Twin Flames

04| Tarot Cards

She had opened her eyes to a concrete room, dark with a musty smell. She noticed a table in front of her. There was a book with two candles sitting on either side. The book looked worn out and dirty, as if someone touched it, it might just fall apart. On the front cover the leather was carved to look like a picture of the sun and the moon. They both had faces, as though they were meant to be personified.

She stood still again, her body not listening to her urge to move. The book flew open on its own, causing her to flinch as screams of anguish began to ring around her. The pages continued to flip from start to finish. One of them seemed to have knocked over the candle to the right, the flame suddenly growing bigger as it spread to the pages of the book. The heat became unbearable as the fire grew to surround the room.

She fell to her knees, choking as the flames seemed to encase her body. She felt them licking at her skin, causing it to sting. Blood poured from the wound too much to be cauterized by the fire. Luz could only watch as it poured down onto the ground and created a stream. She followed the flow as it reached someone's feet.

Just as she moved to look up at the man, her mind went blank.

Luz's eyes flew open as she took in deep breaths to steady her rapidly beating heart. She sighed, glancing around her dark room. She took a couple of seconds to check the time on her phone, the time reading 3:30 AM. She yawned, rolling over to sleep on her stomach.

When she closed her eyes, the burning book would pop up behind her lids. She rubbed her face into her pillow to try and get herself to think of something else. The flames wouldn't go away, not even when she began to think about Roland and the burning candles. It let her fall asleep though.

Luz woke up again at 10 in the morning when her mother started opening and closing cabinets. She got up and dressed out of her pajamas, pausing to see the manilla folder on her desk. Her shoulders dropped. She had yet to read what was in the folder and it had been a week since the meeting. She swiped the paper off her desk and walked out to the dining table.

"Good morning." She told her mother. She dropped the papers onto the table and walked back to the bathroom.

"Morning." Susanna called when Luz got back. She took a sip from her coffee cup, watching with curious eyes as Luz brought the folder to the island. The girl took a seat at the bar, getting comfortable before looking at the paper.

"Is that the contract?" Susanna asked.

"He said it wasn't a contract." Luz told her. "Reading this only makes it feel like one though."

Susanna leaned forward, keeping her eyes on her daughter. Her dark circles seemed darker, the wrinkles that formed from lack of sleep seemed more prominent.

"Luz, you don't have to say yes." She softly told her.

"It's not that I don't want to, mom. Can you imagine all the times I have possibly thought about marrying one of the princes?" Luz shook her head. "And now that I have the chance it doesn't feel at all like what I imagined it to be."

"Does it feel wrong to you?"

"Not at all."

"Then what are you trying to say?" Susanna asked.

"There's so much missing." Luz answered truthfully. "This isn't like high school where I become someone's girlfriend after a week of talking. We are both adults."

"I married your father a year after dating." Susanna shrugged.

"I've only ever talked to Roland three times and one of them was to ask for my hand in marriage." Luz shook her head. "There's a lot of confusion behind all of this and I don't know what to do about it. I can't figure out what my feelings are and it's turning into anxiety."