What Was Seen...

Hi again,

Persephone is a psychic who can really see into the future. The problem is, she doesn't tell them what she sees...she uses that information for her own good, and skews it for her patrons.

Are you going to keep these anonymous? That'd be great. I really don't like this one but I feel like I want to write something. I'm getting there. :(

~Anonymous

What Was Seen

A couple of miles outside of town and next to a small wooded area there is a house. It's not a very remarkable house, small, falling apart, quirky. On the unkempt lawn there were many gnomes in various states of disrepair. The gnomes closest to the house were in the best shape out of all of them. Most of their paint was still intact and the chips in their body were very minimal. The ones near the end of the property were another story. Most were damaged beyond repair, with paint almost completely gone and whole faces worn down by the weather. Most of these gnomes looked like ancient statues tormented by age and time, and neglect. If you were to pass by this house you'd think to yourself does someone live here? Then you'd see the sign in the window “Madame Persephone's Fortune Chapel.” and you'd know that someone lives there. But you would never want to know this person.

Madame Persephone's Fortune Chapel was a name Persephone came up with one night when filling out her taxes. The forms asked for the name of her business and she had nothing to write. She had always just had people to her house and read their fortunes to them. By read of course I mean that she would see the future and then make something up for the client and use that juicy tidbit to her advantage. One time she saw the winning number of the lottery in her clients future. She won the lottery the next week. But lost the ticket before she could claim her prize. Life is interesting sometimes. At any rate when she was asked the name of her company by the formal tax paper Persephone wrote the first thing that came to her mind. She always had an interest in theatrics and wanted a name that would intrigue people the way freak shows intrigue the sick. The name just came out. She's not even French.

On the second floor of the house Persephone created a small room to tell fortunes. She decorated in a manner she thought would appeal to her clients. There were exotic curtains strewn about every where and incense burned all day every day. The room smelled like zen peace all day. Persephone also had a crystal ball on a table in the center of the room because she knew people expected that. She actually didn't need the ball to see the future but she kept it there for the dramatics. Madame Persephone kept things dramatic and lively. She was the ultimate performer.

On this particular day, this day where we are paying her a visit, Persephone is looking in the mirror in her fortune room. She just wanted to make sure her hair was ok before the next client came over but she noticed something in her reflection. It was a future. Her future. She stared at it and plucked it from her head to get a closer look at it. It was vibrant and white and shot of light in all directions. Inside of it was a boy. This boy was small and fragile. He was looking out into the ether that was this strand of future, he looked lost. Persephone saw this but said to herself that it was only a residual future from a client. One that must have gotten caught in her hair when she hugged the client before she left. Within this strand a woman materialized and began to comfort the boy and stroke his head. The woman was Persephone. She couldn't deny this yet she thought that her mind was playing tricks on her. Her future was never this clear.

Her thoughts were shot from her mind when she saw the woman that was her in her future begin to grow a lump on her right breast. The woman became physically distraught over this development and began to weep. The boy then unbuttoned the woman's shirt and began to suckle her breast. As he sucked the lump that was in her breast began to slowly fade and eventually disappeared. The boy released his grip on the woman's breast and slowly backed away. He coughed up the lump onto the floor and watched the wet, quivery mass on the floor. He picked it up and offered it to the woman as a gift. Something to remember him by. She took it and the boy was gone.

Persephone took her eyes off of the future strand just as the woman cradled the lump like a baby. She stared at her reflection in the eyes and said “You are perfectly healthy and will be for as long as you live. You will never have a child, because of your poor uterus. You will also never love anything because you are a cold hearted woman.” She threw the strand into the air and it vanished before it hit the ground. Persephone filed the image of the strand in her mind and never thought of it again. Perhaps in the restless nights in the darkest corners of her room the strand might come back, of her future. But she will ignore it and convince herself like her clients that her future is not as seen but something else. Something far more manageable.