[Not Just Any Other] Ghost Story

Chapter 20

As expected, the inside was decorated as a stereotypical fortune teller's room with lots of trinkets and baubles. Unlit candles sat in silver holders, colored water filled fancy apothecary bottles, and a fake skull glared at them from atop a pile of books.

An electric lantern had been left on the circular table in the middle, throwing light on a Ouija board sitting on the red velvet tablecloth. Sarah gravitated straight to it.

"Let's contact the dead!" she exclaimed, positioning herself on one side and placing her fingers on the spade-shaped planchette.

"You don't believe in that stuff, do you?" Caleb asked as he reluctantly moved closer.

Honestly, Sarah wasn't sure. Because if she did, then all the weirdness she'd encountered recently could be real. And that terrified her.

But if she didn't, then she had no explanation for so many things that had happened lately other than the fact that she was going nuts. And that scared her even more.

Either way, she couldn't be completely honest with Caleb. No matter how much she liked him.

"Of course not," she said with a smirk. "But when in Rome, right? Or rather, New Bedford two days before Halloween. Come on. It'll be fun."

He sighed, but obliged. After standing across from her, he shook his hands out as if to warm up his fingers and then also lightly touched the planchette.

"Now what?" he asked, eyeing her intently.

She lowered her voice to better set the mood. "We'll close our eyes, and then I'll ask a question. If there are any spirits with us, they'll move this pointer thingy to spell out their answer."

"That's bullshit," he said with a laugh. "How do we know it's not just us moving it."

Sarah frowned. "Are you going to move it?"

He looked offended. "No."

"Well neither am I," she said. "Plus, how can we when we won't even be looking. Now come on, let's do this before we get kicked out of here."

"Okay, okay," he said. "I'm closing my eyes."

Sarah took a deep breath and also shut her eyes. Feeling the smooth wood of the pointer under her fingertips, she asked the first question. "Is there a departed soul in this tent with us right now?"

They waited in silence. The moments ticked by, and nothing happened. Sarah was about to ask once more, but the planchette forcefully slid to the top left of the board.

She jumped back and opened her eyes. "Did you do that?"

Caleb still had his fingers on the pointer, but his eyes were wide with shock.

"No! I thought you did," he replied, quickly drawing his hands away. "What the hell?"

"Something pushed it to 'yes,'" Sarah said, looking at the word printed on the board directly under the planchette. "There's a spirit here, and it wants us to know it."

"Oh fuck that," said Caleb, turning to leave.

"No, please. Just a few more questions," she begged, her heart racing from the sudden excitement. But feeling his reluctance, she appealed to his vanity. "Unless you're scared."

Caleb pursed his lips before shaking his head. "No, of course not. All right. Two more questions. And mine's next."

"Okay," Sarah agreed, stepping back to her spot at the table, repositioning the pointer, and closing her eyes again. "Go ahead."

He cleared his throat. "Uhm, mister—or miss—ghost. Hello. Uhm, I would like to know if you mean to do us any harm."

Oh my god, Sarah thought, immediately dreading a repeat of the prior answer and wishing she'd have given Caleb a quick primer on what probably not to ask.