Tuesday Tales - Word Prompt - Staple

Welcome to this week's edition of Tuesday Tales. This week I'm sharing with you the opening to my new WIP. 

 

This will be your outcome if you don’t stay away from Charlie.  These words encrypted on two tarot cars had not only haunted her, but had changed the course of her life.

Five years later…

On a train en route to River Lake Springs, Rachael Ragazzi opened the zipper compartment of her wallet and pulled out back-to-back tarot cards stapled together, where these harsh words were written.

To this day it still amazed her how she let these two cards change her fate, causing her to make the biggest mistake of her life.  Making such a brash decision in packing it in and leaving River Lake Springs without thinking things through, had gotten the best of her.  Why would she let tow tarot cards change the direction of her life?  For Christ sake they were only an Italian card game, not a course of living.

Thinking back to when she told Lacy, she remember Lacy reassuring he that whoever sent the cards apparently was an absolute imbecile with no knowledge of the underlying meaning of the Rider-Waite Tarot Deck or any tarot deck for that matter.  However, this person was smart, taping the Tower Card and the Death Card back to back.  On the Tower Card, the number one was written and below it in lipstick red said, “This is what’s to come.” Turning the card over Rachael started at the Death Card.  On it, written in the same red lipstick was the number two and below it this will be your outcome if you don’t stay way from Charlie.

Rachael still got an unsettling feeling whenever she looked at the Tower Card. The card represented destruction.  It was a dark and dreary card with a lightening bolt that hit the top of the towel knocking the top off, while flames quickly blazed throughout.  There were two people falling from the tower and on one of them her name was written in blood red ink.

Chills ran through her body when she flipped the card over.  Now knowing much about the tarot, she surmised the Death Card meant that someone was out to kill her.  The card displayed an armored, skeletal figure riding a white horse holding a flag, with dead flowers and a king, child and maiden falling in front of him.  It frightened her beyond belief that two cards had been the deciding factor in her final decision to leave.

When Rachael calmed down, Lacy explained to her that the Death Card in a tarot reading was a good card.  Death meant the end of one stage in your life and the beginning of another.

She thought back to the day she packed he things and took off to Lacy’s house in Crown Royal, a three hour drive to upstate New York.  That day was the turning point in her life.  The day she had made the decision to start over again, which began with her changing her cell phone number and deleting her Facebook account.

It nearly killed her leaving behind all that meant the world to her.  What could have possessed her to be scared off by two tarot game cards? She had turned her life upside down.  Tears accompanied her every night bed ritual, which consisted of a prayer to Saint Anthony, a brief summary of her day in her journal and kissing Charlie’s picture good night.

Why did she walk away from the one man who had captivated her heart and soothed her soul? How could she have left without any explanation?  Her motto out of sight, out of mind just wasn’t cutting it anymore.  She thought she’d get over time, but never did.  He was always popping up in her everyday thoughts.  All it would take was hearing a song and Charlie’s image would appear.

Taking a deep breath Rachael gazed out the train window.  She couldn’t believe she had volunteered to return back to her hometown of River Lake Springs, New York with Lacy for the reading of Lacy’s ex-husbands will.

What were her chances of running into Charlie?  And what would she do if she did?  This was something she had dreamed about all these years.  Just thinking about him, sent chills through her.  The fact of the matter she never stopped loving him and hoped somehow someway she would run into hi.  But then, there were still those damn tarot cards.  Every time she thought about calling him,

she would think about the cards and talk herself out of it. Or was she using the cards as an excuse to keep her life stagnant.

“Hey, I thought you got rid of those five years ago,” Lacy said pointing t the cards.

“I lied,” she frowned.  “I wanted to get rid of them, but something just wouldn’t let me.”

Lacy took the cards from her.  “I would love to find out who sent them.”

“Yeah, me too.  I’ve never been the same.  I must be crazy walking away from my life over two cards.”

“However, only good came from the cards.”  Lacy grinned.  “Those cards drove you straight to Crown Royal where you’ve become a successful businesswoman.  Fate has a funny way of playing games.”

“You’re right.  We’ve come a long way.”  Putting her head down she concluded, “I never thought I would get back on track, especially after my disastrous marriage to Mitch.  Thank God I was able to get a quick divorce.”

“That’s what happens when you make rash decisions without thinking.”

Rachael took her cards back.  “And that’s what good friends are for.  You helped me through one of the most devastating time in my life.”

“That’s what we’re all about,” she nodded. “And on that note, I’m going to find the restroom and inquire if there is a bar car on this train.”

Holding up her cell phone, Rachael said, “Call me if there is and I’ll meet you thee.  I sure can go for a martini.”

Lacy stood up.  “I’m sure you can, and a double at that.”

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