Image via Wikipedia

     We had been up in the attic all day going through old boxes of stuff and looking at magazines dated from the ‘50s.  It had been interesting looking at the LPs we found and myriad other knick-knacks from our family’s stored history.  We even came across an old game–a Ouija board.  I had vaguely heard about this game from our parents years earlier and was curious to give it a try.  It was getting dark though, so we decided to call it a day.

       We brought the game downstairs, dusted it off and started reading the instructions.  We sat in the living room with one light glowing overhead.   We found that it’s used as a divination to attract spirits.  Wow!  Now we were really captivated.  To be more “intimate” we decided to rest the board on our knees and sitting close to each other, placed the planchette on the board and made a couple of sweeping motions across the board to get it “warmed up”.  The planchette, we learned, is the heart shaped device used to lightly rest your fingertips upon.  The spirits called forth would move it from letter to letter or the “Yes” and “No” choices to transmit the messages.  My sister was opting to go first and ask her questions of the spirit and I would write down the chosen letters.

       We sat with quiet but excited anticipation as my sister asked a spirit to join us.  The instructions had suggested asking easy yes or no questions or those easily verified.  It also said you may start receiving thought forms or images as you progressed with the session.

     “Do you have a message for me?” she asked.  The planchette remained motionless for several moments before slowing moving toward the “Yes” on the board and then rested there.  “Can you identify something in this room?”  The indicator went slowly from letter to letter spelling out the word “incense”.  It’s true, incense was burning!  “How old will I be when I marry”, she asked.  The indicator moved to “No”.  “Well that’s odd”, she said, puzzled, “I wonder what that means?”

       Suddenly an uneasiness swept over her.  She complained that her head hurt and that she had experienced a quick vision of something that she couldn’t quite make out but it had left her feeling edgy and anxious.  “I don’t want to go on with this game; I don’t feel comfortable.”

     “Sure”, I replied, putting it away, “no problem.”  But it certainly was intriguing, “let’s try it again sometime.”

     “Okay, sure,” she answered, “but I’m heading out first thing tomorrow morning, let’s get some dinner and turn in early.”

     Morning broke sunny and clear.

     “Have a safe trip, Sis”, I said, as I hugged and kissed her goodbye.

     Not an hour had passed when I received the call–a tragic accident on the highway.  No other cars had been involved.  My sister’s car had inexplicably gone over a steep ravine.  Even the safety guard rails couldn’t stop the car.

500 Word Fiction based on a prompt to write about a game that goes awry.  I never posted it after I wrote it.