‘All that we see or seem is but a dream within a dream’ Edgar Allen Poe

Madame Chokalinka was slender, a svelte figure with a willowy look about her. Arched eyebrows and a flawless complexion. Adjusting herself and smoothing her long velvet crimson dress proceeded to paint her nails to match her attire. Her long black hair typical of the Gothic look that she showed to her world of mystique.

She had a regular advertisement in the local tabloid. She was a professional tarot card reader and palmist. She also conversed with those who had passed over into the ethereal of the spirit world.

She prepared her parlour for this evening’s guests. She placed down her dark green, thick table cloth. Then, she placed her ornate box of blue and revealed her cards. She always did a three-card spread just before her guests would arrive to connect. This evening, there were four and she would commence the seance.

Most were vulnerable, those who had loved and lost and most hung on to her every word. Upon leaving, most would elaborate to friends or anyone who cared to listen. The morsels they received would be expanded like Chinese whispers. They would share what she had spoken about and the messages she relayed. It was good advertising and it kept the mourners knocking on the door.

The evening’s three card spread included The Tower. It also revealed the nine of swords and The Moon. Interesting she thought, quite deep. Excited to see how this evening would unfold.

The cemetery in autumn was dank but colourful. The leaves had shed from the trees. An elderly lady pottered around her husband’s grave, tidying up. Throwing away the dead flowers and filling up the empty urn from a tap near to his resting place. Fresh flowers placed at the side, a ritual that she came to do every now and again. She didn’t feel that his soul was in this sacred spot. Tonight, she would meet with Madame Chokalinka and connect with him.

Some had accused Madame Chokalinka of being a charlatan, but what did they know she thought to herself. This evening her clients wanted a seance to contact those they had known or loved in the afterworld. She tried to find out a little of their background. It always helped her when she morphed into character.

Cyril made his way first. He was a closed book. He did not reveal much about himself apart from the fact that he had been married with no children. Nonetheless, there was some answers he needed to find alongside contacting his wife.

Eleanor arrived secondly, quite a strange character Madame thought. She sheltered herself with a pillar box hat. A veil shrouded her view. It covered a burn on her cheek. She was dressed in black.

The lady who was pottering about her husbands grave wanted to contact her dead husband.

There was also a young woman in her late twenties. She wondered if her father would come through. He had died at such a young age.

Each of them trying their best. They aimed to be a little vague. This was to avoid giving too much away to Madame Chokalinka.

Seances had been very popular during the 1800’s. And had continued to be popular ever since. People wanting to reach out to the dead through a connection and through a medium. Many of those being charlatans.

As the dusk settled, they all ventured into Chokalinka’s house. She greeted them through her ornate dark oak paneled hallway. They moved around the banister and into the parlour. This room was adorned with heavy dark drapes. A table took the center of the room, covered with the thick green tablecloth. Candles were strategically placed and danced, creating shadows within the room.

Madame did not focus too much on the wherefores and whys of their presence. She knew they were all there because they had lost someone. So, she asked them what they wanted from this session. The answer as always was to contact the deceased. Her always being the conduit to the afterlife.

All around the table all held a secret that they had kept to themselves.

Eleanor from a prestigious family had set fire to the mansion house she lived in with her brother. A monster involved with the occult who was the devil himself, abusing her, alongside Bowler hat man his friend. Between them they had harmed many a young girl including herself, they had performed sacrifices that she had witnessed. she had tried to put him in to the flames of hell unsuccessfully only to burn herself in the process. Well now the whole damn mess was going to be exposed by her to the press.

Cyril without Eleanor knowing had been the hangman for Strangeways prison in Manchester. He was the one who had walked that monster to the gallows on the day he was due to be hung for his hideous crimes of killing and torturing those poor girls. Cyril could tell that he was a nasty piece of work, when the man smirked as he fixed that noose around his neck and that man laughed and refused the hood as the trap door smashed and clattered during the eight seconds that it took for him to drop to his death.

The lady from the cemetery had been a good loyal wife. It had been a shock when the police knocked on the door that fateful night. The next day, the papers reported that her husband was involved in an affair. The affair was with a young singer in his band. This affair caused the young girl’s demise after her husband paid a backstreet abortionist to get rid of the baby.

And finally, the young girl had lost her father early in life. She just wanted to know if he would come through.

Madame Chokalinka knew nothing of these stories. After an exchange of money, she asked them to be seated around her table. She placed her tarot deck alongside her scrying glass. Then, she asked them all to be seated and to join hands.

All four wanted guidance so Madame started with the young woman. A man had deafness in his right ear. He also had arthritis in his spine, which was quite debilitating. She told her the man said she had bought bedside tables for her house. He had also gifted his car to her brother. The young woman started to cry. Madame reassured her that he was ok. He was waiting with love on the other side.

Next was the elderly lady who had come looking for answers. Madame replied that he claimed to have wronged her. He asked for forgiveness. He wasn’t settled until she pardoned him.

Next was Eleanor and Cyril and that’s where everything in the room changed.

Through her scrying ball she was taken back and astounded as a hazy vision appeared of a man with a rope tied around his neck who was laughing and mocking as the candles flickered and faded as the man fell into the hangman’s noose.

Julie Modla Author of the series: A Fool’s Journey, To Dance with a Devil and The Temperance Tale.