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English
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Trick or Treat Exchange 2024
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Published:
2024-10-24
Words:
438
Chapters:
1/1
Comments:
8
Kudos:
7
Hits:
45

Spirit World

Summary:

Anne tries to contact the spirit world with her guests. But what they want is right there in the room with them.

Notes:

Work Text:

Anne placed her hand over her Ouija board. The fire caught the bright orange highlights in her hair like filaments of fire, making them spark and sparkle like a hillock of gold, catching the pink threads in the dress she wore. They’d all snuck away from the Halloween party with a bowl of popcorn and a platter of caramel apples; Diana’s mother was too busy supervising an apple bobbing contest, and none of them particularly wanted to get soaked for the small prize of a pumpkin cupcake.

“Diana, put your hand there – and Gil, on the other side,” Anne said.

Diana kept her hand back – wide-eyed, she stared at the board. “Are you sure this is safe, Anne?”

She nodded. “Oh, the spirits would never hurt us, Diana. They just want to talk to us.”

Reluctantly, Diana felt the smooth wood of the planchette. Beside her, Gil anchored the other side.

“Hello, spirit,” Anne said. “Tell us how you feel!”

The planchette began to shift; Diana couldn’t stop herself from letting out a gasp, then a scream.

“Don’t scare yourself,” Gil said calmly. “There’s no reason to panic.”

“L-O-N-E-L-Y,” Anne read off the letters as the planchette darted about the board. “Why, you poor thing! What can we do to help you?”

The planchette began to move wildly “J-O-I-N M-E.”

Diana squeaked and immediately removed her hands, getting as much distance between her and the board by sitting on the sofa behind her. “You moved it!” Diana accused Gil.

“I did not! If any of us moved it, it was Anne!” Gil complained.

“Oh, I did not,” Anne said. “It was the spirits, of course! Poor thing – I hope it finds a bosom ghost chum. No one deserves to spend eternity alone.” She placed aside the Ouija board and got to her feet. “Would anyone like more cider?”

“Yes, please,” said Gilbert.

“Mother should have more in the parlor,” said Diana. Anne smiled and nodded, heading in that direction.

When she was gone, Gil let out a sigh and toed the antique under the easy chair Anne had abandoned. Diana remembered where it was, because she’s have to replace it among the family’s Halloween things before it went missing. “Imagine that! Boy, Anne’s something else,” Gil said, shaking his head. But he watched her flit off for cider with a look of deep affection in his eyes.

It took Diana a moment to realize she was staring at her own bosom chum in the exact same fashion. She put that realization away for now, along with the ghost’s pronouncement, to be thought of when she felt steady again.