Hey. This is part 3/7 of the Séance series. I hope that you guys like it. It's not that scary, but hopefully the next few will be. I'm trying to concentrate on character development in this part. I would recommended you read the Séance and then the Ouija Board before reading this.
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Possession [Po-ses-sion] –noun
1. Being controlled by passion or the supernatural.
I didn’t even put the phone on the table before it rang again. Looking at the caller ID, I recognized Richard’s cell number. I put the phone to my ear.
“I just got off the phone with Lillian,” Richard said, not waiting for my “Hello”. “It got her too. Her parents freaked, saying crap like ‘the Ouija board is a tool for the devil’. She’s locked herself in her room. Sam, whatever happened last night is happening to everyone. It’s not just us. That ghost, Lillian’s grandma or not, is hurting us.”
“Yeah,” I whispered. I hadn’t shown my parents the cuts and scratches. Just like Lillian’s parents, I knew mine would freak. “I called Steve and he told me that he and Jen both woke up with them. Roger too. Jen was on the phone with Brianne. Dude, everyone woke up like this.”
I heard Richard moan. “It’s all my fault!” he said. “I should never have brought out that stupid board!” I could hear the anger in his voice.
“Dude, it’s my fault. I bought the board. I should’ve known what it was before I bought it. I’m sorry…” There was a long pause.
“What are we going to do?”
I didn’t answer. I didn’t know anything. I didn’t know what to do, what to say, how to say it. I was at loss of words.
“Sam?”
“Yeah?”
“Lillian’s calling again. Can I call you back?”
“Yeah,” I whispered. Richard hung up, and I set the phone down. This was all my fault. It was my fault that all of my friends now had scratches up and down their backs. It was my fault that a ghost was trying to kill us.
No. I didn’t know that the ghost was trying to kill us. Why would Lillian’s grandma be trying to hurt us? I suddenly froze.
What if her grandma was trying to tell us something? Something really important? I thought about that for a moment. Nothing was making sense. If Lillian’s grandma was trying to tell us something, why did she cut us? Why would she do that?
The phone rang again, and I placed it to my ear.
“Hello?” I asked. There was no reply, only the quiet buzzing of the phone line. I buried my brow.
“Hello? Richard, is this you?”
Still no reply. I took the phone away from my ear and looked at the caller ID. Unknown. I placed it back to my ear.
“Who is this?”
“Use the board,” a voice whispered. My eyes widened and my heart stopped. The voice sounded old. Dead.
“Who is this?” I repeated, anxiety creeping over me. White fear washed through my body.
The caller hung up.
*
At school the next day, all seven of us sat at the same lunch table. I sat by Richard, Lillian and Roger. The other two girls and Steve sat on the opposite side. None of us had touched our food.
“What are we going to do?” Brianne whispered. She was pale, her skin devoid of all color.
“Should we do anything?” Steve asked, raising his eyes to me. “Only one thing has happened. It’s not going to happen again.”
“We don’t know that,” Roger said, bending his plastic spoon. “It could happen tomorrow morning. For all we know, we could all wake up with chopped off arms. If a spirit is hurting us, who is going to stop it? How can we stop it?”
“Do you think it’s my grandma?” Lillian asked, her eyes focused on her plate. “Do you think that she would do this?”
“Listen,” Roger said and slid his glasses up to his nose. “After I found out about the scratches on my back, I looked up on the Internet about Ouija boards.”
Everyone stared intently on Roger, who was still bending his spoon.
“I found a totally different set of instructions for using them. The Ouija board we used was cheap. It didn’t have all of the right stuff on it,” Roger continued.
“What do you mean?” Lillian asked.
“Our board only had a few of the basic things. You know, the ‘Yes’ and ‘No’ and letters and numbers. Those things.”
“What was the board missing?” I asked. Roger was silent for a moment.
He bent his spoon and it snapped. I saw Brianne flinch.
“It was missing a ‘Good-bye’.”
“What does that do?” Steve asked. I was surprised. He and Jen weren’t holding hands for once.
“It ends the séance. Either the ghost puts the marker on ‘Good-Bye’ or we do, purposely. But, because we didn’t do that, the séance hasn’t ended. That means ghosts can come out,” Roger said. The spoon was in two parts now. He was rubbing them together, tiny shreds of plastic falling off.
“Come out of where?” Richard asked, squeezing Lillian’s hand.
“Hell, I guess.”
We were silent for a moment, pondering. How could I have been stupid enough to buy that board? It was my fault that a spirit was hurting us.
“So what are we going to do?” I whispered, my voice faltering.
“We are going to have to end the séance, then,” Brianne said, biting her lip.
“We can’t.” Richard sighed and spoke, “I threw the board away, and the garbage men came today. The board is gone.”
“Then we’ll buy a new one!” Jen spoke up. “This time we’ll buy a better one. One with ‘Good-Bye.’”
We all agreed to meet at Richard’s house after school. He said that his parents wouldn’t be home until six in the evening. Jen would bring the new board.
*
As soon as I got home, my mom handed me the phone.
“It’s Richard. Hurry. I’m expecting a call,” she whispered urgently. I nodded.
“Hey,” I said, walking to my room.
“Dude, I don’t think Lillian is coming. She’s freaked out right now. Her parents made her swear that she would never use a Ouija board again. She’s keeping her promise,” Richard spoke.
I sighed and fell on my bed. My eyes traveled up to The Used poster on my wall.
“So… do we have to have her there?” I asked.
“Probably. I mean, if it’s her grandma doing this, then Lillian’s going to have to ask her to stop.”
“Did you tell her that we would throw the board away as soon as we end the séance?” I asked, rolling over to look at the ceiling.
“Yeah.” Roger’s voice was shaking. “But, dude, I don’t think I can do this. After what happened last time… it really freaked me out.”
“Come on!” I said, sitting up. “It’s just one more time, and then we’ll never use it again! I promise.”
Richard moaned. “But what if we don’t end the séance correctly? Then we’re going to have to do it again!”
“Then we’ll just make sure that we do it right. Okay?” I asked.
“Yeah…” There was a pause. “Listen, I think Jen and Steve are here. The doorbell just rang. Okay. Bye.”
“Bye,” I muttered.
“Sam?”
“Yeah?”
“Promise me this is the last time.”
“I promise, dude.”
*
We were all there. Lillian was standing away from the board, not daring to look at it.
“Please don’t make me do this. Please, Richard!” she moaned.
“This is the last time. I swear we’ll never do this again.” Richard replied. “Come on. Let’s get this over with.”
The new board was laid out basically the same way. There were only two new additions. There was a ‘Welcome’ and a ‘Farewell’. Pentagons decorated the letters.
There were also new instructions. I slid them out of the box and read them aloud.
“Instructions for use:
“Close windows, and doors. Switch off lights. Place board on floor. Place pointer (planchette) on “Welcome” Sit in a circle; decide who will use the pointer. (Usually one male, one female.) Join hands and sit calmly, thinking of good energy and forming a circle of positivity. Pray (optional) to the spirit you want to conjure. Share memories about the deceased. Have an item nearby that belonged to the deceased (optional). Two “mediums” will sit on opposing sides of the board. Others join hands, and make physical contact with “mediums”. Request the presence of the spirit. Mention clearly that unfriendly spirits are banished from the circle. “Mediums” will place two fingers of each hand lightly on pointer. Allow the spirit to communicate. If the pointer moves to Farewell, thank the spirit out loud and stop the séance. If you wish to stop the séance, purposely move pointer to Farewell, thank the spirit, and clean up.”
As I read the instructions, we all did as it instructed. It was a different séance than the last. We picked Richard and Lillian as the two mediums. The rest of us gathered around in a circle, firmly holding hands.
Lillian was shaking.
“Do… do I need to talk about Grandma again?” she asked, trembling. Steve shook his head.
“We should just try and picture her and stuff. It took too long last time. Let’s just get this over with. Just conjure her up and say ‘bye!’ and let’s get out of here!”
I morbidly snickered. Closing my eyes, I focused on the ‘really old grandma’ that Lillian had talked about. A wrinkled old lady formed in my head. I visualized her talking to a man covered in liver spots.
There was a sudden breeze, and I shivered. Opening my eyes, I looked over to the windows. They were both bolted shut. I bit my lip.
“Are there any spirits here today?” Lillian’s voice was fragile and delicate. My eyes focused in on the planchette, waiting for it to move.
I felt another breeze. Roger did too; he shivered.
“Grandma?” Lillian asked. She gasped as the planchette quivered. Lillian pulled her hands off of the marker.
“No!” Richard whispered. “Put your hands back on it. We’re almost done.”
I could see a tear forming in Lillian’s eyes as she placed her hands back.
“Grandma, where are you? Are you in this room?”
The marker slid over to board. My eyes widened. Lillian’s mouth dropped as the planchette stopped over four letters.
H. E. L. L. Lillian’s grandmother was in Hell.
The planchette didn’t stop there. It continued to slide across the board, stopping at certain letters. Richard said the letters as the marker directed to them.
“H… I… D… E. Hide,” he whispered.
I was sure everyone could hear my heart pounding.
“Hide from who, Grandma?”
“H… I… M,” Richard didn’t even bother to put the letters into a word.
Him. Who was Him?
“End the séance,” Brianne muttered. “Please. End it now.”
“How?” Lillian whispered, desperately. Richard purposely moved the planchette over to the word ‘Farewell’.
“It’s over,” he whispered. “The séance is over. Now let’s get rid of the board."
but I really have to go or else my mom's going to strangle me.
