ALBERT GUZMAN - TAROT CARDS

​Albert Guzman currently studies at Full Sail University, where he splits his time between video games, watching cartoons, and dreaming of writing for video games and cartoons. A lifelong book-lover, he never goes anywhere without a satchel full of reading material; not even to the movies. No really, it’s true.

Tarot Cards
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The heat was the worst of it by far.
 
That was the one thing Ashley kept thinking about. Sure, it wasn’t the only thing bothering her; there was the hard, wooden floor she’d been sitting on for hours, and the grumbling in her stomach. There was the awful music the driver liked to play. Seriously, the Worst country music she’d ever heard in her life. Can’t a stowaway sneak a ride in peace? She wanted to say. And maybe, just maybe worse than the heat, she sometimes thought, was the backpack full of water she couldn’t take her eyes off of.
No, she told herself, growling a little for emphasis as she got up and shifted once more. Thank whoever was out there for the ventilation shaft at the top of this damn thing; she’d probably have died of heat stroke if not for the little draft of air it provided. (and once again, a voice in the back of her mind chided her for sneaking into the trailer without checking for one first; stupid, stupid, stupid!) But man, would it hurt if she could get just a little more breeze from it?
As she pushed herself up, Ashley took in the mess of furniture she found herself trapped with; mattresses, chairs, drawers and boxes. Lots of boxes. There has to be a softer place to sit and still get a breeze. C’mon, Ash. The mattresses were propped up on their side, too high and too slim; no help there. The chairs were comfy but tucked in a sweltering corner of the box. Her mind went back to the backpack, and the 6-pack of water bottles she’d kept in it. Just a sip and she’d… NO!
With another burst of anger, she pushed herself away and started making her way through the maze before her. Once again, the voice in her head berated her for already going through half of one of the bottles, and the day wasn’t even over yet! Who knows how long the trip would last? She might be stuck in here for days! A short spike of fear gripped her. She had enough food for a week, if she starved herself to one meal a day. She knew she could handle that. A short period of nearly anorexic dieting she’d tried in the past proved it, though she wasn’t looking forward to it again at all. Surely the trip couldn’t last more than that. Right?
She needed to distract herself. Muscling her way past the mattresses and boxes, Ash came close to an office desk that was strapped between the beds and some metal toolbox. With a sigh she felt her hair move a little. The breeze was stronger in this spot, but there wasn’t anywhere to sit unless she plopped herself on the table. When she first snuck in she hadn’t wanted to risk it breaking if it proved fragile, but now she was definitely reconsidering.
Then, something new caught her eye. One of the drawers built into the desk had come loose. She wondered, hadn’t they all been locked? But she didn’t wonder long; she was bored, thirsty, hot, and scared. Anything to take her mind off of those things would help, so she bent over and started trying to force the drawer open enough to see what was in it.
It was hard; there wasn’t much room between it and the mattress, and she couldn’t push the whole desk the other way to make additional space, so Ash had to elbow the mattress as hard as she could to make just enough room for a few more inches. Once she’d done that, she brushed her hair back and leaned over.
Let’s see here... a stapler. Ugh, please don’t just be office supplies. Umm, I see a box of pens, pencils, some sticky notes. Nope. There’s, oh, is that a phone?! No, wait, that’s just a calculator. Shit, looks like there’s nothing in here. Come on…. Oh, oh! Is that… what the?
There was a small package at the back of the drawer. A short struggle later, and it was out and in her hand. To Ash’s eye, it looked like a box of playing cards, only with a huge eye inside a pyramid pictured on the front instead of a spade or whatever. No words either to say what was in it.
Weird, she thought, opening it up and sliding the cards inside out. Yes, these were not ordinary playing cards. On each of them were pictures, of a cup, of a lady, of two ladies, of some guy with a sword. After a few moments staring at them, she suddenly remembered what she was looking at.
Tarot cards. Like in that Robert Downey Jr. movie I saw. Old fortune-telling. Tilting the rest of the box out into her hand, a folded piece of laminated paper came out as well. She placed the cards on the desk and opened it. At the top of unfurled sheet was the title, A Quick Guide to Tarot Reading. There, in what looked like microscopic print, was more info about how to predict the future with a bunch of pretty pieces of cardboard than she’d ever wanted to know.
Now it wasn’t like Ash was ever into all this hocus pocus occult stuff. Nor that she really liked reading and learning all that much. But as she looked at all the cards listed and started reading what each of them meant, the water bottles lying back in the car faded further and further from her mind. Before she knew it, she was sitting cross-legged on the desk, the cards waiting beside her as she squinted at the page.
Just a few months ago, Ash had been going to school, skipping class with her friends. A few months ago, she’d been pleading and screaming at her dad. Crazy how fast things could change, wasn’t it?
 
Is this the biggest mistake of my life, or the best idea I’ve ever had? Where do I even go from here? … well, I’m not going back now. Not for just a bottle of water. So tell me, big fancy mystic forces of the universe. What happens next?
She drew her first card.