Pink Dandelion Quarterly_Fall 2020

The Reading

By Athena Hernandez

☽☽☽☽

"You....two...." Her low lidded eyes and and slow-as-creek-water southern drawl was snatched away in the noise around us. I struggled to grab her words over the thumping bass around me. I blinked to hear better. Wait? What? Too many drinks already.

I hadn't planned on drinking tonight. My day consisted of me pampering myself by buying a jet black straight lace front wig that landed in the middle of my back and a new pair of crossbone earrings. It made me look edgy and terrifying and I loved it.

And my evening was supposed to be filled with my toes shoved into my comfy black Uggs, these new chakra candles I just bought from the local spirituality shop, hot cocoa, and Hocus Pocus. It was my birthday, but it was still Halloween and I couldn't think of a better way to spend it than avoiding all the idiots on campus and aligning my chakras instead. I'm a Halloween baby through and through, what can I say?

But instead, I stepped through the doors of the suite I shared with my best friend to be greeted with at least fifty people screaming at me. The "Happy Birthday" shouted in unison made me drop my candle and my irritation rose as I watched it hit the ground and shatter. I'd barely grieved it before a sash was thrown across my chest and a drink shoved into my hand. I hugged. I thanked. I smiled. I peeked back over my shoulder at my shattered candle on the floor.

"Don't worry, someone with clean that up." Melanie told me as she fluttered around me, my best friend since sixth grade and designated chaperone for birthday shenanigans.

"It was a third eye candle."

"I'll get you a new one tomorrow." She knew how much candles meant to me. She'd better not expect me to be happy just because she threw me a surprise birthday party. I hated birthday parties. But I didn't have to tell her this, we'd been friends long enough for her to know this and equally long enough for her to not give a damn. If I'd known that she would blossom out of her gothic phase in eighth grade and become a bubbly cheerleader I would have never invited her to sit with me during lunch. Why did my parents have to divorce that year and leave me desperately craving connection?

But I didn't and here we were. I would smile and tough it out because that was the quickest (and only) way to get through this torture.

After the promise of replacement candles and three (four?) Jose Cuervo shots I was ushered into Melanie's room. The room was dimly lit, the usual cheerfully decorated walls were instead covered with deep purple cloth and scattered black lace.

"What's all this?" Damn, was I slurring?

"You're getting a tarot card reading!"

"Really?" I tried to hide my excitement. Okay, this party may just be bearable. I took in the tarot card reader. She was draped in no less than three layers of robes. Deep purples. Burnt oranges. Vibrant deep blues. It was like she was trying to protect herself from the world under layers of regal fabric.

Melanie got her reading first and she told her, rather quickly, that she would travel the world. That was always Melanie's dream. Next, our good friend Trevor went. His handsome face lit up when she told him he would be famous. A "household name" is what she said precisely. With the annoying amount of TikTok videos and sketches he did every day, that wasn't far fetched.

Next, I settled into the seat in front of her.

She was taking a long time on me. I'd been sitting here with a belly full of Cuervo for almost ten minutes and she hadn't muttered a word. She held my hands and rubbed at my palms with her thumbs. Then she'd pulled out the cards, flipping and turning them in rapid succession. I didn't want to be on the edge of my seat. I'd seen tarot readings done several times and even dabbled in it a bit myself. "Witchcraft shit" is what Melanie called it. Call it what you want but, it couldn't be denied that the cards often revealed things that no one would ever expect. It was also true that there were a lot of frauds out there. I was about to say as much but she finally spoke.