The Séance

Chapter 1

One cool mid autumn afternoon, a group of four girls were gathered to plan their Halloween. They sat with the sun shining brightly on their faces, under trees displaying dark red, burnt orange, brown and yellow leaves. The school courtyard was grassy with paths paved with red brick, and lined with trees and late flowers. It really is more of a park, thought Anestasia, as she enjoyed the scenery. She was sitting on a wrought iron bench with her friend Nancy. Their friends, Janet and Rachel, sat on the grass in front of them.

The nearby fountain, a reproduction of Venus rising from the sea, kept their conversation at least semi-private. Past the fountain the foreboding school could be seen. Anestasia shivered looking at it. The School had been donated to the town fifty years ago, along with fifty million dollars or so for renovations. A fire had wiped out the first family who lived there. Legend had it that anyone who tried to live there went mad. There had never been any trouble reported after it became a school, but still....

No one looking at the group could see what they had in common. Anestasia was frequently described as fragile. The shadows under her haunted blue eyes corroborated the impression. Her friends, however, knew her inner strength. They were always angling for demonstrations of her talent for the supernatural.

Nancy, could best be described as a plump little kitten. She was always getting in trouble for mischief, but she had the most friendly nature ever made. "I wish I had your figure," Nancy wistfully told Rachel.

"Everyone loves you, Nancy. You get along with everyone, and get them all to laugh with you. I wish I was as comfortable with strangers as you are!" said Rachel.

"You are darling just the way you are," Janet added loyally. Janet looked down at her boyish figure. "I wish I had some of your curves. Your wavy chestnut hair is so pretty, too, not like my frizzy red stuff." Janet grinned ruefully. She was infamous for her wretched temper.

Rachel was a dark mirror for Anestasia. Her short spiky hair was so black it had a blue sheen. She played up her dark looks with Goth styles exotic to small town New England. She did not use the light colored makeup, though, so you could see her cinnamon  toned complexion. Sometimes she even dyed her hair blue or purple. "You are so passionate! No one ever doubts your opinion on anything, Janet," said Rachel.

Out of the whole group only Anestasia seemed reluctant to participate in the planned excursion. The others were exuberant. Everyone tried in their own way to convince her to go.  "We simply have to do it tonight, because with the full harvest moon, tonight is the best chance we have to contact the other side!" Nancy gushed. 

"Yes, we must do it tonight, it's even a blue moon!" Rachel agreed. "And the cemetery on Dead Man's Ridge would be the perfect place; where else would spirits be as thick? Besides, no one would dare to bother us there on All Hallows Eve," she said dryly.

"Anestasia stop being silly. You know nothing can go wrong, even there, on Halloween. You contact the spirit world regularly after all, and nothing dangerous has ever happened before," Janet soothed. "We just want a chance to see what you see."

"Tasia, you simply must come, it wouldn't be the same without you: we probably wouldn't even reach one ghost on our own. We wouldn't even know where to start. Any way, it will be a blast - you'll see!" Nancy exclaimed to the ethereal blond.

"I know it should be fun, but it doesn't feel right. I have never tried to reach the spirits in a cemetery before. Well, if you are all for it, I won't be a spoilsport," sighed Anestasia. "I just have a bad feeling that everything is going to go horribly wrong tonight." She smiled wanly at Rachel. "I need to make sure you don't do anything foolish and wind up dead."