Hell On Earth

Gypsy

Pain.

Blood.

Darkness.

She pulled her hand back as if burned. She'd never felt this way before. She'd barely brushed his fingers and felt such a deep sense of loss and despair that she had to close her eyes to stop the evil slideshow of flashes blinking behind her eyes.

A blond girl with matted hair bleeding from her head.

Men lying bleeding on the ground.

A man shot in the head and falling.

It was never-ending and she tried to quell the anxiety and fear by controlling her breaths. But it was impossible.

It felt as if eons had passed when she heard his voice penetrate through the tunnel, "I missed that. What did you just say?"

"N-nothing, I have to go," She turned around and it took all her strength to not turn around and take one last look at the devil.

If evil had a face...it was damn beautiful and seductive. Better to pull you to the other side, right?

This was always the problem she faced with her...gift.

For better or worse she always saw things that were associated with death and destruction. For once she'd just like to touch a person and predict that they were going to get a promotion, a new baby or win a freaking gift card, at the very least.

But noooo.

Her senses always predicted misfortune and mishaps that awaited them. That's why she hated being touched or touch any person. Once, she'd mistakenly bumped into a pregnant woman on the subway and seen her submerged in a filled bathtub overflowing with red water. She'd tried to talk to the woman and warn her. But, what could she say?

Excuse me, but please be careful around bathtubs. You're going to slip and fall in it causing you to miscarry.

Yeah, right. She hadn't even known when it was going to happen.

It was always the same. The first time she'd felt anything like that was when she was eight and seen her sister falling from the huge willow tree outside their house while trying to rescue a cat stuck there.

She thought she was daydreaming about bad events and overimagining things. Since she'd fought with her sister that day over some silly thing, she couldn't even remember now.

But after a week she'd forgotten about the bad dream and had been playing with her dolls and her sister in the garden outside their house. But she'd forgotten to get some cookies to feed her little dolls and run inside the kitchen to grab some. As she'd rushed outside, she saw that her sister wasn't at the garden table where she'd left her. She'd run towards the street when she saw her sister fall from the willow tree in the middle of the garden. Dressed in the same yellow dress, trying to rescue the same looking brown and white kitty stuck in the branch above her as she'd...imagined in her dreams.

It all happened as if it were in slow motion. She'd frozen with a scream trapped in her mouth and it had taken her days to start speaking again. Her sister's left arm had broken in three places where she'd landed and sprained her right foot along with a concussion. She'd felt so guilty and scared and thought that if she could've just warned her, she'd have been able to save her sister. After many efforts and hoping to explain everything to her parents, she'd finally confessed all of it. They had looked at her with such understanding and deep fear. After that, they'd taken her to live with her Grandma for the summer and she'd finally understood how her life had changed. Forever.

It had taken her a long time to come to grips with her new reality. What good was her gift if she couldn't even use it properly, to warn other people and try to save them? But of the many people, she had pretended to touch and get a read on while working as a professional psychic and the comparatively fewer ones she'd accidentally touched over her 25 years, that man had been the most...scary.

It had freaked her out to see those evil, monstrous scenes. Even more overwhelming had been the dark despair and utter hopelessness she'd felt to the depths of her very soul. She was literally shaking and trying to catch her breath hidden in a tiny alley from where she'd run away from him.

Her freakout was interrupted by her cell buzzing in her pocket. She glanced at the screen and saw her sister was calling. She swiped on the screen, "H-hi sis. What's up?"

"Where are you Gypsy? What's happened?" Her sister cried out in a panicky voice.

"N-nothi-"

"-Don't lie to me, Gypsy. Remember when that dollhouse burnt down and you blamed KitKat for it, lying to our parents so that you wouldn't get grounded."

"They believed me."

"Yeah but I didn't. I knew you were covering up." There was a pause on the line, "Now tell me what's wrong?"

"I just felt someone accidentally and saw these vile and wicked events layered with a deep sense of evil and despair that freaked me out."

"Gypsy..."

"I'm alright now. I'm feeling a bit better talking to you. Don't worry about me."

"I wish Grandma were alive to help you with this. After all she had the gift too."

It had been the one point of contention between them when everyone in her family had realized that she'd been blessed...or cursed with this gift. Typically for generations, the gift had always passed down to the eldest child on her mother's side but her sister hadn't gotten it despite being a couple of years older. Freya had never understood when she'd been prone to fits in the middle of her class when she'd be touched by her friends or fall into deep sleep after experiencing someone else's future trauma. She could never handle her or provide any understanding as the gift worked in mysterious ways and Gypsy never had any real control over it like her grandma.

"Me too, Freya. Me too."

She hung up and sighed. Taking a deep breath and straightening her shoulders she made it out of the alley. Nearly bumping into that strange man again, she faltered.

"We really should stop meeting like this," He smirked with his eyes lit up.

Was he really as wicked and evil as she'd...

"Then you probably shouldn't be stalking me."

"You ran away without giving me your name."

"Why do you want to know?"

"I should at least know it to thank my rescuer."

"Rescuer?"

"You saved me from the old lady predicting armageddon for me."

"Oh right," Which reminded her that she should confirm her suspicions. Was this jovial, flirty, handsome stranger really a monster?

Does the book always match the cover? Don't be stupid, she chastised herself.

What if she felt all those inhumane and evil things again? Would she able to withstand the shock and intense fear again?

Feeling mentally unprepared but determined she stepped closer to the man. He raised an eyebrow at her waiting expectantly for her reply. She held out her hand, "My name is Gypsy Riviera. What's yours?"

His eyes darkened and he took hers sliding his long, index finger over her wrist and caressing it subtly.

Man, someone had some moves.

"I'm Ramsey Bishop. A pleasure to know you."

"Ummm-hmm."

She was so lost in the charm and the mesmerizing jades drinking her in as if she was the last cool drink and he was thirsty and lost in an arid desert searching for her that she forgot about her little test.

Only when he released her from his thrall did she come back to reality. She hadn't felt a thing.

*****

"He couldn't do it, Mom."

"I know, sweetheart. But he will."

"I don't know, Mom. Will he?"

The blonde-haired, blue-eyed girl looked at her mother pleadingly.

"The new girl may change things. Are you worried about it?"

"Yes. What if he forgets about us?"

"Then we have to make sure he doesn't."