Indigo Shadow - Hemlock

Chapter 13

It was well past 2:00am when Hemlock returned to their apartment, it was dark and damp. He had left the balcony open, letting in the fragrant autumn wind inside. He flickered on a light by the entryway and went to turn on his stereo. After he pulled off his coat, he sat on the couch and stared into nothing.

His trip to the cemetery had been unsuccessful, he had wanted desperately to contact his dad, but maybe it wasn't time for that yet. For some reason, he felt incredibly guilty for even thinking about that; he had wanted to use Erik's spirit as a test somehow, to prove to himself that Loretta's wasn't just in his head, that he could communicate with anyone who had passed on. Again, the pocket watch felt heavy against his chest, and the chain cut into his neck... or at least it felt that way. In the distance, Hemlock heard Jacoby down the hall playing video games with his room door shut. He wanted to go in and bug him, but didn't want to ask too much of his friend.

"Ughhhh!" He flopped over, exasperated. His torso scrunched to the side, and his fingers brushed underneath his couch. He felt something in a box, and then smiled. Yes. Rolling over, he was on his knees, and grasped the box pulling it out with little force. He used his shirt to dust off the top, and eagerly opened it. Before him was his Ouija board; its edges were frayed from use and the planchette was nothing but a hunk of plastic. He fumbled around in the darkness for a candle and lighter. Not that it was necessary, but he wanted to set the feeling right. He lit the end of a sage stick he kept in a side drawer, something he had bought a while back when he thought it would help protect him. He had considered using his Ouija board, but after he had gotten so much criticism for using it in high school, he had never even thought of it as an option... until now. Why not? It's just a board game.

In high school when he used it, it was something he did to bring entertainment to friends and Ange's girlfriends when they all hung out together in the Motel downtown. Sometimes things would speak through, and Hemlock would feel his senses tingling and the shadows start to cloud his vision, but usually when they got too far, the friends that were watching always chickened out and wanted to move onto something more light hearted like quarters or card games.

Jacoby had bought it for Hemlock as a joke, something to tease him with about his sixth sense. Saying that it was nothing more than a game he had bought at a department store in the toy section. But since they had gotten such a bad rep, even Hemlock didn't want to push the boundaries. He had seen too many horror movies to know what would happen if he combined his sensitivity to ghosts with a Ouija board; he knew it would never get to those proportions, but he was still timid about the whole thing. Now, however, he wasn't scared anymore. Come what may, and he could deal with the rest.

He situated himself on the floor, and extended his fingers towards the planchette but then withdrew. He pulled the pocket watch off of his neck and set it opposite of himself, across from the board. Hemlock concentrated; stared towards the little watch until his vision blurred, his eyes becoming dry. He remembered the feeling of something inside of him igniting when he faced Death at the rest stop. It had been powerful, hungry, and uncontrollable. Somehow, maybe, he could slowly let it cover him... He closed his eyes and saw through the dark nothingness in his mind's eye, and reached forward, grasping at the void. Surprisingly, he felt a breakthrough, as if a door had just been unlocked. He pushed through, and was suddenly overwhelmed with a force that made him shudder and flinch; it felt like a rush, like he was on a rollercoaster.

"Loretta... are you there?" his fingers inched onto the planchette, and it moved freely in his grasp. His eyes flashed open and he looked to see what it was doing. It moved to hello. "Hi...?" Hemlock grinned and then tried to think of a question. "Can I see you?"