Under the weather. Diary of an occult resolution assistant.
Thursday 17th October 2063,
At last dear diary a chance to sit down and reflect on the last few days. Wow, what an experience. Three grandchildren on my own for a whole week while their Mum and Dad went away on business. I don't think my feet will forgive me for at least a month; but it was worth it to see their shining red faces and hear their angelic voices sing and call as they played, ran and enjoyed the countryside all around us. And the food, I must have put on a few stone in weight from all the extra baking and cooking we did together, cakes, buns, pizzas, crumbles, dumplings and a huge apple pie. Their little fingers caked with dough and laughing as they mixed, stirred and kneaded.
It did the old house good to ring with the sound of children, for far too many years its been quiet and still throughout the halls and chambers with spiders and dust claiming the rooms so infrequently visited these days.
There are toys and plates of half eaten cake around to remind me of my time with them, often feeling like labours on endless errands for drinks or bandages but each trial was a delight and although endless at the time, now all are too soon over fleeting moments that I would happily exchange my life for to have again; but let me have five minutes for a cup of tea first.
The tea was made in a thin and very fine china mug. Normally I have a big chipped mug with 'Nanna' stencilled around it, but for this task it works better in the traditional apparatus.
Tea finished I turned the cup upside down on its saucer and said a rhyme learnt as a girl decades ago whilst turning the cup around three times. In reality neither of these actions were necessary but it gives an image when performed in front of people coming to me for answers and the actions do have a comforting effect.
I turned the cup over and looked down at the patterns left by the tea leaves and threw the cup against the wall smashing it to fragments and eradicating the horrific message left within it. I cried, an uncontrollable sob escaping my normally joyful lips and my stomach ripped as I staged to my mobile phone left on my dining room table. Through tears that blurred my vision I tried to read the over bright screen and shaking fingers, once so dexterous and nimble now struggling to connect with my desired locations for them but after a few false starts I keyed in the numbers and heard the phone ringing then pick up.
"Hello, Mum?" Said the familiar voice of Clara my only daughter. "Mum, is that you? Are you O.K?"
"Yes, I'm fine. Just being silly in my old age and wanted to hear your voice." I said after swallowing back a lump in my throat.
"Mum you're worrying me. If something is wrong you will tell me won't you?" She asked me with anxiety in her voice. Understandable I guess from how I was behaving with this call.
"No, just had a fright and wanted to hear your voice. Is that the boys in the background?" I asked as I heard children's voices chatting away in the car.
"Xander and Brice, Harry is fast asleep, you know what he's like in cars, can't keep his eyes open longer than the length of your drive. Look, Matt says he can turn the car around and come back if you want us too, we can cancel our other plans and spend some more time with you and extend out holidays from work."
"No, no I don't want you to do that, I'll be O.K, just being silly. The quiet must have spooked me or something. Call me when you get home so I know you're safe. Big kisses to you all. Bye"
"Bye Mum, take care."
The phone rang off and with my stomach settled and my heart not trying to rip itself from its mooring and smash its way out through my ribs I began to settle. I must have made a mistake, its easy to do at my time of life. Just me getting old.
There was a tap from the window, squirrels again, they pester me at all hours since I taught them to be unafraid of me and they come and play for their food. No time for them now and I walked with purpose back into the kitchen and from the old dresser I took down one of the two remaining china cups I had left for telling the future in. My hands still had a shake to them as I filled the very modern kettle with water and my leg tapped rapidly as I sat waiting for it to boil.
I spooned leaves from the tea caddy into the strainer and then poured the steaming water. Milk added, more than I like to taste but the need to cool the mixture down to be drunk in a gulp rather than sipped was an imperative.
Tea drunk, I turned the cup over and turned thrice as I recited the very familiar words very carefully so not a syllable was uttered incorrectly or mispronounced in anyway. I then hesitantly turned the cup back over and after silently giving a prayer above I turned my eyes to look into the slightly discoloured cup. Once again there was a very clear message, one that was almost an exact duplicate of its predecessor.
All your family are dead, you are alone, I want you.
I kept my crystal ball in a small room upstairs, its where I take people who knock at the door and ask me about their mistakes, their futures or for help to make the decisions they feel they are not strong enough or don't have enough information to make themselves. Its mostly show, but witchcraft relies on belief and the crystal ball will show me what I ask of it. The window tapped again and I cursed the squirrels for wanting to play for hazelnuts now at this time. I ascended the stairs, they creaked as I trod them and I fell into my séance room and ripped the purple cloth that covered my crystal ball from the table. I sat and tried to get a vision from the thing, passing my hands around it in arcs and flurries that usually remove the clouding and letting it show me what I need to see. There is a big difference in the words need and want, and the person asking had better be prepared to learn what it is they need and not necessarily what they want to hear; but the clouds would not lift, I passed my hands over the ball again more urgently but the opaque swirls would not lift.
Tapping again, more constant and continuing, from the window up here now. I swore at the damn furry devils who everybody thought were sweet creatures as they visited me and watched them play, but they had mischief in their hearts and caused untold chaos as they ran around the house looking for hazelnuts or chestnuts, they also left foul 'leavings' that took days to scrub out of the carpets.
"Will you leave me in peace you long tailed rats!" I shouted as I went to the window. I through it open and rested my arms on the sill. There was nothing outside; my loud words or the speed of the window opening probably scared the timid creatures away. The cool Autumn air was very welcome against my face, it cooled my temper and gave me a calmness to continue my task of contacting my family. Maybe I will call them again and ask them to turn around and stay with me for a couple more days; I do still have a lot of food that will spoil as I'll never get around to eating it and I was planning on delivering it to all the old folk hereby who don't get a home cooked meal from one week to the next if I weren't around to do it for them. I'll always cook more though, can't let anyone go hungry when a good witch is nearby.
I reached my right arm out and gripped the handle ready to pull the window closed. A strong hand shot out from below, clawed fingers curling around my wrist and with strength and speed that I could not react to, it pulled me bodily out into Autumn evening air.
At last dear diary a chance to sit down and reflect on the last few days. Wow, what an experience. Three grandchildren on my own for a whole week while their Mum and Dad went away on business. I don't think my feet will forgive me for at least a month; but it was worth it to see their shining red faces and hear their angelic voices sing and call as they played, ran and enjoyed the countryside all around us. And the food, I must have put on a few stone in weight from all the extra baking and cooking we did together, cakes, buns, pizzas, crumbles, dumplings and a huge apple pie. Their little fingers caked with dough and laughing as they mixed, stirred and kneaded.
It did the old house good to ring with the sound of children, for far too many years its been quiet and still throughout the halls and chambers with spiders and dust claiming the rooms so infrequently visited these days.
There are toys and plates of half eaten cake around to remind me of my time with them, often feeling like labours on endless errands for drinks or bandages but each trial was a delight and although endless at the time, now all are too soon over fleeting moments that I would happily exchange my life for to have again; but let me have five minutes for a cup of tea first.
The tea was made in a thin and very fine china mug. Normally I have a big chipped mug with 'Nanna' stencilled around it, but for this task it works better in the traditional apparatus.
Tea finished I turned the cup upside down on its saucer and said a rhyme learnt as a girl decades ago whilst turning the cup around three times. In reality neither of these actions were necessary but it gives an image when performed in front of people coming to me for answers and the actions do have a comforting effect.
I turned the cup over and looked down at the patterns left by the tea leaves and threw the cup against the wall smashing it to fragments and eradicating the horrific message left within it. I cried, an uncontrollable sob escaping my normally joyful lips and my stomach ripped as I staged to my mobile phone left on my dining room table. Through tears that blurred my vision I tried to read the over bright screen and shaking fingers, once so dexterous and nimble now struggling to connect with my desired locations for them but after a few false starts I keyed in the numbers and heard the phone ringing then pick up.
"Hello, Mum?" Said the familiar voice of Clara my only daughter. "Mum, is that you? Are you O.K?"
"Yes, I'm fine. Just being silly in my old age and wanted to hear your voice." I said after swallowing back a lump in my throat.
"Mum you're worrying me. If something is wrong you will tell me won't you?" She asked me with anxiety in her voice. Understandable I guess from how I was behaving with this call.
"No, just had a fright and wanted to hear your voice. Is that the boys in the background?" I asked as I heard children's voices chatting away in the car.
"Xander and Brice, Harry is fast asleep, you know what he's like in cars, can't keep his eyes open longer than the length of your drive. Look, Matt says he can turn the car around and come back if you want us too, we can cancel our other plans and spend some more time with you and extend out holidays from work."
"No, no I don't want you to do that, I'll be O.K, just being silly. The quiet must have spooked me or something. Call me when you get home so I know you're safe. Big kisses to you all. Bye"
"Bye Mum, take care."
The phone rang off and with my stomach settled and my heart not trying to rip itself from its mooring and smash its way out through my ribs I began to settle. I must have made a mistake, its easy to do at my time of life. Just me getting old.
There was a tap from the window, squirrels again, they pester me at all hours since I taught them to be unafraid of me and they come and play for their food. No time for them now and I walked with purpose back into the kitchen and from the old dresser I took down one of the two remaining china cups I had left for telling the future in. My hands still had a shake to them as I filled the very modern kettle with water and my leg tapped rapidly as I sat waiting for it to boil.
I spooned leaves from the tea caddy into the strainer and then poured the steaming water. Milk added, more than I like to taste but the need to cool the mixture down to be drunk in a gulp rather than sipped was an imperative.
Tea drunk, I turned the cup over and turned thrice as I recited the very familiar words very carefully so not a syllable was uttered incorrectly or mispronounced in anyway. I then hesitantly turned the cup back over and after silently giving a prayer above I turned my eyes to look into the slightly discoloured cup. Once again there was a very clear message, one that was almost an exact duplicate of its predecessor.
All your family are dead, you are alone, I want you.
I kept my crystal ball in a small room upstairs, its where I take people who knock at the door and ask me about their mistakes, their futures or for help to make the decisions they feel they are not strong enough or don't have enough information to make themselves. Its mostly show, but witchcraft relies on belief and the crystal ball will show me what I ask of it. The window tapped again and I cursed the squirrels for wanting to play for hazelnuts now at this time. I ascended the stairs, they creaked as I trod them and I fell into my séance room and ripped the purple cloth that covered my crystal ball from the table. I sat and tried to get a vision from the thing, passing my hands around it in arcs and flurries that usually remove the clouding and letting it show me what I need to see. There is a big difference in the words need and want, and the person asking had better be prepared to learn what it is they need and not necessarily what they want to hear; but the clouds would not lift, I passed my hands over the ball again more urgently but the opaque swirls would not lift.
Tapping again, more constant and continuing, from the window up here now. I swore at the damn furry devils who everybody thought were sweet creatures as they visited me and watched them play, but they had mischief in their hearts and caused untold chaos as they ran around the house looking for hazelnuts or chestnuts, they also left foul 'leavings' that took days to scrub out of the carpets.
"Will you leave me in peace you long tailed rats!" I shouted as I went to the window. I through it open and rested my arms on the sill. There was nothing outside; my loud words or the speed of the window opening probably scared the timid creatures away. The cool Autumn air was very welcome against my face, it cooled my temper and gave me a calmness to continue my task of contacting my family. Maybe I will call them again and ask them to turn around and stay with me for a couple more days; I do still have a lot of food that will spoil as I'll never get around to eating it and I was planning on delivering it to all the old folk hereby who don't get a home cooked meal from one week to the next if I weren't around to do it for them. I'll always cook more though, can't let anyone go hungry when a good witch is nearby.
I reached my right arm out and gripped the handle ready to pull the window closed. A strong hand shot out from below, clawed fingers curling around my wrist and with strength and speed that I could not react to, it pulled me bodily out into Autumn evening air.
*
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