Chapter III

Chapter III

After the ambulance took Janice to the emergency room, Jack invited everyone to go back with him to his house for the rest of the night, and he would provide them with a ride home in the morning. Adam had agreed, he had no reason to go home knowing that the image of Janice hitting the table would reply in his mind all night, keeping him from getting a good night sleep. Alisha was pretty shaken up about the whole situation with Janice, and decided to go home, assuring Jack that she would give him a call when she woke up. Kyle agreed to go, too, mainly because he wasn't convinced that what happened to Janice was just a coincidence and he wanted to be anywhere but home. If anything, this more proved that something was up, more than not. On the ride back to Jack's house, Kyle was the first to ask,

“Do you guys think that Janice will be okay?”

There was a long silence following the question that was on everyone's mind. Janice had never mentioned any health conditions to anyone, diabetes, blood pressure, nothing related to random fainting, but no one had mentioned the possibility of it being because of them messing around with the Ouija board. The question was right on the tip of Kyle's tongue, but there was a ball in his throat preventing him from speaking.

“I'm sure she'll be alright,” Jack replied. “I'm sure there's an explanation. Something she didn't tell us about. There's nothing that we can really do right now, except hope for her recovery. I know what you guys are thinking...” he trailed off, as if he was waiting for a response.

`”What's that?” Adam asked. Jack looked back at Adam from the driver's seat, then at Kyle, who was in the passenger's seat, and offered an “isn't it obvious” face.

“I know you guys are thinking that the Ouija board is why she fainted, but that's ridiculous. Watch, tomorrow we will get a call and we'll find out exactly what happened. You guys also have to think, maybe she passed out because she'd never done anything like that before, and maybe she got nervous, maybe she had a panic attack or something like that. We never know.”

“I don't know, Jack.” Kyle responded quickly. “She was fine the whole time, up until the end. Even Alisha said she was getting dizzy and light-headed just like Janice, right?”

Jack sucked his teeth and continued, “Yeah, but Alisha didn't pass out, now did she?”

Kyle shrugged his shoulders knowing he didn't have anything more to argue with. It didn't matter what Jack said, Adam could tell that Kyle wasn't going to be completely convinced until he heard it from Janice herself. It wasn't until now that Adam thought about what he thought actually happened to her. He didn't have anyway of knowing, of course, but he knew that it wasn't because of the Ouija board. I mean, how could it be, really? Everyone hears about the horror stories about using Ouija boards, but that's exactly what they were, just horror stories. He'd have to admit, that the timing made him raise an eyebrow, but on the other hand, all the crazy stories that you hear about people using Ouija boards are about getting possessed or something like that, not fainting. Adam was going back and forth debating with himself before he said,

“I can't deny that what happened was a little weird, and I can see why someone might think that this was supernatural, but I think maybe she did have diabetes or something like that, and just didn't feel comfortable telling us about it,” Adam stated. “You guys know her well enough, right?”

“Not really, maybe Jack does. I've known her for a few months, but I don't talk to her much about personal things like that. She's really good friends with Alisha,” Kyle answered.

“Alisha and Janice do go back a while, but she never mentioned anything about Janice's health, but until now she wouldn't have had a reason to. I can talk to her more about it tomorrow, but I think she would have said something to us when it happened, don't you think?” Jack replied.

“Probably,” Kyle said with a deep breath. “I still can't believe that happened. Can you guys just humor me? What if...what if it is because of the Ouija board? What if there really is something that's haunting me, and now it's gotten to Janice?”

“Seriously, Kyle, what are the chances of that?” Jack told him. “Of all people, I should be the one thinking about what ifs. But if that is the case, then we still wouldn't know anything, and would have no idea what to do next. Why don't you just stay at my house for a few days? Think of it as an experiment, if things don't get better then we can figure out something else to try.”

“Yeah, okay. I guess that would be fine, as long as you don't mind.”

“Of course not, man,” Jack reassured him. “While you're at the house, we can do some research. We can look up some information about your house, and the people who lived there before you and your family. Maybe we can get some answers that way.”

“That sounds cool. Thanks, Jack, really. This is all so crazy and it happened so fast, you're really being awesome about this whole thing.”

“Don't mention it. What about you Adam? I know we don't really know each other, but you are more than welcome to stay, too. We have plenty of room, and you guys can camp out there until we figure out what's going on with Janice. It's up to you, man.”

Adam knew he didn't know these guys, but he did feel weird about feeling so comfortable around them. He was tempted, but decided he would just wait and go with the flow. If he ended up wanting to stay as long as Kyle did, then maybe he would. Or maybe he would just go home tomorrow morning, he had no idea how he would be feeling. “I'll crash for tonight, and see what happens tomorrow, if it's okay?”

Jack offered a small smile, but didn't take his eyes off of the road. “Absolutely, man, whatever you want. You seem like a cool guy, Adam.”

“Thanks, man. It just sucks we all had to meet on a night like this. Really, what are the chances?” Adam responded.

The car slowed and Jack pulled into a long driveway, which looped around some sort of fountain, and led to a massive house. The house lights were more similar to spotlights, making the beautiful house seem like a small mansion in the darkness.

“Is this where you live, Jack?” Adam asked surprised.

“Yeah, this house has been in my family for generations, my father inherited it from his father, and so on. It's a really nice house, and its even bigger on the inside. I'm not here too often, though, I usually come here at night to sleep. My parents aren't here much either, it's pretty much an empty house.” Jack replied.

“Whoa, man, with a nice spot like this I may never leave,” Adam commented with a chuckle and Jack laughed. Once Jack parked, they exited the car and entered the house. Jack wasn't kidding when he said that the house seemed even bigger on the inside. The living room seemed massive and had a black and silver color scheme. The flat screen television that was screwed into the wall had to be the largest one Adam had ever seen. Under the television were small shelves that were loaded with different kinds of movies and video games, if not all of the ones that have ever been invented. He had almost every video games system imaginable, and a crazy surround sound system. Adam and Kyle were looking around like little kids in a candy store.

“I definitely want to come here more often,” Kyle said. “This is heaven, look at all of those video games, look at all of those movies! As long as this remains a haunted free zone, I could get used to this.”

Jack was laughing, “Are you guys hungry? If so, I'll order some pizza and we can play some of the video games. I don't play much anymore, so I probably won't be much good, but I'm willing to give it a shot. After the night we had, we should at least try to have some fun. I don't think that I'm going to be able to get much sleep, tonight.”

“I don't either,” Adam replied.

“Same with me,” Kyle said stated.

“Alright, cool,” he said. “You guys can make yourselves at home, go ahead and find a game or a movie or something. I'm going to call in the pizza. Do either of you guys want a beer?”

“Absolutely,” Adam answered.

“I'm not a big beer person,” Kyle said.

“How about a soda? Sprite?”

“Yeah, that's cool, thanks.”

Jack went into the kitchen, and Kyle and Adam walked over to the shelves filled with movies and video games and started to look through them.

“What? Check this out,” Kyle said with excitement. “He has The Matrix, the whole trilogy! This is awesome.”

“The Matrix, huh?” Adam said with interest, “I knew there something I liked about Jack. He has good taste in movies. Look at this over here, the Underworld movies were really good, too. He has Resident Evil and everything. He must be an action/horror fan, that's what it seems like.”

“I sure am,” Jack said when he came back from the kitchen. He had two beers in his hands, and a can of Sprite tucked under his arm. He set the drinks down on the table, and went back into the kitchen to order the pizza.

Kyle grabbed his soda, and Adam's beer and passed it to him. The cap had already been popped off and Adam took nice sip. He exhaled deeply before saying,

“Oh yeah. That really hits the spot. You don't like to drink, Kyle?” Adam asked.

Kyle opened his can of Sprite, and shrugged his shoulders. “I don't mind drinking alcohol, I'm just not a huge fan of beer. I never have been, not too sure why.”

“I hated beer the first time I tried it,” Adam responded. “Have you found anything good yet?”

“I found a lot of good things, way too much for me to pick from,” Kyle exhaled deeply. “What about you, has anything caught your eye?”

“Same thing over here, there's too much to choose from. I have no idea, maybe we should just wait for Jack to come back.”

“The wait is over, my friends,” Jack said theatrically as he entered the living room, again. “What's up?”

“We have no idea what to do, there's too many options, here,” Adam replied.

“Yeah, I think I've probably seen all of the movies over ten times, already. If you guys want we can play some video games to kill time, until we can think of something else to do?” Jack offered.

“Hell yeah, let's play Call of Duty,” Kyle said.

“Okay, cool. I'll set it up,” Jack started up the system and started grabbing the controllers. “The pizza will probably be here in about twenty minutes, too. I ordered cheese and pepperoni.”

“Sweet,” Adam said. “Nothing is better than pepperoni pizza.”

So for the next few hours they all hung out, ate pizza, and enjoyed each others company. After the food and video games they all spread out on different parts of the large, four-piece leather living room set and put on a movie. Before they got half way into the movie, they all were passed out, which was surprising seeing as how they all thought they wouldn't be able to. The next morning they all woke up to Jack's cellphone ringing. Since he was still tired, he took way too long to fetch the phone from his pocket, so it stopped ringing by the time he checked it.

“That was Alisha,” he said groggily. “Maybe she had some new information on what happened to Janice. She has to be awake by now. I'll give her a call, I'll be back in a second, guys.” Jack got up from the couch and walked upstairs, probably to his room. Kyle hadn't moved or spoken yet. If Adam hadn't seen him open his eyes when Jack's phone started to ring, then he would have thought Kyle was still knocked out. After a few minutes, Jack came back downstairs but didn't look like he was coming with good news.