Twisted

“Come on Gina, just try it. It’ll do you no harm”, Martha tried to convince me.

I shivered as I cast a look at the strange looking woman who was sitting in front of me. She had a headgear on and beads all over both arms. Her face was oval and
smooth and she had no make up on with the exception of her lips that were painted black. She cast me an intense look with her bloodshot eyes as she stretched out her
hands towards me demanding that I bring my palm. Her beads rattled in the process.

I turned to look at Martha who smiled confidently at me and urged me on. Reluctantly, I stretched my left hand towards the woman. She grabbed it with her cold hands, looked into my palm, scanned it
for some seconds and smiled smugly. She burst out into strange laughter and suddenly went mute.

“He’s not for you. He’s only deceiving you. He’ll break your heart and abandon you”, she said.

“Wh-who?”, I stammered out.

“Roger” her voice rang out loudly in my head.

I sat still in a state of confusion.

“But that’s not possible! He’s a good guy and he has proven beyond all reasonable doubt that he’s faithful. Besides our wedding is just two weeks away. How do
you even know him?”, I snapped at her.

“Hahaha” came her shrill laughter.

Then she paused and stared at me with her eyes wide open and said,

“On your wedding day. That’s when he’ll abandon you”

“But how? Why?”, I yelled.

“Your palm says so”, she said, pointing at it.

I turned again to see Martha sitting quietly behind us, observing what was going on. She seemed unperturbed. Why would she be bothered? After all, her palm read that she would get a millionaire to marry her before the year
ends.

Why did I even follow her to town? She had invited me out on a shopping spree and before I knew it, she had brought me into
this secluded place and here was this strange woman telling me all these abominable things.

“Why was I even believing all these lies? What happened to my faith?”, I asked myself because I was getting extremely nervous.

Out of impulse, I pulled my palm away, grabbed my bag and got up to leave. I didn’t want to hear anything she had to say to me
again.

“You can’t leave without my permission, young lady”, I heard the woman say.

I snubbed her and kept walking towards the door, leaving Martha behind. Just then I felt a hand grip my wrist. I tried to free myself but the hand wouldn’t let go. I woke up with a start only to
realize that I was still lying on the lazy chair in the garden with my sister standing in front of me, holding on firmly to my wrist.
The magazine I had used to cover my face fell.

“Why are you so nervous?”, she asked in a surprised tone.

“It’s nothing”, I answered as I sat up and heaved a sigh of relief and said a silent prayer. It was a dream after all.

“Well, lunch is ready. Roger is also here to see you”, she told me.

I smiled at the mention of Roger because he meant everything to me. Immediately I got up to go and see him, my phone beeped. And lo and behold, it was a message from
Martha.

I stood there with my eyes wide
open as I read the message.
“Hey Gina. Are you free tomorrow? I have some extra cash. Let’s go shoppiiinnnggg”

Without thinking twice, I replied “No please. I have some really pressing issues to attend to” and handed over the phone to my sister. I was supposed to be nervous but I wasn’t. I didn’t care about any dream or whatever
was supposed to happen in the future.

“My faith doesn’t teach me to believe in certain things”, I muttered to myself as I ran into Roger’s open arms. He was all that
mattered to me.