Psychic

Nearing the middle of town, stood the local bar known as The Raven. Around nine on a Friday night,  The Raven would be the only business on main-street to be open. As the night sky dangled the stars upon the town and the clouds only partly covered the moon, I stood in a room, minutes before a performance. 

I studied my jotted notes and memorized the workings of my crew before the show. I needed to hype my nerves away. The key to any great performance is confidence. I allowed my pre-show chant to take control of my mind “1… 2… 3… and G… O… and GO…HERE WE GO!” I clapped my hands and rubbed them together, chalking up the lotion and dead skin upon the two, and made my way towards the crowd.

The stage was calm, with candles lit around my set and dark blue lights gleaming throughout the backdrop. I sat in the backless stool that was placed in the center of the stage. 

My posture screamed the utmost of confidence, with both of my feet planted side-by-side on the footrest, and my knees pointed away from each other, I stared into the audience, covering my left wrist with my right hand. 

“Good evening and welcome, I hope everybody is doing good!” I folded my hands and fumbled them around, “would I be able to get each of you to try something before we start?” The crowd was silent, ”I want each of you to take a deep breath in and then breathe out slowly, okay… on the count of three, one… two… three… breathe in… perfect, now breathe out.” I looked straight ahead of me and focused on a chosen focal point, I raised my right hand slowly to gesture at a vision that I was having. 

“I can’t quite make out the apparition, but I’m getting the sense that this person had passed away on a birthday or anniversary, or something of that nature.” I continued to look ahead and with each second that had passed, the crowd grew more curious and awkward, some of the people started to peer at one another. 

A lady, mid-thirties with short red hair, started to give a slight reaction. She swiftly wiped a tear from her right eye, yet she was smiling. I pointed at her and said, “You’re smiling and I watched you wipe a tear, is this…”

“Yes.” she responded.

“He was a young man, well… he’s telling me that he was an old man, but he was still young… you guys were very close, is that true?”

“Yes.” she responded.

“I think that you guys started to part ways slightly before he passed, right?”

“Yeah, we had a few disagreements and we didn’t get the chance to talk weeks before he had passed.” She responded. 

“I’m starting to see his apparition, he’s smiling right now… he’s sort of got these dimples near his cheeks and he has very noticeable wrinkles around the outer edges of his eyes when he smiles, is that right?”

“Yes.”, she started to cry with happy tears. 

“I’m starting to get a name.” I raised my right hand into the air. “This isn’t his name, I’m starting to get a… James… a… starts with a J… a… Jim, is that correct? Does Jim or James ring a bell?"

She responded with, “his name is Jimmy… Can I tell you who that is?”

“Yes, yes… go ahead!” I proclaimed.

“That’s my husband’s name.” She responded.

“I’m starting to sense that that’s where the disagreements took place, it was actually between Jimmy and the person who has passed on, correct? And you were kind of caught in the middle of it all?”

“Yes.” She responded. 

“He says that you should invest in a newer vehicle, he doesn’t think that your current one will last through the winter.”

She began to smile, and as she began to chuckle, she began to speak, “He was always hounding me to save money for a new one and whenever I had vehicle troubles, he was always there to help me.”

My right hand lifted in front of me one last time before moving onto a new spectator. My eyes were held shut for a few moments before opening them to state my closing remark. I stared into her eyes. “He wants me to tell you that he misses you and he apologizes for how things were left between you two.”

She started to cry “I miss you too, I’m sorry and I love you.” 

“He also wants me to tell you that you are a strong and powerful individual and to continue shooting for your goals, and he loves your paintings and he thinks that you should sell them!”

She laughed while tears flooded her eyes “Thank you!”

Soon enough, the show had concluded and it was time to go home. I felt fulfilled due to giving people the closure in which they needed. After my show, I had enough money to be able to pay my rent for the month and have money left over. I had a few shows left to do before the end of the month.

The rest of my night was spent eating a microwaveable dinner, listening to music and showering before heading to bed. I fell asleep swiftly, not really thinking of anything prior to sleeping, just falling into my pillow and leading myself into a state of darkness. 

—-

Nature’s alarm gleamed in through my window that sat above my bed. I groaned, shifting from laying on my stomach, to on my back with my arms at my sides. As the morning glow of the sun continued to pierce through my eyelids, I tossed my arm over my eyes in an attempt to keep out the light. Of course, during my time of slight comfort, the blue truck that was parked down the street started with a booming roar, pulling me out from my zombie-like state. 

I slid my palms across my eyelids, yawning and then pushing myself to sit up. Slowly, I opened my eyes and took a few blinks. The light became brighter and almost stung a bit, I winced and blinked my eyes hard, staring at the front of my bedroom. 

A tall man with blond hair and blue eyes stood at the front of my room, staring back at me, burning with rage and screeching with his mouth wide open.

I shot my eyes open in shock. Gasping, and as I blinked out of reflex, the apparition of a man had changed into that of a short woman. She sobbed silently with blood oozing from her abdomen. 

The confusion caused me to choke on my own spit due to not being able to swallow properly, I blinked my eyes again. 

An old man, wrinkled like a raisin grasping at his chest, replaced the women in front of me. The man was wheezing just before his body fell to the floor. 

I shot my eyes open and stared at my wall in shock. All of the visions of people vanished. Desperate for air, I began to breathe heavily, keeping my eyes open as I moved myself out of bed. Crouching down slightly, my eyes were still open as I used my hands to feel around my bed frame. I used it as a guide to get to the wall, and then to the bathroom where I placed myself in front of the mirror. 

I stared at myself through the mirror. 

I stared at my grey eyes that were clouded over. 

I was too stunned to close my eyes, they began to burn. My hands turned taps on the sink, slightly adjusting them until the water was just warm enough. I didn't want the water to burn me. 

I dipped my head down above the sink, my eyes wide and staring down into the dark abyss of a drain. I cupped the water with both of my hands, and took a deep breath before throwing the water into my eyes hoping to wash away whatever gunk sat in them. As soon as the water hit my eyes, the burning faded. I then gently rubbed them with my fingers, being greeted only by darkness. 

I opened them once more and began to blink normally. My eyes had returned to their original Hazel colour and I chuckled to myself. ‘Must’ve been the food I ate last night’ 

I took another deep breath before I shook the excess water off of my hands. Turning around I moved the showers tap to pretty hot, yearning the burning sensation that would follow. I cleansed myself of the eerie morning before continuing on with doing whatever for the rest of the day.

—-

Another day, another few hundred dollars. I rubbed my hands together locking my fingers and pushed my hands away from my body, cracking my knuckles in the process. Weirdly no nerves were felt within my body as I prepared for the show, and I felt as if little preparation was needed. 

My pre-show chant bellowed, “1… 2… 3…” I breathed in through my nose deeply “and G… O… and GO…HERE WE GO!” The air exited my lungs as I spoke, hyping myself up for the night and focusing on putting on a good show!

The Raven’s stage was exactly the same as it usually was. The dark blue lights illuminated my body as I walked across the stage greeting the many gullible faces that sat before me. The stool sat in the middle of the stage, with a water bottle that rested on the floor on the left side. I eyed the water and debated taking a drink before the show started, but as I got closer to the stool I felt a chill and decided to keep moving to warm myself up. I faced the crowd and reveled in the power I felt from standing above them. 

“Good evening and welcome, I hope everyone is doing good.” Mumbles of mostly yes’ and a few grunts came from the crowd. “Would I be able to get each of you to try something before we start?” Their heads nodded, better responses than two days ago.

I continued speaking, ”I want each of you to take a deep breath in and then breathe out slowly, okay… on the count of three, one… two… three… breathe in… perfect, now breathe out.” I looked straight ahead of me and focused on a chosen focal point, I raised my right hand slowly to gesture at a vision that I was having. My eyes began to burn a little so I decided to shut them as I moved my hand up. 

”I’m sensing someone young, mid twenties, a very tragic death, maybe a car crash?” The burning sensation began to fade so I fluttered my eyes open. 

A voice shouted, “That was my brother!” I turned to my right, only to see a man, late twenties with glasses, holding his hand up. 

“This happened recently didn’t it?” 

”Yeah, a few weeks ago.” He responded. 

“I’m having a difficult time describing his features, he’s a very faint apparition, he’s actually standing a few feet away from you right now.” The man turned to look, choosing to look past his right shoulder. 

“I’m sorry, what colour of hair did he have? I'm seeing that he also wears glasses, just like you, but the colour looks to be different from his natural hair colour, he had dyed his hair blue correct?”

  “Yeah, the blue hair was relatively new, he had naturally dark hair though, more of a dark brown really.” He answered. 

My mind started to fade into an unknown train of thought, his answer to my questions didn’t even register in my mind. A little bit of pre-show work allowed me to already see this man’s brother and what he looked like, I even knew his name, it was Tim. Social media made these things easier. 

My eyes started to burn, I blinked once and rubbed my eyes in an almost pinching motion, using my thumb and my middle finger to glide from the end of my eyes and towards the bridge of my nose. I blinked once again, and as I stared up, Tim was standing amongst the crowd. 

Tim just stood there, bleeding from the glass stuck within his face and somehow being able to stand on his legs that appeared to have been broken. Nobody else seemed to have noticed him. 

I continued on and directed my attention towards the spectator, “He would like me to give you a message.” I glanced to my left and Tim was gone, I peered to my right and the spectator sat there waiting for me to continue. 

I felt a chilling presence on stage and as I fumbled to connect the words to my next statement, Tim placed his hand on my left shoulder and whispered into my ear. “If you want to give him a message, tell him this. You are the reason I died, it wasn’t a car ‘accident’ you treated me like absolute shit and bullied me my entire life. It was no accident, it was my choice, you never stood up for me and were never there for me unless it was to put me down. As you continue with your life, treat others the way in which you would like to be treated, life is simple, life can be fun.”

The words had sunk directly into my soul and now it was up to me to deliver the message. I couldn’t say that though, I wasn’t even sure as to why I was getting these visions, or what they meant, it definitely felt real though. 

Within a blink of an eye, Tim had appeared back into the crowd and stared directly my way. “He would like me to tell you…that he forgives you…and that…he appreciates you, he wants you to continue life, treating others the way in which you would like to be treated and that life can be simple and fun as long as you make it that way.” He nodded as a response.

The room felt cold and heavy and Tim was nowhere in sight. Only a few moments had passed before I was knocked out of my stool and saw Tim screaming above my body, my eyes began to burn, and my chest began to produce the sharpest of pains. Every breath that I had taken seemed to have made the pains worse and then suddenly, time had stopped, the world became silent and the room went black. 

Screams erupted from the crowd, the most prominent of them was a man’s. Panicking, I rushed backstage with what little light shone from within the area. I reached the main switch and felt that it had been shut off, I flicked it up and promtly ran back onto the stage to see why people sounded as if they were being murdered. 

As I got back out, people were scrambling away from where Tim’s brother had been. I eased towards the edge of the stage slowly, my eyes following the chairs lined up in rows, counting to Tim’s brother's seat. The room was empty and it was just me and the mystery. I crouched down and placed my left hand on the edge of the wood, using it to hold myself steady as I hopped off the stage. 

My breathing became shallow, cold air rushed against my skin as I got closer to his chair, closer to the blood that surrounded him. He lay motionless on the ground surrounded by a pool of blood. His eyes slowly connected to mine and tried speaking but only ended up gagging on his blood. 

“Holy fuck!” I yelled. I rushed down to his side to examine where all of the blood was coming from. It seemed to be coming from all over his torso, as if someone had stabbed him repeatedly. I looked around for a knife or any general sharp object that could’ve done this, and came upon nothing. 

“Shit” I pushed myself up sliding around in the ruby liquid on the floor. As soon as I pushed off on my right foot to spin around, I was met with Tim. 

Rage radiated from his face as his words pierced from wherever he existed. “This is your fault Maya. Time and time again you’ve been deceiving people. Your chance was now, but you messed that up didn’t you?” His head shot towards his brother's body that lay there falling deeper into death. “You have real power, you had the chance to change his life, and instead you decided to end it.” His rage softened and he began to smirk. “You’re stuck with us Maya Shawcross. Let your unending torment begin.” He began to laugh loudly, sending ringing to my ears. 

I shut my eyes and covered my ears with my hands. But the burning was back, and it was intense. I opened them to blink, to rub them and get rid of the intense pain, but instead I was surrounded by them. I just knew it instantly. Everyone I had ever lied to, every dead loved one I had ‘spoken’ to was here. 

And rightfully, they were pissed.