Judgement and The World

Lexi continued to stare at the poster for what seemed like a much too long time. Shadowed figures walked at various speeds behind her as she continued to gaze into the image of the tower, wondering if there was any other hidden meaning behind it all. A few people walked up to her, peered into the bookstore window, wondering what Lexi was staring at so intensely and then wandered off once they could not figure out what the girl was watching.

A lot of memories and thoughts ran through Lexi’s head, “What am I going to do? What does all this mean? How can I escape this fate that the cards so apparently want me to take on? This is not fair, life has never really been too kind to me and given me a shot. I cannot believe this is happening. What do I do next?”

The Moon and The Sun

That night, Lexi tossed and turned. Her dreams were filled with allegory and delusions. The dream-Lexi walked outside her apartment and back down to where she stood only hours (or was it minutes) ago where she burned all of the tarot cards. Except this time, there was a lady sobbing next to the ashes of the deck. Her back was turned to Lexi and she had black lace covering her blonde hair. She wore black woolen shirts and had on a black skirt, with matching tiny, black Victorian leather heals. She was kneeling on the ground, and had her hands bent to her face. Her sobs were small and tiny and she sounded like a young girl.

The Tower and The Star

It took Lexi almost two full hours to get from the middle of downtown back to her home out in the neighboring suburbs. Her toes were freezing and she cried all the way home, trying to keep her eyes shut. But now, she was safe and a heck of a lot warmer. The first thing she did before she took off her shoes and clothes was to turn on the gas stove and slowly boil some f her fluoride tap water in her chrome and ceramic tea kettle. She mechanically moved her hand over the cup board and removed her favorite ceramic mug with a orange tabby who was comically drawn and appeared a bit italicized on the cup with the word STRESS! written above it. It had been one of the last gifts her mother ever gave her and she used it only during times of stress. It saw her through many late night study sessions and various weeks of mid-terms and finals week tests. And for the first time in a long time, she was pulling it down out off the second shelf where it rested and was going to use it.

Temperance and The Devil

The next day was rough on Lexi. She had a hard time focusing on work and did not really feel like going to what little classes she had. The thought that her reading had caused the death of her Dorm Mother’s child haunted her and no matter how much she threw herself into her work or all the studies, she just could not get it out of her head that the cards could actually cause the death of someone else.

Her friends were a great support to her however, even Claudia put off all the boy chasing and phone calls that she was famous for to walk over that evening.

Death

A bit haunted and disturbed from the barrage of songs her iPod had forced on her, Lexi sat around wondering what to do next. She had wiped and reloaded the iPod with the latest software upgrade and her entire catalog. While her systems were updating, she even purchased a few more old school nineteen eighty’s new wave tracks from her iTunes account. She laughed at herself for having the balls to actually purchase the tunes and smiled as each thirty second clip she listened to, brought back some silly memory of her past life and awkward growing up through that time. She recalled the tall hair styles of her friends and the wild fluorescent red, green, blue and yellow colors that clashed when worn all over the body from shirt to pants to shoe laces.

The Hanged Man

Lexi stretched. “Well, that was a bit anti-climatic,” she said scratching her head. “I have done another reading. And it did not last as long as I was hoping it to. So yeah, it is now eight o’clock and I could either go back to sleepy now or do something a bit more productive with the time I have. I would much rather stay up a bit more.”

Again, she looked around her room in the hopes that inspiration hit. She realized that she did this a lot but it was her mind’s way of trying to parse the information that she had inside her head. She looked down at her gray and black sling back backpack. “Hmm, I really do not feel like studying any more tonight. I think I have been studying all day and therefore deserve a small reward. So nothing in there I want to play with.”

Judgement

After having received the disturbing emails that constantly reinforced tarot themes and messages show up constantly in her email inbox, Lexi decided to try and focus on other things for the next few days. Instead she focused on her other, more normal life, as Naomi had suggested. She called Claudia and arranged to head out with her and “the crew” to go out for a mall crawl. While there, the four of them vowed to go dancing on Friday night. At first Lexi did not want to go but after much chastising from Claudia and her other friends, she conceded and gave into temptation. After which, she got them to help her find some new and suitable night-life clothing for the future event.

Wheel of Fortune

It was almost midnight when Naomi dropped Lexi off at the front entrance of her apartment complex. They hugged each other before parting ways.

“Lex, one final word of caution. You seem to clinging rather tight to this tarot deck and ignoring the rest of your life. I know that you are going to work because without that you have no way to keep your home. But from what I can tell you are staying secluded at home and doing nothing but learning and reading the cards. You should try and get out and maybe hang out with your other friends. Do not get me wrong, I am happy that you keep calling me and we keep hanging out as I do enjoy your presence, but I know that I cannot be your only friend and you should try and hang out with some others too,” Naomi said, as she placed a hand on her friend’s arm. “Remember sweetie, that no matter what the cards tell you; you will always have the judgment of your friends.”

The Hermit

The walk home from work was a cold, somber one for Lexi. Her mind kept wandering back to the possible connection that the day’s events and her tarot deck may have spawned. She wanted badly to believe that it was not her that caused the completely out of the blue event that swept the globe in awe and anticipation. Her breath floated out in small and tiny pufts as she rushed home to the warmth that her apartment had inside.

Her apartment complex sounded like the undergraduate dorms did when their university’s football team won the regionals back in nineteen-ninety-five. Everyone was whooping and hollering and the noise was almost unbearable. Lexi shook her head and pushed the door to her apartment and welcomed the inner warmth and silence her small living space offered. Locking the door behind her, she sighed.

Strength

By the time Lexi arrived at work the next morning, the campus was a buzz. Every where she looked, people were talking in hushed, tight close knit groups. As hard as she tried, she was not able to really make out the words. But apparently whatever had happened while she was at home last night, being disconnected from the rest of the world had made it big.

“Good morning,” she said to Denise as she hung her jacket and her black scarf up on the copper colored coat rack. ”Sounds like something big happened earlier this morning while I was on my way here. What is up?”