Halloween will Never be the Same

The weather was atrocious. Rain poured heavily, tapping at the windows for hours. While the wind howled strongly, sweeping away garden furniture that wasn't secured down.

To make matters worse, Jess, Sara and I were dressed in our Halloween costumes, but the party had been cancelled an hour ago, due to the bad weather.

"It's Halloween and the weather is shit!" I moaned, watching the storm rage outside Sara's bedroom window.

I was wearing a pair of tight black shorts, with skeleton hands pointing at my mound, and a matching bikini top, with the skeleton hands printed as if they were holding my big boobs.

"Tell me about it," Jess agreed, laying on Sara's bed dressed as a short skirted slutty witch, scrolling through her social media.

"Look on the bright side, girls. We get to keep all the treats my parents bought for the trick or treaters, and we still got to wear our costumes," Sara laughed, dressed conservatively as little red riding hood.

I grumbled. "But it's our first Halloween as eighteen-year-olds! We're dressed up! We should be partying! Getting drunk!"

"Getting laid you mean," Sara smirked.

"Amen to that," Jess chuckled.

"Well yeah, that too," I smirked.

"There's alcohol in the fridge. Why don't we go and choose something to drink and watch a horror movie?" Sara suggested.

"I don't do all that horror stuff. Halloween is fine. But horror isn't really scary. It's all fake crap," I moaned.

"The modern stuff is," Jess said, sitting up and finally putting her phone down. "The old classics are the best. Like Poltergeist or the Exorcist. I vote for Sara's idea."

"I'll go with the majority," I shrugged again.

"You're being more miserable than the weather, Pippa," Sara poked my arm in jest. "You know Olivia cancelled the party because the marquee was damaged in the storm today. We can still get drunk and make the best of a bad situation."

"Always the optimist," I smiled at Sara.

Since becoming best friends, in the early days of our schooling, Sara, Jess and I were like peas in a pod.

I'm a 5ft 5" curvy brunette, and the grumpy, cynical one during times like this. Jess was roughly the same height as me, a tad taller and slimmer with flowing blonde hair. She was the cheeky one. Sara was also a slim blonde, and the shortest of the three of us, standing only five foot tall. She could be quirky at times, but she was always positive and upbeat.

"Let's get something to drink and eat, then we can choose a Halloween horror movie to scare the shit out of ourselves with," Sara laughed.

"Whatever," I sighed, still reeling at the Halloween party being cancelled.

"I'm in!" Jess sprang to her feet.

We went into the kitchen, grabbed two bottles of white wine, some roasted peanuts and nachos, and then retired to the lounge to find a scary movie to watch.

As if it were meant to be, the movie Jess mentioned was starting on TV at 9pm.

"This will scare the shit out of you!" Jess pointed and laughed at me, as I opened and poured the wine. "It starts in ten minutes."

"Poltergeist is a masterclass," Sara chipped in, pulling some sofa blankets out from the lounge cabinet.

"Some say the cast were cursed after making the movie," Jess said, waving her arms in the air like a child mimicking a ghost, making fun of me. I shook my head and smiled.

"I think about four cast members died after making the trilogy," Sara thickened the plot, whilst dimming the lights and handing us each a blanket.

"Is that supposed to scare me?" I rolled my eyes.

"No, but the little girl who plays CarolAnn died a few years after making the movies," Sara added.

"Because she played a role in a horror story?" I pulled a sceptical face.

"As Jess said, people say the movie was cursed. But I think she had a disease which tragically took her life early," Sara replied.

"So it's safe to say we won't be cursed if we watch it?" I joked, taking the piss out of Jess and Sara.

"You're so miserable and negative tonight, not even a poltergeist would want anything to do with you," Jess fired back with a laugh, as I took my seat between them on the sofa.

We all laughed and held our glasses, drinking wine and settling in nice and cosy together, on the sofa in our costumes, waiting for the movie to start.

The girls took the movie seriously, remaining silent, apart from when they were munching on snacks. I quickly got into it too, as the story unfolded and grew creepier and scarier by the minute.

Then came the iconic scene of CarolAnn being drawn to the poltergeist in the TV. I didn't know it was iconic seeing it for the first time. I was genuinely shit scared to the point I wanted to pull the blanket up over my eyes.

I stayed with it though, and found myself enjoying the movie right until the end. Whilst my doubts about evil spirits and poltergeists remained pessimistic, I was now converted that not all horror movies were rubbish.

The movie finished just before 11pm, by which point we had consumed two bottles of wine between us.

"I thought you said horror movies weren't scary," Jess nudged me. "You shit yourself during it."

"I wasn't scared!" I grinned. "Ok, maybe in some parts I did jump and shit myself."

"Imagine having all that going on inside your house," Sara said. "I hope we haven't just cursed ourselves." Sara then laughed as she got up to use the bathroom.

"Ghosts aren't real," I scoffed. "Certainly not poltergeists."

"Don't be so sure," Sara waggled her finger at me, then left the room.

"Do you really not believe in any of that stuff, Pippa?" Jess asked.

"Not really," I shrugged. "I've never seen any evidence. All the paranormal documentaries I've seen look fake as fuck."

"Yeah, but they're for TV entertainment. I believe there has to be a spirit world."

"Why does there have to be?"

"You're so closed minded," Jess moaned.

"I just like to see some evidence before I can believe in something as ridiculous as spirits wandering the earth," I told her.

"Don't you want to believe we go somewhere after this life?" Jess sympathised.

"It's nice to think there could be a heaven," I replied, pausing for a moment. "But where's the evidence?"

Sara returned carrying what looked like a board game. "Maybe this will provide you with some evidence."

"Is that what I think it is?" Jess bounced excitedly on the sofa.

"It's a Ouija board," Sara smirked.

"Oh for fucks sake," I laughed cynically. "Really, Sara?"

"It belonged to my Grandmother," she said, putting it down on the coffee table. "She was into all this stuff. Spirits and fortune telling etc."

I looked on with silent scepticism and finished my wine. I wasn't about to belittle my friends late Grandmother.

"Did you ever use it with her?" Jess asked, drawn to the board on the coffee table as Sara moved the snacks and empty wine glasses.

"We used it once when I was fifteen. My mum wasn't happy so gran never showed it to me again. But then she left it to me before she died last year. My mum doesn't know I have it," Sara answered.

"Did you contact any spirits?" Jess was gripped, while I remained sceptically polite.

"I don't expect you to believe me, but yeah, we contacted my grandad."

I could see in her eyes that Sara genuinely believed they had contacted her dead grandfather. I remained sceptical.

"Are you both up for it?" Sara looked at me then Jess, her gaze daring us.

"Absolutely!" Jess rubbed her hands together, eager to use the Ouija board.

"You're just going to move the piece," I chuckled at Sara. "Sorry, I don't want to disrespect your gran, but I think Ouija boards are bullshit."

"You have nothing to fear then, do you, Pippa?" Sara smirked while Jess was giggling at me, both waiting for my response.

A few moments passed where my friends stood in front of me waiting for me to agree to play. I genuinely had no fear. I honestly didn't believe anything would happen, other than Sara trying to trick us.

"Fine!" I sighed, set it up and let's play.

The girls smiled and Sara turned off the TV, lit four candles, placing them at the corners of the coffee table, and then turned off the lights.

"Is all that necessary?" I moaned.

"Yes, Pippa. It creates a quiet setting for the spirit to enter," Sara explained. Whatever, I thought, containing my laughter.

"How does it work?" Jess calmed down, full of curiosity as we dropped cushions around the coffee table and sat down.

"It's really easy. I'll tell you when I've set it up," Sara said. "Now turn off your phones so we have no distractions.

"Jess can't turn her phone off," I chuckled. "She might miss an Instagram notification."

"Says you," Jess laughed, pushing me softly in the arm. "Posting bikini pics from your summer holiday in October! How many 'likes' did your big tits get?"

"Not as many as your bubble butt pics get!"

Sara was laughing at us while she laid out the Ouija board. Jess and I stopped ripping each other and we then each turned off our phones.

"Phones off?" Sara asked, showing us her phone was now off.

"Done!" Jess poked her tongue out at me, showing me specifically that she could turn her phone off. "I'm not as addicted as you think."

"Done," I smiled, showing my blank screen.

"Awesome!" Sara giggled, holding up a thin, wooden, heart shaped object, with a hole in its centre. "This is called a planchette. It rests on the board with our fingertips on top of it. If a spirit wants to contact us, then it will move the planchette to talk to us."

"You mean, you will move it." I couldn't help myself.

"We will lightly press the tip of our index finger downwards. You will feel that I am not moving anything, Pippa. I'll just ask the questions. There's no guarantees that this will work every time."

"Because it's not real!" I chuckled.

"Spirits don't always want to make contact. But it does help if the players are believers," Sara raised her eyebrows at me. "We want good spirits, not evil ones."

"Ooooooo," I laughed. It was my turn to childishly mimic a ghost.

"Come on, Pippa," Jess moaned. "Take it serious and let's just see what happens."

"Ok. I'm sorry, Sara." I inhaled a deep breath. I was being a pain, even by my own standards. "No more negativity."

"That's the spirit!" Jess laughed. "No pun intended."

Yeah, right," I smiled at her, then Sara proceeded to explain how the Ouija board works.

"As you can see on the Ouija board, we have the words 'yes' and 'no' in the top corners at my end. The alphabet in the centre. The numbers one to zero underneath the letters, and the word 'goodbye' at the bottom of the board at your end."

"Got it," Jess said, while I listened, looked and nodded.

"As I said, I'll ask the questions to try and summon any spirits to communicate with. The spirits move the planchette around with our fingers on it, to spell out their answers to the questions."

"Can we ask questions?" Jess wondered, keen to speak to the dead.

"Let's see how it goes. But don't ask anything stupid. You don't want to anger or offend a spirit. Remember they're dead and we're living."

"Right," Jess nodded, mesmerised, hanging on Sara's every word.

"I'm not deliberately being negative here, but does a spirit really need our fingers on the planchette? If they can enter our world, then surely they can move a piece of wood on their own," I said.

"This is how it's done, Pippa. I swear on the lives of all my family members that I will not move the planchette." Sara glared into my eyes. She was as deadly serious as the game allegedly was itself.

"I swear on my baby sisters life I won't move it either," Jess gulped. She'd never swore on anyones life before. She was against tempting fate with peoples lives.

"If it's the rules it's the rules," I shrugged nonchalantly. "I was only saying."

Sara continued. "When we want to end the communication with the spirit, we move the planchette to 'goodbye' and say the word. It's the only time we move the planchette, and the spirit goes back to wherever it came from."

"I got it," Jess said, looking very wary now.

"Ok," I nodded.

"Before we start, I want us to calm our minds down and bring ourselves into the present moment." Sara turned spiritual in preparation. "Sit comfortably. Close your eyes and take a few deep breaths."

I closed my eyes and sat up straight, listening to the sound of Sara's voice as it began to sooth the atmosphere. I took three deep breaths, inhaling through my nostrils before exhaling slowly out my mouth.

"Become aware of your breathing. Notice your chest rising and falling. Then become aware of the sounds around you. The sound of my voice. The heavy rain and strong winds outside. Feel your bum on the cushion as you sit and continue to breathe."

I suddenly became aware of so much around me. I felt relaxed and alive. Free from any negativity. After about five minutes of breathing like this, Sara told us to open our eyes to begin the game.

As if a gap between my thoughts appeared, I seemed more aware of the candles burning silently on the coffee table. The rain and wind threatening to blow and wash the house away, and then the Ouija board itself.

Then a feeling deep inside my gut appeared, warning me not to take part. It's not a game it said to me. But then the gap closed and my conscience was suddenly focussing on Jess and Sara.

"Are we ready to play?" Sara asked.

"Damn right!" Jess grinned.

I scraped my top teeth against my bottom lip, trying to figure out what I had just experienced.

"Pippa?" Sara prompted me.

"She's getting scared now!" Jess teased me.

My ego instantly closed down my awareness. "Scared? Of what?" I scoffed at them. "It's bullshit. I'm ready to play!"

"Alright then," Sara smirked. "Let's try to contact our first spirit."

"I'm actually pooping my knickers right now!" Jess laughed. I shook my head, grinning at her.

"Shush. We speak quietly and calmly from now on," Sara said, placing the tip of her index finger on the planchette.

"Sorry," Jess whispered, placing her finger down.

"Last but not least," Sara grinned at me.

I smiled and placed the tip of my index finger onto the planchette. "Let's rock and roll."

"Are there any spirits here who want to contact us?" Sara asked.

For about twenty seconds nothing happened. Then suddenly the tip of the planchette moved to the word 'yes'.

Silence in the room, as we stared intently at the Ouija board. Despite all of my scepticism, I wasn't entirely convinced that Sara or Jess had moved the planchette. It certainly felt very real, very quickly, but I still had my doubts.

"What is your name?" Sara asked the 'spirit'.

Around thirty seconds passed this time, but the planchette remained still.

"I don't think the spirit wants to tell us," Jess giggled quietly.

"How old are you?" Sara asked softer this time.

The planchette remained still, before finally moving down the board. Jess read them out as the 'spirit' moved the planchette across the numbers.

"One ... three ... six. A hundred and thirty-six years old?" Jess gasped.

I wondered how Sara could be moving the planchette, because her finger didn't seem to be applying enough pressure to manipulate the piece without us knowing.

"What's that?" Jess tried to work it out. "1885?"

The planchette moved slowly back up to 'yes'.

I frowned. How is Sara doing this? I racked my brains.

"Are you a good spirit or an evil spirit?" Jess asked.

"What the fuck, Jess!" I chuckled as quietly as I could.

The planchette remained still.

"It's a reasonable question to ask," Sara said. "But spirits can lie. After all, they were human once. Do you think you're a good spirit?" Sara reworded the question in a more friendly way.

The planchette remained still.

"Are we annoying you?" Sara asked another question.

The planchette remained still.

"Maybe the spirit got bored of us," I joked.

"Get your big tits out then, Pippa. Entertain the dead," Jess giggled.

"Maybe the spirit is an arse man," I giggled back. "Get your butt out, Jess."

"Quiet," Sara hissed as quietly as her frustration would allow. "Stop fucking around."

"Sorry," Jess grinned, settling back down.

"Are you still here?" Sara asked, sounding concerned.

The planchette remained still.

"Well this got boring fast. I told you it was all bullshit!" I moaned, breaking Sara's code of quiet talking again.

"No!" Sara panicked, reaching over and grabbing my wrist, hurting me.

"Sara!" I snapped.

"Don't let go of the planchette!" she glared at me; her eyes wide with fear.

"What? Why not? I've had enough of this crap!" I told her.

"I'm begging you, Pippa," Sara pleaded with me, lowering her voice. "We don't yet know what we're dealing with. If any of us let go of the planchette the spirit will be trapped in our world."

I'd never heard anything so ridiculous in all my life. But the look of genuine fear in Sara's eyes, and the tight grip she had on my wrist, I knew she believed every word she'd just said.

"Ok, relax," I sighed, suddenly more scared of Sara than the Ouija board.

"Do you want us to leave?" I asked the spirit, and Sara let go of my wrist, settling back down on her side of the board.

The planchette suddenly moved at its quickest yet, stopping at 'no'. Ok, I thought, that felt real. I swallowed hard.

"How did you die?" Sara asked.

The planchette remained still for a few moments, before it moved slowly to the letter 'H'.

Jess did the honours once again. "H ... A ... N ... G ... I ... N ... G. Hanging? You were hanged? Oh fuck!"

The planchette moved to 'yes' again.

Sara was in deep concentration, convincing me by the second that she was not moving the planchette. Jess was too busy with everything going on to be clever enough to move it without me knowing. But there was no way we had a spirit communicating with us. I refused to believe it.

"Why were you hanged?" Jess asked.

"Don't ask questions like that," Sara told her off.

"Were you hanged unfairly?" I asked. Sara glared at me angrily. "What? I'm showing sympathy," I shrugged.

The planchette moved quickly again, stopping at 'no'.

"Fuck!" Jess freaked. We all did actually. "Why does it move so quickly when you ask it a question? And what the fuck does it mean, it wasn't hanged unfairly? What crime was it guilty of? Ask it, Pippa?"

"You fucking ask it!" I told her in fear. Real fear now.

"Why won't you tell us your name?" Sara asked. "What is your name?" Sara seemed petrified.

The planchette was on the move again, and Jess was spelling out the spirits reply.

"Z ... O ... Z ..."

"GOODBYE!" Sara shouted, trying to push the planchette, but it moved back to 'O'.

"ZOZO?" Jess spelt out, looking puzzled.

"Help me fucking move it!" Sara was panicking. "GOODBYE!"

"GOODBYE!" We shouted in unison, not sharing Sara's level of fear. Jess and I were confused.

Then, I switched back on and realised we actually couldn't move the planchette.

"What do you want?" Jess asked the spirit.

The planchette moved slowly, and Jess spelt out the letters once more.

"P ... I ... P ... P ... A. Pippa?" Jess and Sara stared at me, more scared than I'd ever seen them before.

In shock or what, I couldn't be sure, but I wasn't having any of it. "Fuck off girls! The prank is over. You fooled me mostly, but now it's time to say goodbye," I told them, finally removing my finger from the planchette. I quickly wished I hadn't.

The candles went out and we all jumped and screamed. Then the fireplace burst into life and we jumped and screamed again.

"GOODBYE!" Sara screamed and managed to push the planchette.

It moved freely this time, quickly making its way to 'goodbye' on the board, before Jess and Sara finally lifted their fingers.

"What the fuck just happened!" Jess trembled. "Who or what the fuck is ZOZO, Sara?"