Cassandra the All Knowing Part 14

Part 13

So, Cassandra made her way to the high school.  She walked into the front office and the secretary looked shocked.  "You shouldn't be here," she said.

Cassandra glared at her.  "I need to talk to the principal, now!  And I won't leave until I do."

She watched the secretary sigh and pick up her phone.  "Helen, there's a woman here who's demanding to see you. . . Yeah, she said she won't leave until she talks to you . . . I don't think she has a child who goes to this school . . . I think if you saw her, you'd understand why . . .Okay."  She hung up.  "She'll be out in just a second."

Then Helen walked out of her office.  "Oh, great, the crazy lady who yells terrible things at people," she said upon seeing Cassandra.  "Wonderful.  How can I help you?"

"Doom!  Doom!  Trojan High School is doomed!  I see it clearly.  A terrible fire, leaving the school in ashes and many students dead or injured.  May 5th.  You must tell the students to not attend school that day or fix the faulty wiring that will cause the fire."

"A fire, huh?  Yeah, that sounds real.  You realize that Trojan High School is one of the best built and most fireproof building in the city, right?  I know this is a weird thing to brag about, but we have great walls.  If there were ever any sort of threat, this is where people would go for protection.  So, thank-you for the warning, but I think we'll be just fine," Helen said.

"No!  The problem is in the walls.  In the walls!  The fire will start in the walls due to faulty wiring and use the insulation to quickly spread throughout the building, trapping the students.  39 of them won't make it out alive!" Cassandra yelled.

"Right.  Thank-you for your concern.  But I think we'll be fine.  Now, is there anything else I can do for you?"

"Remember my name, Cassandra the all-knowing!  And when the fire happens, and it will, you will know of my powers.  You can't say I didn't warn you!"  With that, Cassandra stormed out.  But she was starting to feel better.  Helen would know, but she would go out of her way to make sure that everyone knew.

So, she didn't stop yelling at people.  Instead, she just started to yell at them about the high school burning down.  She'd yell at high schoolers to skip school that day.  She'd yell at parents to keep their kids home.  She'd yell at everyone to warn people.  And, of course, just like she expected, nobody believed her, many didn't pay any attention at all.

So, the day of the fire quickly approached and Cassandra chose to sit on a nearby hill to watch it happen.  The fire started small, not noticeable, and the fire alarms didn't pick it up.  But pretty soon, it picked up, starting to consume the walls and the roof.  She watched students and faculty file out in alarm; the classes nearest to the doors getting out with no problems.  Classes a little further from the doors would come out choking and coughing.  But it was the classes in the middle who would really be effected by the fire.  Soon, emergency services arrived but the flames were already completely out-of-hand.  This is when Cassandra decided to make her descent.  Surely, now, everyone would know that she was psychic.

She quickly found Helen who was comforting a couple of parents.  "Well," Cassandra said.  "I warned you."

Helen glared at her.  "I can't talk to you right now.  In case you haven't noticed, I'm dealing with a crisis."

"A crisis I predicted!  I warned you!  But you didn't listen!  I was right the entire time!"  Cassandra lifted her voice and started to cackle.  "I warned you!  I warned all of you!"

"Who cares?" Helen said.

"What?"

"Who cares if you did predict this?  Who cares if you warned us?  Yes, we didn't listen, but that doesn't stop the fire from happening, it doesn't stop the students from being trapped.  Who cares about warnings when we're trying to deal with a crisis in the meantime," Helen said.

"But, I knew . . ."

"And, on that same note, you're a crisis.  Seriously!  Look at yourself!  What a mess!" Helen said handing Cassandra a mirror.

Cassandra looked at her reflection.  There was a wild look in her previously gorgeous hazel eyes.  Her thick black hair was all over the place and clumps of dirt were in them.  Her olive skin had lightened up looking old and unhealthy.  She looked at her hands, her fingernails chipped and some of them were way to long.  Then she looked up at the fire and it hit her.  There was a fire, people were in danger, and all she had cared about was being right.  Proving to everyone that she was a psychic.  She had let it consume her, become her everything.  She had alienated everyone around her, and she realized that she had been telling people terrible things not to help them but to hurt them.

Without another thought she dropped Helen's mirror on the ground and dashed towards one of the openings of the school.  She heard people yell at her that she couldn't go in there but she didn't care.  She went in anyway.  She was going to use her gift to save the 39 people who were going to die.

Index

Cassandra the All Knowing Part 13

Part 12

After, her radio show Cassandra had lost every single one of her clients.  And any walk-ins she would immediately scare off.  But her problems got really bad when Xanthe walked back in.

"Hey Cassie," she said.

"Xanthe!  Let me guess, you're here to kick me out," Cassandra replied.

"Well, you haven't paid your rent and also your giving our tattoo shop terrible reviews.  Look, I'm sorry, but we already found someone else to replace you," Xanthe said.

"Yippee!  She's Romanian, right?  The real deal, right?  Yeah, Xanthe, the real deal, she's so fake she might as well be I Can't Believe it's Not Butter," Cassandra said.

"Yeah, so you have until the end of this week."

"No need.  I'm already packed up.  Tell your Romanian chick that the room is hers.  Also, I just can't wait until you get that nipple infection due to a bad nipple ring.  Yikes!  That's going to be fun."  Cassandra grabbed her bags and started to leave.

She walked for a while and then sat down in front of a different building and started to laugh.  Her entire life had fallen apart.  She had lost her dream, her job, and now she was homeless.  All because she didn't go on a date with a guy.  Her life was a disaster.  A little kid walked by and hid behind his mother who glared at her.

"Oh, do I scare you?" she asked in a fake sweet voice.  "Yeah, well, you should be scared of failing fifth grade!"

His mom glared at Cassandra even more and quickly walked away.  "I could tell you how to not fail, but you don't want to hear that.  You don't believe me.  Nobody believes me!"  Cassandra yelled after them.

"But they'll see.  They'll all see.  'Oh, Cassandra,' they'll say.  'We should have listened to you,' they'll say.  'You could have saved us,' they'll say.  And I'll just laugh in their face and tell them that I knew," she said to herself.

"Because I do know!" she yelled at a couple passing by.  "Just like I know you're going to get a divorce!"  The couple looked at her and walked off.

So, that became Cassandra's life.  She would yell at random people terrible things that were going to happen at them and then just laugh when they didn't believe her.  She slept on the streets under some of the blankets she had packed.  She could always see when there would be danger on her corner or if the police were coming so she always knew how to move.  She could also see where people would throw out food or loose money which she used if she got hungry.

She wasn't really planning on trying to get better or for people to believe her, but she formed a plan when a couple of band kids walked by.  She was just yelling at them like anyone else.  "You guys like playing instruments, do you?  Well, I'm sure you'll have fun playing your instruments when they're destroyed in a fire!"

That's when it occurred to her.  "The fire," she said to herself.  "There's going to be a fire at Trojan High School."  She started to laugh.  "Yes.  Yes.  I see it.  It's going to be a huge news story.  36 dead.  49 more injured.  And me, I know about it."

She paused for a second and then stood up.  "Well, I think it's my job to warn them.  After all, it is a tragic event."

Part 14

Index

Cassandra the All Knowing Part 12

Part 11

Cassandra couldn't help but feel nervous as she walked up to the radio station.  Nothing had been going her way lately and there was no reason for her to believe that this would.

Cindy greeted her when she walked in.  "Great!  I'll let you in as soon as there's a commercial or we're playing music."

Cassandra just nodded solemnly and followed Cindy to the recording room.  They waited a couple of minutes and then Cindy opened the door and Cassandra walked in.  Mad Maxwell smiled at her, but Cassandra had a hard time returning the pleasantry.

"Cassandra!  You're last show was brilliant.  So excited to have you back," he said.

"Thanks," she said.

Maxwell stared at her for a few seconds.  "We just have this song and a couple of commercials and then you'll be on," he said.  "Is everything alright?"

Cassandra immediately popped out of her nervous funk.  She didn't want to loose her only chance of getting some of her clients back.  "I'm doing wonderful, Maxwell, happy to be here," she said.

Maxwell chuckled.  "Alright.  Alright.  Save it for the show," he said.

They chatted for a little while, Cassandra tried to keep the conversation off of her.  And then the show was back on.  "Alright, we're back.  And with me I have fan-favorite, Cassandra Priam.  How are we doing today, Cassandra?" he said.

"We'll I don't know how we're doing, but I'm doing excellent," she said.  She hoped to herself that her clients hadn't turned off the radio when they heard her name.

"Excellent.  Excellent.  Let's go ahead and take some calls then," he said.

"No!" she yelled, a bit too loudly.  Everyone in the room stared at her.  "I just mean, the reason why I'm here, I wanted to check up on the young lady, Melody, to see if she met the young man I said she would.  I'm sure people just want to hear music until then."

Mad Maxwell just continued to stare at her.  "Uh, anyway, I have Cassandra here.  She's a phenomenal psychic, despite that weird outburst.  You have a question for Cassandra, give us a call."

"We have a caller on line 3," the technician said.

"Great, welcome, what's your name?" Mad Maxwell asked.

"Vinny," the voice on the phone said.

"And, Vinny, what's your question?"

"Yeah, so recently I haven't been having much luck with business.  I'm a wedding photographer.  And I was just wondering would I have more luck if I tried somewhere else?"

Mad Maxwell looked at Cassandra.  Vinny was planning on moving to a different state, but he wouldn't have any recommendations from his clientele there.  He'd be better off both with his clientele and happiness if he stayed in the same city.  The problem was the season, not the place.  "Um, what do you think would be best?" she asked him, trying her hardest to not give him any predictions.

"I don't know.  That's why I'm calling.  Because on one hand, this is where I live, but on the other hand, I think I might be more successful if I move somewhere with more weddings.  What do you think?" he asked.

"Perhaps it is the season that's the problem and not the location?" she said.

There was a brief pause.  "Yeah, no offense, but I don't think you actually know what your talking about.  Uh, I guess I'll figure this out on my own.  Thanks, anyway."

"Sure," Cassandra said.

"We have another caller.  Hopefully, the spirits won't get intermingled this time," Mad Maxwell said laughing.  "Alright, who do we have calling?"

"Stephanie," the girl said.  "I just graduated high school and I was wondering what I should do next."

It would probably be in Stephanie's best interest to start college right away because if she waited a year like she wanted to it was going to take her three times as long to graduate.  "What do you want to do, Stephanie?" Cassandra asked.

"Well, I was thinking about taking a year off and saving money," she said.

"Good.  Do that," Cassandra said.

There was a pause.  "Everything will be okay if I do that?  It's a good decision?"

Cassandra tried to think of a way to avoid that direct question.  "Hmm, I think so," she said.

"Okay, thanks," Stephanie said and she hung up.

"Okay, thank-you, Stephanie.  Caller #3, what is your problem and how can we help you."

Cassandra took two more calls.  Every time, they left feeling dissatisfied, but at least Cassandra felt like she sounded believable.  Then the call was she waiting for happened.

"Sounds like we have Melody from the car show on the line.  How's it going, Melody?" Mad Maxwell asked.

"What did you do?" Melody asked.

"What?" he asked.

"Melody, did you meet that man, Tim?" she asked.

"Yeah, I did.  Just like you planned, right?"

"Not my plans.  Fate's plans," Cassandra said.

"I am so creeped out, you have no idea.  I cannot believe that you hired an actor to start dating me just so you could get more business.  I feel like I have a thousand bugs crawling on me," she said.  Cassandra was shocked.  What had she just said?

"Did you do that?" Mad Maxwell asked.

"No, it was just a prediction.  Look, I know I've been sounding unbelievable lately, but that's just because I was cursed to sound unbelievable.  I really can tell the future.  That's why you met Tim," Cassandra said.

"Yeah, right!  Psychics aren't real, or at least you're not real.  I'm breaking off my date with Tim, right now.  How dare you?  You can't play with people's emotions like that."  And with that, Melody hung up.

"It does seem a little weird, Cassandra.  Look, I've had you on my show a few times, and I don't know if you really did hire that guy, but I think I want you to leave," he said.

"I was just cursed, Mad Maxwell, I'm the real deal," she said.

"Well, maybe you were cursed that you can't tell the future anymore," he said.  "Either way, I think it would be best if you left."

"No!" she screamed.  "I was cursed to sound unbelievable.  I can tell the future!"

"Alright, thank-you, Cassandra!  You're listening to -"

"I'm telling the truth.  I know everything, Maxwell, everything!  I know that you're going to eat a sandwich tomorrow.  I know you're going to die at 78 years old.  I know that -"

"We've cut to commercial," she heard the technician say.

"Maxwell," Cassandra said.

"Cassandra, I've tried to be civil.  Leave," he said.

She started to laugh.  "You'll regret this!  You'll all regret this!  I know everything, la la la la.  And none of you, none of you will be able to access my knowledge," she said.

"Leave, Cassandra," he said.

"Already gone," she said.  And with that, she stormed out.

Part 13
Index

Cassandra the All-Knowing Part 11

Part 10

While Cassandra waited for the call back to be on the radio show she continued taking clients to help her practice sounding believable. She couldn't lose her radio gig too. She tried old methods of stringing clients along to see what they wanted to hear but the second she made anything that sounded like a prediction they started to get upset. It turns out her curse applied to fake predictions as well. She tried wording her predictions differently which didn't work. She tried to sound less confident when she made predictions which just made people not believe her right off the bat. She tried to give predictions from familiar spirits which was probably the least effective method she employed since she had to figure out which spirit her clients would want to hear from which she had never been good at.

By the time Cindy called back about three days later Cassandra hadn't retained any clients. "Hello," Cassandra said answering the phone.

"Sorry it took so long to get back to you, Cassandra," Cindy said.

"That's alright."

"Look I know it's short notice but I think we can get you in tomorrow. Mad Maxwell's show has been packed with the giveaway we've been doing but he actually does have an opening tomorrow," she said. "Can we get you in at six?"

"Hmm . . . I don't know," Cassandra said.

"Oh gosh, I'm getting another call. Listen I have to go. Give me a solid yes or no," Cindy said.

"Okay," Cassandra said agreeing to give her an answer.

"Great. See you tomorrow at six," she said hanging up.

"Wait," Cassandra said into the receiver but it was already too late. Cassandra let out a huge sigh. There was one method that she hadn't tried yet. She would have to find Anthony and do whatever she could to get him to take the curse away. But just as a delightful prediction popped into her head when she didn't want to date Anthony a horrifying prediction popped into her head now. He could not take the curse away even if he wanted to. Cassandra was doomed.

Her heart started to pound and she clenched her fists as anger washed over her. He had destroyed her lively hood and just because she didn't want to date him. She wished that he had never given her the gift in the first place. She laughed when she thought of all those people who would never know their futures because of him and it was all his fault. All those people would suffer and she would just stand there at laugh at them for not believing her.

"Come in, Xanthe," she said before she even knocked.

Xanthe poked her head in. Like most tattoo artists she had artwork all over her body. She wore tight ripped jeans and a black mesh shirt. Her platinum blond hair was pulled up in a wild ponytail. "Hey Cassie, that's a wicked laugh you got there," she said walking in. "Kind of creepy almost."

Cassandra looked at her with annoyed eyes. "Don't call me Cassie," she said. "I've told you time and time again that it is Cassandra."

Xanthe walked closer. "Listen, man, I hate to do this but I need to get your rent from you. You're already kind of late," she said.

"My business hasn't been doing as well. I don't have the money for you yet. Do you think that I can have a few more days?" she asked. As soon as the girl on the radio show told people that Cassandra's predictions would come true she was sure that business would pick up.

"Oh, yeah, sure, man. Everything chill over here?" she asked.

"We're not friends, Xanthe, merely associates," Cassandra said.

Xanthe frowned. "Sure," she said. "Okay, get me your rent by the fifteenth, alright?"

Cassandra nodded and Xanthe left. Cassandra left the shop and went up to her bed to lay down and think of a plan on how she would do the radio show tomorrow.

Part 12
Index

My Brother, Cupid Preface Part 1

I thought it might be interesting to write about how Todd found out that Chase was Cupid. This is different from My Alter-Ego, Cupid which is from Chase's point of view and is about him becoming Cupid. This probably won't be longer then three parts.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

"So, I wanted to talk to you about Africa," my Mom said putting a tuna fish sandwich in front of me.

"Yeah?" I responded.

"As you know it has always been my dream to go to Africa and help the people there. Well, an opportunity has just opened up for me to go to Sierra Leone for almost next to nothing. Now, you know, I would never even consider anything like this when you were younger but now that you're in high school you're pretty self sufficient and I really think you'd be okay without me. You'd be staying with Chase which I think would be a lot of fun for you. He's already a much better cook than I am so you'd have plenty of good food to eat. He'd take you to school or shopping as you need it. Plus I'd send you and Chase all of the funds that we get from your grandpa's store. And I'd try to take care of you as much as I can from overseas. I'd really, really love to go but of course I won't go unless you're okay with it," she said.

I swallowed my bite and looked at her. "How long would you be gone?"

"A year."

"A whole year," I muttered.

She stared at me and started to tap her fingers on the table. It seemed pretty obvious that she was really hoping that I would tell her that it was okay to go.

"I don't know, Mom. I think it would be really hard here without you but this is what you really want?" I asked.

"Yes. More than anything. This is my dream."

"Well, if you really want to go that bad I guess I'm fine with it," I said.

She let out a sigh of relief and stood up. She grabbed my head and pulled it towards her chest. She kissed the top of my head. "Oh, Todd, you're such a good son. You have no idea how much this means to me," she said.

"Okay, I'm going to go sign up," she said and she started to walk away.

"Mom," I said.

"Yes?" she asked pausing.

"Aren't you going to finish your sandwich?" I said pointing to the sandwich that she hadn't even touched.

"Oh, right, of course," she said and she sat down.

The next day I came home from school and she was in the living room. "Todd," she said when I walked into the door. "I talked to Chase today."

"Yeah?"

"Apparently he won't let you stay with him," she said obviously upset.

"What?!" I said.

"I told him that there was no way that I could get out of this now. I already paid, non-refundable. We'll just have to figure something else out. Maybe you can stay with a family friend or I wonder if there are any affordable boarding schools," she paused and looked at me and the obvious panic on my face. "Anyway, don't worry about it. I'll take care of it."

"Didn't he already say that it was okay when you asked him? Why would he change his mind?" I asked.

"I just asked him today. I thought he'd be okay with it so I didn't worry about it."

"Mom," I said in an annoyed voice.

"I'm sorry, Todd. I really thought he'd be okay with it. But don't worry, I'll figure something out, alright?"

I walked away not saying anything else. I pulled out my phone and called Chase.

"Hey Todd," he said answering the phone.

"I thought Mom asked you if I could stay with you before she asked me," I said introducing my concerns.

"No, she told me today that you were going to stay with me."

"She said that you told her that I couldn't stay with you."

"Yeah, it's not a good time for me, Todd. I can't really take you in right now."

"Where am I supposed to stay?" I said raising my voice slightly.

"I'm hoping she'll change her mind about going," he said.

"She's not going to. She already paid and it's non-refundable. Plus this is her dream."

"Well, maybe you can talk to her. Tell her there's nowhere for you to go."

"Chase, she's going to go. She said if she can't find someone else for me to stay with that she was going to send me to boarding school."

"Todd, I don't know what you want me to do."

"Is it because of money. Mom said that she would send the money that we get from grandpa's store to you. I know it's not a lot but -"

"No, this isn't about money."

"I'll be really good. You should still be able to work on your novels," I said.

"It's not about that either."

"Then, why, Chase? Why can't I stay with you? If not you, then she'll send me to boarding school."

"It's complicated, Todd. Trust me if I could I would."

"Chase . . ." I said in a sad voice.

He didn't speak for a few seconds. "Alright, Todd."

"You'll let me stay with you?" I said feeling excited.

"I'll have to talk to my boss but yeah, I think so," he said sighing.

I hung up feeling relieved. But after thinking about it for a little while I wondered to myself Why would he need to tell his boss? and Who was his boss?