Kom. Kom. Kom.
The sound rang through the dimly lit room, sharp and eerie, like a bad punchline in a horror movie. The room was cramped and filled with incense. It almost felt like a sauna.
The shaman sat cross-legged in front of a small gong, his eyes shut tight, muttering gibberish that only the spirits—or his imagination—could understand. Maybe he wanted to scam her of her money, Alice was sure of that.
But she looked at Paula beside her, her best friend who had made her come here with her even though Alice didn't believe in things like this. Paula was perched on the edge of her seat, hanging onto every clang of the gong like it was a revelation.
"This is fake," Alice muttered, keeping her voice low.
"Shhh!" Paula shot her a look that could have peeled paint. "Respect the spirits."
Since when was she fully into this, by the way?
"The only thing I'm respecting is the money you've paid to be here." Alicia replied under her breath and paused, leaning conspiratorarily. "Can we get a refund?"
The gong resounded loudly after the Shaman hit it one last time, getting their attention as they both flinched and looked at him.
Paula looked like she could stake her life to hear what the Spirirts had to say about Alice's fortune this New Year.
It was New Year's day. But here they were. Alice doubted anyone in the Northern province celebrated this day. Maybe it was only special for the others. Like the Westerners. Those who had no care in the world. Unlike them.
The shaman's eyes snapped open, and the room stilled. He looked at them, his gaze piercing—well, sort of. He was a man in his early 40s with an overgrown beard that looked like it might house a family of birds.
"Your aura is dark," he said, his voice deep and dramatic. He pointed a crooked finger at Alice. "You… are surrounded by bad luck."
Alice blinked, unimpressed. "To be fair, I don't think anyone with good luck would be visiting a shaman."
Paula's elbow jabbed her in the ribs. "Stop it," she hissed.
The shaman ignored them, his gaze narrowing. "It is not just you. The women in your bloodline… cursed. Doomed to misfortune."
Alice almost rolled her eyes. Maybe she would have believed it if they were someone else from her family suffering like her. But she only had a twin sister. Aurora. And it seemed that girl had all the luck of both their lives. Because she was adopted into a rich family. A better family in the West.
Her life was perfect. Aurora was smart and good at everything. They were vastly different. Just like how she had some unpleasant police records while Aurora was a Lawyer.
The shaman's face remained grave. "If you wish to break the curse, you must meet your destined soulmates. And must make sure no misfortune fall on them. Make them have a better life."
"Wait—wait," Alice said, putting a hand up.
"Soulmate? I just want money." She said in a serious tone. That was why she had agreed to this.
Money.
Since it was hard to get a job except writing novels online, which wasn't even paying as much as most readers only wanted a free read—which she could understand. Also, she had decided to quit the dangerous job she was doing since the police were likely on her tail now. But they needed money to save their third friend in the hospital, who had been a victim of hit and run 2 months ago and was not waking up.
But what was this about a Soulmate? Or rather... soulmates?
Alicia snorted. Her life was already a bad-luck bonanza, and now she was being told to fix someone else's happiness?
She squinted at him, as though searching for cracks in his story. "You're a scam, aren't you?"
The shaman's expression darkened, and his voice rose. "Do not insult the ancestors!"
He looked around and hit his gong as though trying to get rid of what she had said.
Paula's disapproving glare burned into Alice, who threw her hands up in mock surrender. She hadn't paid for this after all. "Fine, fine. Go on."
The shaman ignored her skepticism. "There is… another way," he said, leaning in as though sharing a secret. "A quicker path. A sacrifice… to appease the spirits."
Here we go. Alice thought.
However, Paula's eyes lit up. "How much?"
He raised his palm, showing his five fingers.
"Five bucks?" Alice asked. That was an hour worth of wage in the North. She may be able to manage it just to humour him.
He glared at her. "Fifty thousand," he declared, straight-faced.
Alice's eyes bulged. "Fifty thousand bucks?!" She exclaimed, almost laughing. Even Paula looked shocked by the outrageous amount.
"If I had that kind of money, I wouldn't be sitting here trying to un-curse my life!"
"That is why it is called a sacrifice," he lectured.
"Okay then. Why not perform the sacrifice, and if my life improves, I'll pay you double?" She showed him both of her palms. "100 bucks."
The shaman's face twisted in indignation,a and he raised his voice in anger, "Do I look like Santa Claus to you? If I did free business for every unlucky people in the North, do you think I'd still keep this place running?" He was angry.
"We are all suffering. It's... it's not right to scam people." Paula, ever the sweetheart who sees the good in people said to him sadly as if her words would suddenly change him and make him cry tears of regret.
"It would be your undoing to doubt the spirits," the man said to her sternly.
"Yeah yeah."
"You should stay away from her," the man suddenly said to Paula in a serious tone just as she got up.
Paula looked at him.
"Your fate is tied to hers. You can only be free when you break loose. Otherwise, if her fate doesn't change, neither will yours."
Paula's frown deepened and she suddenly crouched, hitting the table separating them.
"I am the one who made her life like this—"
"Paula—" Alice called her, rubbing the back of her neck, an habit she had suddenly adopted probably around her 20th birthday.
"If it weren't for me, she wouldn't be—"
"Enough!" Alice snapped at her.
She knew when Paula got like that. Next, she would cry and talk about it the whole day.
Alice pulled Paula up and began to head for the door.
She couldn't waste any more time here.
"Alicia—" The shaman's voice dropped, now carrying an otherworldly timbre. His eyes gleamed, his tone ominous.
She paused and turned to him.
"Be ready. Once it comes for you… it cannot be stopped."
"My name is Alice."
She corrected him as they both left the room.
As they stepped out into the cold air of the New Year morning, it occurred to them, that while the Shaman had mixed up her name and called her Alicia instead of Alice, she hadn't mentioned her name to him initially. And neither had Paula.