Tarot of Death

  Safa Shaqsy

  tarot of death

  Copyright © 2020 by Safa Shaqsy

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise without written permission from the publisher. It is illegal to copy this book, post it to a website, or distribute it by any other means without permission.

  This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author's imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.

  Safa Shaqsy asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.

  First edition

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  To all tarot readers who inspired me to write this book.

  PROLOGUE

  In heightened breath and raging heartbeat, she quickened her steps and continued to look around without certainty about what she was hoping to catch a glimpse of. Having chosen to spend a few more hours outside for the night to study, and falling asleep, only to wake up with her head well-rested on her pile of books and with enough saliva goo to wet them, the evening came with the feeling of distress in ways Nora had not anticipated.

  Clutching her books tightly to her chest, and doing just about enough not to trip on every little obstacle in her path while she returned to her room, Nora halted her footsteps, but not completely; her ears had picked up a rather troubling sound, but without certainty on what it was or where it was coming from. She gulped down hard, tightened her clutches into her books and felt her fingers dig into the leather straps on her diary.

  “It is nothing, Nora”, she whispered to herself. “You’re overthinking things”.

  Crimes were absent for sure around the school premise, and she had not heard anything coming remotely close to students being mugged or dealt some harmful acts at night or at any point in time through the day on campus, but this night felt different. Everything about the night sent shivers down her spine and she wasn’t sure she would make it.

  Gulping down hard and feeling lumps of worries begin to form in her throat, she closed her eyes, sucked in ample air into her lungs as the cold feel stung her insides and seemed to revive her strength. She resumed her walk and increased her pace, with her nostrils sucking in ample air per second to keep her well aerated within and ready to make a run for it should the need arise.

  Nora looked ahead, catching sight of her college dorm in the distance with a relieving sigh. Her lips tore slowly to the side and a smile crept in, but even while the sight was pleasing in the distance, something about whatever she felt was following her continued to haunt at her guts. The urge to turn around slowly began to engulf her, and the need to simply enquire continued to taunt at her instincts.

  “Don’t look back”, she mumbled to herself in clear, yet not staunch enough warning. “It is just some silly animals crawling around at night”.

  The animals could definitely range from rodents seeking meals in the dead of the night, to students spending their time smoking and indulging in illicit affairs on the school grounds. Regardless, she had no worry or business with either parties and she assumed she ought to be fine. Al she needed to do was make it home and lock her doors behind her for the night.

  Yet, with each step taken, the distance between where she was and her intended destination only continued to lengthen in a rather odd and bizarre outcome.

  Nora paused once again and this time, to collect her thoughts and rid herself of whatever inquisitive worries were in her head. She turned her head east, and slowly rotated it towards her south and found nothing troubling or remotely disturbing in sight, before concluding that her mind was beginning to ply tricks on her.

  She looked to her right, just by the side walk, where a tree stump had stretched its roots underneath the pavement, and with it came a thick frown across her forehead. She was sure of her thoughts this time, and she was definitely certain she wasn’t mistaken or hallucinating.

  “I passed this tree some moment ago”, she muttered incoherently and in a confused manner.

  Nora looked back up and towards where her college dorm room ought to be, and the sight, which she had joyed over not quite long, was nowhere to be seen.

  “Oh my God!” she cried in fright, but not loud and in hopes of not alarming or alerting unwanted people or persons.

  Her knees suddenly grew wobbly, and her breath seemed to mellow in desire to breeze through her effectively. Nora tightened her fists into her books and across her chest, but felt her nerves suddenly begin to stiffen as though an invisible gag had been placed on her.

  “This isn’t happening! This is so not happening!” she mumbled to herself.

  Feeling her veins begin to thump and rush with copious amount of blood flowing from her rapidly beating heart, she took the first step backwards in great difficulty, but with substance of relief in her guts. Yet, the crunching sound that came with her feet meeting the ground haunted her thoughts and caused her to swallow some bolus of sputum lodged in her throat with great difficulty.

  Something about the crunching sound she felt her right foot make against whatever she had stepped on made her stomach sink, and seemed to deter her from trying to look around or even ascertain what it was, but Nora could feel her heart threatening to implode should she not find out. Curious, scared and absolutely befuddled as to what was going on, she turned around against her restraining nerves, and felt her lips slowly part, and air rushing through as it filled her mouth without going into her lungs.

  “A crow”, she thought to herself.

  She had stepped on a dead crow, and had she taken more steps backwards, more crunching sounds from stepping on more crows would have ensued. The ground was littered with the black, shimmery feathered creatures, and the stretch of dead aves only extended along the path she had walked.

  “This is bad”, she heard the voice speak, but with certainty that she wasn’t the one.

  Nora looked to her left, feeling her hair fall over her eyes and threatening to prevent her from seeing as she gently swept it aside. Just some feet from her, and on a large stone with strange engravings was a hunched figure with her head in her hand, and her hair running down her face and keeping it well hidden.

  “Excuse me?” the scared to death, hyperventilating and absolutely confused college girl whispered.

  Heading forward towards where her college room ought to be still terrified her as hell, and even more terrifying was the prospect of returning from whence she had come.

  Threading carefully as her nerves seemed to soften and permit her movement, Nora reached her hand out as she headed towards the hunched girl. “Excuse me! Please, I need… “.

  The figure slowly raised its head but without bringing its face into view. It cackled aloud, and a dreadful and disturbing rain of black crows began to fall around Nora.

  “It is almost time! It is almost time!” the figure spoke, in feminine voice and in somewhat growling tone as well.

  Nora froze, slowly retreated in steps as the figure raised its head and hid its face well enough behind the veil of long, ebony hair sweeping all the way down to her knees. She spun around, tossed her books into the air, and began to make a run north. She swung her arms as best as she could, hoping every morning jog, and time spent in the gym would come too pay off as she sought answers to what awkward night she was having.

  Nora took a brief look back, hoping she wasn’t being followed and gladly so, the figure remained hunched on the large piece of rock without moving Yet, something else had begun to brew, almost like the list of strange e
ffects was stretched out for the night and there would be no escaping it. The heavens began to growl aloud, and with it came the ominous sight of the darkened clouds moving to shadow the moon completely.

  The one fully blue-rimmed moon slowly disappeared from sight, and darkness of the most blinding nature slowly engulfed everything around Nora. Her hands trembled and began to lose the zeal to swing by her side. Her leg felt weaker by the second and they soon stopped running too. Her lungs collapsed and the last breath of air in it escaped as she clutched her chest tightly, felt her knees cave in, and her chest burning like it was lit on fire.

  She parted her lips and struggled to speak, but the right words continued to remain elusive. Strange noises in incoherent wordings soon hurried through the darkness, and with it came sudden loud thuds like something huge and dangerous was approaching. Nora wished to find out from where the incoming danger would come for her, but in absence of breath in her lungs to speak or light in her surroundings to speak, she felt alone…

  The night grew colder, the air felt more treacherous, and her consciousness slowly disappeared as she felt her eyes close but without making much difference; all she saw before and after was absolute darkness. Yet, even while her body dropped to the floor in loud thud and her senses slowly began to fail her, she could still hear the loud thud coming closer.

  “Please… “, she heard the intended word in her head ring aloud.

  Hoping her thought would reach through on her behalf was all she could do…

  “Nora! Nora! Nora!” the piercing sound tore through her unconsciousness.

  Nora felt her eyelids slowly part, and the burst of white light permeating them immediately. Slowly, she cast her gaze ahead, in fright of seeing what horror was approaching her, but felt her slips slowly begin to tear into a smile as her best friend stared down on her.

  “Are you okay? You kept on screaming from your sleep and you got us fucking worried”, the feminine voice grumbled. Nora looked around and whispered, “Us?”

  She looked to her left, just beyond her bed and towards the chair where a boy with a wild grin across his face smirked and waved back at her.

  He took a puff from the rolled up joint in between his fingers and spoke. “You scared the living shit out of her, not me”.

  Nora sighed in relief and slowly sat up from her bed. Her backline drenched dearly, and her bed was no different from having a bucket of water poured on the loci where she had fallen asleep. Nonetheless, she couldn’t be gladder as she had awakened to the reliving sight of her friends.

  “It was just a dream… it was just a darn scary dream”, she whispered to herself over and over and again.

  Everything had felt too real, yet, she would take and rejoice in the fact that it was nothing but a nightmare.

  CHAPTER ONE

  Saturday night as usual, and nothing about it felt different from the others she had spent with her best friends. Asides the disturbing nightmare, everything felt the same and almost as though they were having a repetition of the previous ones in almost similar manner. For the duo in her room, engaged in their usual habits, everything felt fine, asides for Nora.

  Still visibly shaken by her ordeal within the fifteen minutes she had fallen asleep earlier, she remained silent in her chair and held unto its arms tightly with her hands. The air rang aloud with rock music, blaring wordings that were as dark in nature as Naomi’s thick afro, if not even darker than the lady’s hair. It was Daren’s doing without a doubt, and as evident by his head bobbing hard against the disturbing sound, he fancied his bizarre music choice.

  Nora harkened her ears to the wordings some bit, taking into context the fact every word seemed to be calling out for the darkness to come consume the light therein and around. Constant appeal for dark spirits living beyond the veil to tear through and manifest in the current realm was the sermon continually being preached by the words, and it shriveled up her heart just listening to it.

  She pondered hard on whether the music had any effect on her dreadful fifteen minutes sleep in hell, or if she was simply being overly troubled by the fact she was sure of everything she had seen earlier and that they were as real as can be. She looked over to the quiet Naomi, who continued to drown herself in the rock music as well as paint her nails on the bed.

  Daren coughed aloud, followed by a rather irritating cackle that caught Nora’s attention.

  “What!?” he asked upon noting her glare at him.

  Nora shook her head, watched the boy roll up some more weed and gently place it in between his finger while he scuffled for his lighter. Coughing softly, midst struggling to breathe an uncontaminated air with either weed of the demonic music on play, Nora approached the window and shoved the curtains to the side to allow in enough clear air.

  Asides the fact the somewhat stuffy smelling and feeling room needed it, she needed it as well. Her lungs still felt parched of proper air since she woke, and her breathing was yet to steady itself in normal pace. Her heart slowly wound its rapid beats down a notch, but she could feel her organs threatening to fail at the slightest threat.

  “Much better”, she sighed in relief, staring out the window and into the night.

  The sky looked beautiful with a million stars tucked all around and into its bosom. The moon hid itself halfway in the clouds, but still managed to grace its beautifully borrowed rays from the sun down on the surroundings of her house. Things looked brighter and better and it was just the way Nora would love it to be.

  She turned around swiftly, clenched her fists nervously on both sides, and headed for the bed when she halted abruptly to shoot Daren another scowl and disgusted look while he let out an irritating cough.

  “Knock it off!” she yelled.

  He shot her a perplexed look in response as she marched over to snatch the rolled joint from his hand.

  “Chill out! You’re acting crazy”, he moaned. ‘Your religious parents aren’t here, so you can take a chill pill!” he winked at her and smiled, while trying to reach for his weed.

  Nora fumed, bit her lower lip and took another look at the weed in her hand and then at the stash placed on the table before Daren. She locked gaze with the boy, while he broke his eyes off of her to reach for the stash he carelessly laid atop the table before him. Regretfully for him, he was too slow; Nora beat him to it, smirking and smiling as she marched her way back to the window and stopped to look back at Daren.

  His eyes bore a mix of anger and a little bit of plea meshed with arrogance, but he wasn’t about begging her not to do whatever she intended to and Nora knew him too well. S

  “Let someone else enjoy the craze for the night”, she giggled, before unwrapping the joint and letting its content dance beautifully with the wind.

  She tossed off the wrapper before holding out the bag of weed and dusting its content off as well, to the cringing and absolutely disheartened looking Daren. He looked away in hurt and ground his teeth, but all in harmless deed, as Nora dusted her hands free of any weed residue.

  “Maybe some of my insane neighbors will be sane for once after taking a sniff or two”, she thought to herself. She paused momentarily before Daren who slowly lit in smile.

  “You understand I’m not the bad guy here, right?” he smirked and sniffed.

  Nora turned to look at Naomi who seemed to have been following their conversation for a while after getting through with her nails. Both girls stared blankly at Daren, who interchanged his gaze from one to the other.

  “For real guys, my hormones do more than you two can imagine”, he added.

  Nora waved his theatrics off and looked to her computer. She ducked just in time as a pillow flew past her from Naomi’s side of the room and at Daren who barely saw it coming and hard little to no time to duck.

  “Stop making silly excuses!” she yelled at him.

  Nora took a step forward and slowly blanked her mind and interest from hearing a word they were arguing about. They soon broke out laughing hard and loud, with the int
ermittent breaks of audible coughs from Daren as he struggled to catch his breath. Nora sighed, shook her head and veered ahead in two steps before hearing Daren’s cough heighten and become a struggle, with a loud thud and accompanied scream from Naomi.

  “Daren!” Naomi yelled while she approached him.

  Nora turned around briskly to see the boy had fallen on his face. His eyes rolled back in their sockets slowly, accompanied by his eyelids clamping shut.

  “Nora! Please, do something!” Naomi yelled at her friend.

  Nora hurried closer, almost too stricken with shock to move in the first instance. Naomi rolled him on his side and held his head in her hand.

  “Daren!” she screamed in grief, searching for a pulse, but seemingly unable to find any. “Wake up! Daren!”

  Her cries filled the apartment, and the air suddenly grew thinner by the second. She shrugged him hard and hoped he would respond, but the boy remained perfectly still with his breath seemingly absent. Naomi looked over to Nora, who still wasn’t sure on what to do or how to even tackle the situation. Nora knelt by her friend, lips stiffened, and her eyes widened in horror.

  “Not again!” she mumbled to herself, whilst partly recollecting the hellish dream she just had.

  The room finally fell silent, interjected only by subtle sobs from Naomi who couldn’t hide her hurt and needed to let them out. Nora’s eyes burned with unshed tears, and her lips began to tremble as she took Daren’s hand into hers and felt his wrist. A soft pulse greeted her grasp and her heart gladden with joy as she felt it begin to beat in rising tempo.

  “He is a pulse!” Nora cried excitedly. “Naomi!”

  Her disheartened and fervently weeping fiend sniffed and wiped off some of the tears sheltering her from seeing properly as Nora slowly reached to place her hand on Daren’s chest. She looked to Naomi, happily and with some promise of hope lingering and shimmering in her eyes, when the sudden grasp around her wrist alerted her back to her hand on Daren’s chest.