I am jumping ahead again a bit and for this I apologies, to all of perhaps…are their even 10 of you out there? I am trying to keep all of these stories in order of age, but I felt in the mood for this so I am going ahead with it.

Now let’s see. I must have been about thirteen years old; I know spooky number, but in all honesty not the most eventful year of my life. I had just discovered the wonderful world of being released from parental supervision while out with a few friends. How hard we all tried to seem mature, while gawking at everything around us.

I remember how we all got cappuccinos. Not because any of us knew what to expect, but because it sounded grown up.  As a side note I remember something hovering close to the barista who served us, but it was vague, couldn’t even say if it was male, female, ghost or something else. I do remember thinking it liked the smell of the coffee and wondering if all paranormal beings (I generalized much more then and called everything a ghost,) could smell even though they didn’t actually have noses.

Back to the story-

As we walked, proudly displaying our grown-up drinks, we passed a small tent at a fair of sorts. Not a fair with rides, but a kind of cultural festival. As I passed by the curtained entrance a knarled hand shot out and grabbed my wrist causing me to lurch and spill half of my un-lidded right of passage all over the side walk.

I didn’t scream, or try to get free; I looked up at the sign hanging above the hidden entrance to the tent and gazed at the psychic eye drawn in between words I couldn’t read. The curtain moved and revealed a startling looking woman who fit the description of every horror film or nightmare about such situations. I mean honestly it was so cliché I should have laughed, but her grip didn’t allow me to see the situation as a humorous one.

She had cloudy eyes that I assumed were caused by very poor vision or blindness. She had long gray hair that hung down in straight, frizzy clumps. Her face was actually quite pretty, but at the time I thought she looked at least two hundred years old (she was probably only about 60.)

Her clothes were eccentric and dark and she had so much jewelry on I wondered that she didn’t topple over when she walked.

I was scared. Most of my friends had continued to walk as they were ahead of me and only one remained watching me, my gripped wrist and the woman in the tent whose head had crept through the flimsy curtain. I remember my friend look horrified, but seemed unable to do anything but gape.

The woman “looked” at my face and stated, in hoarse whisper: “You can see.” It was even worse than I imagined. I was actually shaking a little, right there in broad daylight. She then cocked her head a little as if measuring me up and said: “I know what you are.”

She dropped my hand then but continued to stare. I couldn’t speak. I didn’t know what to say. At the time I had never come in contact with a real psychic before and certainly didn’t know what to make of the situation. I glimpsed a small sign in the tent describing the prices of a spiritual psychic reading and my defenses went up…naturally I was no fool, I thought she wanted money.

I started to make a statement to this effect when the woman waved me away. She said that she had nothing to tell me and that “they” would know more. I had an idea of what she meant by “they,” but my friend was still watching and at the time I didn’t discuss that part of my life with almost anyone.

It was then that I noticed a flicker behind her. Not what I would call a ghost now, but something that looked mildly interested in our conversation. Then I saw that it wasn’t one, but many. The small tent was packed with beings most of which were now “looking” in my direction.

When I looked back at the woman she nodded, as if she had seen me seeing what was all around her. She relaxed a little further back into the tent and I could no longer see very well behind the curtained entrance. But I could feel it. I wondered how she could think with so many around if she heard them all. I wondered what they all were and what they were waiting for.

As we turned to leave the woman smiled and said something I couldn’t quite make out. It sounded like: “Nice to know they still exist,” but the look on her face wasn’t pleasant so I assumed I got it wrong. I wasn’t about to ask her for confirmation.

Walking away I saw something standing outside of her tent watching as my friend and I hurried away. Though my friend began to giggle and was asking me questions I couldn’t really hear her yet, I was too busy eyeing the figure by the tent. He was grand, too big really for that small little alley between make-shift tents. He wasn’t human then and I don’t think he had been before. When he moved it was too quick. First a jerk of the head and then back into the tent.

What you probably want is a description and I would love to help you out with that, but unfortunately it is difficult to manage. The best I can do is to stress the size and sharp features. I can’t say for sure it was male, but I thought so at the time. The image wasn’t solid, not even hazy like a mirage in the road; it simply wasn’t…all there. Like trying to see something in the dark and when the light comes on everything changes in the room.

I heard from friends that the psychic woman was only there for a few days. After that she never returned, week after week before it closed and again in the years that followed. I can’t tell you if she was a real fortuneteller, I can’t even say for sure that she knew what was around her, but I would guess she did.

I regret that I was not older at the time; I would have waved off my friend and gone inside the tent. I would have asked her so many questions. I would have had the money to pay for her time.

Wherever she is, I do thank her for opening my eyes on that day. It took me time, but after a while what I took from the situation was that there are others out there who deal with this ability every day and it was nice to know I wasn’t alone.

I do still wonder how she knew the stick her hand out right then and grab me, maybe she saw me coming after all.

Goodbye for now, another end.
Until a time we meet again.

-Seline