All That She Can See(21)

‘Yes,’ Cherry said, walking out from behind the counter, pulling out a stool with a shaky hand and sitting down. ‘Yes, I am thank you, sir.’

‘Bruce,’ he said holding out his hand. ‘Don’t mind Chase. Lived here all his life and he’s never been any different. Always bitter and feeling like the world owes him something.’ Bruce pulled himself onto the stool beside her and leaned across to take her hand once more. ‘I wouldn’t give him a second thought.’

‘No, you’re right. I won’t,’ Cherry lied as another tear escaped.

‘And don’t you shed another tear because of him,’ Bruce said squeezing her fingers, mistaking her tears for sad ones. How could she explain that the tears she was crying were happy ones?





As everyone returned to their conversations and she saw that Bruce was looking after Cherry, Sally calmly turned over the top card of the deck, from left to right.





8





The Magician Reversed





Chase Masters was the son of Madame Velina, a local palm reader, and had lived in Plymouth all his life. His mother was a charlatan who had come from a long line of charlatans. Not that they’d ever admit that, of course. Nor did they really believe that’s what they were. They believed they had a connection to worlds beyond ours so if they needed a bit of help here and there (steaming open mail, hacking into email inboxes, the odd bit of eavesdropping), and it was in the name of helping people, where was the harm? Velina and his aunt, Danior, thought they were doing good by charging punters twenty pounds a pop for their guesswork and gut feelings but Chase knew better because he really was as different as his family claimed to be.

Chase could see the good in people. Well, the good they felt. Everyone is taught to see the good in people, metaphorically, but Chase had the ability from birth and to him these good feelings were physical beings. He was always able to give everyone the benefit of the doubt, to forgive them and give them a chance at redemption and as a child who knew no better, Chase found this easy. It was short-lived, however, because children can be cruel and can find happiness in the most dubious of places. Watching Joy float around the heads of the school kids as they laughed at him lying bloodied and aching on the ground was a tough lesson for Chase to learn. As he caught sight of Awe applauding just before he passed out, he realised that those who felt good things weren’t always good people. He could see whatever glorious things the other children felt, skipping about like anti-angels watching over the monstrous habits their owners enjoyed. Very few lessons are so hard learnt and can make a child so untrusting but from those fateful school days Chase began to mistrust his own sight and steered clear of overly happy people.

Chase decided early on not to tell his family what he could see. As soon as he realised his abilities were real and unlike anything his mother claimed to be able to do, he knew that telling them the truth would be a mistake. He saw two possible outcomes:

1. They would be overjoyed, ecstatic and annoyingly elated. They’d ask hundreds of questions to make him prove it was true. They would constantly ask him what they were feeling and they would make him work in the shop.

2. They’d ask, ‘what took you so long?’ They’d think he was finally accepting his place in their family of fraudsters, who all believed they had this connection to the beyond, and he was no different… and they would make him work in the shop.

Working in the shop would be his worst nightmare realised. He couldn’t bring himself to endorse the family business by helping them run it. That would be too hypocritical. He may have hated the world and its inhabitants but he hated it because of people like this mother and aunt – he didn’t want to take advantage of anyone and that’s what would happen if he confessed what he could see. Telling them simply wasn’t an option. He was happier being the black sheep who thought it was all a bunch of hocus pocus. Life was hard enough for him as it was.

Seeing the best in people was exhausting. What use was it when some people weren’t necessarily good, just feeling positive things? For the most part, those who felt good things deserved to feel them – but Chase began to hate this even more. Over the years, his gift turned into a curse and he became bitter. He could see that the world was a wonderful place, so why wasn’t he happier? He could see couples in Love saunter past in a lovesick daze but he was all alone. He saw people with Ambition and Motivation strive towards success from sunrise to sunset and yet he still hadn’t found his purpose in life. He met people who had nothing but who still had Hope for their future and yet he could barely get himself out of bed every morning. Chase wasn’t a bad person but sometimes he couldn’t help winding people up just to see their Joy shrink. He’d push their buttons and touch their nerves, just a little, and it made him feel better for a few seconds before he felt sour again. The world was a beautiful and wondrous thing and it frustrated Chase no end. Many people long to travel the world but not Chase. He didn’t need to see Joy and Happiness on the other side of the world. His hometown was more than enough for him and so he’d never left. Instead he’d spent his years trying to get countless businesses off the ground, each one failing harder than the last because he insisted on doing everything alone. He refused to work with other people. Each time everything came crashing down, he’d sink into an alcohol-induced stupor until the next crazy idea came along.