ORACLE

Chapter 2

The front door to apartment 702 opened and China stepped through. She looked around the dark living room. Troy and Kirby must have been fast asleep. It was rather late after all. She had just gotten back from having drinks with her sister, Madelyne, and her friend André. She felt a little tipsy, but she wandered into her living room anyway and fell onto the couch.

She whipped out her phone and noticed a text message from Damien. He had sent her a picture of a Republican running for president with the words: "he's gonna win." China, a far left liberal, rolled her eyes at the text message. She had met Damien through an online group chat that she and a group of friends had created to discuss politics, and Damien had had a party once, to which she attended thinking he was cool despite his political leaning. Now, she was very clear that he sent her shit like this just to fuck with her.

China got up off the couch and strolled into the kitchen to heat up some ramen noodles. She ripped open the pack of noodles and put them into a pot of cold water and placed it on the stove. She saw a plate of cold eggs and bacon sitting near the microwave. She grabbed it and tossed the food into the trash and put the plate into the sink.

She thought back to what Kirby had been saying earlier today--about him being a witch and about she and Troy having a spiritual awakening. The idea was amusing to her. She considered herself spiritual in the sense that she followed the belief that there was a god out there somewhere but she definitely wasn't throwing bibles at gay people. In fact, her liberal ideology was what informed her to not hate gay people.

The water for the ramen noodles started to boil.

She walked back into the living room and plopped down in her chair. She unlocked her cell phone and began looking at her Facebook newsfeed. A couple of minutes after scrolling, the door to Kirby's bedroom opened and he walked out. He looked at her strangely.

"What?" China asked.

Kirby shrugged. "You're cooking? I made us all dinner."

"I wanted ramen," said China.

Kirby stared at her. "Troy ate the breakfast food."

China stared back. "I wanted to ask you about that stuff you said earlier, about, you know, being a witch and all."

Kirby sat on the sofa adjacent to her. "What about it?"

China looked into the kitchen to see the steam rising from the pot of ramen noodles. "Do you think you could teach me how to read tarot cards?"

"Teach you?"

"Didn't you say that I was supposed to have a spiritual awakening?" China got up from her couch and walked into the kitchen. She drained the noodles from the pot and then poured the seasoning into the bowl of noodles. She stuffed some cabbage and green onions  into the ramen and walked back into the living room. She sat down and slurped the noodles. "Right?"

Kirby stared at her. "Yes." He stood up. "You are supposed to have a spiritual awakening, but it would be best for you to learn on your own about reading tarot cards. I'll be right back." He went into his room and came out with one hand full of candles. Troy was sleepily walking behind him, rubbing his eyes.

"What the fuck?" said China, slurping the last bit of her ramen noodles and tossing the bowl aside.

Kirby walked across the room and turned off the lights and began to arrange the candles on top of the coffee table. After arranging, and gesturing for Troy and China to come closer, he lit the candles. The flames began to crackle as the three of them sat there in complete silence. Kirby gazed at China and then gazed at Troy. Both of them gazed back. Kirby pulled out a red sharpie and instructed both of them to close their eyes.