「6」Awakening Arc: You Are A Sinful Man (Part 2)

LEON

THE guy led me back to a small space that he rented. It was shabby, and little to no light could reach the inside. The atmosphere, at least, was convincing. But the fortune-teller himself was skeptical all over.

“How long have you been doing this?” I curiously asked while traveling my eyes around the whole area. It was so dark, I could barely see where I was going.

“For a while now,” he simply replied before stopping in front of a small, circular desk that was covered in a black sheet of cloth. “Have a seat,” he offered as he sat on the chair across mine.

I took a quick glance at my own chair. It was painted in black so it was really hard to tell if he put anything somewhere there that would likely make his clients think that they were indeed haunted, cursed, or… whatever.

I sat silently, but all of my senses were heightened. “When did you realize that… You know, that you were gifted?” I asked.

The nameless fortune teller took a deep breath before answering me, “I was six when I accidentally held someone’s hand, and I saw how he died. You know how kids are. I told him,” the guy sighed when I gave him that I-don’t-believe-you look. “He didn’t believe me, of course. Everyone didn’t…” Then, he paused for a moment before continuing, “They only believed me when it happened.”

「Oh, he’s quite good at acting. I’m starting to get shivers,」 I thought to myself. 「Why the hell am I wasting my time listening to a fraud?」

“What did you see, anyway?” I went along with him.

The guy stared at me intently. “I know that you don’t believe me too, but, whatever!” he scoffed. “That guy died by drowning. But in reality, something was deliberately pulling him to his death because of hatred. It was the spirit of someone that was killed by the villagers for accounts of stealing. It was the man, who drowned, that falsely accused that spirit.”

I was flabbergasted. “What was everyone’s reaction when the man actually died?”

“They chased me out. I mean, who wants to see a cursed person walking freely, waiting to touch another victim and tell them how they were going to die?” His voice was full of sarcasm and bitterness when he said these words.

I felt bad for judging him just because he looked like a fake. I didn’t even try to put myself in his shoes.

“I’m sorry,” I apologized.

“Nah, I get it a lot. I even dress like this to look like the real deal, but my appearance probably spoils the whole vibe,” he said. “I didn’t ask for this gift. I saw how my parents died because of this ability, and it made me regret everything. I was on the verge of giving up, you know? But, I saw you!” He pointed a finger at me.

“You knew that I experienced weird nightmares and heard voices. How can you tell? You haven’t touched my hand yet,” I asked.

The guy sitting across from me went silent for a while. He just stared, and stared. Then, he spoke softly, “My name is Roark. I’m a psychic,” he revealed. “This,” he pointed his thumb at his cloak. “And this,” next, he pointed a finger at the table. “All of these…” he traveled his eyes around the whole place, and continued, “...are just for show. But, I am not lying about being a psychic!”

“Why are you telling me this?” I asked, confused and conflicted at the same time.

Roark cleared his throat before answering, “I just wanted you to know,” he reasoned out.

“Let’s get straight to the point, Roark. I want you to have a look at my problem,” I uttered. The man hesitated for a second, but he tried to brush it off by acting cool.

“Alright,” he agreed. I extended out my hand and rested it halfway on the table. I saw Roark gulped, took another deep breath and carefully touched that hand.

In an instant, I saw flashing lights before me, blinding my eyes so I had to close them, and looked away. The voice in my dreams and the whispers I’ve been hearing sort of mixed together. It happened so fast that all I could hear were frustrated screams and deafening shrieks of several voices inside my head. In my mind, I shouted because of the pain that resonated within my whole being, but my voice wouldn’t come out.

I could still see Roark, but he seemed to be lost in his own thoughts. His eyes were fixated on me, but I couldn’t sense his presence in the room.

Even though I couldn’t understand what was wrong with me right now, I still tried to scream as hard as I could and called out to him, “Roark! Roark, wake up! Roark!” I repeatedly said.

Finally, both he and I were able to go back to our senses. We caught our breaths. I became lightheaded while Roark coughed like crazy as if he was choked.

“Crap! What the hell was that?!” Roark snapped at me. He was horrified down to his bones.

“Why are you asking me?! You’re the psychic here!” I yelled back at him.

Roark saw something. It was written all over his face. Whatever it was, it must have something to do with everything that had happened to me and the people around me.

“Jesus! Just who are you?” he asked, fear was visible in his eyes.

“What did you see?” I interrogated him.

Roark had second thoughts, but he saw how much I wanted to unveil the truth, too. “Something’s following you… Uh…”

“Leon,” I told him when he looked like he wanted to ask for my name. For a moment, I thought of giving him my real name but I kind of doubted in the end. All of these bizarre happenings gave me a hard time to process at once.

“Something’s following you, Leon,” Roark repeated. My jaw dropped.

“W-What is it? Is it a vengeful spirit?” I asked in horror.

“Did someone hold a grudge against you?” he asked. He was still shaken by what just happened, but he still wanted to help me out. In the first place, he was the one who called out to me earlier.

I frowned. “I don’t recall having enemies,” I uttered. I never had that many friends either. I did have a few bashers when I became a model, but I never once thought that someone would really hate me that much.

“The voices… ‘Don’t leave me behind. Stay with me.’. These sound like you broke someone’s heart, Leon. And somehow, this someone still can’t accept the fact that you’re no longer part of their life,” Roark stated.

“I was the one being dumped all the time!” I exclaimed. That was pretty embarrassing, but I had to clarify that part.

“Can you please remove your sunglasses?” Roark asked.

“Excuse me?” I was astounded.

“Just do it. Don’t worry. I won’t fall for your charms,” he said, and inched closer to me. “I’m blind.”

That was when I realized everything. Why didn’t I notice beforehand? He acted all goofy, walked effortlessly in the dark, and didn’t act like he couldn’t see me at all!

I did what he asked me to do. To make it even, I also removed my face mask. There was no point in hiding my face from this guy. After blowing up my cover, Roark didn’t even react. That put me at ease.

“If you’re blind, then how can you be able to tell that something was following me?” I asked, still shocked by what he said. “Can you actually see them?”

“Good question,” Roark praised me. For a moment, he looked like he was a totally different person from earlier. “People look like vessels to me. You know, you’re shaped just like a typical human, but sort of like a vessel. It’s really hard to explain this one. And the entities, spirits, or whatever you call them, are vividly visible to me. When I was a kid, I thought that humans were those entities and vice versa,” he said.

“Weren’t you scared?” I asked. My anxiety grew the more I spent time with this man. At first, his appearance could really turn you off. But he was more than just a man in a maroon cloak.

“You are a sinful man, Leon,” Roark suddenly accused.

「to be continued」