Unleashed

Chapter 1: Curiosity

When Prestley came in and laid the box on her bed, I heard my mother's voice in my head, warning me against things like this. "Where'd you get that?" I asked her apprehensively, hoping she didn't actually plan on using it.

"It's Connor's." Connor was her cousin who didn't care if he went to hell or not. Actually, he'd probably split hell wide open if he did.

"You think this is a good idea?"

"Yeah," she replied as she pulled the Ouija board out of its box. "I've heard these things really work."

"That's what I'm afraid of."

"Oh, come on, Jailyn. It's just a game."

I'd only seen them on TV... right before someone usually died or got attacked by some unseen force. "And you think this is a good idea because...?"

"It'll be cool if it actually moves by itself, don't you think?"

She laid the board between us in the middle of her bed and placed the planchette, which is the thing that slides around and spells stuff, in the center. "Okay, you ready?"

"Are you kidding me with this?" Seeing the sun and moon in the corners, along with the alphabet scattered below them, seemed harmless enough, but the big 'Good Bye' across the bottom came across a little more ominous.

"What?" she whined.

"You want me to help you open up a portal to hell in your room?" I shook my head. "I don't think so."

"Come on, Jailyn. Please?" she clasped her hands together and stuck her bottom lip out. "Pleeease?"

A little part of me wanted to know if it'd really work, too. "I don't know."

"They sell it at the toy store, so how bad could it be?"

They say curiosity killed the cat, which I had a bad feeling I was about to prove. "All right."

She cheered and clapped her hands as she turned the board so we could both put our hands on it. "Okay, what do you want to ask first?"

I hesitantly put my hand on the left side of the planchette as she laid her hand on the right. As soon as my fingers touched it, it slowly slid to 'yes'.

I jerked my hand back. "Did you do that?"

Her eyes looked as wide as mine felt. "No, did you?" I shook my head. "Cool. Here, put your hand back."

"You moved it," I argued, knowing it couldn't have moved on its own.

"No, I didn't. Now, come on." She put my hand back on it and asked her first question. "What is your name?"

It slowly moved across the board and spelled S-T-E-V-E-N.

"Steven?" She repeated, causing it to quickly go to 'yes'.

"I don't like this," I admitted.

"It's okay," she tried to assure me. "It's just a game." She tossed her long, dark hair behind her shoulders and smiled. "Okay, Steven, how old are you?"

It slowly moved to 1-8.

"Eighteen?"

It quickly moved to 'yes' again.

"It could be lying," I said, which was stupid. What was lying? The board?

It slowly spelled out N-O-T.

"No freakin' way!" Prestley said.

"Okay, I want you to shut your eyes and ask a question. I know I'm not moving it, so I want to prove that it's not you."