Out of the Darkness

49

"Before we do this game, Colby and I are going to invite the ghosts of the ship to play the game with us. You two don't have to be involved in this part, but you can be if you want to be." "EXCUSE ME?" Kian yelled. "You want the ghosts to play with us?? You're going to ask them to...play with us? Yup, come on crack dad, it's time to go. Call an Uber," he said, standing up, shaking his head. I couldn't stop myself from laughing at him. "We aren't going to use any boards or candles or anything," Sam said, over their complaining. "We're simply going to be alone, concentrate, and ask. That's it. No rituals. Just a question. I promise." Kian and JC still looked apprehensive but we knew that they would agree. Most of us would do almost anything for a good video. This would help their channel just as much as it would help ours. Besides, it was almost Halloween. The spooky aspect was a must. My mind wandered while Sam argued with Kian and JC about what we were going to do. I thought about maybe going to the bathroom and asking Anna to join in. To scare the guys and make it even more real. "Hey, I gotta go to the bathroom," I said, walking towards it. "I'll be right back." I hoped that Anna could hear me, considering that I wasn't bringing the backpack into the bathroom with me. That would just look weird. Once I closed the door, I walked over to the toilet, dropped the lid, then sat down. "Anna?" I whispered, trying to be as quiet as possible. She didn't answer, and I suddenly got this overwhelming sense of stupidity. Why was I doing this? Sitting on a toilet, calling for a ghost girl, just to scare my friends and make the video better? That was low. I shouldn't be trying to use her like this. I stood up, lifted the lid, flushed for good measure, then went to the sink to wash my hands. While I was lathering up my hands, I glanced up into the mirror, and almost jumped out of my skin. Anna's transparent form was right next to me, making a face where her eyes were rolled back into her head. "Fucking Hell!" I yelled, falling back against the wall, my hands still covered in soap. She busted out laughing, holding her hands over her mouth to try and stifle the sound. I heard a sharp rap on the door, and saw someone try to open it. "Yo Colby, you good?" Sam's voice came through from the other side. "Uh yeah, I'm good. Just slipped. Almost fell. Sorry I scared you," I responded, giving Anna a little side glare. She just grinned, this cute little smile spreading across her face. "Jesus Christ bro," he said, then I heard his steps walk away. "You raaaang?" she asked, with some sort of accent. I got the feeling that she was mocking something, maybe a movie or a show but I didn't know what it was. "Yeah, so I got a favor to ask but you don't have to if you don't want too. I don't want you to think that I'm trying to use you. This was just something that I thought be fun for both of us." "What is it Colby? You know I'll do anything for you," she responded. Her eyes grew wide and met mine after the words left her mouth. I cleared my throat quietly, and decided not to say anything about that. "Think you might want to help us out with the haunting of this ship? We usually get a little activity but it'd be great if you could move it along, and maybe scare the shit out of the two guys that we're with. Shouldn't be hard. They're scaredy cats," I said, trying to keep my voice extremely low. She nodded, and another grin lit up her beautiful face, her emerald eyes shining. She really was quite attractive...for a ghost. "This is gonna be radical! ohmigod, I'm so amped for this!" Her excitement almost had her voice getting louder, so I put my fingers to my lips to shush her. It was nice seeing her get so excited though. I had watched her marvel over the internet, my computer, my phone, my laptop, and even the music that I listened too. It was a small treat for me to see her eyes light up in excitement every time she saw something new that fascinated her. I still wondered what time period she was from. Obviously it was before the internet became normal, but that could be any time frame ending in the 90's, maybe early 2000's. Most of the technological advancements that we took for granted nowadays didn't become considered "normal" for everyone to have probably until mid 2000's. Ugh, this line of thought was getting me nowhere. I had no idea if we were going to be able to figure out what era was hers or not, or if it would even help. "Thanks Anna. I owe you one," I said, smiling at her. She shook her head slowly and took a step towards me. "You don't owe me anything Colby," she replied, her voice a mere whisper, the slight breeze shifting the front of my hair a little. "Besides," she said, then giggled a little. "We're friends, right? This is what friends do." I couldn't help but smile at how innocent she sounded. "Yeah," I agreed. "This is what friends do. So let's go scare the shit out of them. Wait until we start the game. You'll know when it's a good time." She nodded, and I opened the bathroom door and walked back out into the room. All three of them looked up when I walked out. "You guys ready to get started and play with some ghosts?" I asked, rubbing my hands together. "Do we have a choice?" JC muttered. "No," Kian replied. "No, we don't have a choice, and no we're not ready. I'm never doing a video with you guys again. We aren't even friends after this. Fuck you guys." I started laughing, knowing that he was just exaggerating. "Aw, come on guys," Sam said, around his laughter. "You know you love us!" JC huffed out a breath and stood up. "Let's go play with some fucking ghosts, asshole." He proceeded to stalk out of the room with Kian right behind him. I made sure to grab my backpack that held Anna's doll, then Sam and I followed them out of the room, laughing the entire way. "Okay, I think it would be best to start somewhere it's pretty dark to play this one," Sam said, as we walked down the hallway. Kian and I were pushing each other, just messing around, so I pushed him harder then darted up beside Sam who was in front of us by this time. "What's the name of this one?" I asked. "Monsters in the Dark," he answered, looking at me and grinning mischievously.