Granny in the Store

An old woman is standing at the threshold of the door with teary eyes. Fine lines and wrinkles around her eyes and forehead crop up enhancing the somewhat strict demeanor of the woman. Her gray hair is styled in a bun like the young woman and was dressed in a black-colored button-down dress that reaches her ankle with a long-sleeved knitted sweater fastening down the front on top. The old woman's cloudy white eyes caught her attention. It only suggests one thing….. the old woman is a Seer.

"Gran! What are you doing here?" The young lady held the arm of the old woman and led her outside.

"Let go of me Natalia" ordered the old woman in a final tone that made Natalia defeatedly remove her hold on the old woman's arms.

Seira's heart pounded when the old woman looked straight at her eyes with its cloudy white irises. She didn't know if she's nervous or frightened.

"Grace me with your name, young lady"

She takes a step back and has no intention to respond but the old woman stares at her. A pressure to answer is building at her.

"Uh…. It—its Seira… My name is Seira"

Suddenly, the old woman reached for her hands and held them tightly. Her eyes widened at the sudden action followed by a wince as it got tighter any second. She tried to pull out her hands. "I'm sorry but you're already hurting me"

"Granny!"

"Mom! What are you doing?!"

The old man and the lass call out at the same time; rushing to the side of the old lady whose eyes flickering from violet to cloudy irises.

"The holder of Triquetra is the chosen of the kismet. She holds the ring of life, death, and rebirth. She will take a grip on the tip of the power triangle and flip it right over. The arrows are already made, the ground will break into chaos as she sentenced the world—"

The old woman with unshed tears in her eyes was dragged by Natalia and his father away from the room before she could finish her asseveration.

Seira collapsed on the floor, still staring at the door. Her heart was pounding against her chest. She didn't understand a single word the old woman uttered. But it affects her more than she could have imagined. Every word the old woman spoke pressed her heart and made unwanted memories flashed in her mind. Tears welled up in her eyes for the reason she didn't know. Wiping her tears she moved towards the wall and leaned on it.

After almost 10 minutes, Natalia came without her father. She stood up with a withdrawn expression, not wanting to talk to anyone. Her energy had long vanished.

Natalia took out the cage she pointed to earlier without a word and stepped outside the room. Seira followed the woman quietly. Once she takes a step on the threshold, the queer feeling came back again. This time she completely ignored it.

Natalia put the birdcage on the grimy counter and wrote something on a piece of paper before handing to her the cage. She rummaged in her bag then took out the seam of coins Mrs. Maelony gave her.

"Thank you" she weakly said and picked out the birdcage.

"Don't mind what my grandmother had spoken, she has a mental illness" Natalia explained; looking intently at the back of Seira.

Seira opened the door and left without responding to the woman. Anyone would believe what Natalia said and will probably think the same way but not her. She knows that the old woman is a Seer like the child she was taking care of. They have the same eyes and a black circle mark on their forehead. Seer can see a fraction of the future based on the book she read in the library. And a strong Seer's can have a vision of someone or the place.

She clutches the cage in her left hand and trudges to the path that leads to the gateway of the Herstings.

All of a sudden, a woman ran straight into her.

"Ah!" she fell with a loud thud on the rough ground. The woman in brown clothes with a cloth on her face that completely hid her facial features glanced down at her for a second and ran again.

"Sorry!" the woman shouted.

Seira glanced at the woman hissing. Before the woman disappeared and blended in the crowd, she caught sight of the shimmering red diamond necklace the woman was holding in her right hand.

"STOP RIGHT THERE!" a man's voice suddenly shouted from a distance.

Two men were running, one with dark brown hair wearing a black coat with silver buttons on the side and the other is black haired, dressed in red and gold uniforms with a scabbard in his waist.

People who are passing by as well as Seira who was getting on her feet curiously glance at the men who look exasperated for some reason.

Realizing that the men were rushing towards her direction, Seira stepped aside to give way to the two men. But she didn't expect it when the bloke wearing a red colored uniform harshly grabbed her arms and shoved her to the ground, falling face-first into the concrete surface.

She winced in pain. Her arms were on her back.

"Let go of me! What are you doing?!"

"You will be beheaded for what you did, peasant! Now give back the necklace that you stole if you want to at least see the sunlight for a day!" the man bawled at her.

"I didn't steal anything! I didn’t know what you're talking about—AH!" the man yanks Seira's hair, pulling her upward. Tears well upon her eyes from the throbbing pain of her scalp. She bit her lower lip until she tasted blood on it to hold back her tears.

"WHERE IS THE NECKLACE?!"

"I don't have a necklace in me!..... Please…. I

I just bought a damned owl in that store!" She points to the store.

"Do you think I would buy that? How dare you try to fool us when obviously you are the one who steals it!"

"It is not me—" she suddenly remembered the woman that bumped into her earlier. They have the same color and style of clothes. A white one-piece dress with a brown and worn-out skirt on top. The red diamond necklace the woman was holding must be the man was talking about, that's why she was running.

"You have the wrong person, please. It is not me…..You can check it through the couple from that store, I just came out from there…… Please" she pleaded.

"What nonsense are—"

"Please…. I am begging you. Even if you kill me right here, you will not see any necklace and in the end, you will suffer because you fail on retrieving that back"

The man raised a brow "I don't care if—"

"The necklace is not here Arthur, I think that woman is telling the truth"

Seira glanced at the man with dark brown hair that she was sure was a coachman, who was busy rummaging her bag.

"It's not there because I didn't steal anything! Please, you have the wrong person" she pleaded.

"Just because the necklace was not in her bag Simon, doesn't that mean that this peasant didn't steal it? Use your damn brain coachman" Arthur sneered, pointing his brain to mock even more the coachman. The truth was he didn't care if the woman was the thief or not, he just needed to present a living person to the lady. In that way, he can be promoted as one to a higher rank or even a royal guard at that. He smirked at his thought.