The Abduction of Stephanie

Chapter 30

Brianna hates going over to Raine’s house, it is cold and dark and creepy. The house is large with high ceilings and glass chandeliers, one of which hangs above a winding staircase. Cobwebs line the corners of the ceiling, as no one is tall enough to get up there and dust them away. The kitchen table is cluttered with all sorts of books and papers, hair products and even a few pairs of Raine’s undergarments as like most creative people she isn’t known to be much of a neat freak.

Brianna follows Raine as she ascends the staircase to her bedroom, which is even messier than the destruction of a lower floor. You need a ladder to get to Raine’s bed that hangs from chains on the ceiling, Brianna isn’t sure how anyone could sleep on a bed that keeps swaying back and forth like that and actually be comfortable. The entire room is filled with full-length mirrors and she even has a coffin in the room, which isn’t hard to obtain when your Dad owns a chain of funeral homes.

In Brianna’s eyes Raine has always been a little bit off, but her best friend always has her back, no matter what. Sure Raine says some creepy things in which Brianna never knows whether to take seriously or as a joke, but Raine is someone Brianna knows she can trust, even if she thinks we are living in a world full of conformist bastards.

Raine opens the glass doorknob to her closet revealing a large amount of empty clothes hangers as all but two of her outfits lay at the base of the floor. Raine has never done laundry in her entire life; she just continues to make new outfits so that she won’t have to. At the top of the closet are a slew of board games. Raine goes through them, Scrabble, Boggle, Monopoly, Parcheesi, and “Oh Here it is” says Raine pulling out a Ouija Board. “Oh no. Oh no. I’m not messing with one of those.” “Stop being such a baby. It might help us to find our friends. You do want to find them don’t you?” Brianna nods reluctantly and follows Raine back down the winding staircase, she screams as a piece of glass from the chandelier falls at her feet.

Brianna races down the stairs and says, “Raine don’t take this the wrong way but I want to go home. Your house creeps me out.” “Stop whining, there is nothing scary about this old house.” Raine sets the Ouija Board down on the hardwood floors, pushing away the piles of clothes that lay on the floor. She opens the game box and then heads towards the kitchen to get some candles. Raine turns out the lights and the two of them are now sitting in the dark. “Raine what are you doing? I already told you that this place creeps me out.” “Chill out.” Brianna bites down on her nails until one of them nearly breaks. “Damnit, I just got these done,” complains Brianna.

Raine flips open her skull and crossbones lighter and lights the wicks of thirteen red candles. “Raine, I don’t want to do this. I want to go home.” “If you don’t want to do this, then there is always one other option,” says Raine walking over to a podium with a large black book sitting on top of it. It is a book that shows an inverted pentagram on the front cover, it is a book of witchcraft. “We could perform an incantation.” “Raine you are scaring me. I’m going home.” Brianna gets up to leave but Raine grabs her wrist. “Sit down. This is the only way we are going to find them.”

Brianna is terrified but takes a seat on the floor next to Raine, the smell of the candles filling her nose. “You know Raine, if anybody ever saw this place they might think you are a killer.” “I am” says Raine pulling a switchblade from her bra and flipping it open. She points it at Brianna and Brianna jumps up screaming, nearly knocking over one of the candles that Raine has formed in a circle around them. Raine puts the knife away and starts laughing. “That’s not funny Raine. Why do you always do things like that to me?” “Because I can” teases Raine.

Raine sets up the board and the two of them hold the game piece together. “Where is Stephanie?” asks Raine to the board. “Nothing’s happening” says Brianna, her hand still on the game piece. “Give it time.” Raine asks again “Show me where Stephanie is.” “Raine I really don’t like this. I’m not into all this freaky shit like you are.” “You want to find them don’t you?” “Yeah but…” “Then just stop worrying and help me. Now shut up. You are distracting the spirits.”

“Hey Raine? asks Brianna “Do you believe in ghosts and like reincarnations and things like that?” “The spirits are walking amongst us. We can’t always see them but they are there. I thought I told you to stop interrupting me.” Until now Brianna has never believed in ghosts but for some reason she is starting to believe that her friend Raine could have been reincarnated or might be some sort of a witch. The things she is doing now seem a little too extreme, even for Raine.

Brianna is scared and cold in the damp confines of Raine’s home. She watches as the candles flicker with the draft of the room. Her hand is now beneath Raine’s on the game piece and Raine asks once again “Where is Stephanie?” The game piece starts to move and Brianna tries to pull her hand away, but Raine grasps it tightly. Their hands are forced to move towards the letter B. For a brief moment after that nothing happens and the two girls are silent, they look at each other, Raine intrigued and Brianna terrified as the temperature in the room decreases. The game piece shifts again and moves over to the letter A. Brianna is so scared that she nearly passes out but manages to keep her nauseous body in the game.

Raine on the other hand is smiling, excited to make contact with the spirits. She clenches Brianna’s hand even tighter, making sure she will not turn back. They are too close to having an answer to stop now. The piece shifts again, this time moving over to the letter S. The room is ice cold now, they are not alone, Raine can feel it. She has dreamed of this her whole life, making contact with the undead; she always knew it was possible.

The chandelier begins to rattle as the hands are quickly shifted over to the letter E. The draft in the room is getting stronger and the chandelier looks as if it is going to fall from the ceiling, the few windows begin to shutter and the papers that were sitting atop the kitchen table now scatter the entire room. The game piece moves one more time, this time setting itself above the letter E.

Brianna is sweating, she bites her nails, and she wants nothing to do with witchcraft or sorcery or the undead. Her hair is drenched and she listens, as the room gets quiet. The game piece still hovers over the letter E as a strong gust of wind causes the candles to go out. The room returns back to normal and the girls are left with only the letters BASEM and still no answers.

Raine looks at Brianna with disappointment in her eyes, as they are unable to make anything of the five letters they have been provided. She sits quietly with pursed lips contemplating the next stop. “I can’t believe it didn’t work,” says Raine. “Oh, it worked alright. Didn’t you see all that creepy stuff that was happening? I don’t want to be a part of something like that ever again. I’m going home.” “Wait! There is still one more thing we can try,” says Raine walking over to the large black book and tracing her finger over the pentagram.

Brianna jumps to her feet and heads towards the door. “Brianna wait! Please!” shouts Raine. “I told you Raine, I’m not going to be a party of your creepy world anymore. It’s scary. It’s your thing not mine. I’m going home.” Raine is disappointed at the lack of support from her best friend in the whole world as she watches her walk out the door into the windy night.

Raine continues to run her fingers over the pentagram. She opens the book to a page she book marked earlier where she finds a spell to find something lost. She reads through the ingredients, something of Stephanie’s, feather of a bird and a drop of blood. Raine obtains all the ingredients necessary and begins to boil some water on the stove. She adds them one at a time into the water, first the feather, then a shirt she borrowed from Stephanie, good thing she never returned it and finally she pricks her own finger to add the blood.

Raine has done some pretty creepy things in her day but this is the first time she has ever experimented with witchcraft. She has always been interested in witches as well as the undead and all other kinds of paranormal things but this will be the first time she tries to cast a spell, knowing it may not work, knowing she is not a witch.

Raine turns out all the lights in the house and adds new flames to the candles. She sits Indian style between the circle of candles she made earlier and grasping the spell book. Raine is nervous and excited at the same time, curious of what will happen and anticipating the outcome. She grins as she goes over the incantation one more time. Her pot of witch stew is boiling on the stove. Thankful that she doesn’t have to drink from it she begins to recite the incantation. “Host of the hidden. Show me now what I can’t see. Find for me now what I seek.”