"So, Mr.... Mr. Devil-corn? Your lines here tell me that you are sure to have a long career as a... meat packer? Not a profession I see every day in my shop," Miss Valencia said as she looked down at my palm with narrow brown eyes that were hard to pick out from her thick blob of curly hair.

At least one of my friends behind me snickered. Valencia had fallen right into the trap of the false social media page that I had set up before I made the appointment. You see, this was all part of my plan to convince my friends that psychics aren't real. They just use whatever information they can garner about you before regurgitating it under the guise of "reading you". The atmosphere of the shop contributed to the lie - huge candles burning all around, heavy red and pink drapery to evoke romance, and the smell of rose incense permeating the air.

"I'm not sure I'm getting a full picture of you Mr. Corn. Perhaps you should lean in a bit closer so I can see you better."

"Sure thing," I said, leaning in a bit, picking up even more of her strong perfume, a floral combination that came off more like household cleaner than anything pleasant.

She dropped my palm and fingered one of her six necklaces, the one with stones that looked like fake emeralds. "Have you recently participated in a seance, Mr. Corn?"

"Uhh, no."

"Strange things, I'm seeing a seance in my vision. Perhaps a family member or someone important recently died?

"Not at all."

"Perhaps then, a friend of a friend?"

"I know of no one that has died recently. This is as expected, it doesn't seem like you really know how to read minds. In fact, I tricked you into thinking that I'm someone that I'm not." I laughed as I scanned her face for a reaction.

"Most interesting, Mr. Corn. I get people like you all of the time. You think you're so smart, that nothing outside of what is logically and scientifically fact is possible. Yet, each time one of you comes to my shop, they leave changed."

"I doubt that." I said confidently.

She smiled slightly, re-adjusting her hands. "Give me your palm again, and let us see what your future holds."

I shrugged. "So tell me how it works then since you claim I'm going to leave changed. Prove to me that you know something about me just by looking at me."

"There isn't much to it, darling. Your ghost-white palor speaks of a grim death. I don't even need to consult my totems," she looked down at the necklaces.

It struck me that when I had awoken this morning I had a strange pain in my right arm and a sudden thought that I was going to die soon.

The next time I went to breathe I felt like I couldn't. My vision went fuzzy gray, then black.

[WC: 496]