8/06/2017

Ouija Session

Tea lights flicker in the darkness and paint moving shadows on the walls. Fake cobwebs and paper spiders hang from lamp shades. A very unscary ghost dangles from the ceiling, slowly turning. Empty beer cans are standing on the massive wooden table and the air – it smells of cigarette smoke and cheap cologne and anticipation.
David places the planchette on the shiny lacquered surface and smiles mischievously. He’s a skinny guy with a massive Adam’s apple. His red locks are close-cropped and hundreds of freckles adorn his pale face. He’s undoubtedly the one who brought the Quija board.
“Are you guys ready for this?” He asks, putting on his best villain-in-a-movie smile.
“Dude, bring it on,” says Jeffrey gulping down his beer and belching loudly. The room erupts in laughter.
“You’re disgusting” the gorgeous blonde girl next to him pokes him with her elbow. I don’t know her name yet. Angélica, small with beautiful short black hair sits across and rolls her eyes. Next to her sits a chubby Korean guy with glasses, Hyun-Wook.
“Okay, we need to place our fingers on the planchette. Are you ready?” Adam says.
“Hold on, isn’t there some kind of opening ritual?” Hyun-Wook asks laughingly. Jeffrey places his fingers on his temples and closes his eyes, dramatically saying: “Yes, we need to clear our miiiiiinds.”
“You guys are idiots” Angélica rolls her eyes again.
“No, we need to move the planchette a little and then ask a question” David say all-serious. “But apparently it’s very important to move the planchette to GOODBYE in the end – or the ghost will escape from the board,” he smiles his mischievous little smile at the blonde girl and I realise two things immediately: firstly, he tries to impress her because he has a huge crush on her and secondly, she is not alright with this situation. I can see that she’s scared but doesn’t want to show it.
“Alright, let’s go” Jeffrey says and slightly touches the planchette.
We all join in and the planchette moves in smooth circles across the board.
“There it goes” David laughs.
“Who should ask the first question?” Angélica asks. She seems intrigued.
“I’ll do that” David says, focused and hell-bent on being the center of attention. He’s the kind of guy who gets up and leaves when he loses at Monopoly, I think. This is not Monopoly.
“Are there any ghosts present in this room?” He asks loudly and I am the only one that catches his side-glimpse to the blonde girl. The planchette moves in a circle and finally stops at YES.
“This is fucking crazy,” Jeffrey says.
Like a very light cold breeze turning a pinwheel in the other direction, the atmosphere in the room changes. Drunkenness and silliness fade dimly into the background what stays is a subtle – very subtle uneasiness. Smiles become faker, laughter shorter and louder.
“You guys aren’t moving this, right?” Hyun-Wook asks, “because I didn’t move push it at all.”
The small circle of young people agrees. No one’s pushing it.
“I don’t like this” the blonde girl says. She’s drop-dead beautiful.
“There’s nothing going to happen to you, Sarah” Adam says reassuringly, the jerk wants to scare her deliberately to be all protective later, when it’s over, I think.
“Can you tell us your name?” Angélica asks, she’s obviously having fun.
The room falls silent and again the planchette glides over the board, alle eyes following it.
F-G-Z-Z-K-A-A-S-C-T-K.
“That’s a terrible name” Hyun-Wook says drily and Jeffrey laughs out loud. Adam looks at them angrily, he doesn’t want his great event to be ridiculed.
“Let’s try again” Angélica says and adds “we did not understand. Can you tell us your name, please?”
Silence.
The planchette spells out: Z-A-K
“Zac, here we go” Jeffrey smiles.
“We just have to be nice to him, I guess” Angélica smiles.
“Yeah” I say laughingly but nobody hears me, they are too absorbed in the board.
Sarah shifts uneasily in her seat.
The small group of people has slowly gained a conspirative quality, like children who know they are doing something Mom and Dad haven’t allowed. Conspirational glances are shared all around.
“How have you died?” Jeffrey blurts out and before they can really react the planchette already starts moving and this time a lot faster. It circles the board a while and then the word C-R-A-S is spelled out.
“Poor guy was run-over by a car” Hyun-Wook says into a room as silent as a mortuary.
Sarah has stood up and says “I don’t want to do this anymore. This is stupid.” It’s obvious that she’s frightened. He Bambi eyes are widened in terror. Poor Sarah.
“Yeah, we should probably leave it at that,” Jeffrey says all-sober all of a sudden and making it painfully obvious to the others that he’s just as scared as Sarah. I smile but they don’t see it.
Of course, this is David’s time to shine.
“Come on, you guys. This isn’t serious. Don’t be such a pussy, Jeffrey.”
Jeffrey crosses his muscular arms and sits there silently with a pouty face and a hurt ego.
“Come on guys, this is fun” Angélica says and laughs at Sarah, “What do you think will happen, Sarah? A ghost will appear in this living room?”
“I don’t care. You guys are all in on this. And you ... and you ... and you try to scare me and that’s fucked up!” He voice is breaking and she’s close to tears.
“Sarah, no one’s trying to scare you, okay?” Jeffrey says soothingly, holding her shoulder. “Right, guys?”
Everyone tries to calm her down.
“All I know is, this fucking thing is moving on its own. And if nobody is pushing it, who is?!” She yells.
“Zac,” Angélica is giggling.
“This is not funny” Sarah says giving her the death stare.
“I’m sorry” Angélica says with a false I-won’t-do-it-again look on her sharp face.
“Come one, guys. She’s really scared” Hyun-Wook says, fidgeting nervously around on his beer can.
“Yeah, let’s do that. Then I’ll take her home, alright?” Jeffrey is saying in a vain attempt to save his face and boy, I can feel David’s anger without even looking at him.
Sarah slumps back into her chair, defeated and this time really sobbing a little.
We all place our fingers on the planchette.
Adam has to be play alpha male again and bluntly aks the ultimate Ouija board question: “How will I die?”
He seems surprised by himself and the others look at him in terror.
“Jesus Christ, dude” Hyun-Wook whispers.
Before any kind of interference can occur the planchette races along the board.
C-A-N-C-E-R
The small group of accomplices sits there stunned like they are actually sitting at Adam’s funeral. Sarah starts to cry pressing her face against Jeffrey’s broad shoulder.
In the flash of a moment I can see Adam lying in a clean hospital room, still skinny, still full of freckles, passing away, while rain beats upon the window pane.
Jeffrey is pissed-off and scared. All colour drained from his face.
“You’re happy now?!” He asks David, still holding the crying Sarah.
“Guys, let’s stop this” Hyun-Wook, the voice of reason, says. Angélica also looks like she wants to give up, whispering “Coño.”
David looks Jeffrey straight into the eyes and asks coldly: “How will Jeffrey die?”
“Fuck you, dude!” Jeffrey screams, his head beaming with redness and he lets go of the planchette.
Too late, the planchette has already started and gently glides beneath our fingertips.
H-R-T A-T-T-A-C
An old and still muscular but also plumber Jeffrey lies on the floor in a hardware store, shaking in spasms. A trucker cap on his greying black hair. An image comes and goes.
All energy is sucked out of the room. I look at them sitting around me. They are not goofy or silly or tipsy anymore. Their faces look sad and tired. Orange deathmaks swimming in a dark room. Adam looks sad too and I know he actually feels bad. They sit around, scared, not sure what to do with themselves. A minute in absolute silence passes.
I look at them in all their vitality and youth and I feel jealous because of it. A group of people, now friends, with their short and insignificant but beautiful lives still ahead of them. They taste and touch and feel and love and laugh and cry until the inevitable but gentle darkness swallows them all.
“I guess we should say Goodbye to Zac” Angélica finally says.
I like her the most, so I lean over to her and gently whisper in her ear “Goodbye, Angélica” and as the goosebumbs creep across her neck and she convulses in her chair, Hyun-Wook pushes the planchette to GOODBYE and I disappear into oblivion and gentle darkness once again.



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