Day 81 Writing Short Stories

Prue

Everyone knows Halloween is a special time of year. Not just because the leaves turn red and yellow and the air gets colder. It is the time when barriers become thinner, and you can see a glimpse of something that exists only in the imagination.

They had gathered together at Mary’s house. All of them had brought with them an item of Prue’s, either forgotten or gifted.

Holly could feel the pressure teem in the group. The four of them were nervous. Susan had voiced out that she didn’t want to do this. She was scared. Mary had insisted that there would be no harm. Laura was doubtful, but she always was. Holly just wished this would work, that they would hear Prue’s voice one more time. She had lost her best friend.

The Ouija board was set in the middle of them as they sat cross-legged on Mary’s bedroom floor. Her parents were away at a Halloween party, so they had the entire house to themselves. Still, Mary’s room had seemed like the best choice. It felt safe.

They had put Prue’s things next to the board. It had been Laura’s idea that if they were going to do such a silly thing, then they should do it right. If, in some extreme chance, ghosts were real, they didn’t want a wrong one to come, Laura had reasoned.

Holly didn’t know what to think. She glanced at her watch, and it was soon midnight. Both things scared her. What if they contacted Prue and heard why she had killed herself? But it would be devastating not to hear her at all.

She bit her lip as Mary started the ritual, asking for the dead to come.

They all joined hands at the apex on Mary’s command. The arrow slid across the board, stopping at letters erratically. At first, it was just nonsense, not spelling anything, but then Prue’s name came.

A gasp moved around the circle. Susan cried out, and Mary shushed her.

“Do you hear us, Prue?” Mary asked.

The apex moved to ‘yes’.

“We are all sorry we didn’t see how much you were hurting,” Mary stuttered out the words.

The apex stayed mute on the board.

Then it shot to ‘yes’ again.

Susan moaned.

“Susan, for God’s sake, stop it. This is not real,” Laura said.

“Both of you, shut up,” Mary commanded.

“Sorry, Prue. We don’t mean any harm. It’s just that we miss you,” Holy said, surprised to be speaking at all.

“Yes, Prue. We just want… want to know why you did it,” Mary added.

The apex began swirling. The letters came out rapidly, making Holy’s head spin.

When it stopped, Laura spoke, “I didn’t kill myself. I was pushed off the roof at the party.”

Laura bit her lip and met their gazes.

Holy wanted to cry out and let go of the board.

“Who pushed you?” Mary asked, not skipping a beat.

“I don’t know,” Laura translated.

The apex kept spinning as Mary asked more and more questions about the night, about who she was with. All of it sounded wrong, like this was a mistake and they should never have asked. Holy couldn’t think why anyone would kill Prue.

Then the board went mute, and no one spoke. Not Mary, not Susan, not Laura. Holy’s head felt heavy, and she was fighting to gain some sense back.

Mary tried one more time to contact Prue, but the clock had long since passed midnight, and the air felt different, as if Halloween had parted and the cold, damp darkness outside was just autumn darkness.

—

I’m not sure how to end this. Again, I didn’t know what would come out as I got the first sentence down. I think I got the assignment right this time. What I got was a conversational mystery quest written in the objective third person.

There’s nothing new to the story. The story has been seen so many times, but it was fun to write. I liked that I didn’t write a lone protagonist; that there was a connection. I enjoyed writing about Halloween and the dead spirits, as my mind prepares for winter and the darkness that follows. Also, I love this time of year, and I yearn for stories about witches, spirits, demons, and all things dark.

Thank you for reading! Have a witchy day and see you tomorrow ❤