Mezzanine

| 13 |

"A doll?" I repeated what Lola had just said. "What..." I could hardly form a sentence. "Why would there be a doll here?"

"No idea." Carter reached out and shoved aside some of the coals, revealing more charred, darkened metal shapes of the life-sized body. He shone the light from his phone along the leg, following it until it joined another set of gears at the hip.

"What if it's some sort of Voodoo doll," Lola suggested. She wiped the palms of her hands on the legs of her light-wash jeans. "That woman we heard screaming—if she's a ghost, what if they were burning this doll as a way to continue torturing her..."

"Even after death," I continued when her voice trailed off. I met her eyes for a second, a chill running down my spine as the words I'd heard the woman crying echoed through my mind.

I'm in pain. Constantly.

I'm still here.

"But why?" I finally asked. The idea of it made me sick. "Why would some cult be so set on torturing her?"

It made sense, but something was missing. Something didn't quite click into place. If this was a Voodoo doll, why had whoever made it gone to the trouble of adding gears. This thing—whatever it was—was built to move.

"We need to talk to her." Lola looked to Carter as she pointed a shaking hand at the backpack. "Get out the Ouija board."

"On it." Carter set the Geiger counter on the ground by the hearth and adjusted the volume until it was just a faint buzz. Then, he swung the backpack off his shoulder, placed it in front of his feet, and unzipped it.

I ran a hand back through my wet hair as he removed the box. Icy rainwater dripped down my face. The last time I'd used the board had been about a year ago with Damien, a week before he left home and never came back. The idea of using it again set all of my nerves on end.

"Shine the light over here, Jay," Carter said. "We can't see."

I shook myself from my thoughts, directing the flashlight towards the floor where Carter and Lola were now sitting by the hearth. Carter removed the board from its box and set it between them so it faced him, leaving the alphabet inverted in front of her. The painted black lettering flickered in the hazy beam of light, revealing the oily ripples and tiny imperfections of each brush stroke.

The hair on the back of my neck stood up like I was passing through a magnetic field as I made my way over. I took the seat between Lola and Carter, at the end of the board so I faced the hearth. I placed the flashlight on the damp, blue fabric of Carter's backpack, adjusting it until the light shone on the Ouija board.

"Does it start in a specific place?" Carter asked as he removed the planchette from the box and set it on the board. He glided it around like an air-hockey puck, tracing the glass lens over the letters and spelling out who knew what curses.

"It starts in the center." I took it from him and placed it so the lens rested around the tiny symbol of a house Damien had painted above the arc of the alphabet. I left two fingers of each hand resting gently on the side of the smooth, wooden planchette. "It always starts at its home."

Lola pushed her hair back behind her ears, licking the corner of her red-painted lips as she adjusted herself and scooted closer to the board. She placed two fingers of each hand on either side of the planchette, framing the glass lens with her deep, blood-red nails. Her eyes flicked to me, meeting my gaze for a second before she directed her attention back towards the board.

Carter chewed on his bottom lip before finally placing his fingers on the third side of the planchette. "So how does it work? We just ask it questions and...what? The ghost moves it around to answer?"