Ouija

"So, 'Bloody Mary' was completely bogus!" Sid called out as he whizzed past his two friends on his bicycle, his voice getting lost in the wind.

"What?" cried both his friends from behind him, in chorus.

"I said, 'Bloody Mary' was completely bogus!"

"You actually tried it?" came Sam's voice from his left. Sid turned his head to the side and sent a smirk across to his friend. 

"Well duh."

"So, that's another crossed off your list of creepy things, then?" Monica called, pedaling hard to catch up with her two buddies. Her pigtails were contained under her pink helmet and she could feel sweat dripping down the side of her face.

"Yeah, there's just one more thing left." They'd slowed down a bit, the warm air washing over their already sweaty faces, and Sam let out an audible breath.

"What's that?" he asked.

"The Ouija Board," Sid replied. 

Monica applied the brakes hard and fast as she skidded to a halt. 

The boys, realizing they'd left her behind, pedaled back to where she stood, eyes wide open. 

"Did you say 'Ouija Board'?" she asked slowly when they'd reached her.

"What's a Viji Board?" Sam asked, leaning forward on his bicycle, confusion etched on his cherubic face.

Monica gave Sid a hard look. "A Ouija Board is used to converse with spirits and ghosts and stuff. It's extremely dangerous should something go horribly wrong."

Sid rolled his eyes and crossed his arms across his chest, balancing the bicycle between his legs. "That's what you said about 'Bloody Mary' too. And that was completely fake."

"No, this is way more dangerous than the other stupid things you did, Sid. I've heard bad stories associated with it," she snapped, frowning.

"How bad are we talking about?" Sam asked.

Monica looked around, then leaned forward. "So, my aunt Poppy has a friend who tried the Ouija Board to contact her dead husband. All of a sudden, things started flying around the house, the windows banging, curtains flying - that sort of stuff. She was even hit on the head by some vase on the table. Turns out, it wasn't her husband she was talking to. Wasn't she shocked when she found out, " she said in a mysterious tone.

Sid shook his head as Sam stared with his eyes wide open. "Well, what happened to her?"

Monica looked around again, and Sid noticed a twinkle in her eye as she leaned forward yet again, to whisper. 

"She was put in an institution."

Sam leaned back and scratched his head. "What's an 'institution'?"

"You tell him Sid," Monica said, giving him a smug look.

Sid shook his head again and sighed. "Its like this place for, you know, crazy people," he said nonchalantly with a half-shrug.

Sam's eyes mouth formed an 'O'. 

"She became crazy?" He asked, incredulous.

"That's right."

Sid threw his hands up. "You're all crazy. None of this is real, come on."

"Then why d'ya wanna try it?" Monica asked pointedly.

"Because it's summer! We have to do something more fun than riding around the streets."

Monica shook her head and sat back on her bicycle. "Well you can count me out of it. Have fun and try not to get killed, please." Saying so she zoomed away from them.

Sid stared at the cloud of sand left in her wake. "Can you believe her?" 

"She's got a point, you know."

"Oh come on, Sam, you don't believe that story she just spun on us! You have to come with me. It'll be fine,I promise."

Sam winced as he shrugged. "I don't know, I don't want to be crazy. I still have so many years to live, you know. Plus, I need to try that new ice cream everyone's been talking out."

Sid gripped the handlebars of his cycle tightly. "So you're gonna leave me too?"

"Don't do it, Sid. I don't like the sound of that one," he replied softly.

Sid jumped back into his seat and said, "I don't need you guys. I can do it myself." 

And he stormed away.

#

Back in his room, Sid pulled out a box from under his bed. Gently prying the lid open he emptied its contents on to the floor - the board, a heart-shaped coin, and a candle.

He didn't need his friends. He could do this without them, like he'd been doing the rest of the week. 

It was his grandpa's Ouija Board and he wanted to call his spirit.

Not that he believed it would actually work.

Closing the doors and windows shut, he lit the candle and placed it at the head of the board before dimming the lights. His parents were not home yet, and this was golden opportunity.

He sat back on the floor and stared at the alphabets and the coin.

Taking a deep breath, he closed his eyes and placed his hands on the board. He willed his grandpa's spirit by calling out to him with his mind.

A light wind ruffled his hair causing him to open his eyes. He looked around once before back at the board, illuminated by the candle.

The windows were shut.

"Anyone there?" he asked softly. 

For a minute there wasn't any sign and he was ready to laugh it off and pack all of it away. But his laugh died in his throat as he noticed the coin beginning to twitch about its place.

It shot out and landed on the word near his fingers.

Yes.

His eyes widened and he gulped. No way! 

"Grandpa?" he asked, hesitantly.

After another minute, the coin moved again, this time to the word sitting on the opposite side. He almost let go of the board.

No.

He felt his hair getting ruffled, yet again, causing a shiver to run down his spine. He thought about Aunt Poppy's friend.

The candle flickered once.

"Wh-who are you?" he asked, finding his voice.

The coin shot straight towards the alphabets, rapidly forming a sentence. Sid's eyes tracked it's movements.

"Y-O-U-R W-O-R-S-T"

Sid gasped as he read the last word. "Nightmare," he whispered. 

He tried to pry his fingers off the board, but it was as if someone had glued it down. 

Panic clawed its way into his heart, and he could feel tears prickling his eyes.

"Wh-what do you w-want?" 

The coin shot forward, but stopped after stringing together one three-letter word.

You.

"Me?" he squeaked.

No response.

He tried pulling his hand away again, but it was still as stuck as ever.

The room seemed to be getting warmer, and he could feel the sweat dripping down his back.

He wiped his forehead on his sleeve just as a light breeze seemed to blow across the room.

Something brushed past his side causing him to sit straight.

He could make nothing out in the dim light of the one burning candle.

"Go away," he said softly. He could feel his throat constrict as he held down the urge to cry.

The coin shot forward again stopping at the word on his right.

No.

The one word seemed to have stopped everything.

He let the tears stream down his face, let his nose run. 

 He should have listened to Monica. He should have never done this.

Mommy. He wanted Mommy.

All of a sudden, there was a gush of cold air as the windows snapped open. They began banging back and forth,each bang making his heart beat faster than before.

Papers flew all around the room, some smacking him in the face. 

The table behind him began to shake, spilling its contents on the floor. He felt something smack him in the back.

His textbook.

"St-stop. Please stop," he begged, hiccuping on the last word. 

Something jerked across his left cheek, leaving a bitter sting in its wake.

A slap.

Sid let out an ear-piercing scream. And screamed some more.

He screamed till his throat started to ache.

All of a sudden, everything quieted down. Papers fell down beside him and the windows shut back close.

There was deafening silence all around and the sound of him wheezing was amplified by thousands.

"Mommy," he whimpered, wiping his nose on the sleeve of his shirt.

He wanted all this to stop. He was sorry for everything. 

He should have kept quiet, should have waited till mommy came back, which should be any time now. 

Instead he asked, his voice barely audible. "Are you going to kill me?"

The coin moved.

The candle flicked out.

#

Sam and Monica pedaled as fast as they could towards Sid's house the next day.

They'd each gotten a call asking if they knew where he was as he was missing since last night.

They stopped beside big police cars in front of the house. They shared a look before jogging up to the porch where Sid's mother was standing, looking the perfect picture of distraught. She was talking to a man in a uniform.

As soon as she spotted them, she ran to them,wailing and screaming. 

Did they see him at all? 

Did he seem upset?

Did they know anything about his plans that day?

At that point,Sam blurted out the thing about the Ouija board, to which the officer shared a look with Sid's mom.

"Come with me, " he said, motioning them to follow him into the house. 

They walked up the familiar path up to his room and the officer pushed open the door.

Papers were strewn across the floor and the windows were bolted shut. The room was a mess.

But that wasn't what caught their attention. On the floor, beside the bed, was an Ouija board and a candle near it.

Monica stared at the board, at the heart-shaped coin as it sat on a word, and a sense of foreboding washed over her. 

Yes.