Genres: Fantasy, Horror, Contemporary, Mystery

Tags: Female Lead, First Contact, Magic, Secret Identity, Supernatural, Urban Fantasy

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Tick. Tock.

Tick. Tock.

Tick. Tock.

Tick.

Time. Now that’s a curious thing, isn’t it? And that’s how it goes, right? Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. On and on, never stopping. Sometimes it slows down, yeah, you know how it is, like it’s a particularly dry Friday morning and the only work you have is some boring spreadsheet you don’t care about while you wait on the weekend. But sometimes it speeds up too, to be fair; when you’re having fun or you’ve just been given almost a week’s worth of work to finish in an afternoon because somebody forgot to do it, it’s like “Hey, Sarah, listen… I get it. You’ve had a pretty crummy week, your boss is a total twat and you’re still single! I get it, Sarah, I do. You could really use this, but I kind of already slowed things down this morning, you know? You understand, right?”

Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock.

Never stopping, always moving forward. I mean, I guess it could stop and you just don’t realise it. Stop. Start. Stop. Start. If a tree falls in the woods and nobody’s there to hear it, does it still make a sound? Obviously it does. I mean, it might not, but obviously it does. I think. Likewise, if time stops, and nobody’s there to… what? Watch it? Right, watch, if nobody’s there to watch it, does it still stop? Yeah. Of course it does. I mean, maybe. Probably. There’s no way to tell, really. Time doesn’t stop, so it’s pointless to think about, honestly, which leads us to my current predicament. So we’ve established time doesn’t stop. It doesn’t. It can’t. I mean, maybe it can, but really it can’t. It’d be nice if it could though, it would make explaining this whole thing a lot easier. Well, I guess death would work but I’m leaving that one as a last resort. Time doesn’t stop, but I seem to have, maybe, just a little bit, become paralysed? Unable to move. Petrified without the stone.

I’m stuck.

I literally can’t move a muscle. I can’t speak, can’t blink or move my eyes, I can’t even breathe. I have no idea how I’m still thinking, my body should have shut down ages ago. The same goes for the woman across from me, she’s just sitting there, frozen, with her wrinkly, old face glaring icy-blue judgement into my eyes. I don’t like her. I think she did this. Maybe you’re sitting there thinking, “Sarah, don’t speak to your Grandmother like that!” but it’s what she gets for saying I’ll be alone forever; she can blame the three cards all she wants but it’s her who made up their stupid meanings!

Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock.

I don’t know how long it’s been. Days. Months. Years… Probably just a few minutes if I’m honest, but it feels like an eternity has passed. Don’t believe me? Trust me, go find some old hag with a toothless frown and lock eyes for a minute, we can compare notes later. Okay, sorry, I’ll stop insulting Nana now, she’s a sweetheart most of the time. She might not let me hug her, but I know she means well. I’m over it, I forgive her. But I wonder if she’s like me, stuck in her own mind, afraid. Maybe she’s thinking of all sorts of occult reasons and ways out of what’s happening. Or maybe she’s just staring at me, trying to communicate something, trying to tell me she’s sorry for saying I’ll die alone. Yeah, that’s right, I lied. Deal with it. Guess who’s not getting a card from me this Christmas.

I don’t even know why I came here. The company? Nana’s sweet but the generation gap is almost as long her dull, grey hair; talking to her is tough, especially when all she cares about is the occult. Then did I come for the cards? Some good that was. The false hope would have been nice though. Maybe I just wanted something to do. Something that wasn’t going home to do nothing at all. Again. I guess I got my wish in the end, now I’m counting the wrinkles of an old woman’s face. I think I’m up to a thousand now.

Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock.

I think Nana might actually be awake as well! Her eyes, they aren’t just looking at me, it’s like they’re looking back at me. I wonder if she feels the same, can she tell I’m awake too? Or maybe it’s just my imagination from staring too long, but I really feel like there’s some intelligence behind her inky eyes.

Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock.

It was the Lovers. That was the card she played first. I’ll admit, I was pretty impressed at this point; the first card represents my current position, or my intention, and getting out of my current dry spell was absolutely my intention. Out of 78 cards and the Lovers pops up first? Damn, I was over the moon! For a while, I really thought today was my lucky day.

Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. Tick.

Next was the Tower. Disaster. Well, fair enough, I didn’t need the cards to explain my love life was a shambles. What I also didn’t need was Nana explaining the second card represented my obstacles, and that the Tower as an obstacle meant I was aiming too high. Bitch, what do you mean I’m aiming too high?!

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

I’m perfect.

Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. Tick.

You know, maybe the worst thing about all of this is the pose I’ve caught Nana in. I say worst but it’s actually pretty funny, I can see right down her throat! Yeah, can you believe it? Right down! I don’t even know what she was doing before we got stuck, her mouth is so wide open I could probably fit my whole fist into it. I wouldn’t do that though, obviously, those pointy teeth aren’t just for show.

I’ll be honest, Nana seemed a little hesitant when she flipped the Hermit next. The third card represents cause and effect, it’s the foundation of why I’m asking the question. In this case, I’m seeking a partner, so drawing the Hermit in a love context would mean I’m recovering from heartache or something like that, and I’m ready to start something new, something better. But drawing it reversed, well, that could mean a bunch of other things, like I’m lonely or I fear I'll always be alone. Or… or I had my shot already, I missed it, and I’ll never find anyone as good as him again, or… I… Yeah. Whatever.

Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock.

Judgement was next. Reversed again. I’m not that sure what Judgement means as the fourth card, something about my past, maybe? Sorry, I wasn’t paying much attention for this one. I don’t think Nana knew much either, though, I remember she was frowning.

Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock.

Have you ever stared so long at someone they become unfamiliar? Well, not unfamiliar, that’s not fair, she’s still Nana, just… was her skin always so grey? Maybe I just haven’t spent enough time with her recently, hell, I can’t even remember the last time I did. I mean, I have been busy; with work and everything else, it’s difficult to find the time for anything, really. Am I a bad person? A bad granddaughter? No. No, it—it’s not my fault, if anything it’s society, right? The world demands so much of us already, you can forgive me for not noticing her skin turn blue, can’t you?

I don’t think I’ve ever seen Nana so confused before. I heard her mutter something about five majors when she flipped the fifth card. She was probably talking about the Arcana; out of 78 cards, only 22 are Majors, and I’d drew five at this point. At the time, I thought my luck was turning for the better, I’d even managed to draw the Wheel of Fortune as my fifth. Turns out the fifth card represents my goal, my destiny, my best outcome. That’s right, my best outcome was wishing for good luck. That one pissed me off, not going to lie.

Tick. Tock. Tick.

Nana’s hands were shaking when she flipped the sixth. An upside down star that spoke of a hopeless near future. But Nana’s a sweetie, did I tell you that? She made sure to let me know it’s not that everything’s hopeless, just that I’ll feel like it is. And true enough, it hasn’t even been that long but staring at Nana this whole time has got me pretty worried. Is her hair loss hereditary? I don’t want to go bald!

Tick. Tock. Tick.

There’s someone else here. I can’t see them—I can’t move my eyes— but I can feel them. I’ve no idea how, but I can feel their stare boring into me from behind. I don’t know who they are, or what they are, but I’m certain they weren’t here before.

The seventh card is a measure of how I feel, or so Nana says. The Moon is the card of intuition, it’s a warning bell for thing’s not being as they seem. But in the context of love, The Moon can be a sign of longing. It’s quite romantic, don’t you think? After all, The Moon is beautiful, isn’t it?

I need to warn Nana.

Tick. Tock.

I asked Nana if she wanted to stop, she was holding her hands as tight as she could but the rest of her body shook instead. I was getting a little freaked out myself, but she said we had to keep going, that it was bad luck to stop early. Then she reached out and gasped, flipping the eighth consecutive Major Arcana card, The Hanged Man. It’s a pretty scary sounding name, right? But it’s actually quite inspiring, it encourages self-sacrifice in order to help your loved ones. The card doesn’t actually say who should make the sacrifice, or even what should be sacrificed, all it tells you is that someone needs to give up something for the betterment of the others.

That sounds a little sinister, doesn’t it? But it doesn’t have to be, for example, you could give up a bad habit which everyone else hates. Take Nana for instance, I would really appreciate it if she gave up her want for physical affection. I love you, Nana, but you’re hugging me just a tad too tightly. It hurts.

Tick. Tock.

There are more now, I can hear them whispering to each other in the background. The language is foreign, like nothing I’ve ever heard before. It echoes in my mind, each incomprehensible syllable rebounding off of the edges of my consciousness, coalescing into a raging storm of insanity that threatens to overwhelm me. I still can’t see them but I know I’m not imagining it; the eyes in front of me, they’re… looking at me, observing me. They aren’t human. It isn’t human.

The ninth card voices my fears, The Devil. I… I should have trusted him. I didn’t have a reason not to but I just got so caught up in my own head that I broke down. Things were going so well, too well, I thought. Maybe… maybe I hate myself, maybe that’s why I made it all up, those ridiculous accusations. Ironically, it’s me who betrayed him.

Where did Nana go?

Tick.

I had to flip the last card myself; Nana refused. I don’t know why, she just said she didn’t want to any more. She didn’t dare to. Death. That was it. The final result, the likely outcome. The Death card doesn’t actually mean I’ll die, instead, it represents transformation. It tells me that I should be expecting a great change in my life, a metamorphosis of sorts. It’s usually a change for the better, but can also be—oh, but that’s right, it was reversed wasn’t it? What does it mean if it’s reversed? Did Nana tell me? She did? She did. Reversed is slightly different, it’s telling me that I’m resisting change, that it’s inevitable, and that I should just let go and accept it. It’ll be much easier if I just submit.

I think I’m losing my mind, I’ve been stuck in this abyss for what feels like forever. No, you’re right, I’ve always been here, haven’t I? They say you shouldn’t stare into the abyss for too long, lest something stares back but I don’t see anything. Is this really it? Or am I somewhere else? Is the abyss supposed to be so slimy? It is? Okay, if you say so.

I trust you.

Tick.

Tock.