Arcana

“It begins with a broken picture of the person you love most.” The old vagrant said smiling, while his gaze was lost on the pavement. I held my briefcase close, as if he was interested in the logistical nightmare those papers contained.

I looked both ways to make sure he was talking to me, or maybe he was talking to himself. Maybe the haunting whistle of the autumn wind was singing to him in a way only he understood. The swaying serenade of the leaves dancing in unison to a song of desperation and pain. Laying in the cold may have done more damage to him as I thought.

“Your whole world is about to crumble, and you don’t even know it.” He said again, this time a shiny drop of saliva peeking through his broken lips. His white stubble shining with it. The rest of his face obscured by his blue hoodie.

“The cards see all, mister. Do you believe in fate?” He chuckled and I snapped.

“Fate? Oh please, don’t bother me with such nuisances. Fate isn’t something anyone can see. It isn’t something malleable. The future isn’t written.” I snapped harsher than I meant. Why was I so bothered by this?

“I see a great disturbance in your future, and like I mentioned. It starts with a broken picture.” By this point his smile had faded. He was serious.

For some reason I stood there frozen in my navy-blue suit. To think someone like me was listening to such drivel. But it wasn’t me. I couldn’t move. It was like I was under a spell.

Aw c’mon, listen to me. A spell? Really? Have I really fallen for such trivial tricks of the meek? I checked my watch and saw that it was 6:45. I was running late to home.

“I imagine you had a great magic trick to show me, old timer. But I believe I am on borrowed time, so I must bid you farewell.” I said as I kept walking. Just then a voice like thunder permeated my surroundings.

“You will regret not listening to my words.”

I froze in my tracks. I felt fear beyond anything I’ve ever felt in my life. Maybe I was right, and it was a spell.

“Your arrogance is abysmal. Which is why you have been cursed.” He added. No resemblance of a smile in his face.

“Cursed?” I asked, skeptical as always.

“Not by me, mind you. It seems you have upset someone, and they have placed a curse on you.” He added while holding a deck of cards. They were different than any deck of cards I have ever seen. They had drawings. Under the drawings there were words. It seemed like titles. The moon, The world, The empress, Death. At least those are the ones I saw.

“After the picture breaks. A great storm will befall on you. Your passion and kindness will be stripped from you.” He said as he placed the cards on the ground. Some of them he placed on face up, others were inverted.

“My passion and kindness?” I asked.

“Your most prized possession. Something, or rather, someone you treasure the most.” The vagrant said as I remained skeptical. Yet deep inside I knew he probably meant Justine.

My beloved Justine. Her vibrant goldilocks, her precious sapphire eyes, her beautiful bright smile. He wasn’t wrong that she was my treasure, but how the hell did he know?

“Immediately afterwards, your fury will explode, blazing through innocent lives.” He said. “For you see, blind rage only leads to more pain”.

“What the hell does that mean?” I asked, getting antsy and angrier.

“You will know meaning when the time comes.” He added.

“Alright, gentleman, as much as I would love to continue hearing your magic words, I really have to go.” I said as a feeling of impending doom was creeping over me. I felt like something bad was about to happen, for some reason. I couldn’t identify if it was a feeling I actually had or if it was the influence of his words on me. Why was I so intimidated by this vagrant? Why were his words influencing me? He was an old homeless coot. For all I knew he was under the influence of something.

“I see that my words mean nothing to you, but beware, the arcana sees all.” He said with a grin as he waved goodbye. Not a single time did I see his eyes or the upper part of his face.

I decided to continue walking back home. The sudden chill I got running through my back should be enough of a motivation to keep walking. I tried replacing that chilling conversation with anything else. Today’s report meeting, where I made an ass of myself. Trying to show everyone that our stocks didn’t crash just yet, but we were heading there anyway. The downsizings were signal enough of it.

Or should I think about lunch time? I ate a ham sandwich again. The only thing I could muster. My beloved didn’t know how to cook, rather, she didn’t bother to, so I had to make my own meals most of the time, due to her job as a model, she didn’t have time to, in her own words, “waste her time with that nonsense”.

Or maybe I can think about the case I had to file this morning. Some old lady wanted to ask for a loan so she could buy a house. But of course, our policy didn’t approve of someone without a job or the age qualifications for it, so I had to deny it. Maybe she cursed me. Who knows?

Yet, as much as I tried, my mind seemed to wonder back to the old vagrant. He didn’t sound like a vagrant. He seemed to know many things, specially about my beloved, about me. If I wasn’t quite skeptical about that sort of thing I would have believed it to be true.

But c’mon. No one can see to the future, much less use cards to predict it.

My mind was wavering, but I kept walking through the sidewalk. I was nearing the apartment complex so my anxiety was starting to lower down and I could feel myself calm down.

I reached for the door to the apartment complex and walked in. The mailboxes were full as always. Some of the neighbors never checked them for some reason. I walked down the hallway and reached my door. Justine should be home by now.

I felt the anxiety return as a horrible feeling overtook me. The door was open. Not fully open but closed to a slight hinge. I opened the door.

“Justine? You there?”

No response.

I started to feel a haunting presence or feeling overtake me, like there was something wrong.

Maybe the vagrant was right.

No, of course not, he’s insane, that’s why he’s homeless, has to be.

Just then, my eyes widened and I began to tremble, as I heard a crash and glass shatter.

I run to our room and I find Justine on the floor, her head laying on a pool of blood coming from the back of her head. Her eyes, empty.

Next to her a picture of us smiling, on the floor. Just shards of glass, tainted in blood.

“The Arcana sees all”.