Eye Of The Fortuneteller

5

That night Kelsey sat on her bed, alone in her room, staring at the Fool card.

“You are the Fool, Madame Whatever-your-name-is,” Kelsey muttered. “And you are not going to scare me. No way.”

Kelsey turned the card over and over in her hand. Then she ripped it in half. Then ripped it in half again. And again. “So there!” she declared when she was through.

She scooped up every last bit of paper and dumped it all into the wastepaper basket near her dresser.

“Tomorrow will be a much better day,” she promised herself as she slipped between the sheets. Then she closed her eyes.

She pictured herself at the beach with Drew. They would spend the whole day there, she decided. Swimming in the ocean. Collecting shells. Playing volleyball. Lying in the sun.

Kelsey could imagine the warmth of the sun on her skin as she snuggled into her pillow. It felt good – even in her imagination.

Then she started to drift off to sleep – pretending that she was already on the beach.

But something tickled her left foot. She rubbed at it with her right one.

But the tickle returned.

Now it moved up the back of her leg.

Kelsey brushed her leg against the sheet. But it didn’t work. The tickle kept moving – moving up her leg.

Only now it wasn’t a tickle. It felt prickly.

Kelsey brushed her leg with her foot. But the prickly feeling didn’t go away.

It started to spread.

Over her legs. Her arms. Her whole body.

She tried to ignore it.

She fluffed her pillow and rolled over on her side. But that didn’t work, either.

Now it felt as though her whole bed had come alive. With tiny little legs.

Millions of them.

Skittering across her body.

Crawling into her hair. Stinging her skin.

She shot up in bed. She stared at the sheets. At her body. But it was too dark to see.

And then she felt it.

A tiny set of legs creeping across her cheek.

And she knew what it was.

Sand crabs! Even in the dark, she knew. She hated sand crabs – they terrified her!

She shrieked with horror.

Her hands flew to her legs. Her arms. Her face. Frantically trying to brush the creatures away.

“Get off!” she cried. “Get off!”

But within seconds they swarmed over her entire body.

Kelsey grew frightened. So frightened that she couldn’t breathe.

She tried to scream. But all that came out was a choked whimper – as she felt one of the disgusting little creatures start to crawl inside her ear.