TURN OF A FRIENDLY CARD?

(This is a bit of flash fiction that came to me the other day. I've also posted it on Wattpad. Yes, it does need a little clean up.)

Balthazar sat there quietly. He was wearing a hooded robe and you could barely see his eyes in the soft light. The sign outside stated he was the seer of all things. Shuffling the deck of cards, the movement of the man’s hands mesmerized. Slowly and deliberately he slid the cards together. The full deck he sat down in front of me. "Pick a card."

Something in the back of my mind told me; I shouldn't, I didn't really want to know the future. I didn't listen though. Picking up part of the stack I let the bottommost card fall into my free hand. It was the ace of spades.

He frowned as he considered the card. "This is not good, not good at all."

I'm confused by his reaction, "what do you mean?"

"Death," he gazed down at the card in my hand.

"So this means I'm going to die?"

He tried to sound hopeful, "it could just mean a change in life also. Remember, the cards only show possibilities. Change your course and it might not happen."

"I kind of do wish I could change my course," I mused as I considered the envelope that came earlier that day. Suddenly the plane flight and the funeral weren't all that important. Yes, I could change my course, I could always visit the marker later.

"No, you can always change your course," he assured me.

"Well, thank you for your time." I walked out of the place. All the while I tried to put it out of my mind. My next stop was at a tavern. Yeah, I can just catch a later flight. I picked out a stool at the far end of the bar and began drinking.

Not paying attention to the time I watched the ebb and flow of the customers. Soon, two hours had passed and I finally looked at the clock on the wall. I was five minutes late for my flight now. That's when the breaking alert came on the TV. A crawl on the bottom of the screen scrolled across. "Flight 119 to Denver crashed."

"Hey barkeep, turn that up!"

He just stared at me.

"That was the flight I was supposed to be on." To add emphasis I pulled the ticket out of my pocket.

He nodded and turned the TV up. My emotions swirled as I watched the horrifying event playing out on the TV. I now needed something stronger to drink.