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Saturday, February 19, 2005

The room was pretty ordinary, if a little ugly. It had red walls and a black ceiling, a theme echoed in the table cloth and the chairs.

There’s a huge fat black candle in center of the table. And a red bowl. And for some reason, the candle is the first thing you notice when you walk in.

She walks in, and the woman is as ordinary and ugly as the room. The only thing that elevates her from every other Pakistani aunty is her black kajal overdosed eyes. They have a disturbing blood shot hint of madness. They’re the first thing you notice about her, as she enters and pins you to your seat with one look. “You’ll regret it beta”. Her voice is husky, like a man. I stare at her, confused, trapped by the kajal. Then she looks away to light the candle and I can breathe again.

The black candle: strange things happen to it when the flame hits it. It glows from the inside, as if it’s see-through. Yet it’s made of good old solid beeswax. I can smell it. And suddenly, the corners of the room shrink further back, the light from the flame being absorbed entirely by the black ceiling. There are patterns flickering on the red walls, and when I stare at them it’s difficult to look away. Suddenly I realize that there isn’t any grill or lattice work in the room. What’s making the patterns? I’m about to ask her, but she sits down in the chair next to me, and grabs my palm. Her nails, they’re painted black. I’m suddenly a little uneasy by the whole scene. I want to get up and run the door, when my three friends await their turn.

She sits too close, and then peers at my face from six inches away. I can only look to the door. I can’t move. Still holding my palm, nails digging in, she reaches up with the other hand, and picks off a hair from my sweater. She puts it into the bowl. I notice the center is black, but the outside is painted red.

Then I scream in pain.

I look to my palm, and her nails have dug right through.

There are four half moons of blood welling up across the center. I’m still looking at it incredulously, when she calmly sweeps up a couple of drops, and adds it to the liquid in the bowl. When did she put water in it? She swipes the remaining half moon, and then licks it. Madness.

I’m can’t open my mouth. The beeswax is choking. Her hand, it’s weighing my entire body down with that one touch.

She holds the bowl to my mouth.

I purse my lips closed, and pray to God. I really can’t drink that. Why can’t I move?

“Drink it”, she whispers. In my mind, the words are screaming loud. I can’t help it. My lips open, and the water, its hot. It burns my tongue, the roof of my mouth.

Tears run down my cheeks.

She’s still six inches away from my face.

“You’ll find him soon.” She says. I look at her; her pupils are like huge gaping holes. Her hot breath smacks my face unpleasantly.

Then suddenly, the candle goes out. The room is pitch black. I can’t see anything.

I close my eyes. I think I scream. In the second of her distraction, I wrench my hand away, and leap from the table faster than I’ve even moved before. I dive for the door, can feel a million invisible demons breathing down my neck, can feel her sitting six feet behind me. Can feel her eyes on me, even in the dark.

The door opens, and the line of women in the waiting room all look up at me in unison.

My friends, it takes them a second to recognize me. I guess ten seconds of hell changes one. The take a look at my face, and all three stand up in concern. I made quite a dramatic entrance I guess.

“Is everything alright?” “Why aren’t you getting the reading done?” “Is it over already? You just went in!?”

I look over my shoulder into the room, and the lights are back on. The Pakistani aunty with too much kohl is sitting at the table. She smiles and waves.

I take two steps back. My goose bumps are about to poke through my clothes.
“Yeah, its fine. Let’s get out of here”. I don’t want to take my eyes off that table and that room. I guess I blink.

“Beta, you haven’t paid.” she’s standing, right there in the waiting room, two inches in front of me. I think I scream, but only a strangled whisper comes out. The red and black room behind her, it’s empty. I notice that the roof of the waiting room is black too.

I almost back into a table. Then I can’t move any further.

My friends are holding one arm, wondering why the hell I’m treating this woman like she has the plague. I don’t care. I can’t get away fast enough. Since I make no move to open my wallet, one of my friends opens her bag and hands the woman some money. The lady leans over, takes the money in her black painted fingers, and says “I will get the change beta.” Then she murmurs something to her under her breath. My friend’s eyes widen, and she turns to say something to me, but I’m scuttling out the door.

The sunlight is over strong outside. I start the car with shaking hands, without waiting for my friend to return with her change.
And suddenly notice that I have no scars on my palm. Nothing. No blood, no cuts, nothing.
I’m still staring at my palm, and my friends are staring at me. Then the car door opens, and we all jump.

My friend is holding some currency notes in her hand. “That woman is totally bonkers. She told me to tell you that you’ll regret it. Did she mean because you didn’t get the reading done?"

The prattle is actually making me regain some semblance of normality. I almost smile, and feel ridiculous. I clearly hallucinated the whole thing. She probably had LSD in the candle or something.

Oblivous, my friend is prattling on: "If she didn't read you, then I don't know why she said you'll get sick and I'll save your life. Haha. I'm not the Florence Nightingale varity ok? I'm telling you from now. Haha."

I look at my friends. They're now having a giggling fit. There's a funny feeling in my throat. I can’t speak. I just put the car into gear and get the hell out of there.

Its been three years. I can speak about it now. And I can tell you: I did find him. And I do regret it. and she did save my life, but in a different way.

1 comment:

Phitaymaun said...

Good God! Who is he? I've got a million answers to that question and none ring true. And now i know i must go to sleep not knowing the answer, but knowing instead that i may never know. God damnnit!!!!