Chapter 1

Psychic

It was like any other night at the bar. A desperate man comes into the bar and asks to meet with our psychic.

The man enters the room and gives him a test to see if the psychic is truly a psychic.

“Can you tell me my past?” The man asked

“Let’s see…” the psychic takes a look at the man, he looks at me and signals with his eyes to lower the temperature.

I did just that and made it a bit colder, once the cold air came out the psychic looked at the man once again.

“You used to be fat, you have social anxiety and worry what people might think of you”

“T-that’s right”

And just like that the man trusts the psychic, it’s happened so many times yet I always have to wait till he tells me how he figured out his past.

“My girlfriend died recently, I had a feeling she was having an affair. I can’t get over it so I just want you to answer honestly, ask my girlfriend if she was having an affair”

The psychic looked deep into the man’s eyes and began having a “chat” with the man’s girlfriend

“She was acting suspicious before her death, she said she’s sorry”

“Yeah she was, she kept on saying that she was hanging out with her friends, but when I called them she was never there”

“Can I see a picture?”

The man pulled a picture out of his suitcase, he had one where they were young and one before her death

“She’s telling me something”

He grabbed the picture as he began to say everything the girlfriend was telling him

“She wanted to propose to you, she was finding a ring that could fit you”

“S-she wanted to propose?”

“Yes, she’s telling me something else”

“What is it?!”

“10 more bucks”

The man handed him 10 dollars, he was eager to hear what was coming next. Like always they’ve been completely fooled.

“She says that it might be selfish, but she doesn’t want you to date anyone. She wants to be the only one for you”

The man began to cry a bit, he tried to hide it, but it became obvious when he kept on ducking and wiping his eyes.

“She hopes that you will wait till you can meet her again”

Just like that the man made his way outside, before doing so he bought a can of beer to take home.

It’s his choice on what he wants to do, if he wants to quicken the wait or if he’ll continue his life without her. It’s all up to him.

“How’d you figure out Mr psychic?”

“Call me Liam, Liam Lewis”

“Liam, my name is Alex Mendez”

“Alright let me tell you now how I figured it out”

He’s said before, he only reveals this info to me. I’m the only one he can trust. I’m the only one who knows he’s a fake

“Let’s start with how I knew he used to be fat, he constantly pulled on his shirt and kept on covering his stomach, he’s a skinny man yet continued to do it even after it got cold”

Makes sense

“When I kept on looking at him he had bits of sweat on his forehead and his palms which would mean he’s quite anti social. Now for the girlfriend”

Liam smiled a bit, my guess? He probably lied about the man’s girlfriend proposing to him

“The man had a brother in the picture they had as kids, the girl seemed to be closer to his brother then the boyfriend”

“…”

“The picture before her death showed her to be rather uncomfortable when they were holding hands, she also seemed to be looking more at the person holding the camera then the camera itself, my guess is that the brother was taking the picture”

“Why would you lie to him?”

“Sometimes lies are good, as long as you don’t use them for bad then I believe it’s good to lie about some stuff”

“What about his brother? Won’t his guilt get the better of him and reveal the info to his brother”

“It depends on what type of man his brother is”

So he’s leaving it up to fate?

“Liam I wanted to know if you’d be down for some drinks”

Luckily for us the bar is right next door, I finished my shift a while ago and Liam seems to be done for the day.

“Sure”

We both made our way to the bar and as soon as we sat down Liam began to look a bit weird

“I-I gotta go”

We haven’t even ordered drinks and it seemed like Liam was shaken by something

“What’s the matter?”

“Y-You wouldn’t get it, I-I have to go”

seems like even I don’t know some of your other secrets.

“Fine, just go, however I do hope that you’ll tell me someday”

“Tell you what?!”

His tone changed, his legs began to shake and he began to sweat more

“Nothing, you just get going” I smiled

“…”

He didn’t say anything, he left me and got a taxi. I’m not sure what’s wrong with you, but I can’t help but get worried.

The next night came around, he went into his ‘psychic’ room. I’m not needed till a customer asks to meet him.

“Hello?” Some lady was trying to get my attention

“What would you like to get?”

“Ehm, un little red wine” her English was bad, her first language seemed to be Spanish

I interpreted her request as, a small amount of red wine

“Nadamas hablas español?”

[“You only speak Spanish?”]

“Si, mi familia vive aqui entonces vengo nadamas para vesitarlos”

[“Yes, my family lives here so I only came to visit them”]

The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

“Mi nombre es Alex Mendez, cual seria el tuyo?”

[“My name is Alex Mendez, what might yours be?”]

“Maria Montes”

“Que bonito nombre”

[“What a pretty name”]

Something about her, her smile and the way she talks, I’m pretty sure I’ve fallen for her.

It’s within the rules of this bar that one must not fall in love with the customer, however I wanted to know more about her. Maybe I can help her perfect her English while I’m at it

In the end I ended up getting her phone number. It was a successful night at the bar, however something felt wrong, almost as if I was forgetting something.

A sudden door slammed and I could see Liam exiting his room, seemed like it was an uneventful day for him. He looked better now than last night.

“Hello” I decided to approach him

“Listen I’m sorry about last night”

“It’s fine, we all have days where we are stressed”

“Well, yeah”

“So? Do you want some drinks”

“Uhm…” Liam checked the time, he had something written in his phone, 10 minutes from now he had some sort of appointment “I can’t right now”

He looked disappointed, seems like he truly did want to hang out.

Liam began making his exit, the comparison of the him from tonight to the one of last night is a huge difference. He walks without shaking and he doesn’t seem so stressed when he calls out for the taxi.

I made my way to the exit soon after, before going home I decided to stop by a small store next to my apartment.

I ended up buying a pack of condoms, things are going well with Maria. These are just needed when the best case scenario occurs.

Chapter 2

Little Miss. Direction

The next day came around and unlike yesterday we had a customer in the psychic room.

The lady was dressed quite lewd, she looked like one of those hookers that you’d see at some dodgy roads.

The lady took a seat and put her purse down, seconds later she grabbed her purse and put it on her lap. She quickly grabbed the water bottle that had its own little section in her purse.

The lady then put her hands on the table, her left hand was slightly hidden while her right hand was closer to the psychic. With that being done the lady finally began to talk

“What do I do on a somewhat daily basis?”

It wasn’t a weird question, however from what I’ve seen even I can make certain conclusions.

She wears lewd clothes and when she put her purse on her lap a key from some motel was sticking out. She also has a ring tan on her ring finger. My conclusion is that she’s a hooker that’s keeping her job a secret from her husband.

“Well I seem to not be picking up on anything at the moment” Liam said something which wouldn’t make much sense, why didn’t he make the same deductions that I made?

Liam stood up and signaled me to go outside.

“She’s clearly a hooker that is keeping her hooker lifestyle hidden from her husband” I told Liam my deductions in hopes to help him

“I know, I got the same conclusion, however something about her just seems wrong”

It seemed that Liam understood and made the same deductions I did, only problem was that Liam felt something off about her. From my point of view nothing was necessarily odd about her, excluding her cheating on her husband.

“Well if the evidence point at her being a hooker then it’s best to follow the evidence rather than going off on gut feeling”

“Yeah, you’re right” Liam still seemed to be somewhat put off by this, however he agreed to what I had to say and went back to the room

Liam sat down and began to speak about the ladies secret

“You’re not a hooker, something is telling me that you wanted me to believe you are such, but in truth there is something else about you”

-Huh?!

Seemed as if Liam decided to go off on his gut feeling rather than the evidence provided, for me it seemed like the wrong move.

“That’s right, now please tell me my actual daily routine”

Liam stayed quiet for a bit, he seemed to have been scanning through everything, the ladies body and the purse on the ground. Anything that would help him get a clue as to her actual daily background would help.

I myself also began to take action, I got closer to the two of them in order to get a better view of the stuff inside the purse. A book by an unfamiliar name was there, the name was something about a drugged up animal.

If I was to tell this to Liam by asking him to go outside yet again, it would lead to the lady becoming somewhat suspicious. I instead decided to play a game of charades with Liam, by playing this game I’ll tell him what I know without any suspicion being made.

And so my acting began, I started by sitting down and opening an imaginary book. I then made two bunny ears using my hands and later on “injected” something into the animals, from there I just acted like I’ve gone a bit rabid. From the hints provided it seemed like Liam picked up what I was putting down.

“I can tell that you’re daily routine involves writing a book of sorts” Liam seemed to have gone with the approach of writing a book rather than reading one

“What kind of books?”

“S-some sort of drug, maybe an “animal” getting into drugs”

“Why would you say “animal” like that?”

“Well I can sense that there’s some other implications being involved, though I can’t get a good read on it”

The lady smiled, she reached over the desk in order to shake Liam’s hands.

“I don’t really do hand shaking” Liam chuckled a bit out of awkwardness

“You’re a germaphobe?”

“Uhm, yeah I guess you can say that”

“My names Lia Moore, I believe your name was Liam Lewis”

“That’s correct, it was lovely to meet you Miss Moore”

“Call me Lia, I’ll make sure to comeback at some point, or maybe we will just happen to meet out of coincidence, or maybe we will never meet again, who knows”

A weird way to end the conversation, as she made her way to the door and then to the exit

I made my way over to Liam as I wanted to ask about some of the choices he made which were either heavily against or just fifty-fifty

“About your decisions…”

“You want to hear my reasoning?”

“Yeah”

Liam smiled as he checked his phone, the same reminder he had last time was on his phone again, it was at the same time as well.

“Okay let’s see, when I felt something I knew it wasn’t all just gut feeling. I took my time to think about what happened in that event and realized how everything was deliberately given to me, the purse that for some reason she put on her lap even though it was obvious how easily it was to get the water out of its little pocket, she could’ve easily done that when the purse was on the floor”

“Maybe she was nervous? People tend to do things without thinking when they’re nervous”

“She didn’t once looked nervous, she never dropped a sweat nor did her voice ever change in anyway”

“So you believe that she used the water bottle as an excuse for you to see the key sticking out?”

“Yes, that and the fact that nobody would leave such thing sticking out and if they did leave it by accident she would’ve noticed it when she put the purse on her lap”

“Was that all?” His reasoning was logical, and I’m not bringing any suspicion to his reasoning, I just wanted to know if he caught on to anything else.

“No, she also put one of her hands closer than the other one. Almost as if she was telling me to look at that hand that’s out in the open”

From there he saw her ring finger and most likely believed it was all a ruse, this man truly is a hidden genius.

“One more thing, why did you believe the lady was a writer rather than a reader?”

“I’ve never heard of a book about some drugged animal”

“I see…”

With that, Liam made his way to the exit. I didn’t bother inviting him as he has some sort of appointment to get to in 10 minutes.

My shift was also over, so I made my way to the exit and took a quick look at the rules the bartenders and other workers need to follow.

The rules are as followed, 1. don’t make any moves of any sort to any customer, 2. Keep all stalls clean at all times as well as other environments, 3. Keep all illegal substances away from this place, 4. Don’t drink any alcohol during your shift

The rules are simple and easy to follow, ironic coming from me who’s currently breaking rule number one.

Chapter 3

Getting involved with your life

Last night was an amazing experience, I woke up this morning and had Maria right next to me.

I’ve been teaching Maria some English through messages, she still needs some more teaching however it’s going well so far. As a matter of fact, today Maria and I will be going together for her job interview.

Maria stood up and made us some scrambled eggs with a sliced up sausage.

Once we both finished we made our way to her interview, the job was low paying which made sense since she’s yet to even get a green card.

The interview was quick and uneventful, she got accepted and her job was making ice cream.

Maria decided to then take me to a local sushi restaurant, it was a cheap place which made sense since she isn’t really making money at the moment.

“I forgot to say, but when do you start working?”

“Tomorrow” Maria turned and looked at her phone

“Is something the matter?”

“No, I have a text from my mom”

Her English has improved atleast, she shouldn’t struggle that much on her job

“What did she say? Or am I asking to much”

“Its fine, she asked for a family meeting”

“Oh”

Is it too early for me to go meet her parents? We started dating yesterday, but we also already did the deed so maybe things between us just develop quickly.

“Want to come?” Maria was the one to speak up about this topic

“Yeah” she gave me the opportunity to meet her family. Of course I’ll say yes, because I want to be more involved in your life.

“Okay let’s go”

“But the food”

“It’s fine I’ll pay”

She put the money on the table and we made our way out of the restaurant. Should I have let her do that? She’s struggling with money. Why didn’t I decide to help pay?

“It’s fine”

“Huh?”

“I can tell what you were thinking”

She’s quite perceptive, she reminds me a bit of Liam. Which is a weird thing to think about

“So how should I introduce myself? I don’t know any Spanish”

“It’s fine they live here for long time, they know English”

I forgot that she had mentioned how her parents have lived here for a long time, if I remember correctly she also said that she comes to visit them every once in a while. Would that mean that she never bothered learning any English while she’s been here, also why would you need a job if you’re only here for a trip. Unless you’re planning to stay?!

We made our way to her parents place, they lived in a small one story house. The inside of the house was clean, you could tell they recently cleaned it as it’s still a bit wet.

“Greetings” what I assume to be Maria’s dad welcomed me and shook my hand

“Hello sir”

“Call me papa” The man smiled

“-Okay! Just call him George…” Maria quickly moved away from his father and made her way to her mother

“This is Mother, her name is Isabel”

I shook hands with her. Her hands were rough, compared to the father it would seem like she’s more of a physical type then her husband

“Greetings, it’s always nice to see my daughter with a boy”

She was also the more serious type, both showed love in different ways.

We all sat down at the table while Maria’s father brought out the food, it was rice with chicken. The smell was pleasant and so was the look.

Before we ate everyone decided to say some prayers, everyone went around the room and said something about their gratitude or what they look forward to seeing in the future.

Maria’s father was the first one to stand up and say something

“Thank you god for giving us this wonderful lifestyle and we will forever take it for granted”

Next was the mother

“Thank you god for the amazing family you gave us, as well as the addition of someone who’s managed to make his way into our little girls heart”

Then came Maria

“Well I’m glad about everything that has happened and I’ll make sure to make the best I can with everything I have”

Maria sat down, both her mother and father had a weird glance at her while she sat down

“Well since you’re new we don’t expect you to say anything, how about we all just eat” Maria’s mother smiled

I didn’t really mind skipping my turn, I wasn’t really sure what I would say, my grandmother was a religious woman so I did pick up a couple of traits from her.

Multiple hours went by, I was offered to drink to which I accepted.

In the end I decided it was best to call in sick and have someone else cover for my shift, however during that time I seemed to have lost sight as to where Maria went…

Chapter 4

Hello Liam Lewis

The bar was booming tonight. The reason for such busyness was that a huge football game was going to occur, it was the 2014 World Cup.

Moments like these are best for not only the bar, but for me too. The reason as to why this is so great for me is because nobody is really looking at getting a psychic reading. It’s basically a free night for me.

I took a look at the time and I allowed myself to enjoy the game alongside these other people.

“You like football?” The man’s breath reeked of alcohol

“Yeah”

The man grabbed me by the shoulder and pushed me closer towards him.

“Do you mind?”

The man pulled his hand away and walked off laughing, the game barely started and people are already too drunk to even enjoy the game.

“Jesus” I murmured to myself

I decided it would be best to just go to my apartment and call it off for the day, however before I did that I ended running into a good looking lady

“You are the psychic?!” The lady pointed at me, she too seemed to be drunk even though she just entered the bar

“Yes I am”

“Can you read my mind?”

Even if I was to read her wrong then it won’t really matter since she’d most likely forget once she gets sober

“Yeah I can”

The lady grabbed my hand and pulled me to my “office”

How did she know this was the psychic room? Sure it says it in big words, but she didn’t even bother to look around. I’ve also never seen her before.

“Okay tell me my future”

“I don’t do that…”

“Then what do you do?”

“I can talk to the dead, maybe I can read into the future though it’s limited”

“Then tell me about my relationship”

Another bad thing about being drunk is that sometimes you do random stuff just for the sake of doing it, being drunk can lower someone's guard however it can also add unpredictability to the person's actions.

“Sorry, but you need to tell me in advance”

“Oh so you aren’t psychic?”

The lady seemed to have now been spewing nonsense.

“I am psychic” I decided to just tell it to her straight, hopefully this would just cut our conversation short.

“Well… I don’t really believe in such stuff”

Well this isn’t much of a surprise, many people come in as nonbelievers then become believers. Some of them even get into a bad habit of constantly contacting psychics, this ends in them throwing away money on things that don’t exist. I do tend to feel bad for those people, however it’s apart of my job and in order to do good in that job I must separate my emotions from my work.

“Most tend to be non believers”

“Then make me a believer” The lady smiled

Her smile seemed to be telling me something along the lines of “I don’t think you can make me a believer no matter what” it’s almost as if she’s challenging me, this lady is strange

“If you can tell me your name then I can make sure to get you an appointment at some other time” I decided not to accept her challenge and instead delay it to another time

“My name is Maria Montes, however I plan on staying till you tell me about my relationship”

Her English was good however her accent seemed off, it’s obvious by the name that her origins are most likely Mexican however she wasn’t born here nor has she been talking English for a long time.

“You were born in Mexico and just recently learned English”

“Impressive, but you can just tell from my voice, and that wasn’t the question I asked”

Not much information was given to me to begin with, it’s impossible to figure out if her relationship was from Mexico or from here, her partner could’ve taught her English however she herself could’ve also just started learning English by herself

My time was also starting to run short

“So… are you busy soon?”

“Yeah I have a really important appointment to get to”

“I see” The lady stood up

“Are you leaving?”

“Put my appointment for next week” The lady grabbed my hands and tugged them for a good while before leaving

I stood up and took a look at my hands, she ended up leaving a mark on them.

With that my night was coming to an end

“I cut it close today” I look at the time to notice how only 2 minutes were left

I went over to my bathroom and opened up my mirror cabinet

“I don’t know what I would’ve done without you” I pulled out some pills and took them

This is the one good thing my mother has taught me, the one thing that has made me proud to be a part of the family that I am.

My sweet stress relievers…