A Glimpse of Death

Ashlyn, a young teen from Washington state, recently moved has found a nice group of friends. Only these good friends have, bad intentions.

A Glimpse of Death

Payton Smith

 

            Ashlyn watched the hands of the classroom clock, they neared noon which meant lunch hour. Her stomach lurched with anticipation, the bacon and eggs she ate at breakfast burnt off an hour prior. Looking past other students’ heads, she vaguely heeded attention to Mr. Gibson’s lecture about water molecules and polarity. When she scanned the faces of the other teenagers, it was clear by the expressions that no one showed interest, a typical Friday.

            Most every student began to pack up before the lunch bell rang and realizing this, Mr. Gibson dismissed the class a few minutes early. Getting to the student-ran store before a line started, Ashlyn bought a pretzel, lightly salted, with extra cheese and then proceeded to the table which she usually sat alone at. Today, her table was occupied by three girls. They weren’t he type of girls that Ashlyn usually talked to.

            They wore dark clothing and make-up, and each displayed different piercings from various different locations. One girl, the blonde amongst the other two brunettes, had a tattoo of an eye on her left wrist, even though she clearly wasn’t over the legal age to receive one. Ashlyn hesitated a moment as the three girls ceased their conversation to look at her.

            She began to turn and look for a new table when one of the brunettes spoke to her, “It’s okay, we know this is where you sit. We just figured that you would like some company today.”

            “Um, okay, Ashlyn replied, unsure of how to feel, but her desperate need for new friends in this new place overcame that feeling.

            The three girls remained silent, they just inspected Ashlyn. She was a modest sixteen year old, a basic plaid, button-up shirt and jeans. Her long, dirty blonde hair draped down as usual. Taking her seat and setting her food down, she continued to be stared at, but final the silence broke.

            “My name is Jasmine,” the brunette who spoke to her first, said, “She pointed at the other brunette, “this is Madi.”

            “I’m Amanda,” the blonde introduced herself, clearly disapproving of someone else introducing her.

            “I’m Ashlyn, I just moved here from Spokane, Washington.” Ashlyn said, she realized her shoulders were tensed and upon trying to ease them, she failed.

            “Washington?” Madi asked. Ashlyn hadn’t noticed that the layers of hair her natural color were dyed a dark violet color. “That is a long way away isn’t it?”

            “On the other side of the country,” Ashlyn replied as she thought of ways to continue the conversation. “What does that tattoo stand for, Amanda?”

            “It is a reminder for me to keep my mind’s eye open,” Amanda smiled and Ashlyn returned the gesture, even though she was utterly clueless about what she meant.

            “So what were you saying about tonight, Madi?” Jasmine asked.

            “My parents are leaving for the weekend, so we can use the board tonight,” Madi explained as she rolled a strand of purple hair between her fingertips.

            “That’s great!” Jasmine seemed rather excited, she faced Ashlyn as she continued, “You should come with us.”

            “What is the board?” Ashlyn asked, she had completely forgot about her appetite so her food sat cold.

            “An Ouija board, also known as a spirit board.” Madi spoke before the other two were able to.

            The sound of it filled her with an odd sense of dread, along with a strange sense of curiosity. Although she had never used or seen one before, she knew well the stories that followed them. Movies, internet, and the tales of other’s taught her of the horrors that follow spirit boards.

            “Do you believe in ghosts?” Amanda asked Ashlyn.

            Ashlyn paused to think before she answered. She knew for sure, that she had never seen one, but she knew that she had heard bumps in the night which couldn’t be explained. “I do. I’ve heard that those things can be dangerous.”

            “They can be, but we take precautions,” Jasmine said and wrote something down on a piece of paper. “These are the directions to get to Madi’s house.”

            The three girls stood and walked away after saying good bye and walked away leaving Ashlyn alone with her cold lunch.

 

*

 

            Ashlyn stood at the end of a long, straight driveway filled with cracks from the baking sun and the rain’s erosion. She glanced down at her touch screen smart phone seeing that she had reached her destination because it displayed her directions. The house resided in a wealthy neighborhood and the yard seemed professionally gardened, Ashlyn assumed that Madi’s parents had important jobs.

            She heard thunder rolling in the distance, slowly progressing towards her, the storm’s rain began to sprinkle down, so lightly she didn’t even notice it. The porch light of Madi’s house flashed on and the front door opened, Amanda’s bright blonde head poked around the door and she waved Ashlyn in.

            As Ashlyn walked in, she untied her sneakers and placed them next to the other girls’ shoes. All day, she had felt good about being able to spend time with some new friends, but now she began to feel an uneasy drag from the pit of her stomach.

            Jasmine and Madi sat upon a long sectional separated from each other and each doing occupied by different things. Watching out of a window, which made up a majority of the wall, Jasmine observed the encroaching storm. Her eyes widened at the far off flash of lightning and a small smile grew across her face.

            “Do you think the universe knows we’re up to something?” Jasmine turned and asked Madi whose attention stayed sternly on her laptop. “I mean, talking to the dead brings upon bad omens, right?”

            “Yes, it does,” Madi responded shortly after glancing up from her computer to look at Ashlyn and Amanda, “but it’s not usually in the form of nature. Welcome to my home, Ashlyn.”

            Madi removed the computer from her lap after Ashlyn thanked her and stood up from the couch. After a quick stretch, she gestured for everyone to follow her, only Ashlyn and Amanda trailed her. They walked through an open doorway after Madi pulled back the sliding glass door near the window Jasmine intently peered through. The entryway led to an open balcony that reached around the houses corners.

            The pack of smokes that Madi pulled from her pocket were still sealed, so she packed them and tore the cellophane wrap from it then took a cigarette out. The pack was handed to Amanda who proceeded to take one for herself then offered it to Ashlyn.

            “No, no thank you,” she shrugged, and then Amanda gave the pack back to Madi. Feeling the need to get a little pressure off her chest, Ashlyn asked a question that lingered in the back of her mind, “Why are you girls being so nice to me? Most other girls just glare me down in the hallway or make snickering remarks behind my back.”

            “We were all in the same or similar situation, I guess you could call us the outcasts,” Madi said while slowly letting out a breath of smoke.

            “We just don’t like seeing people be alone, you don’t have to worry, we aren’t bad people,” Amanda took a long drag which resulted in a massive plume smoke. “It was actually Jasmine’s idea to invite you tonight, we agreed and we’re glad you came.”

            “So, you guys actually think this stuff is real?” Ashlyn asked; her nerves calming.

            “I don’t think it’s real, I know it’s real,” Madi said while Amanda agreed with the nodding of her head. “We’ve seen it work several times before. If you don’t want to participate, we understand why. Using a spirit board is rather dangerous.”

            “Dangerous? How so?” feeling completely at ease now, Ashlyn had already decided that she wanted to try the board.

            “Talking to the dead draws a lot of attention to you from the other side,” Madi explained as she took the last puff of her cigarette, then threw the butt into a soda can, “but like Jasmine said earlier, we take precautions, so there is nothing to worry about.”

            Amanda also threw her cigarette in the can, then entered the house once more. The rain picked up as Ashlyn and Madi followed suit. Inside, Jasmine had lit several black candles and began placing them throughout the room, then dimmed the lights to near off. Madi bent down and searched underneath the sectional and pulled out the board.

            Since she’d never seen one before, Ashlyn observed the board closely. This one was old and made of dark brown wood. The alphabet, numbers, and the words ‘yes’ and ‘no’ were painted in an old looking calligraphy. In the top corners of the board were a sun and a moon, shaded with fancy details.

            “Do you like it?” Amanda asked noticing that Ashlyn wouldn’t take her eyes off of it. Ashlyn nodded. “I made it myself, with a little help from my brother.”

            “It looks hundreds of years old,” Ashlyn said while watching Madi set the board between a pattern of candles.

            “It originally was an old checkers board passed down through my family,” Amanda explained, “Marcus sanded it down for me and I painted the letters.”

            “How do we do this?” Ashlyn asked, even though she knew it wasn’t a great idea, but her curiosity was beginning to grow into a bud of excitement.

            The other girls smiled as they sat around the board, each to a different side of the board, leaving a space for Ashlyn. She sat in her predetermined spot on her knees, like the other girls, and viewed the board spread before her. She sat on the left side of the board with Madi to her right in front of the board.

            “So, first we grab hands,” as Madi spoke the four girls clasped together forming a closed circle, “if you would, now, Jasmine.”

            Jasmine muttered something under her breath, to Ashlyn it sounded like a disparate language. The language closely resembled Spanish or Italian, but it held an ancient tone to it. Shadows danced around the room from the candles whipping as if a draft or gust of wind snuck into the room.

            As Jasmine ceased speaking, the candles returned to their normal state of flickering. Ashlyn peered at the other three girls, but they did not return the look, they all stared down at the board.

            “Now we can begin,” Madi had turned to say this to Ashlyn and seeing the confusion on her face, she explained, “That was a spell to ward off evil entities during our conversation of the dead.”

            “A spell?” Ashlyn’s expression twisted further into confusion. “Like witchcraft?”
            “Exactly!” Amanda smiled.

            “That can’t be real,” Ashlyn said and let go of the other girls’ hands, “You ladies are mental.”

            “How about before jumping to conclusions, we play the Ouija board.” Amanda began, “If it works, which spirit boards are a form of witchcraft, then you’ll be a believer. If not, then you may call us as crazy as you’d like.”

            Ashlyn stood up nearly ready to leave, when something struck her. Rather it was the need for friends or the curiosity dwelling deep inside her, it was strong enough to make her sit back down. The other girls smiled at her.

            “To use the board, we must all place our hands on the glass pendulum, like so.” Resting the fingertips of both her hands on the small glass piece, Madi started the process. “It doesn’t matter if you actually tough it or not, but if you do, do so lightly.”

            Jasmine, Amanda, and Ashlyn all put their hands on the pendulum, just as they were shown. Madi spoke sternly, “Please remain quiet.” After clearing her throat she spoke once more, “Hello?”

            The sound of the storm leaked into the house after Madi’s words ended. Rain lightly hit the window with the increase of wind and the room occasionally captured the light from lightning flares still in the distance.

            “Can anyone of the dead hear my voice?”

            The board remained still and the candles calm.

            “If you can hear me, can we talk?”

            Outside, the rain picked up and the wind came in small bursts.

            “I promise we won’t harm you.”

            The girls waited patiently for a response, not jumping at the louder, more sudden cracks of thunder.

            “My name is Madelynn Jameson, what is yours?”

            The pendulum lurched slightly towards Ashlyn, who startled, but kept her hands still. After a brief pause, it moved quickly over several letters. Some of the letters were notable, like L and A, while the others hard to catch.

            “Did anyone get that? It was too fast for me.” Amanda asked.

            “Hello Madelynn,” Ashlyn answered, “It said, hello Madelynn.”

            A shiver ran down Ashlyn’s back, even though she maintained a warm body temperature. One of them had to of moved it, she thought. She slightly changed her opinion when she noticed the other girls’ expressions.

            “Its’ never answered that quickly,” Amanda said and all three girls looked at Ashlyn.

            “What is your name,” Madi began to question the board once more.

            “Samael,” the pendulum responded at a steadier pace this time.

            None of the girls said a word, but their faces shared a mix between horror and excitement. Ashlyn removed her hands from the pendulum, beginning to question herself than question the others, “One of you, or all of you, are moving that thing.”

            “I promise you, none of us are doing this.” Amanda said, and all three girls removed their hands as the pendulum began to dart around the board.

            The glass piece slid around quickly spelling out what seemed to be an assortment of letters, but it moved quickly making it hard to decipher. Ashlyn stared at the board in amazement. Glass isn’t magnetic and the other girls aren’t moving it, she thought, I must be dreaming. With a pinch she alerted herself that she wasn’t sleeping.

            As she watched the pendulum frantically slide, the world’s noises sounded distant to her. The house rattling thunder struck as loud to her as a bee flying by and the gusting wind like a soft breeze. She remained fixed on the board until a muffled voice passed her ears.

            Breaking her concentration, she looked at the others just as Madi spoke, “Jasmine, it worked, it really worked!”

            Madi looked across at Jasmine whom stared at the board just as Ashlyn. The candles remained calm.

            “What did you guys do?” Amanda shouted her question as she grabbed Madi’s arm.

            “We found a spell that is supposed to show you a glimpse of death,” Madi explained and pulled her arm free. “It takes four strong souls and a board as a conduit and the four are granted temporary vision of the dead.”

            “I don’t understand,” Ashlyn said, seeing Amanda with a panicked expression caused fear to boil deep in her gut.

            “I don’t think these two understand either,” Amanda was slowly turning red with anger. “Samael is the…”

            “I know what the board is saying,” Jasmine interrupted, her expression blank, but Ashlyn witnessed pure dread dwelling in her eyes. “Three witches watch, one witch burns.”

            At the end of her sentence, the glass pendulum stopped on the board in between the images of the sun and moon. The candles stilled, not flickering in the slightest. The girls remained silent as they listened to the constant patter of rain against the roof and window panels.

            A flash filled the room as a vein of lightning burst near the house. The dim lights brightened suddenly, and then shut off simultaneously. Every electronic, except those with batteries, also lost power. Thunder following the crack, shook the house. Only the candles and the occasional lighting flares from random directions, illuminated the living room.

            The pendulum began to shake in place causing the girls’ attention to dart towards it. As they all watched the board, a loud thud rose from outside the house. The three girls still remaining on the ground bolted to their feet and all of them together looked out the windows to the porch.

            Another bright flash of lightning flared and as the girls’ sight came to, they saw a tall, shadowed figure standing in one of the windows. It turned to reveal the outline of a horse head where its head should reside. The pure dread racing through Ashlyn’s heart caused paralysis. Looking to the other girls, she could see their states were similar. Jiggling came from the porch door knob, as the creature twisted it. The door swung open and the figure walked in.

            Its head, a dry dear skull, hooded by the black robe draped over its human frame. Unlike any dear, its teeth bore together, locked in a clenched jam of pointed fangs. Walking closer to the girls, the creature observed all of them with its empty eye sockets.

 

            Without moving its mouth, the figures voice could be heard in the girls’ heads, “Curious mortals, always meddling in wrong affairs.” Its voice sounded as if two different people spoke the same words in sync. By the tone of its voice, it was clearly male.

            “Please, forgive me, Samael,” Amanda said as she was able to drop on her knees and bow. “I didn’t know.”

 

            The creature slowly tilted his head down to observe her, his attention quickly raised to the other three, all still frozen with fear. Ashlyn quickly though of something, hoping he would not harm her, but before she could say it, he stood directly before her. The words escaped her mouth as the creature’s skeletal hands ran up her throat and clasped on her jaw.

            “Do not lie to yourself, Ashlyn Finch,” Samael’s voice rang loud in her head. “Lucifer, bred you a witch!”

 

            No,  no you’re lying, Ashlyn tried to convey, but her vocals ran dry. Samael’s hand fell down to his side and he turned his attention to Jazmine and Madi.

 

            “One witch burns, three witches watch,” his voice seemed to be echoing around the room, but his mouth remained closed.

 

            Jazmine was the first to move as the invisible grasp of fear let go. She patted at herself vigorously as she screamed at the top of her lungs. She seemed as if she caught on fire, but none of the girls could see flames.

 

            Swatting harder, she fell on the ground and rolled from side to side. Amanda lunged onto her trying to help pat her down, but it was no use. Jazmine’s screams quieted down as she slowly curled into a ball, tears smearing her black makeup across her face.

 

            Samael screeched loudly and when Ashlyn turned to look at him she saw two, wide wings covered with raven feathers, protruding from his back. A burst of lightening blinded her momentarily and when her vision returned, Samael was gone.

 

            “Jazmine, Jazmine!” She turned to see Amanda shaking Jazmine’s body on the floor.

 

            Madi stared soullessly at Jazmine. Feeling her stomach lurch Ashlyn had the sudden urge to vomit. She fought it down but couldn’t fight against the tears flooded down her eyes.

 

            The pendulum slid across the board to the pre spelt words, “Goodbye.”

Author's Note

This is the 1st draft, may be a bit sketchy in places.