3 Part 3

I awoke confused about my surroundings. I expected to be in the dormitories at my old school, with the sounds of my peers' voices echoing through the building. Instead, I found myself in a drab tent, with a strange man snoring next to me. It only took a second for my mind to catch up to events and realise that the man snoring next to me was Nick.

Slowly, the events of yesterday filtered through my mind, playing back everything I'd seen and done. I felt a pang of regret with how I had left Sandy and her family last night, and wanted to go and apologise, but was unsure if Sandy would even want to talk to me again.

I sat up in the bedroll, crossing my legs. I clutched onto my necklace, gaining some small comfort from it's presence. My sister had taught me how to carve wood, but she had always been better at it than I. I got the resounding urge to get a knife, a small block of wood and to just start carving. I couldn't, though, I didn't have either of those things.

My thoughts were interrupted by Nick, who had supposedly woken up while my head was in the clouds. Unsurprisingly, he was glaring at me something fierce. 'Well, now that you've gotten your beauty sleep, are you ready to actually do some work?' He asked me. I nodded, not trusting my voice to stay steady.

I rolled up the bedrolls per Nick's command while he set up the circular table once more. When we were done, we sat at the table on chairs that had been stacked in the corner. Laid out on the table were playing cards, separated into their respective suits. 'Now, what do you know of Cartomancy?' Nick asked me, his eyes boring into mine. I averted my gaze and answered. 'I've never heard of it before.' I mumbled, certain that Nick was going to kick me out based on my ineptitude.

He didn't, though, he just lectured me for what felt like 3 separate eternities. Cartomancy, according to Nick, was the "esteemed art of Divining possible events that have not yet occurred." I'm pretty sure that's just a technical way of saying he was a fortune teller. When I suggested this, Nick yelled my ear out for at least a quarter of an hour, clearly unamused by my joke.

He showed me how I was to "utilize the cards to reveal the information kept hidden". At least, that's what he told me I was doing. To me, I was just doing some fancy shuffling. I had learnt my lesson from earlier, however, and did not point this out.

After a little while of this fancy shuffling, I had asked when the deceit would come in, and Nick stared daggers at me. Apparently, he took his fortune telling very seriously. It got to the point where I was just getting frustrated by his claims of being able to "Divine" the future, so I stupidly dared him to prove it.

'You think this is some joke, do you?' He said, his voice a quiet, menacing tone. I realised my mistake all too late. I tried to dissuade Nick, but he kept on going. He did his shuffling of the cards, going at speeds I'd have thought impossible if you'd asked me a day before. And just kept on increasing the speed, the cards blurring.

At last, he flicked 5 cards into the air, where they spun, then landed in a perfect line. My mouth agape, I stared at the cards, then at Nick, who was smirking with smug satisfaction. I finally got over my surprise enough to question him once more, unable to hold myself back.

'That's a nice trick and all, but I don't see how that's going to help you see into the future.' Nick looked at me, his smug look still plastered on his face. 'You will see your friend, Sandra, today.' He said, a smile on his lips. 'She's going to want to ask you about your "bygone days", because she was disturbed by your performance last night, and you, the sentimental whelp that you are, are going to spill your past out to her.' The certainty with which Nick had told me my future made me sick.

He was talking about things that he had no business knowing. I was about to interrogate him when he passed me the deck. 'It's your turn now. If you can't successfully Divine an event by the end of the day, you're out. Understood?' Nick asked, a serious look on his face. I nodded, knowing that if I spoke, all I'd do is insult or interrogate Nick. Possibly even both.

Nick sat back and gestured to the cards, clearly waiting for me to continue. I swallowed hard, and, with a force of sheer will, picked up the cards without dropping them.

I started the fancy shuffling technique that Nick had so diligently shown me, and, surprisingly, I was able to shuffle the cards with increasing speed, the cards almost as fast as Nick had made them go.

Finally, when I was ready, I started flicking the cards up into the air. I got to the third card before I finally dropped the deck. The cards that I had flicked into the air fell into a wonky line, one of them flipped over the wrong way. But there was something about the way that they lay there on the table. I grasped at that feeling, trying to Divine any information. Slowly, the feeling slipped from my grasp, and all that was left was a messy pile of cards.

'Good,' Nick said. 'Keep going.' And I did. I kept at it, failing every time. But each time, that strange feeling was there, elusive, yet present. I tried to corner that feeling, going on for hours, but finally the empty maw of my stomach really started protesting the fact that I hadn't eaten since yesterday morning.

I tried to ignore my hunger, but it eventually broke my concentration entirely. Nick nodded sagely, understanding my dilemma. He told me to keep working on it as he went to get some lunch. When he came back, I was no better off than I had been when he had left, so I took a break.

We ate and, despite all odds, I came to like Nick. He was rude and irritating sometimes, but I could see past the phony disguise he had put up, I could see a glimpse of the man behind the scowl. Once we were finished with lunch, Nick shoved me out of the tent telling me: 'It's time for you to talk to your girlfriend. You'll find her down by the creek.' I wanted to question Nick, but I had finally, actually learnt my lesson and just did as I was told. 'Yes, sir.' I had said as I set off to the creek, where I would supposedly find Sandy.

And find her I did. She was sitting, bare feet by the clear creek. She seemed pensive, all alone as she was. I was remiss to interrupt her, but I knew that if I wanted to stay her friend, I would have to explain myself. 'Hey, Sandy.' I said, unsure of how to broach the conversation, but figuring I could just make it up as I went along.

Sandy didn't even turn around, she just kept on looking into the water. 'Hey, Evan.' I sat down cross legged next to her, not saying anything for a few seconds. Eventually, Sandy broke the silence. 'My parents think that you're just like Nick, mysterious and possibly even dangerous.' I was baffled by that. Not just because they thought that of me, but because they thought that Nick was dangerous. Mysterious to be sure; but dangerous? A different thought popped into my head, wanting to burst out.

I reserved myself, though, managing not to blurt out the question. 'Do you think I'm dangerous?' I asked, my voice small and insecure. Sandy finally looked at me, and, thankfully, she smiled at me. 'No, of course not, but you most definitely are mysterious.' I nodded understanding what she meant. 'Bygone days' I said, repeating my words from our earlier conversation. I collected my thoughts, which were running wild around my head. I really didn't want to reveal my past, I just wanted to bury it and forget about it. But I couldn't, and I had to come to terms with that.

'I was in love.' I said finally, my voice distant, recalling the events that had pushed me over the edge. 'It was a forbidden love, which just made it all the more sweet. Her name was Sarah. I had been in relationships before, and none of them felt like that one did. Nobody else could compare to Sarah, in my eyes.' I shook my head, trying to keep calm despite the roiling cesspit my emotions were at that moment. 'I had to keep it secret because my parents would never allow it. We are a respected family, and so we are expected to uphold our values and traditions without exception. One of those traditions was that of arranged marriage.' Sandy gasped a little, no doubt surprised such an ancient tradition still persisted in modern times. 'My parents never let me get into relationships, but I still wormed my way into them, much to their dismay. When they found out about me and Sarah, they-'

Sandy put a hand on my shoulder, squeezing it as though that would ease my pains. 'Stop, you don't need to tell me anymore.' She said, her beautiful voice managing to calm me a little. 'No,' I said, certain of what I had to do. 'I need to tell you this.' Sandy nodded, not arguing with me about it.

'When my parents found out, they were furious. But it wasn't enough to just drive us away, we were too attached to each other for that. Oh no, they did what they do best. Bargain.' I had to take a deep breath to calm myself, as I had started yelling. 'They bribed Sarah, promising her a small fortune if she broke up with me. She refused to begin with, but the promise of money was too much for her to ignore.'

I pulled the note out of my pocket, the one Sarah had given me as a sign of our separation. I handed it to Sandy, who read it with a melancholic face. When she gave it back to me, I stared at it, not actually reading it. I was done regretting my existence, though. I would have no more self pitying. I tore up the note and threw it into the creek, where it lazily drifted off, out of my sight.

I looked back at Sandy with blurry vision, not realising that I had been crying. I wiped my eyes, embarrassed that I was crying like this infront of a girl. Sandy supposedly didn't care, though, as she pulled me into a tight hug, which I leaned into as much as I could. We stayed like that for a long time, neither of us moving. Nick's prediction from earlier repeated to me, and I very nearly snorted in humor.

Then I remembered what else Nick had told me; that if I didn't successfully Divine the future, he would kick me out. With that thought, I pulled away from Sandy. I told her my predicament, and she just smiled and wished me luck.