Monday, October 3, 2016

Playing The Fool

Fall is over, and everything is cold. My cheeks are flushed pink, my hand are always icy, and I'm out of hot chocolate. I had forgotten how much I hate winter. I feel like the weather is sucking the inspiration out of me. My creativity is low, I'm out of sketch book ideas, and I'm out of ways to distract myself from the fact that I'm all alone here. Sure, I've got Banks, the girl who lives next door, and the other people working at the movie theater, but I still feel abandoned. After meeting the girl at the greenhouse, I've felt empty. I want to go somewhere that gives me ideas again. And then it hits me.

I hike through the terrible, bitter cold and into the Temple. It's not an actual Temple, of course, but the town's tarot and palm reading shop. It smells of incense and dust. There are rugs everywhere, and candles burning on the book filled shelves. "Can I help you, honey?" The woman behind the counter has a southern accent, and is probably only thirty or so. I guess I was expecting some sort of old, wrinkly woman. It seems my expectations were dead wrong. "Yes, actually. I'd like a tarot reading, please" I say to her. She smiles at me, and gestures to the table in the center of the room."Alrighty, pick three cards." I do, and she turns the first one over. She looks slightly uncomfortable. "What is it?" I ask. She shifts in her chair. "The fool." She looks up at me solemnly. I don't know much about tarot cards, but I know enough to know that this isn't exactly the best card you can draw.

All of a sudden, everything feels wrong. I know something is off. I'm not sure what it is or what's happened or why I feel like I have to get out of here, but I feel it. I look at her, into her pitiful eyes looking down at me like she knows something I don't, and I run. Through the clunky front door and the empty streets and the crowded lobby of Winthrop place. I frantically unlock my door and collapse against the inside. Everything inside of me is telling me something's happened. I check my phone, and I have one missed call. It's from my dad.

The woman was right. I am the fool.

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