Ouija [Jøshler]

one

I opened my bag, pulling out the necessary essentials for a sleepover at Tyler's. Mission Impossible, monopoly, a bag of trail mix; the usual. But I pulled one more game out, a game I had recently found. I was up in my attic, because I kept hearing a scratching noise. My mom had told me how it was probably a raccoon, and how it would go away eventually. But three months later, it was still going. Nobody had been up there since the previous owners. Attics aren't exactly my families favorite place. My mom is terrified of heights, so she refuses to even go upstairs, let alone up a ladder that is up upstairs. My dad can hardly even fit through the front door, let alone a tiny hole in the ceiling. And I, well I had never been interested in going up there until the noise made me want to rip my ears off and staple them to my ass.
I had climbed up the ladder that slid down fairly easy, as if it was used every night. It reeked of death and dust. There was a small circular window, probably only about ten inches wide, that allowed tiny slots of light to shine through. There was a box illuminated right in the middle of the room, which drew me towards it. I went to open the box, but it was locked. Being me, though, a locked box doesn't stop me. It was extremely easy to break apart, what with the water damaged and aged wood. Ten minutes later, I was staring at a Ouija board, not a speck of dust even near it. It was as if somebody polished the oak wood every week.
"What. Is. That?" Tyler asked, his voice dripping with worry.
"It's a Ouija board!" I exclaimed, excitedly.
"No shit! I'm not asking it like hey what's that shiny piece of wood ya got there? I'm asking it like why the fuck is it in my house?"
I laughed at Tyler. He was taking it way too seriously. Everybody knows Ouija boards aren't real!
"This isn't funny, Josh! You know how I feel about these things!"
"Yeah, yeah, yeah. God is great, Satan is bad, tea is God's cure for headaches, weed is Satan's lettuce, I get it. Loosen up a bit! Just one try, and we're done with it. Okay?"
"No."
"Fine," I shrugged. "I'll just do it by myself."
Tyler looked at me with mock horror. Ha, got 'em.
"Josh, you know that's dangerous! That's like...one of the most dangerous things you could ever do!"
"And it'll be all your fault, not playing with me and all."
Tyler crossed his arms with a hmph. I knew that would get him; Tyler was my best friend, after all.
"Fine. Let's just get it over with," he mumbled.
"Uh, no, not yet," I said. "It'll never work if it's not midnight."
"Jesus Christ!"
"Don't use God's name in vain, Tyjo."
"Fuck you."
"Being gay is a sin, Tyjo."
Awkward winks from me and uncomfortable blushes came from Tyler as we nagged back and forth to each other.
"FINE!" Tyler said, throwing his hands up in the air. "We'll wait until midnight."
I looked at the clock, which only read 9:17. So, two hours and some random number of minutes that I'm too damn lazy to calculate.
"Let's just...play some monopoly, man," Tyler said, scratching the back of his neck.
I pulled the game out, and so we went, moving our metal characters; mine a shoe and his a dog, with Mission Impossible playing in the background. After the board being flipped over twice, Mission Impossible being over with for a few minutes, and trail mix scattered around the room, we looked at the clock.
"11:52," I smiled. "Mwuahahaha."
Tyler rolled his eyes, his hands shaking slightly. "Let's just get this devil worshipping over with."
"You're a bad boy, Tyler," I said, stretching.
Tyler rolled his eyes again, watching me closely as I pulled the wooden board out of my bag the second time that night. I placed it in between us, looking at Tyler to see his reaction. His face was blank, but his hands were clenched together. I pulled the eye out next, placing it in the center of the board, the tip pointing to the G.
"This is really stupid, can we please not do this tonight?"
"Too late, fren, we already got it set up."
I placed two fingers on the planchette, and looked at Tyler expectantly. He frowned, but followed my league. "Ready?"
"Hmph."
We moved the planchette in circles two times. "Hello?"
"Is anyone here?" Tyler asked, his voice cracking.
We waited a few minutes, then spoke up again. "Is anybody out there?"
"It's not working, let's just leave it be," Tyler said, biting his lip.
"You're right, I guess," I sighed.
I went to move the planchette to goodbye, but I felt a small twitch. I stopped, and looked at Tyler. He felt it too. "This isn't funny, Josh."
"I'm not doing it!"
It started to move.
"Josh, stop it!"
"Tyler, I swear to god, I'm not doing anything!" I said, my voice starting to shake.
"G."
"What?"
"The first letter was G."
"O."
"O."
"D."
"B."
"O."
"Y."
"S."
"Good boys..."
"Josh, I don't want to do this anymore!" Tyler said, his eyes glossy.
My breath hitched in my throat. "It's not done, Tyler," I whispered.
We looked down at the board.
"A..."
"L."
"W."
"A.
"Y."
"S."
"D."
"I."
"E."
"F."
"I."
"R."
"S."
"T."
"Always die first..."
Tyler pulled his hand back, knocking the planchette off the board. There was a small rumble as the lights all turned on for a split second before they burst.
"No!"
"What?! What happened?!"
"Tyler, we're supposed to go to goodbye first! You pushed it off the board without going to goodbye!"
Tyler's face was awfully pale. "What happens if it doesn't go to goodbye first?" He whispered.
"If you take it off the board without going to goodbye first, then... Whatever the fuck we just talked to got released. Into our world."
"What's going to happen, Josh?" Tyler asked, tears swelling in his eyes.
I squeezed his hand, looking around us. Tyler was a good boy. And apparently, good boys always die first.