I relaxed in the armchair of my private quarters. The soft cushions were very comfortable – a gift from one of the regulars. I scrolled through Twitter on my old iPhone 4, pausing sporadically to make sure my nails aren't falling off. I hear the bell ring: a customer has come. I chuck my phone into the chair, quickly smoothing my dress and adjusting the turban before I "mysteriously" appear into the small room of fortune telling by the way of the dark overhanging tapestry. I heard the customer pay for one telling of fate 'n future. I clasp my hands and pretend to be deep in thought as they walk into the room.
"Sit down," I whispered to them, and hear the chair squeak as they comply. I slowly opened my eyes. An old man slouched before me. His thin white hair seemed to be able to be blown off with the slightest gust of wind. His face drooped with wrinkles, and his lips were thin and dry. But his eyes – those windows to the soul – were completely white. His pupils stood out like curled black snakes in the pale snow. I felt shivers down my spine as I looked into their abyss. He was wicked, no, a demon. How could anyone have such awful eyes? Where was his soul? Why can I not see anything but those wrong eyes, like an inverted night sky, where all is not as it should be?
Then he blinked and I snapped out of my trance. Yes, I was just being delusional and weird. This old man may have odd eyes but he still seemed like a sweet elder who probably just wants to pass the last part of his life in peace.
I smiled and gestured for his hands. He extended his small, dry, wrinkly hands to me. I could see that in youth, they were strong and rough from hard work. But now pale and fragile, they shook as I placed my hands atop them.
"Look intently into the crystal ball, do not part your gaze or your fate will not be easy to see," I confidently commanded, breaking the silence of the room. The man nodded and shifted his droopy eyes towards the crystal ball.
I held his hands tight and stared into the purple sphere, exerting as much spiritual energy as I could. I felt guilty for acting so rudely on account of his eyes and wanted to do my best to make it up to the old fellow. The swirling purple inside the sphere began shift and shape and I began to feel an immense heat exalting from the ball. My head felt like it was in flames but I did not dare to avert my gaze as I sat in paralyzing fear of the vivid black shapes taking form inside. The usual blurry colors of reality were replaced with black, white, and reds.
I saw a city burning to the ground, the air covered in ash and the sky in smoke. Black towering 6-legged creatures stalked after the running humans, and stretching their spindly arms, enwrapped them before devouring their heads with great ferocity and pleasure. Like bombs, people fell atop each other, dropped by malicious winged black crabs, who swarmed on their prey before raising them up and dropping them to their deaths. Chaos ensued and helicopters fell with explosions and fire. With every human devoured, the creatures grew in size, ever the more ecstatic to their delightful hunt.
I saw an abandoned child in an alleyway, cowering with her mouth wrapped shut by a dirty piece of cloth – as her mother ran off to divert the creatures' attentions away from the alley. I saw her crying in fear as she heard her mother scream in terror. I saw her try to be quiet as a 10 foot tall creature shambled into the abandoned street. I saw her eyes stretch out, no sound escaping her small mouth, as the thing caught her scent, grabbed her throat and sent her straight into its mouth of razor sharp teeth. As the creature shambled away, I saw her limp body lying on the ground, covered in spurting blood from her torn off head, as insects began to swarm around her for a meal.
I saw a dog, a German shepherd, run beside his owner. The terrified young man tripped by the onslaught of pushing people, yelling in pain and fear. The dog ran up to his owner's side. Paralyzed in shock, the man stared at the oncoming black shapes, his dog trying to help him get back on his feet. As the figures relentlessly approached, closer and closer, I saw the hope in the dog's eyes dwindle as he bravely stood in front of his owner, growling at the ones threatening his owner's life. I couldn't tear my eyes away, tears falling, as I saw the spectacle that left a dog and his owner beheaded and disfigured by the wave of darkness.
The blood, the anguish, the screams of terror, the heat of the flames, the fear in the air: it entrapped me in its grotesque chaos. I felt my blood pulsing as I watched the scene unfurl. From cities to rural towns, this black wave spread until I saw it cover the earth with its agony. I'd never before seen such vivid imagery. In all my years I had never seen anything this horrendous.
The scene dissolved. And I began to feel again. I heard my heart pounding in my head; I saw the purple sphere, gentle and timid. I felt the old man's hands, his small, weak, cold, limp hands.
I jumped back, knocking down my chair. There he sat, limp in his chair, the aura of death swirling about him. I slowly approached him. I tilted his head back and opened his eyes, terrified of my unconscious movements.
My heart skipped a beat; my voice shattered with an unsound scream; my body froze in terror to the ground. I couldn't breathe, my throat constrained with the choking grip of fear, as I stared into those eyes, those white pale eyes.
The black snake was gone.
