Shaherzad
Russel felt his heart shatter and desperately wanted to stop time to prevent the impending disaster from happening.
His favorite model, Rachael, told him she was done with her modeling career and that she would not see him again. He felt a rush of dizzying blood force its way to his frontal lobe, right behind his eyes as the reality of her words struck him to his core. Russel began to plead with her to continue. Out of sheer desperation, he told her that he had deep feelings for her, thinking this might be his last opportunity to do so.
“Rachael, you are the most beautiful woman I have ever seen!
In fact, you are the most beautiful woman to ever set foot on this earth, I’m sure of it,” Russel said as he could no longer contain his feelings, “You are a national treasure of beauty and the thought of that ending right now is too much for me to take...”
Russel continued as he uncontrollably let his breath out, “Rachael, I’m falling in love with you...I want you so bad!” Russel said pouring his heart out for everyone to see. Rachael looked on in silence for an uncomfortable length of time searching for the right words.
“Russel, there are far too many reasons why this conversation is inappropriate,” Rachael said in an hushed, angelic voice full of wisdom, “Besides the fact we are professional colleagues in the world of beauty, I’m already in a relationship. Thank you for your wonderful photos, but I will not be seeing you again.”
Rachael went on to explain in detail how Russel should keep his professional life separate from his personal life.
Russel did not know how to respond, but felt his face flush with embarrassment as he looked around and noticed the crew looking quickly away, pretending they did not notice. Russel grabbed his photo gear and quickly left the studio trying to retain some dignity (no such luck).
Russel left the studio to walk back to his car, which he had to park some distance away. The walk took him through the very eclectic areas of Westwood, passing by Persian restaurants and psychic shops along the way. Russel looked upward as he walked as if to search for answers written in the sky. However, this was a typical Southern California day, nothing but blue sky and sunshine. Not even a hint of a cloud that could morph into a sign that could give Russel some direction was present, which seemed a bit cruel to him. The unrelenting sunshine was harsh and exposed every bit of dirt and grime along the streets. The conversation he had with Rachael kept ringing in his head, his eyes began to well-up with tears thinking that was the last he would see of her. Thoughts were going through Russel’s mind as to the humiliation he just experienced and that sent his mind racing. The hollow pit he felt in his stomach was intensifying. “What just happened?” Russel asked himself, “Will I ever see Rachael again? If she gives up modeling, how the hell am I ever going to see her again? I have to see her, but how? I need her, God I need her, I don’t think I can survive without her!” Russel was in a panic, his stomach was in knots. Russel stood bent-over staring at the curb beneath his feet then he looked up at a line of people standing behind a taco truck, “Oh, these people are not going to appreciate what I’m about to do next.” It took all of Russel’s strength and will not to throw-up in front of the taco crowd. “This can’t be the end, not like this, I can’t let it end like this. Rachael, I need your heart! I need your love! I need for you to be in-love with me. I need you to feel about me the way I feel about you. Is it possible I’m being a bit too needy? Oh, where the hell do I begin?” Russel said to himself as he clenched his fists.
As Russel walked on, he would look into the businesses he was passing by, especially the psychic shops. The stores all had residential buildings behind them that looked kind of creepy and gave him a weird feeling as he walked by. He came up to one such shop that had an interesting insignia above the gate in gold. It depicted what he thought was a mermaid playing a harp. Below it sat a homeless man who reeked of urine with a pile of assorted clothes and boxes arranged around him. “Can you spare some change buddy?” the homeless man asked. Russel complied. “Is this place open?” Russel asked. “It is, but don’t go in there, unless you want to end up like me,” the homeless man warned.
Russel disregarded the warning and entered through the gate and into the courtyard. The courtyard and surrounding apartments looked abandoned. The courtyard was overgrown with weeds and dead ivy. The air was dry and the fallen leaves were dancing around the courtyard. The air was full of static electricity which made the hairs on his arms stand up. He followed the signs pointing the direction to the psychic and found his way to an upper level apartment. Russel knocked on the door. He waited for a response and felt sure he was being evaluated through the peep-hole in the door. The door opened revealing an older lady looking like an old-world immigrant. “Please come in!” The old lady said in a dry voice. Russel entered to see the apartment laid out, as he expected, with elaborate decorations and antique style furniture and walls painted with mysterious looking symbols glowing under black-light illumination. At the back of the room, the wall was covered with a red curtain decorated with more glowing symbols. The whole room was very dark, some feeble oil lamps barely illuminated the area. Russel thought it was to help spotlight the floating tambourines. “This is a mistake, this is going to be some cheesy show,” Russel thought to himself.
“Come, sit down,” the psychic said. Russel took a seat at a small table with a crystal on top. “So, tell me what are you looking for?” The psychic asked. Russel thought she should know already since she was a psychic. “I was wondering if you could help me with a girl I have fallen in love with.” “Of course,” the old lady said, “It’s a matter of love, I could see it in your face when I let you in.”
“Oh, you’re good!” Russel said trying to hide his sarcasm. “Please tell me about this girl, starting with her name.”
“Her name is Rachael Stafford, she’s the most beautiful woman to ever walk the face of this earth!” Russel, replied.
“Well, that’s quite a statement coming from someone who has not been on this earth for very long,” the old lady said.
“I first met Rachael working on a photo-shoot. I remember the first time I saw her stepping out of her car. She was at least six feet tall, but a perfectly formed woman in-spite of her size. Well after a number of photos, I began to see just how beautiful she was and I went nuts for her. I could not get her off of my mind and in-spite of the fact that she’ll have nothing to do with me now, I still cannot get her off of my mind.”
“Well that hardly seems fair,” the old woman said, “We’ll see if we can even that up a bit. I don’t do love spells, but I know someone who specializes in this field, her name is Shaherzad or the ‘Server of the Realm’ as it is translated. Come, let’s go meet her,” the old lady said as she stood up and directed Russel towards the back of the room. “It’s best if you say as little as possible to her and only if she asks you something, she is very temperamental and if you upset her, you will never see her again,” the old lady warned.
As they walked to the back of the room, the old lady separated the red curtain to reveal an ancient looking stone wall and an even older looking wooden door with iron bands and a latch. The door was sun bleached, and Russel wondered how that was possible since the room had probably never seen the light of day. As the door was unlatched and opened, Russel peered in to see another dimly lit room and as he stepped in following the old lady, he noticed the elaborate bloodstone marble beneath his feet. He remembered his cousin’s apartment was decorated with a similar marble which looked very impressive. “Please remove your shoes and socks,” the old lady instructed. Russel complied without any question. “I suppose I could have asked you to go in naked and you would have done it!” the old lady said with a quiet laugh. As Russel walked in, he detected movement out of the corner of his eye and looked toward the direction waiting for his eyes to adjust. After staring a bit at the darkened walls he began to make out what seemed to be hundreds of eyes attached to the walls staring at him and the eyes appeared to be following him as he walked in further.
A light came on as he approached to reveal Shaherzad sitting on a Roman couch, the kind of couch that had only one arm which she would recline against. The couch seemed well suited for her, as her mermaid-like body could stretch over the length of it and would let her tail hang over the end. Against the couch lay an ancient harp looking like the emblem he saw earlier. She was quite a sight to behold, she was very beautiful having long golden hair that supported a jewel encrusted crown on her head as she held a silver chalice in her hand. Her lower body shimmered green and blue as she moved showing the scales that covered her. “Well, this is quite a step up from floating tambourines,” Russel thought to himself.
“Who are you and what do you want?” the being said to him, getting right to the point.
“Ma’am, my name is Russel Jones. I am a simple man working as a photographer and I am desperately seeking the love of a woman,” Russel said.
“And the name of this woman?” the being asked.
“Rachael Stafford”, Russel said.
“Are you prepared to pay the price?” the being inquired.
“I’m willing to do anything.”
“The price will be high and I should warn you it is a dangerous request,” the being explained, “I have the authority to give you what you are asking.”
“Great! What do I have to do?” Russel asked.
“I will send someone to you who is known as ‘The Desert Star’. He will come to you at the next new moon. I cannot tell you what to look for as he likes to take on many different forms, but he prefers the appearance of animals, like a horse or camel or wolf. It is important to do exactly what he asks of you in order to have your request granted. You can go now,” Shaherzad said as she stirred her chalice with her finger.
“Walk backwards a few steps, then turn around and exit,” the old lady instructed. Russel did as instructed. As he stepped backwards, he saw the being leap from the couch head-first into the floor and it disappeared as if the floor was made of water. He also noticed the eyes following him as he exited, then they too disappeared and the room went dark.
Russel left the apartment after attempting to pay the psychic, but she would not accept his payment. Russel thought it odd that she would not accept his money, after all, how does she stay in business? As he left he passed by the homeless man. “I hope it’s worth it friend,” the homeless man said to him as he left.
