I'm in the break room, I can hear the band playing behind the closed door. My head is pounding, I didn't get enough sleep the night before. I pull my hair out of the scrunchy, each strand falling onto my shoulders as I do so. I wrap the scrunchy around my wrist and take a deep breath. After a few minutes of drumming my fingers on the desk in the center of the room, I drop into a chair beside it. I outstretch my arms with a yawn and rub my eyes until I feel like the rings around them are gone. Four hours of sleep is not enough to be working a Saturday night.
After recuperating, I head back out of the break room and check the time on the clock. It's 11:45 pm, fifteen minutes until closing time. The band is putting their things away, drunks are stumbling out of the door. It feels more like a bar than a diner on Saturday nights, I don't mind it too much but it gets overwhelming sometimes. Half of the guys on the basketball team that were here are already gone, there's only a handful left. Kennedy has her head rested on the counter, I can't see her face through her folded arms but I know she has probably fallen asleep already. I'll have to wake her up once everyone has cleared out. Sydney has already taken her uniform off and is now wearing a crop-top and high-waisted skinny jeans, she's sitting in Mitch's lap and playing with his curls while he tells a story to the rest of the guys. Ryan is making his way over to the counter as I'm putting things away and finishing the last of the cleaning. Noah and Samuel are arguing over something simple, it's a friendly argument but I can tell they're both defensive about whatever it is they're talking about, they're only a few stools away from where I'm standing. "Hey, Cora. Are you staying after with everyone else?" Ryan asks me after making his way to my side of the counter and grabbing a rag to help me dry.
"You don't have to do any of that, I've got this under control. Also, yes I'm probably going to stay. Why, are you?" I ask him as he hands me a cup.
"Yup. I know I don't have to help, I just figure it'll get done faster if I do help you," he shrugs, stacking some dry cups together and placing them in the drawer they belong.
"Well thank you, I appreciate the help," I reply, trying not to show how thankful I actually am for his help. He looks up across the counter at Noah and Samuel.
"Noah McCavinaw?" Ryan asks in surprise.
"Ryan?" Noah looks back at him.
"Wow, nice to see you dude. What are you doing here?" Ryan puts down his drying rag and steps to the other side of me.
"Wait, you guys know each other?" I raise an eyebrow, glancing at each of them.
"Noah plays on my travel baseball team in the summertime, that's how we know each other," Ryan explains.
"Well that's convenient, are you going to be here later tonight?" Noah asks Ryan.
"Yeah, you?" Ryan asks in return.
"Yup," Noah nods, though the look in his eyes say he doesn't want to. Samuel sits in silence beside Noah, he's playing with a straw wrapper.
"Sweet," Ryan grins. They jump into a conversation about baseball as I finish up the cleaning. Once I've finally finished, I head back into the break room to take off my uniform and put on some regular clothes. I keep my leggings on but throw on a sweatshirt instead of my work blouse and I place my name tag neatly beside the blouse after folding it. I head back out of the break room just as the band heads out. All that's left now is the people who were invited to stay; Ryan, Noah, Samuel, Kennedy (still asleep), Sydney, Bruno, and obviously Mitch. Ryan invites Noah and Samuel to go sit in the booth with Mitch, Bruno, and Sydney, which they reluctantly accept. They follow Ryan to the booth as I head over to Kennedy to wake her up.
Once I reach her, I can hear her soft snoring. I tap her arm a few times and pour her a glass of water as she wakes up. "Diner is closed, want to go join everyone else over there?" I offer her, sliding the glass of water closer to her.
"Thank you, and sure," she replies groggily as she chugs the glass of water. She shuffles over to the booth as I rinse off her cup, dry it, and put it away. After doing so, I head over to the door and lock it. I flip the neon open sign to read closed before heading over to the booth. I take a seat beside Noah who sits on the edge, Samuel next to him, followed by Ryan, then Bruno, then Sydney still on top of Mitch, and Kennedy on the edge of the other side. They're talking about a new movie, each arguing over if it's cheesy or not. I stay quiet, I don't feel like jumping into the debate. Samuel and Noah are pretty quiet too, they only say a few things here and there while everyone else is ranting. Sydney shushes them and soon everything is quiet. I play with my sweatshirt strings, twisting them with my fingers.
"So Mitch found something in his attic earlier," Sydney grins eagerly.
"What is it then? Spit it out woman," Bruno smirks, placing his head in his hands.
"It's an ouija board. Now I've never used one before, but I've seen a lot of movies and videos on it so I'm pretty sure I know how to use it. Anyone down to playing it?" Mitch proposes to us.
"I'll watch," I shake my head, no way am I opening a door for some kind of demonic spirit to enter into my life.
"Lame," Ryan groans, throwing a bawled up straw wrapper at me.
"Same, I'd rather watch," Noah mumbles.
"Can't say the same for myself, you can count me in," Samuel smacks a hand on the table.
"I'm down to play, I'll do anything if I'm doing it with you," Sydney intertwines her fingers into Mitch's. Kennedy rolls her eyes at this, I know she's probably thinking of Bryce at this moment.
"I'll play," Kennedy stares blankly.
Bruno looks uncertain, he stares at the table in debate. "I think you're going to have to count me out on this one, I don't feel like dying tonight. I'll watch though," Bruno clasps his hands together.
"You're lame too, dude," Ryan nudges Bruno but Bruno doesn't seem to care.
Sydney slides out of Mitch's lap as Mitch stands up and climbs out of the booth. He turns off a few bright lights so that there's only the dim booth light and he heads into the back room. We all sit in silence while he's gone. Noah pulls out his phone and plays a game on it.
After a few minutes pass, Mitch comes back with a handful of things. He's got four blankets, some candles, and a box that reads Ouija in sloppy sharpie handwriting. I can hear it rustling around in the box, the planchette is bouncing around inside. Ryan helps Mitch push a table out of the way in the center of the room and Mitch unboxes the board, laying it flat on the ground and placing the wooden planchette in the center. Ryan scatters the candles around the room and lights them with a lighter. I watch the flames dance on the end of the candle wicks. Mitch tosses me, Sydney, Kennedy, and Samuel each a blanket. I wrap mine around my shoulders and sit in anticipation. The booth light flickers and Bruno shakes his head knowingly. This isn't going to end well.
YOU ARE READING
Voices From Beyond
TerrorA mother mysteriously goes missing while using an ouija board, leaving her son Mitch Brown in possession of the board after years of no answer as to where his mother had gone. After the family diner closes, he and a group of friends ask the board fo...
