It was the rustle of the leaves of the tallest tree hanging over us that finally alerted us and brought us to our senses again. For the past hour we'd been slumped over a homemade Ouija board. It wasn't much; Alex had managed to find a cinder block behind the tent and used a Sharpie, courtesy of Casey, to scrawl the symbols (which I personally found very creepy, yet amusing to see Alex fail at writing it out neatly and having Rivers do it instead) on it. Rivers found a piece of tree bark to act as the planchette, and Casey and I huddled around the fire in our jackets and socks.
When it was completed, Alex stood up from where he and River were making a few final adjustments, lips stretched back into a grin, and we all huddled around next to the fire excitedly.
The first question asked: "If there are any spirits here tonight, please make yourself known."
"Rivers...."
"Yeah?"
"We haven't got our hands on the piece."
"Oh. Right." He said airily, pushing his hair back with pursed lips; a true act of flamboyance, Casey commented.
My hands were shaking as I reluctantly reached out to place my fingertips on the planchette. As soon as I touched it, it sent shivers down my spine. Rivers, Alex and I all had our fingers on it... where was Casey's?
"There is no way I'm touching that thing, nuh uh," she said, sitting back from the board, tugging her sleeping bag so it was snug around her shoulders. "Come on," Alex insisted. "No way. I'm staying back here."
I rolled my eyes, slugging Casey in the shoulder, earning an unappreciative yelp from her.
"Come on, C, it'll be fun!" I begged.
"It'll be totally fun,"
"Just do it, man."
Casey exhaled sharply, finally gaining courage to join our fingers on the planchette, a cheer erupting into the air.
"Right, now... everyone focus." Alex murmured, voice soft and dangerous, to set the mood. Rivers shivered with excitement. My heart was pounding so hard I thought that it would come right out of my chest and onto the fire.
"If you are here tonight, please make yourself known!" Alex called. This was it. This was the moment the night had been leading up to... it was about to happen...
Nothing.
"Well, s**t." Casey muttered, shaking her head. Rivers let out a sigh of exasperation, Alex attempted to reassure us.
"No, no, don't worry- let's try again."
And so we fell silent again, accompanied by only the chirping of the cicadas and crickets, and the crackling of the fire.
I took a deep breath. Alex started again.
"Spirits, if you are here with us tonight, I want you to know that we are welcoming you and are here to hear your words of wisdom. Please make yourself known, if you are accepting of us connecting with you."
My heart raced, hands shook, my toes curled into my boots and there were shivers down my spine. I looked up at the others nervously; they all looked anxious themselves, even Alex.
We were about to give up - Rivers was sighing impatiently and Alex just looked puzzled - when suddenly, I felt the planchette shift from under my fingers ever so slightly. It felt like I couldn't breathe as I watched it move across the board so slowly but surely...
"H... E... L....L....O..."
Casey yelped and jumped back from the board.
"Shush!" We all hissed at her.
"Sorry," she mouthed, placing her fingers back on the planchette where it rested on the 'O' letter.
"Hello, spirit. We are here with you. What is your name?" Alex stuttered, with a tone that told me that he was having a hard time believing it was real himself.
For a few seconds, there was nothing but silence, and the fast breathing of Casey from next to me.
Then, suddenly, the planchette began to move ever so slowly. "Alex..." I whined, trying to control my breathing, and failing. I watched as it made it's way up the board diagonally, across the letters... when it reached the number 8 and didn't move from there for a few seconds.
"What the.." Rivers mumbled under his breath.
Then, it shakily moved it's way across one number.
"87."
I stated.
We all sat, stunned. The planchette didn't move, not until Alex asked the next question.
"Hello, 87, may we welcome you to our campsite. If you would like to answer, are you a boy or a girl?"
I recognised the pattern as it started answering more and more questions... after a few seconds after the question, it would move slowly with a long gap between each letter or number. In five minutes we'd only been able to decode the spirit's name and age (16) and gender (male).
"How did you die, 87?" Casey spoke up. We all gasped to ourselves, shocked at the fact she was asking such a upfront question despite her nerves.
87 didn't answer for a few seconds. Then, it moved towards the letter S. Then the letter U.
"I don't like this..." Rivers said shakily. Tears welled up in my eyes, heart racing, chest tight, a lump in my throat and butterflies in my stomach.
S-U-I-C-I-D-E.
"Alex!" I yelped, tears streaming down my face. "End it!" I cried.
"No, no, no! We need to... just, stop, okay?" Alex said, panicking.
"Where did you die, 87?" Casey's voice rung out through the forest. Everything fell deadly silent. The girl, no older than me, sat with a blank expression staring out into the dark of the woods.
"Holy s**t..." Alex stuttered under his breath.
87 seemed to answer quicker this time.
F-I-R-E.
"Wh-what?" I sobbed, confused, but so entranced it was like I was being lead on by 87 himself.
"Where was the fire, 87?"
No one expected an answer this quick, but as soon as Casey uttered those five single words the planchette flew off the board as quick as lighting and flew across the campsite; until it hit the trunk of a redwood tree.
Our eyes slowly trailed their ways up the trunk... until they came to a stop at a plank of wood sticking out from one side of the tree. Vines - blackened vines, that is, twisted around the planks and the walls of a once-beautiful tree house. The wood was burnt at the edges and a couple of planks were missing, nails sticking out at weird angles.
"Alex!" I cried, letting out a scream that echoed throughout the woods. I collapsed into his arms, but he didn't move. He was staring at something so intently I had to look back at it myself. What I saw next was horrifying.
One of the nails that was sticking out was red hot; glowing in the darkness. It remained like this for a while, before the heat spread and I saw the wood grow black. I could make out a flame now. The tree was starting to burn.
"Run. Run, run now!" Alex screamed. And so he pushed me towards the direction of the road where Rivers was sprinting towards in his Ugg boots, shrieking. Just once, I glanced over my shoulder. Alex was screaming at Casey to get up. But she was still staring at nothingness. "Alex, leave her! Let's go!" I screamed as loud as I possibly could. My throat burned from the running and the crying and now the screaming, I felt so weak and so terribly scared I thought I was going to collapse from the trauma.
Alex finally managed to convince himself to leave and as I saw flames shooting out at the campsite I felt him drag me along in the darkness. "CASEY!" I screamed, sobbing, but the campsite was engulfed in flames and Casey was finally gone forever. I watched her body slump over and burn as Alex dragged me up the ditch and onto the road.
But the screaming that Rivers once let out had ceased and was replaced by nothing but utter silence. Because he stood beside the car, motionless.
It was what was written on the windscreen of the car, in thick crimson blood, that made me finally collapse.
DON'T LOOK AT THE MOON
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