“No way!” Marie screamed.
“There’s no freaking way! That board was inside my bag, zippered up, and behind
the closed door of my closet.”
Across the room, her closet
door remained closed. Panic seized her heart as she padded across the room in
her bare feet. Gasping for air, she reached out for the door handle, almost
expecting something to reach back. The inside of her closet looked much like it
had when she’d thrown her bag in there— except the bag was open. The board and
planchette were gone.
“Okay, there has to be a reasonable explanation for this,”
Marie rationalized. “I must have been sleep-walking. That’s gotta be it!”
Her words held more confidence in the
sentiment than her heart. She cleaned her wound and applied a bandage with
antibacterial cream, baffled by the depth of the laceration by a blunted
object. Unnerved, she shuffled to her kitchen in search of coffee. Gone were
the ‘Narnia Cabinets’, this time she could reach in, touch, and feel the wood
at the back of the wall. She grabbed the box of K-Cups and popped one into her
coffee maker. Ninety seconds later she was inhaling the steamy, slightly-bitter
aroma and feeling a sense of normalcy despite of being fully awake at 3am. After
her second cup of coffee, she dressed quickly and headed over to the station to
get an early start.
***
Kim, Angela, and Gillian had
stayed up only for a short while after Bill’s call. They sipped warm mugs of
‘sleepy-time tea’ laced with honey and talked. Unsettled by what Bill had said after
she’d turned off speaker-phone, Kim steered the conversation far away from what
had happened at the morgue. Instead, they talked about old times, the crappy
apartment they’d shared in college, and their insanely hot English Lit
professor. When they finally trudged off to their rooms, each hoped—rather than
believed—that they’d have better luck finding clues to Seth’s killer in the
morning.
Gillian flopped onto the bed in Kim’s
second guest room and sighed. I should
have listened and stayed far away from that stupid Ouija board. Me and my
bright ideas are always getting us into trouble. Drowsy, she flicked off
the light and curled up under the covers. Hovering on the delicious plane
between sleep and consciousness, Gillian’s troubles melted. Her body relaxed
until she floated in weightless slumber, warm and safe. In a distant memory,
she heard the singing of a lullaby and she drifted deeper. Just then, an icy
cold claw wrapped its talons around her foot and pulled. Bolting upright,
Gillian reached for the light switch but it was too far away.
“Shit! Who’s in here?” she barked into the darkness.
“Angela, if that’s you, it isn’t funny!” A shadowy form skulked across the room
making Gillian fume. “You’re such a jerk! I can see you; now get out and go to
bed before I kick your bony butt all the way down the hall.”
Gillian’s eyes laser-beamed
at the silhouette and she wished she has something to throw at Angela. Preferably something hard … like an anvil. I’ll
go all Bugs Bunny on you and see how funny that is, Gillian scoffed
silently. Some friend! She could hear
footfalls coming down the hall. You’re
busted now. Kim’s gonna see what you’ve been up to and she’ll be pissed too. The
door opened and light from the hallway filled the room.
“Did you call me?” Angela asked from the hallway.
Kim’s head poked over
Angela’s shoulder making Gillian’s jaw dropped. Across the room, there was
nothing, no one stood in the spot where the shadowy figure had been. Angela
flipped on the lights chasing away every hint of shadow.
“Sorry, I-I, um …” Gillian paused to think up a
reasonable explanation. “I sometimes talk in my sleep. I’m sorry I woke you.
Man, that was one weird dream though.”
Laughing, Gillian tried to
smooth over her lie. Her friends chuckled along to show they weren’t angry—also
to hide their concern.
“You’re sure you’re okay?” Kim asked. “Do you need anything?
Wanna talk about it?”
“No,” Gillian insisted. “No, I’m fine, really. I’m going
right back to bed; you should too.”
Worry creased lines between
Kim’s eyebrows and around her mouth. She shrugged and offered up a weak smile
to her friend.
“Okay, if you’re sure. Good night then,” Kim murmured as
she reached out for the light switch.
“NO!” Gillian cried out, sending a burning red flush
across her cheeks. “Um, I mean, you don’t have to turn off the light right now.
I think I’m going to read a little and try to make myself sleepy again.”
Kim nodded and pulled the
door closed behind her. As much as she wanted to comfort her friend, she needed
to sleep. In a few hours she would have to go to the morgue and sort out
whatever mess remained.
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