Liar Liar

Meet Natalia. She was on a birthday trip with her best friend Chrystal, in the most notorious tourist city, New Orleans. It was a decent group of girls that had accompanied them. The girls had booked a 7-day trip and was enjoying the city to its fullest.

On one day, shopping day to be precise, all the girls decided to head over to where all the mainstream shops and boutiques were located. Now Natalia was not really interested in exploring the commercial shops and did not have any intention to buy anything. She hung back just enough to have a look around in her surroundings but stayed close enough that Chrystal could keep an eye on her. It was during her sweep that something caught her eye. It was a shop that had on display voodoo and other things of the occult. The shop was within the vicinity of the rest of the shops, but at the same time in its own area. The outside was clean, and you could tell someone was maintaining the upkeep of the building. The windows were so clear you could look straight into the store and see the back wall. It seemed innocent looking although it was withholding mysteries inside. Natalia did not know she had become ensnared with the place until she felt a tap on her shoulder. At the tap she seemed to remember how to breath as she turned to the source of the tap. It was Chrystal. "Hey love, are you okay? You had stopped and I only noticed a few minutes ago." She exhaled, "Yeah I'm okay. I noticed this store and thought maybe I should look around a bit. Come with me." She did not hear the questioning okay from Chrystal while dragging her best friend inside.

The bell chimed at the top of the front door when Natalia opened it. At first there was nobody present that the girls could see. Then they heard a "Be right with ya'll." A medium height woman with wavy hair stopping at mid-back and wearing a simple but very chic jumpsuit appeared from an area that looked like a stockroom. She had beautiful skin, the color of mocha, and hazel eyes. The shop owner smiled, "Why hello ladies. Welcome to Ms. Beyu's Voodoo Shoppe. My name is Simone. How can I help you?" Both girls were fascinated by her and her drawl was oh so pleasant. It took a moment before what she said clicked in their heads. Natalia was the first to recover. "Oh hello. I saw your store from the street, and it piqued my curiosity. My friend and I are here for her birthday trip and we were looking for some souvenirs." The shop owner leaned forward on the counter with her forearm while addressing Natalia, "well I would have to say that any and everything in this store would definitely be an unforgettable souvenir. What did you have in mind sweetheart?" Before she could come up with an answer, Chrystal spoke from behind, "Do have anything for lying or something that could make people tell the truth?" Natalia turned around to look at her and raised an eyebrow. Simone chuckled, "Why yes I do. Who is this for? A boyfriend? Or maybe a girlfriend?" Chrystal shook her head yes and went over to the counter. While Chrystal and Simone continued their conversation, Natalia began to explore the store. There were so many interesting things and some things that Natalia had to question if they were real. She saw jewelry made with stones and saw one she liked plus one she knew Chrystal would like. By the time she made it back to the counter with her find, Chrystal had her purchase in a little bag and heard Simone say, "...remember, this spell will not distinguish between a white lie or a black lie and too much lying could be fatal." Chrystal to say she understood then turned towards Natalia, "hey lady did you find something you liked?" Natalia placed her items on the counter gently, "yeah I did, and I got you a gift, so I killed two birds with one stone." "Aw you did not have to do that but thank you!"

While Simone rang up the items she said to Natalia, "the pieces you picked out are my personal favorites. Good eye." Natalia blushed, "thank you. They seemed to call to me." At that moment Chrystal's phone began to ring, it was the other girls stating that they had purchased their things and were ready to head back to the hotel. The girls thanked Simone and headed back to the group.

It was time to head back home. Natalia and Chrystal had flown in together and would return home together. Everybody said their goodbyes and boarded their planes. When the girls touched down at their destination, they went through regular procedure. Since Natalia did not live that far from Chrystal, she hitched a ride with her Chrystal's house to pick up her car. it was not long before they arrived at Chrystal's house. Natalia put her luggage in the car and followed Chrystal inside the house. That was then she gave Chrystal her gift she had bought. "Oh, my goodness! This is so pretty Nat! I love it" and proceeded to give Natalia a hug. "I'm glad you like it. Alright let me get out of here before I end up staying at your house, again." Natalia had just opened the door and was about to slid into the driver's seat when she saw Chrystal come out the house and rush over, "wait Nat I almost forgot to give this to you" and that was when she handed the little bag to her. When Natalia looked inside, she saw a vial filled with some opaque powder, she looked back up Chrystal. "It's the spell I bought for lying Nat. I bought it for you and before you say anything, you know I hate how that girl be treating you. Look at it this way, if it works then you can know for certain what is going on with her and if it doesn't then no harm no foul right?" At first Natalia was stunned speechless, but quickly replied "what the hell Chrys? I should have known something was up. I am not even going to entertain this. I'm leaving crazy girl." Natalia closed the door on Chrystal laughing and drove off.

When she got back to her apartment it was dark and quiet. Before she brought her luggage inside, she reached up to turn on the light switch. Now that she had proper illumination, Natalia could see that nothing really looked out of place, except some mail stacked on the kitchen table and remnants that someone had been here. She made her way inside and closed the door. Natalia sighed while placing her purse on sofa. She put her bags in the room, went to the kitchen table to grab the mail, flopped onto the couch, kicked off her shoes, and proceeded to go through the mail. After she was done with that, she grabbed her phone and sent off a text. While she waited for a response, she grabbed the little bag that Chrystal had given her and pulled out the vial, while shaking her head. the vial may have been half full of powder. Her phone dinged to let her know she got a reply. She sucked her teeth because it was not the response she had been expecting. The next thing she did was call Chrystal. Chrystal picked up on the second ring, "hey love you made it home safe?" "Yeah. Of course, she was not home, and I texted her saying that I was home, she just responded with "that's great. I'm busy handling business, hit you up later." There was a pause before Chrystal replied, "so you're telling me that she hasn't seen or hear from you in over a week and that's all she had to say? Did she at least get your mail?" "Yeah, she got it for me and there are some traces that she has been home, but yeah. Anyways what are the instructions with this "spell" you gave me? Not like I am going to use it or anything, but now I am curious. Chrystal started to laugh, "damn I forgot to put it in the bag, but apparently all you do is add the powder to food or drink and while moving your index finger in a circular motion you say, "to uncover the truths, let your words be proof", and it will activate. Natalia laughed, "of course it had to rhyme right? Girl I am going to add this to my junk drawer. I hope she did not charge you an arm and some fingers for this." "Aw. Come on Nat humor me here. Lately you have been depressed and having feelings that everything is not kosher with what Tiffany been telling you, just think of this as a little experiment and like I said if nothing happens then no harm no foul." "Yeah, yeah I'll talk to you later. Bye Felicia."

It would be another month that Natalia would remember that little vial. Tiffany happened to be home playing video games on the Xbox not paying attention to Natalia. At first Natalia was sitting next to Tiffany on the couch but got thirsty and decided to get something to drink. As soon as she got up and moved towards the kitchen, "hey babe can you drink me something too?" Natalia did not say anything but huffed and rolled her eyes. While she stood next to the drawer, pouring drinks in the cups, something made her open the drawer and get the vial. She uncorked the vial and poured the whole contents into one of the drinks. When she made sure there was nothing left, she took her index finger, moved it into a circular motion and said out loud, "to uncover the truths, let your words be proof". Tiffany said from the living room, "what you said babe?" "Oh, nothing love just talking out loud." Natalia headed back to the couch and handed Tiffany the cup with the powder in it and tried not to stare to see if anything would happen. Later, that night she texted Chrystal to let her know she had done it.

It would be two or three weeks later when things started to happen. Natalia had started to get suspicious of Tiffany and would ask her questions, especially when Tiffany kept saying she was out working late, or she had to go do something for business but would not talk on the phone around Natalia. At first Natalia had forgotten about using the powder, but as she starts questioning Tiffany, she would notice Tiffany fanning herself or blowing out air. Natalia did not make the connection the first couple of times because Tiffany would not do it all the time. As the year had progressed and Natalia kept asking questions or she would notice certain things she suddenly connected the dots. It also helped that she had evidence of some of the lies Tiffany had been telling. At that moment she suddenly remembered what the shopkeeper, Simone, had said to Chrystal that fateful day. "Remember, this spell will not distinguish between a white lie or a black lie and too much lying could be fatal." At that point in the relationship Natalia was over Tiffany. A couple of weeks later Natalia had told Tiffany to take her stuff and go. One evening when she was hanging out with Chrystal at her house, she told her everything. "I can't say I'm not surprised Nat. The girl just was not reacting how normal people act if they are in an honest and healthy relationship. I'm glad you kicked her out and trying to get your life back together."

It was a quiet evening at home for Natalia, she was sitting at the kitchen table when she received a call from Chrystal. "Hey love. What's up. I was just about to get something to eat." There was a pause before Chrystal spoke, "hey Nat. When is the last time you spoke or heard from Tiffany?" "Um, she tried to text me about a month or two ago, but I didn't respond back. Why did she reach out to you or something?" There was another pause, a little bit longer than the first one. "So, I found this out through a friend that sort of knew her, but Tiffany passed away." Natalia was stunned speechless. After a few minutes she regain her voice. "Oh my god! How did she die!" This time there was a pregnant pause before Chrystal said, "apparently she had been talking on the phone and all of the sudden she just fell down. When she was taken to the hospital, the nurse had said it seemed as if she had burned up from the inside out and her skin was hot to the touch. Like she had lit on fire." Both girls were silent for a moment and then in prefect unison said, "liar liar pants on fire!"