GRYDER'S COVE TALES: HOWLERS

tempted

Lock the car, lock the door, drop the keys and her purse on the small table in the hall, flop down on the couch spread-eagle. Almost doze off.

Gotta get back up....uuugh!

Change back into the sweatpants from earlier that morning. Off with the lamps, light the candles on the end tables, back to the couch. So far, so good, all according to plan. Then dread overcame her as she realized her Pericodin was in her purse, all the way down the four-foot hallway. She heaved herself off the couch with a heavy groan, retrieved the bottle, and flopped back down in her previous spot. Luckily, her backpack was right where she left it, and a bottle of water was not far away.

She opened the zipper to the main compartment and fished around inside. Her hand brushed against the board she had almost forgotten about, and she paused a moment, hearing the sheriff's words repeating in her head: 'Personally, I wouldn't touch that thing 'til I talked to him.′ She slid it out just a little bit, tracing the exposed letters and symbols with her fingertip. Things like this surely weren't real. Physically real, yes, but there was no way they did what people said they did. Staring at it wasn't enough now, and she found herself setting it out on the glass top of the coffee table in front of the couch. Another excursion into the depths of the backpack produced the planchette, which she placed to the right of the board. It all looked harmless enough. Cool, kind of spooky, yes, but harmless, like movie props. Uncapping her water, Gail took her pills and sat the water aside, turning her full attention to the board. When she reached for the planchette, it seemed to nudge itself into her hand.

"I'm just exhausted and in a lot of pain. It's just messing with my perception, that's all," she thought to herself, "I just wanna see how it looks on the board."

Upon that thought, as she began to move it, it seemed to place itself on the board, right at the edge, and her hand was drawn to it like a magnet to steel. There was a sudden, noticeable change in the house, in the night, in her quickening breath and heartbeat. Distant thunder sounded, as though a great and furious storm was awakening. Gail tried to remove her hand, break the spell that held it fast, only to have her other hand locked on as well. Then, the damned thing began to move. It circled the middle of the board slowly at first, eased into a figure eight, and then in arcs, back and forth across the board. Gail's eyes welled up with tears as her panic grew. This couldn't be real...it just couldn't.....

YES IT IS

Her wet eyes widened in naked terror as the board responded to the thoughts in her head, showing her one letter at a time before returning to the figure-eight motion. Still her hands stayed bound to the wooden oracle, and still she fought for control only to have the board tell her

I AM STRONGER THAN YOU MORTAL

If her voice had worked, she would have screamed like she had never screamed before. Instead, her entire body shook with the effort of trying to do so without success, her voice flash-frozen deep inside of her someplace. The board began to spell faster.

ONLY I CAN RELEASE YOU

YOU HAVE NO POWER OVER ME

YOUR WEAKNESS IS PATHETIC

Suddenly, she felt as though something rushed over her, making her skin contract and tingle all over. She was free, and the board lay dormant in front of her. Her breath came in shuddering gasps as her hands trembled just above the round wooden planchette. The witchboard nearly hit the floor when her right knee jerked and hit the edge of the table in reaction to her heart beginning to pound even harder. Like frightened prey her eyes darted around the room, searching for whatever might be coming. Without warning wind raged over the house, rattling every window. She knew then it was too late.