Day #7, Seance – by Amber Averay
The hour was late, the cabin quiet, and Jen and her best friend, Eli, were relaxing in front of the crackling fire. ‘God, this feels so nice!’ she groaned, stretching out on the shaggy rug and almost purring from the delicious warmth. ‘We really shouldn’t wait so long to get away next time.’
‘Seriously,’ agreed Eli, swigging from his beer bottle. ‘People do my head in.’
‘Right? Those of us who work in retail need a bloody medal and government recognition for the shit we get put through on the daily.’
‘All customer service type positions,’ corrected Eli. ‘Some feral bitch spat at me yesterday because the catalogue item she wanted was delayed – country-wide – and it was specifically my fault and I’d personally ruined her year.’
‘What did she expect you to do? Bend over and shit it out just for her?’
‘Apparently she’s reporting me to my manager for “incompetence” and “general stupidity”.’
‘Did you tell her you’re the manager?’
He grinned. ‘Nah. I’ll let it be a lovely surprise for her next time she comes in.’
Jen laughed and sat up, plucking the bottle from his hand and taking a generous gulp. ‘Ok, so which job do you want – look for munchies, or look for something interesting?’
‘I’ll take the “something interesting”…oh, and look! I’ve found me. Search over.’
‘Idiot.’ Jen smirked and hauled herself to her feet, went to the pantry and began hunting through it. Rice crackers, seaweed crisps, yeast, biscuits that were six months out of date… ‘Maybe we should have brought something ourselves,’ she muttered, crouching down and searching the lowest shelf.
‘Find anything?’ Eli asked as she sat beside him.
‘Nothing edible.’ With a flourish Jen set the two objects on the floor, ignoring her friend’s scepticism. ‘Though I found a few dead cockroaches in there, if you want to whip out the air fryer.’
‘So instead you think a Ouija board is going to make a difference? What…what are we going to push around?’
‘This.’ Jen held up the small glass she’d grabbed from the cupboard. ‘Come on, it will be a bit of fun! Please-please-please-please-please!’
‘Oh, all right, fine.’ He took the glass from her and sat it on the board. ‘God protect me from desperate women.’
‘Honey, if they’re after you, they’d have to be desperate.’
‘Oh, you little bitch.’
They laughed, and settled their fingers on the glass.
They waited.
Eli said, ‘I think it’s broken.’ He leaned over the board. ‘Is there a button we have to press to wake it up? A magic word?’
Jen bumped him with her elbow. ‘Hello? We are Jen and Eli. Is anybody there?’
Nothing.
‘Hello?’
Eli sighed, and rolled his head side-to-side. ‘This will be a long night.’
Y-E-S.
‘You pushed that!’ he accused.
‘I did not.’
‘Then how did it move?’
Jen blew him a kiss. ‘Hello? Is anybody there?’
N-O.
‘Oh, we have someone with a sense of humour.’
‘This will be fun.’
Y-E-S.
Taking turns to talk to the ‘spirit’, Jen and Eli’s questions became more and more absurd, each query punctuated with hysterical laughter and saucy commentary. They were having a blast – until things took an unexpectedly dark turn.
‘Have I ever lived before?’ asked Jen.
Y-E-S.
‘How many times?’
T-O-O M-A-N-Y.
‘“Too many”? That’s rude. Ok, uh… Will I live a long life this time?’
Nothing.
‘How about me?’ asked Eli. ‘Have I lived before? Or maybe I was a tree or something… Anything?’
No response.
He puffed out a sigh. ‘Dude, you’re killing me here.’
N-O-T Y-E-T.
‘Excuse me?’
S-O-O-N.
Jen’s brow furrowed. ‘Eli, you’re freaking me out.’
‘It’s not me.’
‘Well, it’s not me!’
I-T-S M-E.
‘Ok, that is enough.’ Jen pushed the glass away and sat back, stretching her back, feeling more unsettled than she cared to admit. ‘We wasted a few hours, but I’m still hungry.’
M-E T-O-O.
‘Eli, stop it!’
‘I wasn’t touching it! See? No hands.’ He held them up, torn between anger and amusement. Jen knew how to joke, but she also had a habit of taking things too far sometimes.
Jen ran a hand over her hair before shaking her head and flashing her friend a smile. ‘Right. I’ve had two mouthfuls of beer, I’m good to drive. Let’s go get some eats.’
‘Good idea.’
They got to their feet, both ignoring the Ouija board, and Jen grabbed her car keys. Heading for the door, she heard a breathless sound, like a hiss, and then the glass flew through the air and shattered against the wall right in front of her face. Broken shards sprayed over her, cutting forehead, cheeks, chin, and eyelid. She screamed, dropping everything and rushing to the kitchenette for a towel.
‘Are you ok? Jen? What the fuck? What happened?’ Eli’s frantic voice babbled on, a nervous squeak ticking through it.
‘I just got glass in the face! That’s what happened.’ Dabbing at the cuts, Jen winced and moved on shaky legs toward the bathroom. She needed the mirror, worried there was some glass in a few of the cuts.
Leaving Eli to pick up her things she pushed the door open, not wanting him to see the tears burning her eyes. She hated him to see her cry – especially over something as stupid as this. A freaking game that they both took to far.
But he must have thrown the glass – he’d been behind her, could have swiped it up and hurled it at the wall. Hurt her.
Surely he wouldn’t do that, though.
She faced the mirror – and screamed as it erupted in an explosion of shards and splinters that pierced her head, neck, shoulders.
Jen fell to the floor.
Eli rushed in, saw Jen unconscious, blood spreading around her. ‘What the fuck? Jen? Jen!’ It was then he saw the mirror – intact, save for the weeping words written upon its surface:
YOU DID NOT SAY ‘GOODBYE’.
Eli felt faint. ‘Ohhh… “Goodbye”?’ he whispered.
The words shimmered, re-forming.
TOO LATE.
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