<—Part 9
Tiptoeing around the assorted boxes and trunks, Amy surveyed for the best spot. She was partly hoping that some mystical force would have rolled through overnight and cleared out a space, or provided a table and chair. Maybe a crystal ball. Truly magical would have been a pumpkin latte.
She still felt an aching hollowness inside. This was the kind of thing she wanted to do with her friends. She still had such bright, vivid memories of the spirit board session at Vi’s house. Seances weren’t meant to be a solo activity. The essence of a seance, when distilled down, was to reach out. To just make a connection, even if the other person was a little dead. Or a lot dead. A little dead would probably mean a zombie or a vampire. No seance required at that point.
Her survey complete, Amy nodded in acceptance. No chair, no crystal ball, no pumpkin latte.
“Alright ghosties. Ready or not, here I come!” Despite the energetic hand clapping to emphasize her declaration, there was an undertone of melancholy in her voice.
She carefully lowered her bag and set it near the door frame, grabbed a dish towel from the outer pocket, and got to work clearing out a small circle of space near the fireplace. Everyone loved fireplaces. Humans, ghosts, even cats. Especially cats.
Wait—What if the ghosts were cats? She was fairly certain cats couldn’t spell. Would her cards be useless? She closed her eyes for a moment as she tried to imagine a seance with cats. Laughter bubbled up, echoing in the dusty room. They’d at least knock things over and play table hockey with the index cards. Even if they couldn’t read, her cards wouldn’t be entirely useless.
Just to be safe from ghost cats, Amy decided to place the candles in the fireplace instead of within the circle of the index cards. If candles were getting knocked over, might as well be within the confines of something designed for fire.
She arranged the index cards in an arch, mimicking the letter and number placement she’d seen on commercially available spirit boards. As a final touch, she dug into her pocket and pulled out a chunk of fluorite. The greenish purple crystal was supposed to help with intuition. It seemed appropriate for a seance. Mediums often said they relied on intuition as part of their toolkit for talking to the dead.
“Looks about right…” she trailed off as she studied the setting. Cards arranged, candles placed, crystal out. Time to get this party started. She pulled out her unicorn teacup and placed it upside down within the circle of cards, smiling with amusement at the sight.
What a surreal moment; Ghost cats and drunk unicorns. Had her life really come down to this? And, was that necessarily a bad thing? This would certainly make a fantastic story to share later!
Grabbing the barbecue lighter from her bag, Amy lit the candles and took a deep breath. Voice reverently soft, she whispered part prayer, part plea as she gazed on the dancing lick of flame on the center pillar candle.
“Universe, I know I’ve messed up. But please, please let this work. I want to connect to the souls within this dwelling. I ask for your love and protection, and help in pulling back the veil between these two worlds.”
She closed her eyes and let her consciousness fall into the quiet of the little room. Months of anxiety slowly melted back. Not gone, but poured away into a corner, out of the way. She pushed away active thoughts each time they bubbled to the surface, until she could simply be in the moment. Aware, but with a quiet mind. She felt light, almost floaty.
She wasn’t sure how long her eyes were closed, or what precisely alerted her to open them. Darkness lifting with her gaze, she first saw the flicker of the candle flame, waving in the still air as if in a breeze.
“…Hello…?” She whispered the greeting, half in question.
Reaching out to the tipped over unicorn cup, she tentatively rested her fingertips on the top of it, and then froze in shock.
To her right, two girls flickered into view. Both were dressed in period clothes, as if they’d walked off the set of a reenactment. One looked to be about her age, and the other couldn’t have been older than 15 or 16. She stared in shock, and they seemed to return the look with equal levels of surprise.
Gasping, Amy jerked her hand from the cup, and the vision disappeared. Heart beating wildly, she stared at the candle, and then cautiously turned to look around the room. Silenced greeted her.
“Universe… wow. Just… Wow.” She exhaled the words in a hushed whisper, as shock shifted to excitement. Reverently, she reached out for the teacup, but right as she was about to make contact, something started chirping. Startled, she gasped and jerked her hand back. It took her a moment to realize the sound was coming from her phone.
Laughing nervously, she scooted away from the teacup and cards, and rooted about in her bag for the phone. It stopped ringing by the time she found it, but a new text message blinked on the screen.
Hey, Raven here. Had something come up. Can you cover my shift today? Thanks!
Amy huffed out an amused sigh. She wasn’t sure if it was her reaction to her phone, the supernatural experience she just had, or that Raven had reached out directly to her instead of going through Julie.
Giddy, she shakily rose to her knees, and leaned forward, blowing out the candle.
“Thank you, Universe.” Amy closed her eyes a moment in reverence.
She packed up the index cards and candle, but hesitated as her hand hovered over the unicorn teacup. Shaking her head, she laughed chidingly.
“Come on self… spell’s broken for now.” Gingerly, she closed her hand over the cup, and peeked to the right. No strange girls.
Tucking the cup in with the rest of her supplies, she got to her feet and shouldered the bag. She couldn’t wait to get home and read the next journal entry. But for now, work called.