like the idiot I am.

"No, by all means; take a seat; this is going to be interesting," the Esmeralda-girl says with a challenging smile and gesture towards the round table. It is covered with a crimson tablecloth that hangs down to the floor, and has a crystal ball decorating the top. Candles are burning on several places, and thoughts of the danger in combining fabric with the element of fire flutters through my mind. My eyes meet Eddie's excited, smiling ones as Esmeralda and she take their seats; I can't help to give her a smile back even if I roll my eyes as soon as she looks away.