Linger

The entire fairground was alive with colour and sound, mingling with enticing smells emitting from concession stands. Elated shouts of joy from children echoed through the air, adding to the screams coming from temporarily terrified riders of the rollercoaster. Flashing lights of every colour were speckled around, sparkling in time with the loud music. Happy parents watched their kids play proudly, whilst teenagers played games for stuffed animals to give to their beloved.

After entering the fairground, the group (consisting of Jayden, Jimmy, Johnny, Carmen, Zacky, Matt and Val) had ridden the rollercoaster, had a few spins on the ferris wheel and stuffed themselves with typical funfair food. They were now wandering around with no real destination, goofing around and trying to make their own entertainment.

“What shall we do next?” Matt asked, nabbing a piece of Johnny’s popcorn from the bag. The shorter boy glared at him before hanging back to save the rest of his food.

“Let’s go and get our fortune told by some freakish gypsy hag!” Jimmy cackled, spotting a lone tent near a hotdog stand.

“Ooooooh!“ Zacky exclaimed in a hushed tone, waving his arms about in what he believed to be a mysterious manner. Matt rolled his eyes and wrapped his arm around a chuckling Val, whilst Jimmy laughed openly at him and Johnny sped up his pace towards the tent.

They stopped just outside the canvas door, Zacky and Jimmy still laughing. Matt told them to shut up as Jayden looked at the sign with interest:

MRS. ROSA SANTIAGO
WISH TO KNOW WHAT THE FUTURE HOLDS?
TAROT CARDS, CRYSTAL BALL, PALMISTRY & MORE!
$10 PER SERVICE

“You didn’t tell me your aunt was doing the readings tonight,” Val muttered, looking at Carmen with a smile.

Carmen peeled her eyes away from Zacky and looked at the sign, rolling her eyes and shrugging. Jayden had no idea that Carmen’s aunt was a gypsy, nor that she seemed totally unfazed by it. Instead, her attention went straight back to Zacky.

“Her aunt is crazy,” Jimmy muttered, earning a punch in the arm from Carmen. They all chuckled but were cut off sharply as a somewhat mysterious voice echoed from inside the tent, “Come in dears, don’t be afraid.”

Carmen stepped back, pulling Zacky with her. Val looked questioningly at Matt, who shook his head. Jimmy uttered something about “crazy, crackpot fools” before gripping Jayden’s wrist and tugging her through the canvas door. Johnny shrugged and followed them.

The inside of the tent was dim, the only light coming from numerous candles that flickered and caused shadows to rear up against the walls, which were covered in scarves of various colours. A battered old chest lay open, revealing several tattered sets of tarot cards, a set of runes, numerous books, and various other odd items. A large circular table stood in the centre of the round room, a crystal ball perched precariously on its top.

Jayden’s eyes travelled to the woman who sat at the table, her lamp like eyes staring at them. She was neither young nor old, fat nor thin, tall nor short. She was an average looking woman who held no striking resemblance to a stereotypical gypsy in any way. There were slight similarities to Carmen, and anyone who knew the younger Santiago could tell that they were in some way related. Their eyes held the same twinkle of mystery in their dark pools.

Jayden felt Jimmy dig in his pocket at her side, and soon a crumpled $10 note lay on the table. Rosa Santiago looked at it with a raised eyebrow before nodding towards the vacant seat opposite her. Johnny bit his lip and looked at Jayden, who shrugged. Jimmy pushed her forward and sat her down, standing behind her with a smirk, “Mrs Santiago, Jayden wants her fortune told.”

Jayden shifted uncomfortably as the gypsy observed her, looking at her face with seemingly x-ray vision. She heard Jimmy chortling to himself behind her, and wondered what he found so funny. Peering at Johnny, she figured he was wondering the same thing as he appeared completely bemused.

Rosa Santiago took her hand and pulled it across the table, peering at her palm in concentration. A hush filled the room, Jayden watching the woman examine her hand carefully, tracing the lines upon it with a feathery lightness that made her want to giggle.

Jimmy watched sceptically and uttered, “What a load of shi-”

“If you’re going to make a nuisance of yourself Mr Sullivan, I suggest you leave before I begin,” Rosa spat, her eyes not leaving Jayden’s palm. Jimmy scoffed and rolled his eyes before exiting hastily. Johnny looked from Rosa to Jayden and followed quietly, departing after Jimmy and leaving the tent.

“Good, now they’re gone we can get down to it,” Rosa smiled, letting go of Jayden’s hand. She looked at the woman, confusion etched on her face as Rosa bent down and pulled out a pack of tarot cards, shuffling them and laying four out at random. Both of them stared at the cards as they were turned over.

“I have important things to say to you. They are vital, so listen carefully.”

Jayden subconsciously leaned forward slightly as Rosa went on, “You’re a sceptic but soon something will happen that’ll make you believe. I am certain that this is told by The High Priestess card. It symbolises that something remains yet to be revealed, but patience must be observed.”

“Believe? Believe what?” She asked cautiously, not sure if she wanted to hear the answer.

Rosa simply shrugged and continued her prediction, “I can’t tell you, for you must discover this on your own. The next card drawn was Death, but it doesn’t mean negativity. It simply means that a new chapter of your life is about to begin.

“The Tower card however, signifies that a serious situation approaches, in which I fear something extremely negative will happen. A loss of some kind.”

“A loss? You mean someone’s going to die?” Jayden exclaimed, alarmed at the sudden news.

Rosa hushed her and shrugged once more before concluding, “Lastly, we have The Hanged Man.”

She met Jayden’s eyes for the first time since the reading began, “It symbolises a parting of ways and sacrifice. So when the time comes, you must let go.”

“What does all of that mean?” Jayden asked quickly, her mind skimming over several ideas, none of which were positive. She didn’t understand anything that she’d just been told, and Rosa’s words were battling within her mind.

“Go now. If you have any questions, my niece will instruct you on how to find me.”

Jayden stood up slowly, walking backwards towards the exit whilst still eyeing Mrs Santiago with doubt. The woman simply nodded and smiled slightly, carefully picking up her crystal ball and replacing it in the battered trunk at her feet.

“Fairs just aren’t as fun as they used to be,” Val sighed, linking arms with Matt as they all headed towards the exit five minutes later. It was little past 9PM and the fun had vanished quickly for the teenagers.

Jimmy suddenly stopped in his tracks and looked at his cohorts with a wide and somewhat insane grin, “I know! We should show Jay the spot!”

“The spot?” Jayden asked curiously, looking around at her new companions. All of them seemed to have a grin on their faces, as though Jimmy’s idea was the best they’d ever heard.

Matt, chuckling when seeing Jayden’s confused face, chipped in and explained, “It’s our drinking spot. We go there to get smashed.”

She nodded in understanding as the rest of them muttered amongst themselves, whispering about what to drink and whether they could get any on such short notice.

“Well, I stole my brother’s ID!” Johnny grinned, pulling something from his back pocket and flashing it around the group proudly.

Zacky clapped him on the back, “Alright Johnny!”

“TO THE SPOT!” Jimmy yelled, grabbing Jayden’s hand and running towards Matt’s car, the other five following as quickly as they could.

---

Rosa Santiago’s words continued to reverberate around the inside of Jayden’s head throughout the drive home. She rested her forehead against the window, staring out of the glass at nothing in particular, her mind an endless current of confusion. She was faintly aware of Carmen offering her a half-empty bottle of whiskey, and her thoughts grew foggier as the liquid touched her lips and burned her throat violently. Her sightless gaze resumed as soon as Johnny tugged the bottle away from her and proceeded to consume the rest himself.

The next thing Jayden knew, someone opened her door and she almost fell face first into the asphalt. Luckily, Jimmy had been the one to open the door, and he caught and heaved her from the vehicle as those remaining inside laughed drunkenly.

“I think you had too much, didn’t you?” Jimmy laughed, slinging an arm over her shoulders as they stumbled away from the road. Matt’s car was heard taking off down the street, its tires screeching in protest and the horn blaring noisily until the sound vanished completely.

Jayden proceeded to shake her head in answer to his question. He chuckled once more, and she peered up at him as his laughter grew more intense. She had no idea why he was laughing, but she soon found herself joining in. They clung to one another and laughed, their voices loud enough to wake everyone in a two mile radius.

It took them five minutes to stop, and another ten for them to reach Jayden’s front door. She pressed her finger to his lips and shook her head in hopes of quietening him, but this only made him chuckle louder.

Jayden rolled her eyes and removed his arm from her shoulders, pointing to his house and muttering, “You have to go home now.”

Jimmy eventually stopped and nodded, tripping over his own feet as he staggered down her garden path. With a final drunken wave, he disappeared behind his garden fence. Jayden shook her head and snorted, opening the door quietly and hurrying as quickly and silently as possible upstairs. Luckily, her parents hadn’t waited up for her and the entire house was still.

She leant back against her door as she closed it, her eyes focussing in the darkness. From what she could see, everything was in its usual order. She felt along the wall and eventually made it to the bed, kicking her shoes off and sitting down heavily. The hairs on the back of her neck prickled unpleasantly and the area between the base of her back and the bottoms of her thighs became numb and icy cold, as though she’d leant against a freezer.

“Do you mind not sitting on me?”

Jayden’s heart skipped a beat and she was on her feet in milliseconds, looking around frantically for the source of the voice. She wasn’t sure if she’d imagined it, but she saw nothing in the darkness. She turned to peer at her bed, and shuffled back quickly, her back hitting the wardrobe door.

Something was laying on her bed, someone was laying on her bed. They were cloaked in darkness, but she deducted it was a person from their shape. Her mind faltered fuzzily, trying to think of a logical explanation. This thing must be a fragment of her imagination. But Rosa Santiago’s words came rushing back to her as she blinked frantically at the shape, which still hadn’t moved. She rubbed her eyes furiously, yet the figure was still on her bed, still lounging casually and still watching her every drunken move with an impish smirk.