Shivers in the Night | Previous Challenge Entry

how it works

TITLE: Shivers in the Night | Previous Challenge Entry
By Pat Small
08/03/16
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Curiously, we opened the box and removed the new game, a Ouija board. Dad had brought it home from his trip to Walmart. If we had known what lay ahead, we’d have left it in the box. Placing our fingers lightly on the cursor, we started asking it simple questions. Our mouths flew open in amazement as it answered. “What day is this?” Ouija spelled out S-A-T-U-R-D-A-Y. What is my name? B-R-E-N-D-A came its reply.

“Hey, Mom, come look at this thing. Ask it something.”

“Where are we living?” she said. C-A-S-W-E-L-L. “You girls are just moving it yourselves.” She scoffed at our naiveté.

“No, we’re not.” Of course, she didn’t believe us. It was just a silly game after all.

“Daddy, you ask it something.” Grudgingly, he complied. “What’s my favorite cigarette?” C-A-M-E-L-S. “You girls know that. That doesn’t prove a thing.”

“Okay. Ask it something we have no way of knowing.”

He thought awhile and said, “Alright, Mr. Ouija. Who was my best friend in the war who got killed by my side?”

Without a moment’s hesitation, the cursor moved around the board, spelling out a name. For just a moment, Daddy paled. “No doubt you’ve heard me mention it.” He stomped off in a huff.

“That was kind of creepy, don’t you think?”

“Definitely spooky. Let’s try it some more and see what happens.”

“Does Dave like me?” I held my breath, waiting for the answer.

“Very much,” came the reply.

We spent some time asking other nonsense questions that, to our teen minds, were of major import. We giggled at the responses, never suspecting we were playing with fire.

Soon the tide turned. First came snarky responses. Gradually, curses and innuendos appeared. Words not in our vocabulary. Thoughts that were not ours. We threw the thing down in disgust, and shoved it back in the box with its offending cursor.

“Let’s just practice our dance moves.”

“Good idea.” We worked on the new step we had invented until our moves were perfectly synchronized. The dancing and music pushed the Ouija to the back of our minds.

It was only later, as we lay in bed talking, that we got back to the board. “Were you guiding it, Bren?” Mandy’s tone implied her suspicions.

“No, of course not. Were you?”

“Not me. But how do you think it knew all those right answers? Especially the one your Dad asked.”

“I don’t have a clue. Maybe Daddy was right. Maybe I heard him talk about that man sometime and my sub-conscious was really making my fingers push the thing around.”

“Maybe.” Doubt tinged her reply. “But if you didn’t push that cursor, and I didn’t, who do you think did? Are you thinking what I’m thinking?” Shadows creeped across the room. “Do you see something moving around or am I imagining it?”

“I didn’t want to mention it, but yeah.” Right then something scraped against the window, and an icy cold permeated the room. We burrowed deeper under Grandma’s patchwork quilt. We were whispering, shivering, and trembling with fright.

“Ridiculous!”

I jumped.

“This is ridiculous,” Mandy repeated. “It’s a game board and a piece of plastic for heaven’s sake. What’s to be afraid of?”

“Nothing I guess.” My voice sounded funny. I inched my way up in the bed until I could reach my pink bedside lamp. Trembling, I stuck my hand out and turned it on. Finally, I pried my eyes open.

“There’s nothing here. I guess you were right. Look.” Mandy inched her way upward. Tentatively she scanned the bedroom.

“I knew it. We’re being foolish.“

“Something was here. I know it involves the Ouija. I can feel the evil. I’m going to ask Daddy if we can get rid of him.”

“Maybe we could give him away?”

“No. Then he would just scare someone else. He needs to be gone for good.”

“ We could bury him, have a proper funeral and all. That would be funny.”

“How about cremating him before we bury him?” That made us laugh, and we slept at last, visions of Ouija going up in smoke.

"So Saul died for his breach of faith. He broke faith with the LORD in that he did not keep the command of the LORD, and also consulted a medium, seeking guidance. He did not seek guidance from the LORD. Therefore the LORD put him to death and turned the kingdom over to David the son of Jesse.(I Chronicles 10:13-14 ESV).

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