Elements

12. ghost stories

When my hand is finished being wrapped and aided too I hop off the table and walk across the room, out through the large metal doors.

I scan the common room, Maleks not there but it has started to rain.

"Are you okay?" Jesse says hoping off the couch and quickly coming to my side

"I'm fine" I say as she grabs my hand and examines my bandaged palm.

"I didn't think they would actually burn you" she says and I nod in agreement

"Did he really light the whole room up?" Aaron then says from behind Jesse on the couch.

"Yes" I say as Jesse turns around and directs me towards the couches

"He's never done that" She says "It took all my energy to put that out"

I look at her as she has concern clear across her face

"What?" I say confused

"They didn't know he could get that big, he could burn this whole facility down" she says softly clearly concerned.

He's never done that?

"Where is he?" I say confused

"Showering" Aaron says simply and I nod. He was covered in ash and gasoline

It was quiet after that, I sat on the couch watching the rain pelt down hard outside hitting the glass. The storm has been picking up a lot over the past hour.

Suddenly the tv switches off and the lights in the room go out just seconds after? I look over to Jesse as she swivels around in her chair by the art table and looks at me then the tv.

"Did the power just go out?" Jesse says standing up

"Looks like it" I say standing up from the couch as Aaron stands from the opposing couch where he was reading to go check the TV.

Suddenly I hear Malek as comes around the corner into the common room in his normal shirtless, sweats combo.

"What now" Aaron says confused when suddenly the big metal doors open to Dr Martin standing with a guard.

"Hey everyone, the storm obviously took the power out, is everyone okay?" He says

"Yes" Jesse says quietly

"We brought blankets and candles, you can ask Malek here to light them" he says as the guards beside him sets the supplies on the table we set our dirty dishes on.

"Is there any other concerns?" He asks but no one responds. He then nods and leaves out the door with the guard, locking us in again behind them.

I move slowly across the room and grab the blankets and candles before placing one blanket down on each couch and the candles on the table in between

"Oh this could be fun! We can tell scary stories" Jesse says coming around the couch and sitting down, pulling Aaron's arm down onto the couch beside her

"Malek" she says looking up at him hinting to the candles

I see him roll his eyes and seconds later the candles spark to life as they burn in the middle of the table, just hardly illuminating Jesse and Aaron's faces.

I shake my head at the childishness of telling ghost stories before turning to the couch and crawling under the blanket, leaving more than enough room for Malek.

A few seconds pass before he finally sits down beside me, opting out of sharing the blanket. Not sure if it's because it's with me or if it's because he runs hot with his element already. I look over to Jesse as she's cuddling and giggling as she whispers with Aaron a while longer. I wish I knew what that was like. They genuinely seem happy.

"Okay" she says finally facing us. "I'll start, and this is a true story, I was there" she says and I see Maleks lip twitch up in amusement.

"So like 3 years ago I was with my sister and we where camping with my family and she wanted to go on a walk, so naturally we do. Anyways we are walking and we stumble into this random abandoned house out in the forest with the door taken off so naturally we went in and inside in the living room was one wooden chair and on it was an engraving the said "demons" and then my sister said "do you hear that" and when I turn back to her there is a man outside the door that wasn't there before. I scream and he tells us that he lives near by and we aren't supposed to be trust-passing so we leave and there is no signs anywhere posting private property so the next day we bring our dad and we can't find the house AND we can't find the 'neighbours' house" she says and I instinctively move my feet off the floor and in under the blanket with me. Not to say I believe in ghosts and demons but it still makes me uncomfortable.

"Seriously?" I ask and she nods.

"Alright, I'll go" Aaron says now ready

"I was alone so you'll have to trust me but one time I was driving on a backroad and I heard this girl yelling for help so I stopped the car and rolled down my window and it was silent like not even a cricket and this is country side Australia like you hear things and there was nothing. I look up and there is no stars in the sky and it just feels off and I suddenly hear the sound again from the other side of the road directly across from me and something feels off so I roll up the window and drive home. Turns out that next morning I was watching the news and there was apparently a massive meteor shower. I swear there was nothing and I wasn't even near light pollution, everything was black" he says and I can feel my hands start to go clammy as I'm clearly now spooked.

I notice now that I've some how moved closer to Malek as I'm almost directly beside him, even parts of the blanket are on him now. Shit.

"Note to self, don't go in outback Australia at night" I say softly and Jesse laughs

"I see things here sometimes" Malek says after a moment

"What?" I say looking up at him quickly now truely scared.

"Yeah, like out my window, at night I'll see figures standing outside. I've woke up and went to the washroom in the middle of the night and seen things move and I can feel something following me" he says and now I'm shaking and my hearts racing. Are you kidding me?!

"Your lying?" Jesse says and he shakes his head with no sign of humour on his face.

"Happened like 3 days ago" he says and I find myself as close to him as I possibly can without touching him, finding myself scared of the dark for the first time since I was a kid.

"Why haven't you told me, we should do a Ouija Board!" Jesse says smiling as she hops off the couch and walks over to the art table?!

"Or we could not?" I say and Malek grins slightly. The hell to this idea I ain't looking to die.

"We should" Malek says after looking at me now scared. Screw you. I move away from him now draped in the blanket, no exposed limbs.

"Agreed" Aaron says grinning before laughing at how scared I now am.

A few moments later Jesse returns with a piece of paper and a sharpie as she starts spelling out "A..B..C.."

"Guys we aren't serious?" I say as Malek and Aaron lean forward around the table moving the candles to make space. My heart starts racing as I now frantically scan around the room.

"Come on" Jesse says now finishing up the numbers, yes, no, and goodbye. Before cutting a piece of paper into a planchette with a small hole to see the letters through

"Guys" I say leaning forward into the game out of peer pressure

"Live a little" Aaron says as Jesse finishes up and places the planchette down in the middle.

"I'm trying to" I say