You Did Good

Ten

The planchet whisks across the board as the boys steer it into the three opening circles, welcoming anything within the house to come speak to them. As it settles in the center, Benji looks up to the room, inviting the apparition in. "Is there anybody here that would like to talk to us?"

"Did you poke me?" Renata whisper-yells, glaring at Lorraine as she clutches her side.

"What?" She gives her a funky look. "No. Why would I do that?"

"You didn't poke me?"

"No."

"Guys!" Benji calls, grabbing their attention. "It's moving!"

"What's it spelling?" Renata asks, still not completely letting her eyes leave Lorraine. The other girl stares right back at her, daring her to say something.

"P...H...E..." He frowns. "'Phe'. It stopped at Phe."

"Phoebe's nickname." Lorraine explains, smiling. "That's what the housekeeper started calling her a few months ago. I guess she took a liking to it."

"You're not going to like it when I shove my foot up your ass." Renata scowls. "Stop poking me."

"I'm literally not."

"What's going on?" Seth looks up, concerned.

She waves him away. "Nothing. Don't worry. What else is the board saying?"

Beneath their fingers, the board begins snaking through a delaying telling of a story of the house. With their guiding questions, they are able to get a good idea as to what really happened the day those two girls were murdered here.

Through their entire session, Renata watches intensely in hopes that Lorraine will get the idea and stop poking her. Her blatant ignorance of her only makes Lorraine even more desperate for attention, and the poking turns from light taps into sharp jabs in her ribs. Each time she is poked Renata demands her to stop, only for it to continue. This happens every few seconds throughout the entire Ouija board session, and finally Seth has enough of his girlfriend crying out.

"Lorraine, please stop." He demands, sounding tired. A headache had been flaring inside of him since the beginning of the session, and their arguing wasn't helping.

"I'm not doing anything!"

"You're obviously doing something." Even Benji says something, giving Lorraine a disappointed look. "You know she doesn't like being here, and you're making it worse."

"I swear to all things holy right now that I'm not doing anything."

"You have to be doing something!" Renata insists. "I'm not crazy."

"No, I know you're not." Her voice drops low. Glancing to the side, she pulls herself across the floor until there is a few feet between them. "Is that better?"

She nods.

Lorraine nods as well, glancing back to the others. "The board is moving again."

P-R-A-

"Prank?" Seth asks.

"Prayer?" Benji guesses.

"You two are way too into this." Renata muses, watching the two of them. They glance eagerly between the planchet beneath their fingers and each other, waiting for the word to finish spelling.

"PRACTICE." Benji's nose scrunches in confusion. "Practice? Practice what?"

Downstairs, the piano in the dining room begins playing.

"No fucking way!" Seth launches himself to his feet, the board forgotten. "Did you hear that?"

"I hear it, I heart it!" He nods enthusiastically.

"Keep your hands on the planchet!" Lorraine shouts, shocking Seth into a frenzy. He slams his body back onto the hard wooden beams, his hands finding the planchet once again. "Jesus, you really are rookies. Don't you know that one of the rules is to keep your fingers on the planchet at all times? What were you thinking?"

He frowns down at the board, lost in thought. "I don't know. Will something bad happen?"

"It shouldn't," she says. "Unless the evil spirit is here."

"FUCK!" Renata jumps from her spot on the floor, her screams shattering the still space and reverberating within the small confines of the attic. Her hands are frantically trying to reach her back as she continues screaming, shaking like a leaf on a tree.

Abandoning the board for a second time, Seth rushes to her. Grasping her tightly to keep her from running away, he glues her to a spot on the floor. He bends down to look her directly in the eyes. Pure terror resides there. "What happened? What happened?"

"She fucking touched me again!" She screeches, pointing an accusing finger at Lorraine. The woman in question is still in her spot in the corner, but is now standing, her face passive. "You bitch!"

"I've been over here the whole time!" She pleas, pointing to her feet. "How could I reach you all the way over here?"

"I don't know, but you did! I can feel it!"

"Where is it?" Seth asks. He listens to her explain where on her back that is causing her the most pain, carefully pulling her sweatshirt up so that he can inspect her skin. When he gets to the portion of her back that she's complaining about, he audibly gasps, a hand flying to his face. "Oh my God, there's three deep scratches across your back."

"What?" Benji hastily closes the Ouija board session, coming to stand next to him. He, too, winces. "Oh my God, those aren't scratches. They're gashes!"

"They fucking hurt, is what they are." She snaps, grimacing as the sudden move of her rip cage makes her wound hurt.

Benji turns on Lorraine, taking a few demanding steps towards her. "What the hell did you do to her?"

"I didn't do anything." Oddly calm, she waits for him to step toe to toe with her before she says anything else. "Even if I did, my nails couldn't have made that."

He turns to look at her back, and then back again. "You swear on your life right now that you didn't do that?"

"Yes!"

"Christ." He curses, running a hand through his hair. "I hate this. I really do."

"They're burning!" Renata screeches. She swats Seth's hands away, howling in pain. "Oh my God, oh my God!"

"Quick, downstairs." Lorraine demands.

Without thinking, they follow her instructions. Renata is the first down the step stairs, still yelling. The boys follow behind her, trying to get her quickly away from whatever did that to her. Lorraine follows behind, her steps leisurely and casual as she follows behind them.

Before closing the attic door, she turns around and flips off the shadow figure standing in the middle of the room.