The girl clutched the ten dollars in with a vice-like grip. She hoped her nervous palms wouldn't dampen it as she read the neon, LED sign depicting chakras. They said this woman was a professional, but looking at the old, short woman with dark, tan skin, greying hair, and a missing eye, she was starting to feel skeptical.

The woman snapped to attention and licked her lips. "Ten dollars." She held out her hand. Everything she did was quick. As the girl lowered the money into her hand she yanked it out and brought it to her nose.

"A nervous child I see. This money was hard earned, it has touched many hands-" She sniffed again.  "-Crayons. Babysitting? Yes." She tossed the money over her shoulder. The girl watched it flutter behind her. How was she able to tell that much from a few sniffs. She extended her hand.

The old woman looked at it as if it offended her. "No child. I am not one o those fakes. I do real work." She grabbed the girls hand and pushed it back. "What do you wish to see?" She asked.

"Madam, I am about to do something very stupid-" She could feel her face flush. "- Can you tell me the outcome?"

The woman nodded slowly and closed her eyes. The girl sat in the chair as the old woman placed her hands on the table. The girl wrung her fingers as she watched.

Suddenly the room went black. The girl could only see the old woman with closed eyes, her hands on an inviable surface. The woman's mouth moved in forms she couldn't understand.  Her stomach churned.

There was a thud, like a fist hitting skin. The girl turned to see two people. She took a step forward, suddenly aware she was standing. One was on top of the other. They were both out of breath and furious. She realized the person on the bottom was her.

"You may as well give up Jullian. I will win in the end. If you make this easy for the both of us I will grand you a quick and only slightly painful death," He threatened. Their voices echoed in the seemingly endless darkness. The girl smiled. The boy's wavered.

"Wh-what?" He faltered, trying to think what she could be smiling about. The girl brought her knee straight up to his stomach. The boy wheezed. The girl pushed him back and pinned him to the floor.  They both took a second to catch their breath.

"If you give up now," She teased. "I will make your death quick and only slightly painful." They both knew she was only joking.

"Hmm. Quippy isn't your usual style." He muttered. Jullian smiled. 

"Let's just say I have seen this moment before." She responded. Her cheeks flushed. Jullian hated her lack of smoothness and further envied her enemy's ability to respond with the right words at the right time. 

The boy thrashed, but Jullian held her ground. "What is going to happen next? You just sit on me and wait until I fall asleep, or have you phoned the cops?" He inquired. Jullian hesitated.  She didn't notice the boy pulling back his arm until it was too late.

Within a second she was on her side. The boy shot to his feet and grabbed her by the shoulder of her shirt. Blood smeared down her face. He stumbled forward until they hit an invisible barrier.

The girl watching from the side ran to her other self and watched. The self she was seeing was propped on the invisible wall. Tears sprung her eyes.

"What- wait-" She tried to catch her breath as she stole a glance at the door,  "- oh shit." The boy turned his head, not expecting the girl to have played him. She grabbed his wrist and turned it behind his back, then tossed him to the floor.

He landed on his stomach. She pressed her onto his back just as he was starting to flip. I came down on his stomach. He coughed. She opened her mouth to say something when she felt something wet on her ankle. She looked down to see the boy's face with finger smeared blood on his forehead, and his hands wrapped around her ankle.

The boy pulled back sharply. The girl let out a short scream as she fell to the floor. Luckily, she narrowly missed hitting the floor and landed on the boy's ankle. 

The boy rolled her off him and stood. Jullian tried to crawl away but the boy grabbed her ankle and slid her behind him.  She thrashed as he landed on top of her. Their hearts pounded in unison. The boy pulled a small blade out of his pocket and flicked it open.

"Such a pretty face. Shame I'm gonna have to mess it up." He twirled the blade in his fingers. The Jullian watching sprinted towards the boy and threw herself at him. She screamed as she flew through the air.

And flew right through the boy as he dissolved into mist. Her other self evaporated too. Jullian watched as her future, her one chance of seeing what could happen dissipated right before her eyes.

the lights flicked on. Suddenly she was crouched in the room of the old woman's shop, staring at her hands. The old woman snapped awake.

"You went with me?" She asked. She stood from her chair and ushered the girl out of the room.

"Wait. I don't understand. What happened? Did I die?" Jullian propped her arms in the doorway in an attempt to stop the old woman from shoving her out.

"I don't know. I don't care. You came with me to the dark and made the future people smoke. My people have stories about your kind. Now get out of my shop," She demanded. Jullian stood in the door. The old woman dug her elbow into her stomach.

"Not until you tell me what happened," Jullian shouted back. The old woman paused.

"You are fighting another one of-" Her nose wrinkled in disgust, "-your kind. I had another one in my shop once. He came with me and got my eye lost." She waddled over to her glass bottle with a crust ball in it. The girl almost gagged as she realized it was the old woman's eye.

"When you fight, and I can't believe I am saying this, I hope you defend my shop. I can tell what side you're on." The old woman waddled back to the girl. The girl understood that she was using 'my shop' as an analogy for the world.

"Yes, mam'." The woman nodded respectively and put her hands on the girl's shoulder.

"Now get out of my shop." She shoved the girl out the door and locked it. Jullian walked back to her car in shock. Well, now she had to do this.