Like Ghosts In The Snow

…
“Fag! There’s a package at the door for you!” my father screamed up at me from in the kitchen. A smile found its way on my face, even after his extremely rude name-calling as I jumped up off of my mattress and took off down the steps.

I ran my way around the corner and to the front door to find a guy from FedEx standing in the doorway, a box in one hand and a clipboard in the other. I smiled and walked my way over to him. He greeted me with a quite hello and a fake smile plastered on his face.

“Could you sign here, sir?” he asked, handing out the clipboard to me. I nodded quickly and took the board from him and signed my name on it swiftly. The guy handed me the box and left, shutting the door lightly behind him.

I squealed and started to skip my way up the stairs and to my attic bedroom. I ignored the entire name calling that I was receiving from my father as I bounded my way up the stairs. I passed Mikey on the way to my attic and he looked at me confused for a moment, before he smiled at me.

“What is that Gerard?” He asked me, putting his hands on his hips. “Is it something for me?” he asked, fluttering his eyelids as he tried to reach out for my package.

“No, for once this is for me Mikey.” I said, pulling the package away from him and began to walk away in the opposite direction.

I heard Mikey sigh behind me as I pulled down the string to the attic and the stairs unfolded. I knew he was thinking where I got all of my money. I defiantly wasn’t going to tell him that I stole it out of our fathers alcohol fund. Yeah, he had tons of cash stored away for his precious beverages.

I walked up the steps and put the package down on the mattress as I plopped down beside it. I picked up my pocketknife that was laid on the bed beside me and pressed it down into the tape of the box. I ripped through the packaging and pulled out the ouija board that lay inside it.

I had to be careful not to let my father see this or he would go ballistic. If he found out that I was trying to summon up the sprits then I would be kicked out of the house for sure. Not that I wanted to live here anyway, but I had no where else to go, I had no friends that could take me in. well really the only friends that I had were Ray and Bob, but they were back in Belleville and I was here in Newark.

“Gerard? What is that?” Mikey asked me, popping his head up through the hole in my floor. My eyes grew wide and I grabbed my duvet and attempted to cover the ouija board up with it.

“N-nothing! Its nothing Mikey…” I trailed off, my eyes searching over his expression nervously.

Mikey climbed up the stairs up into my room and walked over to me, his hands on his hips. He looked me up and down, and all around my room before his eyes trailed down to the small bump in my blanket.

“Nothing, huh?” he questioned as he walked over to the bed and crouched down beside me. “Sure does look like something, especially because you are attempting to hide it from me. So, what is it?” He pressed, pointing to the box under the blanket.

I looked up at him and shook my head; my eyes pleading for him to just give up and leave. But this was Mikey, and Mikey always gets what Mikey wants. He pursed his lips and tapped his chin as he just starred at me, eyes like a hawks. That was when realization came across his features.

“It’s either you tell me now, or I will have dad come up here and make you show Me.” he told me with a smirk. I groaned at him and removed the blanket.

Mikey starred down at the box before him and his expression grew questioning. He looked from the box up to me, then down to the box again, where he picked it up.

“Why were you so scared to show me a board game?’ he asked me bewildered. I sighed and shook my head at him.

“It’s a ouija board. It’s where you can contact the spirits and talk to them, ask them questions and stuff.” I explained to him. His eyes grew wide and he threw the box down on the bed. He shot up and walked away from me, eyes wide and boring into me.

“Why the fuck do you have that Gerard!” he yelled at me from across the room. “God, dad was right! You are just a creepy faggot!” Mikey yelled at me, getting ready to turn away and walk back down stairs.

“Mikey! Wait, can you just…” I trailed off sighing. “Can you help me with this?” I asked him in defeat. He shook his head and started to walk away again. I didn’t know what else to do, so this was my last chance. “Ill tell dad that you made out with Branden!” I shouted after him. Mikey stopped dead in his tracks and looked over at me with pure anger.

“You said you weren’t going to say anything about that!” he seethed at me as he walked back into my room and sat down on the bed next to me.

“What do you need help with?” he asked me defeated. I smiled to myself. I had finally won something against Mikey.

“All I need you to do is put your fingers on the pointer with me. Its not a big deal or anything.” I told him as I grabbed the box and began to open it. “ I researched all of this online and I know exactly how to do it. So, just do whatever I tell you to do.” I told Mikey, he nodded at me and rolled his eyes in annoyance.

“Yes, whatever you say your majesty.” He told me sarcastically as he folded his legs.

“Shut up and go get me some candles.” I ordered him. It was nice to actually be in command once in a while.

Mikey looked at me eccentrically for a moment before he got up and went down the stairs. I finished opening the box and took out the board and pointer and placed them down softly on the bed. I was honestly very nervous to be doing this right now. I researched and it said that using an ouija board could be potentially dangerous.

The board, looked weird in itself. It had all of the letters in the alphabet, A-Z and all the numbers 0-9. On the top left corner it had a sun and the word yes. On the right corner it had a moon and the word no. At the bottom it had good-bye written across it, which is where you use it to sign out. I was beginning to have my doubts.

Mikey walked back up into my room and handed me the candles. I gratefully took them and placed the down around the board. I told Mikey to turn off the lights as I lit the candles, making a small orange glow fill up the room. The longer that I prepared the more nervous I was getting. Should I even be doing this? W hat if I released even more spirits into the house, or even a demonic presence?

I gulped and placed the board on my lap and urged Mikey to shut the door and come to join me. After he did so, I placed the board down on both of our laps, making sure that our knees were slightly touching.

I began this with a prayer, just like it said to do and placed my two fingers down on the pointer, telling Mikey to do the same.

“Okay, so I am going to ask all of the questions okay? First we have to move the pointer around on the board for a little bit.” I told Mikey, trying to get myself to stay calm. He nodded his head to me and began to move the pointer with his fingers and I soon followed soon.

I stopped moving my fingers and Mikey did the same. He looked up at me, waiting for me to give him a signal of what to do next. The next thing to do was for m to begin to ask some questions. Out of all the sites that I went on is said to ask a simple yes or no question to begin with. I took a deep breath. Here goes nothing.

“Is there a spirit present?” I asked the board firmly, trying not to get too scared or freaked out.

I sat there for a moment, before I felt the pointer being moved underneath my fingertips. At first I thought it was Mikey trying to play a joke on me, but when I looked up at Mikey, he was completely freaked out.

“Mikey, you have to stay calm or this wont work.” I told him calmly and gently. He looked over at me and nodded his head as he tried to regulate his breathing.

I looked back down to the board and noticed that it was on the ‘Yes’ space. I took a deep, reassuring breath. I thought about what to ask it next, and decided to think back to what the research said. I settled down with one question and I asked it.

“Are you a good spirit, or a bad spirit?” I asked it, with much more confidence than before.

This time, it took a shorter time to answer. If the pointer went towards the sun, then that meant that it was a good spirit. If it went towards the moon, then it was a bad spirit and I would have to sign out immediately. But, to my surprise it went over to the sun. I sighed a sigh of relief and asked yet another question.

“What is your name?” I asked it. I looked up at Mikey to see how he was doing. He had his eyes closed, which made me guess that he was uneasy about this or just didn’t want to watch. I guessed it was a mixture in between both.

The pointer, or also called the planchette moved around the board until it stopped at the F. next, it moved over to the R, followed by the A. It paused for a minute, before it went over to the N and K. I put all of the letters together, to find out that his name was Frank. But to my surprise, it kept on moving to four other letters to where it spelt out Iero. So, his name was Frank Iero then. His name didn’t ring a bell, so I guess that I don’t know him.

“How old are you?” I asked him, trying to figure out every little thing I could find out about him.

The pointer moved down into the numbers and it moved across the row to get over to the one, followed by the six. I thought about it for a moment before I found myself thinking back over to my first encounter with the ghost in the library. The voice that I heard could have easily been recognized as a 16 year olds. That’s when I got to my next question.

“Were you the one that I heard in the library?” I spoke to him, holding my breath as I anticipated his answer.

The pointer moved over to the ‘Yes’ and my breath hitched in my throat. I was talking to the ghost that was in the library. The boy that was screaming for me to help him that day. I only had one more question to ask him and then I would let him leave.
“How did you d-“ I began but was soon cut off from my father screaming downstairs.

“Gerard! I am starving! Get the fuck down here and cook me something! You good for nothing fagot!” he called up the stairs, not forgetting to call me a Fag at the end. Surprise, surprise.

I hurriedly said goodbye, multiple times until the pointer moved all the way to the good bye part of the board, signaling that I was now signed off. I said yet another quick prayer and moved my fingers off of the board, Mikey doing the same.

We just starred at each other after that, he looked frightened as hell, and I was too. Yet, for some reason I was actually excited. I knew more about my mysterious ghost boy, now my mysterious ghost boy Frank. I wanted to learn so much more about him, I wanted to know everything about him.

I didn’t know why, but I feel as if I need to help him. I really just wanted to help him go to heaven and let him rest in peace. Now, I was determined to find out even more about him. Right now all I knew was his name was Frank Iero, he was 16 and he was a good spirit. After what I heard in the library I could also decipher that he was murdered.

I cooked and served dinner for my father and family and went up straight to bed. I made Mikey swear to keep this a secret, and he glumly agreed after hearing about the dirt I had over him. That night, I had trouble falling to sleep, my mind littered with thoughts of Frank.

When I did finally fall asleep, I fell asleep happily, knowing that Frank was near, and that he was watching me. All night I could sense someone watching me as I slept. Normally, this would freak someone out. But with me, it comforted me, knowing that I wasn’t alone. I felt these sudden cold gusts of air and I was satisfied. That night, I slept better than I ever had before.