WHO: Lochan and Glenn WHEN: Day after Film Welcome Party WHERE: Psychic. SUMMARY: The film cast and crew trickling into the odd shop, not knowing what they are looking for. WARNINGS:none.
What did a small town have but a small town feel. Most people looked at any little town amongst farmlands as places of strong suspicion of outsiders and relatively closed minds. Lochan would say that it was mostly true from his experience, though many town gossips focused on what was in front of them more often than the passer-bys.
The town was a buzz with news of the film crew. Anywhere one went it was spoken about in some manner; positive, negative, it did not matter, everyone had an opinion. Everyone but Lochan. There was certain attention such a crew could give his business that he did not wish for and a certain amount of income he could not turn down, so Lochan sat in the waiting area of his shop spinning in his chair waiting for the newcomers to pop in. He did not need to be psychic to know they would start trickling in.
Midday sun shone in through the bay windows at the front of the house turned shop. No other houses came close to being neighbours, as the farmlands sat to the front of the house and behind were fields and woods leading to the burnt down March house and old mill. The neon ‘Psychic’ sign hummed softly, filling the quiet space filled with a few shelves that carried amulets and stones for sale to anyone who thought they might help.
The entire house smelt heavily of burnt turmeric making it more like India than New Age shops full of sage and patchouli.
--
While Glenn had attended the welcome party and talked to a few people, he had mostly kept to the sides. While he was happy to meet and talk to people he wasn’t quite comfortable in a large group and it had been a long day and he was fairly tired. He knew he had plenty of time to get to know the people of the town, something he was actually looking forward to doing.
The next day, after a decent sleep and breakfast, he had headed out to explore the town. It was larger than he had expected but certainly was still a small town despite that. It had a quaint feel about it which he liked. He could sense people looking at him as he wandered through the town and he wasn’t surprised that they watched him. The movie was bound to be controversial given that many of the residents would have known Alice when she died as it hadn’t been that long ago.
He was intrigued by it. Besides it being a job which he was always after, he had always been a fan of horror movies and after reading the book he was intrigued by the story. He had no idea what he thought about what had actually happened that night be he knew it would be interesting.
He just hoped that the town and her family and friends would eventually find closure.
Down a long road toward the farmlands, he found himself outside a Psychic store. Intrigued, Glenn pushed the door open and entered. “Hello?” he called out as he stepped inside.
--
Looking up from the crystal he was playing with, Lochan stopped turning the office chair in circles when he heard the ring of the bell over the door. As he predicted some fool from the film crew walked into his shop. Lochan looked the man over before standing up and reaching out his hand.
“Hey. Welcome to my shop. Are you here for a reading of some sort?”
--
Glenn hadn’t really thought about what he wanted to do in the shop, he’d just been intrigued by it. He hadn’t been to a psychic in years and the last one was so obviously a fake that it had kind of ruined the moment. Despite that, he was interested to see what this man had to offer. “Sure why not,” he said. “What sort of readings do you do? I wasn’t planning on one but it can’t hurt to have one done.”
Looking around the store, it was simple but welcoming and Glenn found it strangely calming which he liked
---
“I can do whatever you want, but I prefer astrology, which is the easiest for people to handle but takes some time. And otherwise, I’m a Medium.” Lochan breathed out a heavy sigh through his nose. “Actually, if I’m honest. I hate tarot and I would prefer that if you want your future read in that manner go up to Seattle. I figure the more tourist through the more they’ll ask and I’d rather not deal with that today.”
He did not really want to talk to spirits either. The new people in town stirred a lot of things in town that he had long let sleep, but the gossip of the film and renewed speech of the fire since the book came out brought out the sleeping spirits to feed off the newly cut open wounds. He figured they would only get worse as the film crew settled in.
---
Glenn shrugged, not fussed either way. “Astrology is fine with me. I wouldn’t want you to feel uncomfortable,” he replied simply. “I admit I don’t know much about it anyway to have a real preference. I have heard of things but nothing more than that.”
---
“Astrology can take a while. It is a combination of science and medieval mysticism. It is used heavily in the East and is nothing like the modern Western concept that you find in a back of a magazine.” A smirk pulled at the corner of his mouth, but his face quickly took a neutral position.
“Come into the back and we can start. I merely need the date of your birth, approximate time, and location. If you don’t have the time, don’t worry.”