6. Janie
Chapter 6
Janie
A s I stood in front of the large windows, the brightly lit shop welcomed people inside. Baubles, gems, and flowers sat in the window. I pushed open the painted door with my shoulder, since my coffee was in my other hand. At the door, I hesitated for a moment, overwhelmed by a sudden, intense pain. I stumbled forward. The young woman at the counter tilted her head. I took a deep breath as the pain eased. The sunlight that had been streaming into the store shifted as darkness spread through the store. I turned toward the window.
“The clouds must be out,” I said.
The woman made a face at the window. Her eyes narrowed as she studied the windows and shook her head. “I guess . Do you need a tarot reading, or are you here for some crystals?” she asked as she waved to the other side of the shop. The woman’s hair was long and wavy. She was wearing a plain T-shirt and jeans. She seemed normal. Maybe I was being biased on what I thought people who worked in a new age shop like this looked like.
I shook my head. I gripped the business card tightly between my thumb and my fingers and showed it to her. “A woman the other day gave this to me. She said she needed to talk to me.”
The woman’s brows furrowed as she walked toward a door near the back. “Ma! There is a woman here. She says you told her to come.”
“What kind of woman?”
“A normal woman.” There was a strange inflection in her voice when she said that. Like it meant something when she said normal. Of course, I was normal.
“Oh gods, her,” she said. Her voice was lower this time. There was a clatter and the woman from yesterday walked out. Today, she was wearing black leggings and a tank top covered in paint splatters. Her eyes softened as she saw me. “Oh, darling. I am so glad you are here.”
Her green eyes flickered to the darkened shop windows. “I see he followed you,” she said. I stepped back. An alarm rang throughout my body that I was in danger.
The other woman’s eyes widened. “Oh, is that what I think it is?”
The shop owner turned towards her. Pity and sadness filled her face. “Yes, it is. But we can help.”
“Help with what? What are you talking about?” I asked.
“There are bad things in the night. Things that go bump and it looks like one has attached themselves to you,” she said.
I shook my head. “No. Can’t be.”
“When you passed my wards, did you feel pain? That was the wards preventing him from coming inside my walls,” she said. She waved towards the windows. “After I saw you, I made sure the wards included his kin.”
“Ma’am, what are you saying? What’s a ward?” I said. I stepped back again. The urge to run away was even stronger now, and the bite mark on my shoulder throbbed. Panic spread through my body. Were these women in a weird cult?
The older woman bit her lip. “Siobhan, can you make a small go bag for her? I don’t think this is going to work out,” she said. Siobhan nodded as she walked around the shop, grabbing small things. “It’s hard to explain it to someone like you. But there is something sinister following you. You need to be careful. If you want to rid yourself of this dark curse, I can help. I have contacts if it is a powerful shade or worse .”
“Worse?”
“There are shades and there are monsters. I have a feeling this . . . could be a monster. Very rare. Shades are preferable.”
Siobhan brought a brown bag to me and shoved it in my hands. “Here. If you need anything, call. I put my number in the bag,” she said.
I nodded and rushed to the door. As I walked back outside, the bright sun greeted me with its warm embrace again. The sky was clear and devoid of any clouds. I wasn’t sure why the shop had turned so dark and looked back at the windows. I’m not sure what came over me. Why didn’t I hear her out? This wasn’t like me, but she was talking crazy. She talked like there were monsters in this world. As I walked down the street, I could hear the bustling sounds of cars and people. I still didn’t want to go home. Home was a lonely place with weird things going on.
As I continued to walk down the street looking at window displays, from the corner of my eye, I noticed a faint glimmer and an alley. I turned toward it. I stood in front of a wall. My brows furrowed. I could have sworn there was an alley. A woman breezed past me and stopped as she looked at the wall. Her hair was bright pink with black streaks. She was wearing a bright pink shirt with a pair of jeans. Her head tilted as she stared at me.
“Whatcha doing?” she asked.
I glanced at the wall and then at her. “I . . . I . . . I don’t know.”
The girl smiled sweetly. There was a shimmer behind her. My eyes narrowed as I tried to identify it. The shimmer stopped, but it wasn’t a hot day to cause a heat haze. “Do you see something?” she asked.
“It was nothing.”
“Are you sure? You’re lookin’ really hard at nothing,” the woman said.
I shook my head. “It’s just a wall. Maybe I am marveling at the masonry of this wall.”
The woman made a face and looked at the wall. “The masonry is good?”
I narrowed my eyes as I turned toward the wall. “Yeah, sure. I am a long-time fan of great work like that.”
The woman laughed. “You’re weird. I like it!”
I nodded and stepped around her, but something touched my shoulder. I stepped back as I looked at her. “Uh, sorry?”
Her lips pursed as she stepped back toward the wall. “You’re weird. Have you been touched?”
“What are you talking about?” I stepped away from her. Closer to the edge of the curb. Why was everyone being so weird today? Why was everything so weird lately?
“You saw the?—”
Another woman walked up to her and pulled her back. “Rose! Leave the poor woman alone. She looks haggard!” the woman said. The woman gently touched my arm, and I flinched. “Dear, you need to get some rest.”
“I sleep.” Lie.
Her eyes narrowed, and her eyes flicked to the ground. I glanced down as the movement of a shadow seemed to swell at my feet. She stepped back. “Well, good luck to you. You really should get that looked at,” she said as she grabbed her friend. Her friend glanced at me pityingly as they turned the other way. I glanced back at the ground. The shadow wasn’t moving anymore. As I looked at the ground, I noticed the cracks and crevices that told stories of years of wear and tear. I looked at the sky and I couldn’t see where this shadow was coming from. It wasn’t mine, or a car or a random trash can. I stepped out of the darkened piece of sidewalk. The shadow didn’t move. I shook my head and hurried to my car. This day felt like a waste. More mysteries than solutions. I only had my apartment to go back to.