They spent the next hour discussing possible destinations. Do they go sightseeing, or head for a beach? USA, Asia or Europe? Janet found Holland appealing, well the men anyway, but was put off by the availability of drugs. Sam had always wanted to see the pyramids in Egypt. Paris, Rome, Vegas, Singapore, the list went on and on. They soon decided they were too tired to talk about it anymore and headed off to bed.
The next morning was bright and sunny. Sam was enjoying a cup of coffee when she heard Janet letting herself in with the spare key, having got up early to go for a jog. After breakfast and a shower, they hit the town. Shopping first, then holiday planning. By the time they got back to the apartment, they were each laden with half a dozen bags and had booked a week long safari in Africa.
Sally, another high school friend, was turning 30 the next day, the first in the group of friends to do so. Attending the party was the reason Janet was visiting that weekend, one of the reasons anyway. When they were both dressed in their new outfits and shoes, they phoned for a taxi to take them to the station. It only took a half hour on the train, but there was quite a walk to Sally’s house once they left the station. It was a warm evening and neither were wearing high heels, so they didn’t mind the walk.
It was good catching up with old friends, even if most of them were now married, either with children, or due to give birth later in the year. They all went out for a meal, then some, those who didn’t need to get back to relieve babysitters, headed back to Sally’s house, where the alcohol began to flow. They began to reminisce about school days and past boyfriends and gossip about what had become of old enemies.
“Remember Debbie Johnson?” someone asked.
“The bitch who thought she was better than everyone,” came the reply from across the room.
“Yeah. She ended up marrying Kevin Phillips. God, he was gorgeous.” The whole room sighed simultaneously. Kevin had definitely been the best looking guy at high school, but it hadn’t gone to his head. He was down to earth, had time for everyone, no matter how popular or unpopular you were. How had he ended up being caught by such a self-centred, egotistical woman?
“Well,” the voice continued. “I read in the paper the other day that she’s just been arrested for attempted murder. Apparently he got fed up with her constantly cheating on him and packed his bags, ready to leave her. Before he could get out of the door, she attacked him. As he stumbled out into the front garden, she plunged a knife into his chest, just missing his heart. Loads of witnesses. Open and shut case the paper said. Kevin’s still in hospital, but is due to make a complete recovery.”
“If he needs looking after when he gets out, I volunteer.” Mary, though petite, could still make her voice heard across a crowded room. She had taken up nursing and was now running a ward at the local private hospital.
“You’re happily married, remember.”
“Is there such a thing?” Brenda asked. “I thought you were either happy, or married.” Since her divorce had come through, Brenda seemed to have found a new lease of life, or, as she often put it, ‘I now have a life’.
Sam sat back and listened as the conversation continued. It was amazing how different everyone’s lives were now; how little decisions they had made in the past had totally transformed their lives. Mary was just starting her married life, while Brenda had just ended hers, but both appeared happier than they had ever been. Looking around the room, she was glad to see that some things hadn’t changed. Sally had been heavily into the occult while at school and a lot of her old paraphernalia was still on display. The faint aroma of a recently burnt joss stick still hung in the air. The sheep’s skull had pride of place on a shelf. They had been 15 when they had found it in a nearby field and Sally took it back to her house and carefully washed all of the mud off it. Her mum had screamed the first time she saw it. The memory made Sam smile.
It wasn’t long before tarot cards appeared and Sally started to tell people their fortunes; not that anyone took it seriously, except Sally of course. She predicted that Mary would be having twin boys next year and Brenda would meet the man destined to be her second husband later that week. Predictably, Janet had lots of love and men in her future. Then it was Sam’s turn. After laying out the cards, Sally turned them over, one at a time.
“You are going on a long journey soon,” she said.
“Yeah. Africa, next month,” Sam replied, but Sally frowned.
“No. It’s not that. This will be an even longer journey and very soon. Maybe even tomorrow.” More cards were turned over. “You will experience a great love on this journey, and also great loss. I see immense sorrow in your future, maybe even a death of someone close to you.” Then Sally smiled. “But not anyone you yet know.”
Sam didn’t believe in any form of fortune telling, never had, so why had the room suddenly gone very cold?
Sally put away the cards. “Coffee anyone?”
When they were all seated again, sipping their coffees, laced with brandy, the conversation turned once again to the occult. Sally had been given a Ouija board for her birthday from her brother. He had bought it from a little antique shop down a dark alley in London and claimed it was genuine.
“Let’s give it a try,” Janet said, excitedly. By now, everyone was a little bit drunk, some more than a little, so the suggestion went down well. Sally retrieved the board from her bedroom and placed it on the coffee table. They all seated themselves on the floor around the table, anticipation and excitement evident on their faces.
There were only three words on the board, ‘no’, ‘yes’, and ‘goodbye’, and all the letters of the alphabet, in order. A strange triangular piece had been placed in the middle.
“Anyone ever done this before?” Sally asked. They all shook their heads. “Okay. It’s very simple. We all put our hands lightly on the planchette.” She pointed to the wooden triangle on casters, with a large hole in one end, before continuing. “Once the spirits have been summoned, we can ask questions and they answer by moving the planchette over the letters on the board, to spell out the answer.”
“Let’s hope they’re good spellers then,” Janet interrupted, and Mary, who had drunk more alcohol than she was used to, giggled.
Sally gave them a disapproving look and continued. “There are just a couple of rules. Firstly, nobody moves the planchette. That’s the spirits’ job. Secondly, no-one is to leave the circle while we are still talking to the spirit. You can take your hands off, but don’t get up or move away. The circle traps them inside the Ouija board and breaking the circle allows them to escape.”
Sam leaned toward Janet, who was sitting on her left and whispered, “Does she really know what she is doing?”
Janet shrugged. “It all sounds like bullshit to me,’’ she whispered back.
“This isn’t dangerous, is it?” Mary asked, suddenly moving her hands away from the board.
“It can be,” Sally replied, looking serious. “Spirits that escape often haunt one of the participants and eventually have to be banished, and sometimes you get through to something evil, but I have done this loads of times before and know how to get rid of any spirit we don’t like the sound of.”
Mary did not look reassured, but reluctantly placed her hands back onto the table. Sally smiled. “Shall we begin?”
When all hands were on the planchette, she closed her eyes and began to call the spirits. Suddenly her eyes opened. “Who’s there?” she asked. Instantly the planchette began to move. It was definitely pushed from Sam’s left and she gave Janet a suspicious look, which was returned by an innocent smile; a little too innocent. The planchette stopped on the F before moving on to the R. After going to E then D, it stopped. FRED.
“Good evening Fred,” Sally said formally. “How are you today?”
The planchette immediately moved again, spelling out DEAD.
Sally glared around the circle of faces before continuing. “Is there anything you want to say to us Fred?” The planchette moved to ‘yes’ and m
omentarily paused. It then swiftly moved to the letters G, E then T.
“Get,” Mary said, a little shakily. It continued moving, stopping on various letters and then pausing to indicate the end of a word. Mary took to speaking each word as it was spelled, which began to get annoying very quickly.
“Get Janet.” All eyes immediately swung toward her.
“Get Janet another.” Sally started to frown.
“Get Janet another drink.” At this Janet fell over laughing, making Mary scream as soon as she broke the circle. Sally stood up angrily.
“That’s not funny,” she yelled.
“Sorry,” said Janet, wiping tears out of her eyes. “I couldn’t resist.”
They all took the opportunity to refill their coffee cups and make use of the bathroom. Soon everyone was seated again, ready for another attempt to contact the dead, having been assured by Janet that she would not push the planchette again. Once all fingers were in position, Sally began to call the spirits again. For a while, nothing happened. Then the planchette began to vibrate. Everyone looked at Janet, who promptly took her hands away. The vibrating continued. When Janet had replaced her fingers, Sally asked, “Who’s there?”
Very slowly, the ‘spirit’ began to ‘speak’. This time there were no pauses between words so they had to work out for themselves where one word ended and the next began.
Y O U D O N O T.
It was on its way to N when Mary yelled out, “You do not.” This was followed by ‘need to know that’. The last letters were easily formed into words, but Mary called them out anyway.
“You do not need to know that,” Sally repeated, frowning. “I’ve never heard that before. What should we call you then?” she asked, raising her voice slightly. “We can’t just call you spirit, can we?”
The planchette moved to ‘yes’. Still frowning, Sally continued. “Oh great spirit, do you have anything to say to us?” Leaning to her left she whispered, “It helps to be polite.”
The board replied ‘yes’ again. After a slight pause it moved toward the H.
H E L L O. “Hello,” Mary suddenly shouted out, making everyone jump. It spelled out ‘girls’ then stopped.
“Hello girls,” Mary, the self-elected spirit spokesperson said.
“Stop it,” Brenda snarled at her. “We can all spell.” Mary ignored her as the planchette continued to spell out words.
“Do you want togo,” she said. “What’s togo? Do you think it misspelt toga? Are we talking to a roman?”
“Idiot,” Janet snapped. “It’s to go, not togo. It’s still moving so shut up in case we miss a letter.”
When it finally stopped moving, it had spelled out ‘do you want to go on a journey’. Everyone was looking at each other, a little nervously.
“No.” Sam was the first to pluck up the courage to speak. Immediately the spirit responded.
‘What if I told you my name was Dean’. Going white, Sam looked at Janet, who shook her head, going almost as pale.
“Is it?” Sam stammered. The planchette began to slowly spin, as though the ‘spirit’ was thinking. Eventually it moved to ‘no’ and both Sam and Janet let out audible sighs of relief, though Sam’s was tainted with a trace of disappointment.
“Who’s Dean?” Sally asked. Even she sounded a little frightened. Sam did not answer, ignoring the question. What was going on? Nobody in the room knew about Dean except Janet, and she would never bring him up in front of others.
“How do you know about Dean?” she asked, looking at the board.
‘I know everything’ the reply spelled out.
“This isn’t funny,” Sam hissed, suddenly feeling very angry.
She started to rise, causing Sally to shout “Stop. Don’t break the circle.” Sam slowly lowered herself back down. “Who’s moving it?” Sally asked, looking at each person in turn. They all shook their heads.
“Okay,” Sally continued, after taking a deep breath. “Let’s all slowly remove our fingers, but remember to stay in the circle. Maybe we should hold hands.”
They each withdrew their fingers and there was a collective sigh of relief when nothing happened, though they each gripped their neighbours’ hands tightly. A few seconds later Mary screamed as the planchette started to spin again.
“What do you want?” Sally asked, clearly on the verge of panic.
“I never knew Sally was such a good actress,” Janet whispered to Sam. “I wonder how she’s moving it.”
“I’m not,” Sally snapped back. Janet had spoken louder than she had intended.
The ‘spirit’ began spelling again.
“I need your help,” Mary read out. “What, all of us?” she added.
It immediately went to ‘no’, before quickly spelling ‘just one’. It was now moving a lot faster than it had at the start, almost as if it was excited.
“I think you need to end this,” Brenda told Sally, while looking at Mary, who was visibly shaking.
Before Sally could reply, Janet asked, “Who?”
The planchette went still and everyone looked up in surprise. The looks quickly turned to horror as the entire board began to slowly revolve, increasing in speed with each revolution. When it stopped they all heard soft chanting, coming from all around the room.
“No,” Sally screamed in terror. The chanting stopped and a voice came from inside the board, loudly and clearly.
SAM
Sam tried to scream as intense pain filled her, but found herself unable to exhale. The last thing she heard before unconsciousness took her was the screams from her friends as she suddenly disappeared.
Chapter 3
Sam awoke to find herself in the middle of a field, near a ring of people surrounding a fire, all of them seemingly in a trance. She was cold. As she moved closer to the fire, an old woman opened her eyes. Smiling at her, she handed her a wooden bowl filled with clear liquid.
“Drink,” she said, and Sam obeyed before she realised what she was doing. The liquid had a slightly bitter taste, but she felt warmth flow through her body as soon as she swallowed. Her muscles ached, as though she had just run a marathon, and her head was throbbing painfully. A few more mouthfuls reduced it to just a dull ache and her limbs seemed to be regaining strength.
“What is it?” she asked, in a small voice, looking at the old woman. Although she appeared to be old at first glance, now Sam was not so sure.
“Just a mixture of herbs that blend to make a good restorative,” she replied, still smiling. “Your journey took a lot of your strength, as well as ours.” She nodded toward the others in the circle, some of whom were showing signs of waking.
A man with a beard was the first to open his eyes. Sam thought he was approaching middle age, but his facial hair may have been hiding a younger face.
“As soon as they all wake, Bellak will do the introductions.” The woman spoke so smoothly, so reassuringly, that Sam didn’t feel frightened. She was in the middle of who knew where, with a bunch of strangers, and had no idea how she had gotten there; she should have been terrified. She looked suspiciously at the now empty bowl in her hands, then back at the woman, who nodded her head slightly.
“Yes,” she said, as though she had been reading Sam’s mind. “It also has a calming effect. If you had not drunk that, you would probably have run screaming into the woods by now.” She placed a plump hand on Sam’s knee. “I am Mama Rose, and you must be Sam.”
“How do you know my name?” Sam asked, surprised.
“I called you here.”
Sam wanted to lift her arm and hit her, but there was not yet enough strength in her, and she was not sure how dangerous that action might be. If Mama Rose had transported her here, who knew what else she was capable of? All she could do was ask, “Why?”
Mama Rose just continued smiling and nodded toward the people in the circle. “Only they can answer that question.” Suddenly she looked exceedingly pleased with herself. “I was not sure it was going to work. I guess I am better
than even I thought I was.” The smug expression dropped from her face when an old man stomped over, his face red with anger.
“What is this?” he shouted at Mama Rose, pointing at Sam. “This....this....girl,” he managed to get out through the rage that gripped him, “is supposed to be a man.” He turned to face Sam. “Well girl,” he snarled. “What do we call you?”
“Samantha," she replied, standing up. ‘My friends call me Sam.” Acting braver than she felt, she continued. “You can call me Miss Riley.”
The old man snorted. “You, girl, have ruined everything. I asked for a big strong man and Mama Rose gives me you. What possible use could you be to me?” Before Sam had time to respond, they were interrupted by a desperate shout.
“Bellak,” a female voice called. “Dal has not come out of the trance. I think he is dead.”
Everyone who was able to stand ran toward a pretty lady holding a youth, his head in her lap, as she shook his shoulders. Sam got there first. Placing her head on his chest, listening for breathing, she felt at his neck for a pulse.
“There’s a faint pulse, but he’s not breathing. Does anyone know CPR?”
Blank stares surrounded her. She might as well have been speaking a different language. Swearing softly to herself, she laid him flat and put her mouth on his. After sending two big breaths into his lungs, she felt for his pulse again. The heartbeat was still there, though no stronger than before. No need for chest compressions to restart his heart. She gave him two more lungfuls of air, then paused to feel his pulse again. It seemed a little stronger this time. As she went down to give him air a third time, he took a deep, gasping breath. As relief flooded through her, Sam collapsed on the ground beside him, her earlier fatigue returning. She listened to his slow, shallow breathing, letting unconsciousness slowly claim her.
When she awoke, she found herself in a warm bed, the sun just beginning to peek through the curtains. The blanket was pink. This couldn’t be Sally’s place; she hated pink. Sam looked up to see a man with a beard watching her, concern evident on his face. Where had she seen him before? Seeing she was awake, he walked closer and sat on the end of the bed.
The Guide Page 3