Price of Evil

"Turn the fucking camera off." Midge grumbled, talking to Zacky who had started up his video camera.

As expected, there was no response from Zacky, despite the way she just snapped at him. He placed the camera on the windowsill opposite the table, so it was focused on all of us and the Ouija board was visible, too. As he continued to ignore her and adjust the camera, I leant forward and hit his arm fairly hard, trying to pry his attention away from what he was doing.

"What the fuck was that for?" He snapped, whipping his head round to glare at me.

"Did you not hear what Midge said?" I asked, raising my eyebrows. Not taking his bull shit as easily as the others did.

"Of course I did." He shrugged. "But I ignored it, because it's just another one of her complaints. Right, M?" He demeaned her again, and I just shook my head. But M just gave me a look, that told me it was fine. It was pissing me off that she's gotten use to his shit.

I narrowed my eyes at his smirk, then diverting my gaze to the floor. It was obvious that he wasn't going to listen to a word I said. None of the guys did, so I shouldn't be so surprised.

"Seriously, Zack, can you turn that thing off?" Charlotte grimaced, squinting at a bright light that suddenly shone from the front of the camera. "Why do you even have it out?"

"To film anything that happens." He simply said. He finally stopped fiddling around with the camera and then walked over to the wall, turning the lights out so that the room was in complete darkness, except the few candles that were lighting up the Ouija board for us. Seconds later, he sank down in the only chair available between me and Johnny.

"Right, so how do we do this?" Matt questioned, jumping straight into it. He was always so big and bad, never backing down from anything. I wished he would back down from this. That feeling of impending doom only increased since the candles were lit.

All of our attention turned to Jimmy, seeing as he was the one that had brought the board. We'd discovered, in the past half an hour while we were setting things up, that he was actually quite knowledgeable over the paranormal. Leave it to Jimbo to know about crazier things then he is.

He explained that it had something to do with how much his grandma had been involved with this stuff. Going to her house on Saturdays and peering in on different readings she would be did, taught him at a young age. I was still skeptical still, for all I knew this was an elaborate hoax made by the guys to scare charlotte, Midge and I.

"My grandma always used to say something about opening her chakras before she took part in a Ouija board." Jimmy told us. My eyebrow raised, getting more skeptical at his weird word usage.

"Sounds kind of kinky." Johnny commented, earning a kick from Matt.

"Shut it, Shortshit." Zacky said. "You're ruining the atmosphere."

Jimmy rolled his eyes and shifted in his seat, obviously waiting for everyone to shut up before he would speak again. Once we fell into a silence, he continued what he was saying.

"I'm not exactly sure what a chakra is. I must've been too young to understand or something." He said.

"Or you weren't paying attention." Johnny snickered, earning him a slap to the head by Jimmy.

"As I was saying, before I was rudely interrupted...But I guess we should just hold hands and call out to summon spirits before we use the board?" He nodded his head and reached his hands out to the people beside him.

Call out to spirits? What have I gotten myself into. I had to hold back a slight laugh at how seriously he was taking this though. I'm sure if he could have warn an entire outfit, he would have. But seeing Jimmy this intense was just amusing, given the fact he's never been serious about anything.

Matt had slid his fingers in mine, as he held onto my hand fairly tight. During this time I tilted my head seeing Johnny sat next to me. A wide grin pulling at his lips, with the back of his hand raised up at me, waiting for me to take hold of his hand. So I sighed silently and placed my hand in his. Waiting for Jimmy to give us some more of his weird ass instructions.

"Okay." Jimmy whispered, checking to see that everyone was holding hands before he spoke again. "If there are any spirits present in this place with us, we ask you to come forward and acknowledge us."

Silence fell around us, as if we were waiting for something to happen. I didn't know where to look while we all just sat there with our hands joined, so I stared at the Ouija board, listening for whatever might happen.

"We mean you no harm." Jimmy suddenly spoke again, making me jump slightly. Matt noticed and squeezed my hand reassuringly. "We just want you to make yourself known so that we can talk to you."

Again, after he spoke, silence roamed around us. I glanced at Midge and Charlotte, who seemed just as bored and unimpressed as I was feeling. Despite my earlier apprehension, my nerves had settled. Knowing that I was just being paranoid, thinking that anything was actually going to respond. I didn't even feel scared. The atmosphere was completely dead.

Getting slightly bored I gazed around the table again. This time keeping a close eye on Jimmy, trying to make sure this wasn't some elaborate ruse. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary until a icy cold breath hit my neck. It made me shiver, but not for its normal reason. The breath had been colder than normal and it actually made me shift uncomfortably.

"What are doing?" I quietly asked looking over at Johnny since thats the direction the breath came from. Almost instantly everyone looked at me, wondering why I broke our silence. "Can you stop blowing on my neck, Johnny? It's fucking creepy."

"I'm not." He quietly stated, looking up at me like I had five heads.

"Johnny stop fucking with Linds, or I'll kick your short ass." Matt snapped. Looking behind my back and narrowing his eyes at Johnny.

"Why am I always blamed for this shit?" Johnny huffed, shaking his head.

"Because you're the shortest." Brian laughed, making a short joke at Johnny's expense. Causing us all to break out with laughter.

But our laughter was cut short when a loud noise sounded out.

Knock.

Instantly, I whipped my head round to look over my shoulder. The noise had come from behind me, over in the corner of the room where the arch to the living room was. Given the fact everyone's head had frantically turned, I wasn't imagining the noise.

"Okay, so, I'm guessing we all heard that?" Brian said, not tearing his eyes from the spot in which the noise came from.

"Yeah," Charlotte wordily whispered, "but it could be anything. Don't jump to conclusions just yet."

"Okay." Jimmy nodded, agreeing with Charlotte's point. He shifted in his seat again, and then cleared his throat loudly. "If there's a spirit here that made that knocking noise, can you do it again?"

We all waited patiently to see if the noise would repeat itself. The air was eerier now, seeing as something might've just happened. But as Charles pointed out, it could be anything. It was probably just our imaginations playing tricks on us.

Suddenly, the sound of my doorbell ringing echoed through the house, making every one of us jump and let out a surprised yelp of some sort. We all just sat there, staring at the front door in horror, and when no one answered it, it rang again.

"Well?" Zacky hissed impatiently at me, letting go of M's hand. "Go answer it!"

"Fine." I reluctantly let go of Matt's hand and pushed myself off the ground. Feeling the eyes of my friends boring into my back as I slowly walked to the door.

"Any day now Lindsey." Zacky snapped, causing me to jump slightly. Not expecting him to yell.

Preventing him from yelling any further I quicken my pace. Whoever was behind the door was growing impatient, and they rang the doorbell again. I grabbed hold of the handle, yanking the front door open, to reveal four kids dressed iconic slasher Halloween costumes.

"Trick or Treat!" They all screamed, grinning up at me. Opening their bags up and stretching them towards me.

"Did we scare you?" The youngest looking boy asked, baring his plastic bloodied fangs at me.

"You sure did." I chuckled, grabbing the bowl of candy and holding it out to them. "Here you go, guys. Help yourselves."

Eagerly, they all reached forward and shoved their hands into the bowl, grabbing a handful of sweets each and throwing them into their Trick or Treat bags.

"Thank you!" They all politely said, grinning up at me. "Happy Halloween."

"You too, guys." I smiled after them, as they trudged back down my gravel driveway. "Have a good one and stay safe."

When they got to the big black gates at the bottom of my long driveway, they turned once more to wave, and then disappeared off into the darkness. I proceeded to shut the door and turn back to the others, who seemed to just be waiting for me.

"It's almost midnight, I'm sure that's the last of them." I sighed, placing the bowl of candy down on the table by the door.

"It better be, or I'm out of here." Zacky snapped again. His attitude was wearing thin with me, but I wasn't going to say anything.

Taking a quick peek out the front window, I looked for any signs of children on the street. But like I said it was almost twelve and the street seemed to be empty. The street lamps illuminating the road eerily making me notice a shadowy figure. It was standing at the opposite end of the driveway. Pacing slightly, a misty residue emanating around it.

Shaking my head, I tried to see if I was hallucinating. Or if it was just a kid and the lights were bouncing off his clothes at a weird angle. But when I refocused my attention, it was gone.

"Pull it together Linds." I muttered to myself as I slid the curtain closed, and made my way back to the group.

I sat back down next to Matt and we all looked at Jimmy, wondering what to do next. He seemed to know all about this, so I had a feeling that we would be leaving everything to him.

"I think we should try the Ouija board now." Jimmy announced, fairly positive with his answer.

None of us having done this before, we stared between one another, wondering how to get started. There were the obvious pointers, like putting your fingers on the glass and asking a spirit to move it, but I had a feeling there was more to it than that.

"Everyone put one finger lightly on the glass." Jimmy then directed us. "And I mean lightly. There's no point putting pressure on it, because I will be able to tell if you're pushing it."

Doing as he'd said, we all raised one finger and reached forward, laying it lightly on the glass that was turned upside-down.

"Are you sure you can reach, M?" Zacky sniggered at me, smirking at how much I was leaning forward.

"Fuck you." She angrily glared at him.

"Guys!" Jimmy said. "Concentrate!"

"Sorry." She and Zacky both whispered, trying to stifle our laughs as they glanced at each other.

I shifted myself closer to Matt in the process, feeling more comfortable being close to him.

"If there are any spirit people present," he called out, "please come forward and talk to us. Use this glass on the Ouija board to spell out a message and contact us. We mean you no harm."

Our eyes were now all fixed on the glass as we waited for any form of movement. The only sound around us was the low humming, coming from the heating vents. I lived in a old house and the ducted work always made noises that sounded like people walking around upstairs. It freaked Matt out the first night he stayed with me, and i knew if it started acting up it would just further promote our paranoia.

The slight movement of my finger brought me out of my thoughts, as I transfixed my attention on the glass. Watching it carefully in the light of the candles. But it was hard to tell, and I wasn't going to be the first one to say anything.

"Did it just move?" Johnny asked the question that I'd been thinking,

"I'm not sure." Charles replied. "It might've been me by accident; my hand jolted slightly." She confessed, gazing over at Brian wearily.

"Well," Jimmy spoke up, making us look at him, "we could trying pushing the glass around the board ourselves to build some energy. I remember my grandma telling me that they'd move it together in circular motion for about a minute, and then they'd call out again."

Taking Jimmy's advice, we all pressed on the glass slightly, moving it in circles round the board. As we continued, it seemed to get faster and faster, and then it was almost like the atmosphere changed. Like energy had suddenly entered the room. The atmosphere was no longer dead, it felt electrified.

We stopped the glass in the middle of the board again and looked back at Jimmy, waiting for him to call out more instructions.

"If there are any spirits present, please move this glass." He loudly said. "If you can hear my voice, if you can see us sat around this table, please spell out a message on the board."

Instantly, the glass jolted forward and then stopped again. It wasn't on any significant number or letter; it'd just moved forward a little.

My eyes widened as I stared at everyone, trying to find some clue in their faces that they might've been joking, but they all looked just as surprised as I did.

"Okay," Charles shakily said, "that definitely wasn't me that time."

"If that was you," Jimmy called out, "can you do it again?"

Oh yes, ask the creepy ghost to do it again. That's always a smart idea.

A moment later, it jolted again. My heart was beating so fast I thought it was going to burst through my chest.

"Matt," I whispered, turning to look at him, "are you pushing the glass?"

"No!" He instantly replied.

"Well then-''

My words were cut off by my doorbell ringing again. This time, our shouts of surprise were louder.

"I thought you said no one was out there!" Midge exclaimed, fear evident in her face and in her words.

"There wasn't anyone around. The street was empty." I defended, pointing my finger towards the door.

We all looked at one another, unsure of what to do. Every one of us was pretty much glued to our pillows, not wanting to move an inch, but more fear rippled through us when the doorbell rang again.

"I'm not getting it this time!" I declared. "I don't care what you guys say, there's no way I'm going to that fucking door and opening it."

"Pussy." Zacky muttered under his breath, causing me to narrow my eyes in his direction.

"Why don't you get it?" I snapped, and he just turned his gaze off of me. Acting like I wasn't there.

"I'll get it." Matt suddenly announced, standing up. Trying to defuse the situation between Zacky and I. "I'll answer the door."

"Matt, no.." I said, taking hold of his arm. "Please don't."

"Babe, I'll be fine." He insisted, shrugging my arm off and wandering over to the front door.

I watched in fear as he clutched hold of the door handle and turned it, opening the front door. Cold air instantly gushed through the house, making us all shiver slightly, and the candles to flicker. Matt peered out, trying to see who had rung.

Im sure I looked even more fearful when Matt actually stepped outside and checked round the side of the house, that was leading to my back garden. I could clearly hear his shoes crunching on the gravel, which made a thought pop into my head.

"S-surely," M began to say, making the others look at her. She must have came to the same conclusion I did, "surely if someone had come to the door, we would've heard them walking on the gravel."

"That's true." Johnny agreed, nodding his head slightly. "You can clearly hear Matt's footsteps now, so you would've been able to hear anyone approaching."

"Matt, please come back in." I called for him. Terror clear in my voice.

"I'm right here, babe." Matt answered me, walking back into the house and shutting the front door behind him. He made sure to slide the bolt across, and we all looked at him, waiting for his verdict. Finally, he turned back to us, "There's no one out there. It's got real foggy, though."

"That's unusual." Jimmy commented, frowning slightly in the process. "Still, let's get back to the board."

"I don't think we should." M instantly said, shaking my head in argeement. "Things are already getting weird; we should stop now."

"Why? Scared?" Zacky taunted her.

I turned to glare at him, wondering why he was suddenly so relaxed about the situation, when only a moment ago, he seemed just as terrified as the rest of us.

"Why would you say something like that?" Midge snapped. "We're all scared."

He seemed to just shrug off that comment, which made me frown. Why was he acting so weird? Was it the fear? Or was it something worse?

Matt sat back down and placed his finger back on the glass, making us mimic that action, despite the fact that I really didn't want to.

"Was that you ringing the doorbell?" Jimmy called out. "Can you move the glass again?"

It was still for a moment or two, before it jolted forward, like it had done only minutes ago. This time, though, it actually stopped on a letter and we all stared at, trying to read it.

V

"V." We all read it out together. My voice was shaky, and I felt my heart pounding through my chest.

"Is this a message?" Jimmy asked. "Can you continue?"

Again, the glass moved, stopping at another letter.

I

"I"

Without encouragement, it continued to move to the next letter.

N

"N."

D

"D"

I

"I"

C

"C"

T

"T"

A

"A"

M

"M"

And the glass suddenly came to a halt. All of us hovering over the last letter that it landed on.

We watched it for a couple of moments, wondering if it would move again, but when it stayed still, we looked at each other. My eyes landing on M's and Charles, seeing an expression that was probably similar to the one I was wearing, fear.

"V-i-n-d-í-c-t-a-m." Midge slowly repeated each letter that had been spelt out, frowning. "Vin...Vindictam? What does that mean?"

"It fucking not even a real word." Brian pointed out, scratching his head. "Which one of you fuckers moved the glass?" He narrowed his eyes, looking between all of us.

"Don't look at me." I removed my hand from the glass and raised it in defense. "This wasn't my idea."

"Well the only person clearly not phased by this is Zacky." Midge pointed out, as she got to her feet.

"Oh No! You aren't blaming me, because it wasn't me!" He yelled, quickly growing angry.

"Oh, really?" She raised my eyebrows. Challenging his words

"Of course, you would blame me, wouldn't you?" He rolled his eyes.

"What's that supposed to mean?" She snapped, her eyes peering down at Zack who was still sitting on the floor.

"That's enough!" I finally yelled, getting sick of this arguing. "You know what, it's late and we are all tired, so lets just go to bed." I calmly said, reaching out and blowing the candles that were on the table out.

"Just defend her Linds, I see where your loyalty is." Zacky snapped, slamming his hands on the table. His eyes narrowed at me as if he wanted to jump across the table and strangle me.

"You lost my loyalty when you got that stick shoved up your ass." I shook my head, and leaned closer to him.

"Fuck off." He rose to his feet, shoving my shoulders. Sending me stumbling backwards.

My foot tripped on the oversized couch pillow and I fell. My back hitting the hard wood floor, allowing my head to crash down with it. Causing my vision to blur slightly.

I blinked my eyes several times, gazing up at the ceiling. Hearing the room go deadly silent. In that silence, I knew something was making us at each others throats. Something that we did with that Ouija board was either fucking with our heads or we actually made contact with some possessed demon spawn. Zacky might be unbearable to be around, but he'd never lay a hand on us. We were still friends after all.

"I want you out!" Matt growled, causing me to sit up. My hand holding the back of my head lightly. "You fucking lay a hand on my girlfriend ever again, I'll kick your ass." He hissed again, before turning his attention to me.

His hands reached out for me, but I just pushed them away.

"Like I said, lets just go to bed." Standing up, my world started spinning around me. Causing me to wobble. Taking a breath, I steadied myself. "Zacky stays too, he's our friend Matt."

Matt opened his mouth to protest but I didn't give him a chance to answer. I just stormed off towards the stairs. Running up the steps and into my room. Where I heaved a heavy sigh. Knowing that tonight had just begun.

And I'm sure none of us were going to get much sleep.