Hannah always wanted us to refer to her as the shaman of the group though none of us really understood why. She always wanted to be able to future and had somehow tricked some of our classmates that she actually could. She was beginning to have a following of people who wanted her to read their tea leaves and tell their fortunes. I was waiting for Hannah to start dressing like Professor Trelawney from the Harry Potter series and knew it could happen at any time. I really just wanted to see her in oversized glasses and scarves because it was so far from her norm.
She had grown up playing tennis in the local country club and work polos and tennis skirts most of the time. As soon as Hannah and I got to college, everything changed. She traded her polo shirts and skirts for bell bottoms and scarves so fast I knew she had just been waiting for the moment she was out of her parents’ house. While I enjoyed this new version of Hannah, after nine months, I was still slightly confused. But either way, whatever was good for her was good for me.
But, as time went on, I started noticing a pattern between events around the city and Hannah’s palmistry sessions. The day would start out normal, but as soon as her session was over, it was like the entire city went into a mild depression for close to three hours. The sun would disappear behind clouds that came out of nowhere and no one would laugh until the three hours was finally up. As soon as the three hours were up, life went back to as it was. I began to suspect Hannah was doing more than she was telling me during her sessions, but I could never get a word out of her for ‘privacy reasons’.
Everything changed the day I recorded one of her sessions. I was horrified by what I heard and knew I had to leave town at once. I just didn’t think she would follow me, but I should have known. Should have known she wouldn’t let me get away with all her secrets. I should have gone farther, but time and money gave her the chance to catch me. I knew the only answer was to fight fire with fire and hope I would win.
Standing Room Only 