Omnibus in foro S.P.D.
This piece came from a writing assignment via my writer’s group. The assignment was pick a Unsolved Mystery and give it a magical twist. I chose the subject of the Black Dahlia Murder and gave a mystical spooky experience to go along with it. Basically prior a day before the Black Dahlia’s demise she visits a psychic and receives grave news. Was going to use this also for one of the DP challenge’s but alas time was not on side to meet that deadline.
***Disclaimer** This is all purely fictional and nothing but fictional so help me gods.
Please enjoy the story and leave feedback on the piece.
Regards,
Bone Mama Belle
Beautiful Stranger 05/18/2014
The day was the 14th of January in the year 1947. Madam Zoraya Stolinskya woke up with the feeling that something was going to happen today. The problem was, she did not know what was going to happen, and that bothered her. Ever since coming to America ten years prior, she had carried the dread that immigration officers would show up on her doorstep—that they would appear and ship her back to war-ravaged Russia.
This morning while she opened up her store for business hours, Zoraya did something rather unusual: She gave herself a tarot reading. Normally she reserved the readings for her clients only, as she had grown up among the gypsies where she always had someone to give her a reading when she needed one. Romany was in her blood always, but she wasn’t any longer in a position to observe certain traditions so far away from her native homeland. Zoraya was in America now and she had to adapt accordingly.
After cleansing the deck the first card she pulled was the Eight of Swords, which caused her to frown deeply. The Eight of Swords usually meant that trouble was coming, along with difficulty in overcoming it. Zoraya envisioned this to mean many things for her.
Someone was coming…
It was as if someone was reading her mind. On perfect cue the chime on her door rang, alerting her that someone had come in. A potential customer, no doubt.
Zoraya took a breath of relief as she saw the young woman who timidly came into the store. It was young girl who had a cloud of dark hair and piercing blue eyes. Something about the girl gave Zoraya a deep chill. Hesitantly, she looked down at the Tarot card she pulled from the deck.
“A storm is coming,” Zoraya said to herself.
In her honey-toned accented voice, Zoraya spoke to her potential customer. “Something I can help you with my dear?”
“Yes Ma’am. A friend of mine told me you could do tarot readings. Are you Madam Zoraya?”
“Yes, I am; and I can read your fortune. Do you believe in the powers of the Otherworld?”
“Not to sound rude or anything, since going to church isn’t helping me–maybe I could get some advice from your cards.”
Zoraya looked at the young girl who had made way to her register. Something told her she was going to regret doing this come tomorrow. But what if she didn’t do it, and something were to happen to this young girl? Against her better judgment, Zoraya decided to proceed with the reading.
“It will be 10 dollars for a full reading.”
“Fair enough.”
Zoraya led the young girl to her “reading room”, and invited her to get comfortable while she did other tasks in preparation. She lit a brush of sage to cleanse the air of negative energy; cleansed the cards; and lit incense and candles infused with sandalwood.
As both women sat down, Zoraya asked her client to do some meditating, before offering the deck, from which to select a card. Being a psychic, Zoraya found it difficult to make small talk, but she decided to try anyway.
“What is your name young miss?”
“Elizabeth. Elizabeth Short, ma’am.”
“A beautiful name for a beautiful girl.”
The young girl blushed as Zoraya spoke.
“Thank you.”
“Elizabeth, I’ll need you to pick three cards and place them face down.”
Zoraya watched as Elizabeth timidly chose three cards. As Zoraya picked up the first card, she felt a surge of energy go through her.
“Queen of Swords.”
Elizabeth looked at the psychic in eager anticipation. Luckily, the she did not know the meaning of the cards, else she would not have smiled as she did. Zoraya quickly turned over the other two cards.
“Nine of Swords and Judgement.”
Zoraya looked at the young maiden with a sorrowful look. She saw Elizabeth’s eyes grow wide in fear. The clairvoyant did not want to give someone so beautiful such bad tidings.
“The cards are telling me that you have gone through a lot of emotional pain in your life. There are things that you have done which you regret. A day of reckoning is coming, due to something that you have either done, or not done.”
The girl who was called Elizabeth looked as white as a ghost.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Oh, but I think you do. The cards do not lie.”
“Is there anything that I can do?” Elizabeth asked imploringly.
Zoraya instructed her disturbed patron to pull another card from the deck. This time Elizabeth did not hesitate.
“The Justice card.”
“…And it means?”
“You reap what you sow.”
The young girl, tears falling down her perfect face, hurled a ten dollar bill at Zoraya, and ran out of the store. Zoraya tried to stop her, but Elizabeth was quicker. It was the strangest Tarot reading experience Zoraya had ever encountered; and it was something she realized she would never forget, as she read in the paper only days later that Elizabeth Short had been brutally murdered the very next day after their encounter.
© T.B. Morte 2014
The Bone Garden 