Possession

We stared into the darkness.

Moonlight streamed through the stained glass windows, casting an eerie glow about the place. It was dead silent, with just the occasional gust of wind moaning through the eaves high above us. Somewhere a wooden door creaked on its hinges.

“Here?” Anthony was asking, “Really?”

Kim nodded with a wild grin. She was insane, Kim. Annoying, too. She was one of those girls who had to shriek at everything, and would loudly point out everything embarrassing, like that one spot you’d been hoping nobody noticed. Every so often she would throw a tantrum and cry that she was ugly, or fat, so that everybody would fall over themselves to compliment her. I never understood how my mate Anthony had been able to put up with her for so long. I got sick of her within minutes. But still, here we were.

A cloud passed across the moon and a chill wind picked up. I shivered and plunged my hands into my coat pockets, wishing I was sat at home in front of the telly with a plate of chips.

Kim had brought along her short, giggly, equally irritating friend from the year below us, whose name had already slipped my mind. The short friend was shivering in a tiny black lace dress with a pair of stiletto heels that kept sinking into the wet ground and were now caked with mud and damp leaves. To top it off, she had a silver plastic tiara in her long, black hair. She teetered on her heels, looking so uncomfortable and awkward, so much like a little girl dressing up, that I had to restrain myself from snorting every time I looked at her.

The girls both had new lip piercings and hadn’t stopped squealing about how scary it had been since they’d got them pierced earlier that morning. Anthony had followed them in to watch the procedure, but I’d stood outside the shop, tracing the flash tattoo designs with my finger and trying not to think about the sensation of cold metal breaking through skin, that clenching moment where the skin stretches, and finally gives in. I shuddered again.

Kim’s short friend was waving her arms around theatrically in the doorway, shouting “Yeah this is a brilliant idea! We’ve never done it in a church before!”

“...done it?” I ventured, praying it didn’t mean what I thought it meant.

“You wish!” said Kim, punching me in the arm. “We do Ouija board.”

“Oh, for fuck...” I began. Anthony gave me a meaningful glare so I changed my tone. “I mean, you really think they work?”

“They do,” the short friend chimed in sternly, “we’ve had some freaky things happen before. But it’s really fun.” She clasped her hands together and blew on them for warmth.

“Freaky things like what?”

“One time we made contact with...a thing, it wasn’t a person. We knew it wasn’t good. There was a group of us doing it, and we kept talking to it even though you’re really not supposed to. And Kim got possessed, didn’t you Kim?’ She shouted the last bit at Kim who by now had wandered off, along with Anthony, to stare at some gravestones.

“What’s that?” Kim called back, “Oh when my hand went green?”

“Yeah, tell Joe about it,” the short friend called, before turning back to me. “Yeah, it said something really strange, like it started spelling out all this gobbledygook, and the rest of us all got freaked out and took our hands off but Kim kept touching it, and she went really numb.”

“Numb like, physically? Emotionally?”

“Both she said. She was like running in circles and jumping to try and get the feelings back.”

Kim and Anthony had joined us now, and Kim was nodding enthusiastically.

“I was. I just wanted to feel like I was in control again. I couldn’t even talk.”

I was still sceptical. Although Kim being possessed by an evil spirit would explain a lot. But it was far more likely she’d just seen her chance to be the centre of attention and ran with it. I looked over at Anthony for assistance. His expression was dead serious.

“I was there too mate. You don’t have to believe us but we all saw it with our own eyes. Kim felt it.”

“Her hand,” Linda gestured wildly, “it went like this weird green, like it was dead.”

I don’t know if it was my imagination at that point, but Kim did look scared. She had gone very pale, and was blinking her dark brown eyes as if she was trying not to cry. Anthony hugged her close and kissed her on the top of her head. The same Anthony who had said, just weeks ago, that he would never have the patience to put up with a girlfriend. And Kim was hardly low maintenance. This sensitive act was such a joke; I couldn’t be bothered with it all.

“Whatever,” I said, “Can we go somewhere? I’m freezing my nuts off.”

“I’m freezing my nuts off,” said the short friend. Kim snorted with laughter and everything seemed to go back to normal after that. Well, except the part where we were about to play with a Ouija board out in a church in the middle of nowhere.

Anthony went inside first, followed by Kim and her friend, and finally me. I’d hoped it would be warmer inside, but no such luck. Our footsteps echoed loudly on the stone floor, the sound travelling high above our heads.

“Do you think there are bats in here?” Kim asked, nervously.

“Of course not,” Anthony laughed, “it’s just a church. Not Scooby Doo or something!” But he glanced upwards uncertainly. “It’s too dark to see.”

“Bats are cute, I hope there are some!” Kim’s friend was now sitting on the floor struggling to remove her shoes. “Kim, get some candles out would you?”

“I don’t know if I want to,” murmured Kim, seeming to shrink into the oversized grey hoodie she was wearing. It was a tradition at our school that when two people started dating, the girl would go around wearing the boy’s hoodie or whatever, to prove she was his girlfriend. Just an excuse to show off, really. Stupid thing.

“What if I get possessed again? Or worse, killed?”

“You won’t, silly. That’s what the candles are for,” Linda reassured, gesturing for the bag. Kim handed it to her slowly, and she pulled out some mossy green coloured candles and began lighting them and placing them around the floor. The flickering glow made the place seem even spookier, casting weird shadows that moved across the walls like horrid creatures. Still, it was all just the atmosphere. A strange scent filled the air.

Linda saw me sniffing. “Sage candles,” she explained, “to ward off evil spirits.”

She rolled her eyes as I smirked. “Do they not like the smell of fresh herbs or something?”

“It’s always been done for rituals and things. It might be a stupid myth, but I’m not going to argue with the experts.”

Kim plonked herself heavily down on her knees next to us, and pulled Anthony down with her. “Let’s get this over with then,” she sighed, before turning to me. “By the way, the one time we didn’t use sage candles was when I got possessed. So it’s like, kind of important.”

Kim talking so casually about the time she got possessed by demons made me unsure whether to burst out laughing or run away. I glanced at my watch. Ten minutes to ten. If I ran I could probably get to the chippy just before it closed. But I was curious, in a way. I knew it was just childish make-believe, like when you used to tell ghost stories at a sleep over, holding a torch under your chin, but a tiny part of me wanted to see if anything would happen. Just on the off-chance.

“Okay!” Linda waved her arms excitedly. “Everyone put your hand on the...what’s it called again? A plectrum?”

Kim giggled, “Planchette,” and placed two fingers lightly onto the glass thing. Linda and Anthony followed, and hesitantly I did the same. It felt kind of weird, as if we were holding hands or something. I caught Anthony’s eye and saw him smirk. We both had to stop ourselves from laughing, and it almost felt like the old days.

“Ok, so who wants to ask the first question?” Linda whispered.

“Technically you just did,” Anthony replied, “but um,” he cleared his throat and began speaking loudly up at the ceiling. “Is there anybody here?”

“Duh, we’re here –“ I began, but the glass thing suddenly started to glide beneath our fingers, and I gasped involuntarily. It slid over to the word ‘no’ and stopped.

Anthony laughed. “Well that makes no sense whatsoever.”

“Ok,” I called, trying to hide the tremble in my voice, “who moved it then?”

The glass thing waited a few seconds before moving again, faster this time.

It slid to the G. The O. The D.

For a stupid moment I wondered if I’d experienced some kind of miracle. The common sense kicked in and I looked at the others to see who had done it. Linda glared across at Kim, who was biting her lip and trying very hard not to smile. When she noticed us looking at her, she burst into a fit of laughter.

“Alright Kim, knock it off,” Linda, “Ok this time, nobody push the planchette. It ruins all the fun.”

Kim sniggered and pointed at me. “Joe was scared, weren’t you Joe?”

“Oh, as if. This Ouija board thing is all fake anyway. If you weren’t pushing it, someone else would have been.”

Linda leant forward. “Yeah, like a ghost standing right behind you!” She shouted the last part and I jumped, which made the others crease up with laughter.

“Right, ok,” I said after they’d finally calmed down, “well, this is dumb. I’m bored. It’s freezing and we’re literally sitting in a church playing ABC. Can we leave now?”

“Yeah,” Anthony sided with me for once. “I’m tired. Let’s call it a night.”

“I guess it’s not going to work tonight anyway,” Linda sighed, “You have to be totally there, like spiritually, and I don’t think we have enough positive energy amongst us.” She folded up the Ouija board and placed it reverently it back in the bag.

As cringe-inducing as Linda’s explanation was, I was so relieved that we were going to leave that I nodded enthusiastically. “That’s exactly it,” I said. “I’m sure it’ll be more exciting another night when our um, chakras are in sync.”

Linda beamed at me as if I’d just been initiated into some weird cult. Then suddenly, she gave a start. “Where’s Kim?”

We looked around, from the dimly-lit stained glass windows to the rows of empty pews. Kim was gone.

“Probably hiding,” I shrugged. “She’ll try and make us jump in a minute. Won’t you Kim?” I shouted the last part and the sound echoed around us.

“We’re onto you!” Linda called out, “Come on, we’re going!”

Silence. After a few minutes I got up and told them I was leaving. That they could wait around but I wasn’t going to give her the satisfaction.

Linda stood up and grabbed my sleeve. “We can’t just leave her, what if she’s hurt?”

“I doubt that, just – she’ll be fine. She’s just playing a joke on us.”

Anthony was frantically dialling and redialling on his mobile, the glare of the screen lighting up his panicked face. “She won’t even pick up her phone! We’d hear it ringing if she was here!”

“Look – we all need to stay really calm,” Linda squeaked, sounding close to tears. She blew out the candles and ran outside. We followed her.

“Kim!” Anthony shouted into the dark. “KIIIIIM!” He waited for a response, and when none came he turned to us again. “Fucking hell,” he muttered. “Fucking hell.”

“I bet she’s just gone home. She’ll be taking the piss out of us nonstop tomorrow. Just leave it, don’t give her the satisfaction.” I put my hand on his shoulder and he shrugged it off.

“But what if she’s been possessed again? Or taken? Oh God...” Linda looked up at me, all wide teary eyes, and for some weird reason I almost wanted to hug her.

“But there’s nobody here.” I said gently, “Someone would have driven by; we’d have seen the headlights. “

“Where does she live? One of us should go to her house.”

“I’ll go,” said Anthony, “it’s only ten minutes away if I run. I’ll ring you if she’s there.” He turned and ran, immediately. Linda and I stood silently, listening to the slap of his feet on the wet road until he was out of earshot.

“What do we do now?” whispered Linda.

I shrugged. “Wait here, I guess.”

Linda shivered in her tiny dress. I know it served her right for wearing the stupid thing in the first place, but I felt bad so I took my jacket off and let her wear it. It’s what you’re meant to do. She thanked me and slipped it on.

“It’s so dark out here. We couldn’t see her even if she was here.” She flipped her mobile phone open and waved the screen around, like the world’s most pathetic torch. “If it wasn’t raining I could light a candle.”

Something grabbed my hand and I almost jumped out of my skin, until I realised it was just Linda. Then I had another double take, because Linda holding my hand was also pretty weird. She smiled nervously and I relaxed a bit. It was quite nice, really. A gust of wind blew the last spatters of rain at us, and we hugged close together to try and keep warm, until I suggested we waited back inside the church. It wasn’t warm but at least it was out of the wind.

Linda lit a couple of candles and we huddled together on one of the pews and talked until we had almost forgotten about Kim and Anthony. We talked about everything, from our families and friends, to holidays we’d been on, bands we liked, embarrassing things we’d done... after a while we’d sat in silence and I realised she had fallen asleep, her head resting on my shoulder. I stayed awake, waiting for a phone call that never came. Occasionally Linda would murmur and shift in her sleep, until she was lying with her head across my lap.

At around half five I nudged her awake and we went outside hand in hand. The sky was bright white. I told Linda that Kim really was okay, and that we’d see each other in school on Monday. She stood on the very tips of her toes and kissed me on the cheek, then turned and ran home barefoot. I could still feel the place she’d kissed when I arrived back home. My heart kept doing a weird flippy thing whenever I thought about it.

Monday morning. Sure enough, Kim and Anthony were there like every other day. Linda and I kept asking them what had happened the other night, but they wouldn’t say. I wanted them to notice Linda wearing my jacket, but if they had, neither of them mentioned it. They seemed strangely quiet and withdrawn, despite insisting that nothing went on that night. Later on, Linda told me that Kim had put her hand up in class and the sleeve of her jumper rolled down a bit to reveal a row of dark red scratches on her arm, which she hurriedly covered back up. But it could have all been part of the joke, or she could have done that some other time. You never know with Kim.

Linda stopped hanging around with Kim after a while. Said she’d changed, stopped joining in. But that didn’t matter, because Linda hung out with me instead. Anthony never told me where Kim had been, or what had happened that night. I didn’t really care though. I knew it was just a stupid joke all along. It had to be.