Gemotions

The telegram arrived on a Tuesday, announcing the abrupt retirement of Madame Evangeline, the renowned tarot card reader who had mentored Isla for years. No goodbye, no explanation, just a terse message and the keys to the shop. Isla felt a coldness spread through her veins, freezing her from the inside out. With a deliberate slowness, she gathered Evangeline’s collection of tarot decks, the gilded boxes gleaming under the dim light of the shop. One by one, she tore them, the crisp snap of the cards a sharp counterpoint to the hollow ache in her chest.