THE LIFE TELLER

THE LIFE TELLER
HAVE YOU EVER HAD YOUR FORTUNE READ?
SOME SAY IT’S FOR FUN!
HAVE YOU EVER HAD YOUR LIFE TOLD?
SOME SAY IT’S FOR FUN!
ONLY THE LIFE TELLER KNOWS.

SECOND CHANCE

It was late at night she waited in the cold dark looking silently out the window wondering where he was. But deep down she knew she loved him and wanted to be with him always.
Even when he beat or kicked her she wanted him. She could remember when he was a loving and romantic. He was her whole world.
But now days when he did come home he would sleep or watch the television all night. She tried to rekindle that old romantic feeling in him, but he would only pat her on the head and push her face away. On the nights when he didn’t come home until early morning he would beat her until he fell to sleep from the exhaustion of beating her.

The stories she had heard of the Life Teller when she was a little girl were just stories told by her great-grandmother whenever she was a bad child. Her grandmother would say:
“Be careful Lily, the Life Teller will come and tell your life, if you are bad!”
Lily would stop every time they made her afraid of the stories about the Life Teller. It would stop her from being bad.
Now here she was face to face with the Life Teller herself. The stories were true after all.
“Mistress Lily, you did well to mind your grandmother,” spoke the old Life Teller with her strong and strange accent. “But why do you stand before me?”
“You are not fated to be judged.” Her eyes gleamed dark ruby red as she looked into Lily’s sad face.
Lily took the small red and black business card from her coat pocket. The one she had found in her husband Matt’s jacket, she held the card up to Life Teller. “Take me instead!” She spoke with tears in her voice.
The Life Teller’s eyes grew hard and glowed red. The Life Teller looked hard at Lily and said, “Your Mathew is fated to die for his deeds of evil and his cruel heart.”
“There is nothing you can do! It is the strings of fate that are cut to close the light of the soul who has not redeemed itself!” she whispered softly, eyes gleaming dark red.
“No!” shouted Lily. “This cannot be, he is a good man.” She confronted the Life Teller with tears streaming down her face.
” I wish, I wish you could make the old Matt come back! I wish!”
“STOP!” growled the Life Teller, as she held her hand up in mid-air. “Wishes are not to be taken lightly!”
Then the Life Teller looked deeply into Lily’s eyes and saw all the pain she was given by the hands of Mathias, her husband.
“Hmm. Mistress Lily, I think we can help you.” She spoke softly almost absently. Lily watched as the Life Teller’s face changed from a young woman, to a handsome dark man, then back to her old motherly self.
“Sometimes there can be second chances.” Red eyes gleaming.

Mathias walked home slowly staggering toward the home he regretted to come home to. Not because it was miserable, because loving and weak Lilly was there.
“Ha, Ha! Good old weak Lily, always there to take a punch!”
Mathias passed an old woman and as he passed her the bottle of beer he carried fell from his hands to the ground. It splattered to the ground.
“You stupid good for nothing old woman I ought to give you one across the face!” he shouted at her. He blinked and tried to focus as he watched her. He could of sworn that he had seen Lily’s face in the old woman.
As he reached out to give her a slap, she backed away from him side stepping in a swift motion for an old woman he thought. She stood watching him with hands on her hips laughing.
Mathias didn’t liked being laughed at. He tried to kick out at her and again she avoided his beating. She laughed at his feeble efforts.
“So Mathias, you hit old women too! Well the time has come for the foot to be on the other foot!” She laughed wickedly at her own words.
And with those words Mathias was knocked down to the floor by a invisible kick. The punch took him unawares from the right side of his face.
Mathias tried to get up off the floor but could not. Before he could lift his hands up to defend himself he was knocked down again with kicks and punches from unseen hands. Thumbs pushed on his eye sockets and ripped at his hair. Water was forced down his throat and he could not cry out.
Suddenly the strong smell of wet leather filled the night air. A huge black leather belt appeared above him and struck out at him, it struck out at him on different parts of his body. Blow after blow hit Mathias until his clothes lay in shreds all about his body. Mathias rolled onto his back the ugly sound of leather hitting skin filled the air. It brought screaming and pain to Mathias.
There in the glow of the lights stood a figure as it came closer toward where he lay he screamed out in terror. “No, No!” The figure was Mathias himself!
The figure looked like Mathias when he would beat Lily, he saw himself as he really was. He laid there in horror not able to move or utter a word as the figure of himself came closer. Mathias lay there whimpering like a little baby as he came closer belt outstretched to beat him. He opened his mouth in silent terror.
The unforeseen hands picked him up like he was a doll. With its two bare knuckled hands and just like the rag doll ripped Mathias in two. The sound of flesh tearing could be heard in the still night.

Lily wrapped her coat about her feeling cold and alone. She knew she would never see Mathias again. Part of her was relieved and the other part was sad. Remembering what it was like to be in his strong arms, being loved.
She walked up towards their apartment building as she climbed up the stairs her foot bumped an object blocking her way.
Lying there on the steps was a basket. Lily bent down to look into the basket. There in the basket was the most gorgeous baby, with the biggest brown eyes she had ever seen. She bent to pick up the baby that was gurgling and kicking its feet. The baby cooed at her, Lily smiled and cooed back at the child.
She spoke softly to the baby, “And just who do you belong to little one?” The baby only smiled and kicked, making her laugh out loud.
Lily cuddled the baby closer to her; it was cold. As she snuggled the baby closer a crackling sound was heard. The sound came from the baby’s blanket. Lily pushed aside the baby’s blanket.
There in the blanket’s fold wrapped in red ribbon was an old piece of parchment paper. Lily opened the parchment paper and read.

“PLEASE TAKE CARE OF MY CHILD.”
“SHE NEEDS A SECOND CHANCE! HER NAME IS MATTY!”
Lily looked down into the baby’s chubby face and smiled as the words of the Life Teller were remembered.
“SOMETIMES THERE CAN BE SECOND CHANCES!”

THE END

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