Escaped the Night (2 page)

My father grunted
after
my
lack of
response and tightened his grip on the wheel
,
turning his knuckles
white.

I rolled my eyes
as I flipped
a piece of my
long brown
hair out of my face
. I wasn’t in the mood to deal with his constant hovering.

“Whatever,” I said under my breath. I
stared
blan
kly out the window hoping they would
just leave me alone.

“No need to get defensive
,
honey.” My mother spoke softly
,
trying to ease the
rising
tension. “We just
want to make sure you stay safe, t
hat’s all
.”
She
looked
back at me.

“Safe?
Are you kidding me?
”

It slipped out. Sometimes I forgot
how
to keep my bi
g mouth shu
t.
Unfortunately, it
was just the fuel needed
to
make the
fire rage
.

“Sha--nn--tal!” my father
warned
.

I
carefully
shifted my eyes towards my mother and watched
her
stroking
my father’s
arm
in hopes
to
calm him down
.

This
made me even more
anxious for
my sleepover. I loved them all dearly
, but tonight
they would
clearly be better off without me
around
.
I didn’t feel like
fighting
and knew where this was heading
so I
caved
.

“We’
re
staying in, doing girl stuff
, w
atching movies, talking, n
othing
out of the ordinary,
I promise
.
I’m sorry.
G
uess I’m cranky
. I haven’t been sl
eeping well. My dreams…
sometimes
they
seem too
real.
”

My apology
lowered the tension in
side
the car and my father loosened his grip on the wheel.
I watched as t
he color
flooded
quickly back into his hands.

My mother turned around
and
mouthed
,
‘
thank-you
.’

My
father pu
lled onto the road
adjacent
to Ginata’s cul-de-sac.
“Remember, they’
re only
dreams. They won
’t
harm you.
T
hink of it as
you
r
mind
’
s way of entertaining.
It’s not real, so don’t be afraid of them.
”

I
decided to keep
my mouth
shut,
even t
hough I disagreed with what he said. My dreams were
more; t
hey
felt as if
everything
had
h
appened before. They felt
like memories.

I
spotted
the
red brick
home
with
French doors and
white windowpanes
.

Ginata came out
followed by
Berkley
,
her dog
.
She smiled, her brown eyes sparkling as she made
her way toward us.
She had
pulled up
her hair
into a
ponytail and she
wore
a
violet
backless to
p
.
Completely visible was h
er beau
tiful flower garden
tattoo
covering
her
back and clim
bing
up her neck
. It was full of pinks, purples, yellows,
greens,
reds
—
j
ust about any color
a flower
could be.
The
y
all twined together,
forming a stunning blend
from one color to the next.

“Hi
ya
!” s
he said cheerfully
.

She leaned in
side
the window and gave my mother a peck on the cheek and thumbs up to my sisters in the back.
She pulled her head out of the window and p
roceeded to my father’s side,
leaned in
side
and gave
him a quick
hug.

“Good to see
you guys
,
”
she said as she opened the car door for me
as I climbed over my sister to get out
.

“You as well. Are you
r
parents
’
home?”
m
y father
asked
,
giving
Berkley
a quick pa
t
on his head
after
he jumped up to say hello
.

“Nope…
they’re
out
on date night,” s
he answered playfully.

“Really?” M
y father turned
,
giving
me the eye.

“They won’t
be out too late
,
though
,” Ginata said,
taking
notice of the look I
’d just
received.

“We’ll be good. Here all night,
” I promised.

Ginata and I said
farewells to my family and headed
inside
the house. I inhaled deeply as
we
passed by the
large flowery bush
es
outside
the doors.
The
bushes were
over seven feet tall,
filled
with beautiful
sweet smelling blossoms that welcomed and put
ever
yone at ease.

“What was that
about?” she asked
,
once inside
.

“
Edgy, that’s all.
” I shrugged. “
Everyone
just
seems off today
or maybe it’s me and the lack of sleep is finally
catching up
.
”

“You’re still not sleeping? More dreams?”

“Not at all and there’s way more
dreams
now. Feels like
one
every time I close my eyes. As for everyone else, I really don’t know what’s going on. I
t f
eels
like somet
hing’s up, but
I
don’t know what and they won’t say.
”

“Well… you’re here now.
They
love and worry about you
, that’s a good thing. Chin up
girly
. L
et’s get the fun times
started
!”

She was a great friend
and
could always make me smile, even when I
felt
down. I loved how s
he always wore bright
ly
colored
clothes
,
making her the happiest looking person around
.
The night we first met she
’d
told
me h
er name
meant ‘flower’
and she
truly
resemble
d
one
.

A
heavy weight
lifted
and
I felt better already
. She was right. T
hey loved me
, so they worried
. I was lucky to have such a caring family.

We headed up
stairs
to her room and
gossiped
about random things, and then the guy subject came up.
Neither of us
was
dating or
had
actually
been on a date within the past
six months, so talk in th
is department never amounted to
much.

Gina
ta wen
t into her closet and pulled
out
her
Ouija board
.
She smiled
brightly
carrying
it
towards me.

I cringed.
The thing
freaked me right out
. W
hen I
was
younger, I’d
used
one
of these boards
with some other
friends
at a birthday party
. The
Ouija
told us that I
would
die
in the near future
. It
w
as
the longest
year and a half
of my life, w
aiting to die. I didn’t know how or when,
but
since
the board had said
it
, it
must’
ve
meant it was
true
.
Well
,
here
I
was still alive
and
I
’d
never trusted the board
since
, but I sure didn’t want to get any more dire predictions.

“Why don’t we watch a movie or something?” I suggested, trying to avoid using the board.

“Don’t be
such
a baby. It’s not going to hurt you. We’re just going to
have a bit of fun with it. We’
ll watch some movies later, okay?”

I sighed
,
knowing there was no way to change her mind.

We
cleared off her desk and moved
it
int
o the middle of the
room
. We
put
cha
irs on either side
and
placed a black velvet
dress over
the
top. She carefully
laid
the board down
.

Gina
ta was totally into
witchcraft, way
more than I
ever
was
.
She had
all ki
n
ds of
stuff
: r
unes, tarot cards, smudge sticks
,
books
,
and
pendants
,
and the list went on and on
. I
’d
never put much faith in
any of it
.
After my run-in with the board,
t
hat was the end of my believing days.

We burned a few candles and
incense for effect.
After we
finished
prepping
,
I shut of
f the
ligh
t and we assumed our positions.
We
placed our
hands
up
on the triangle
,
sitting
in the middle of the board.

I peered around
.
Her once girlish room
suddenly tu
rned into a rather
intimidating
place
. The candles cast
strange shadows over the walls and t
he incense left a light fo
g
.
The dark
ness
crept over everything
;
leaving nothing untouched.
I’d never
seen the shadows
be
have this way. They felt alive,
the darker parts
shifted forms as they closed in around
us
. I
t gave tonight a whole new eerie sensation.

Ginata
spoke in
a low
spooky
voice,
“Ouija, we would like to ask you some questions.
We mean no harm. We
want to know more about you.
Give
us a sign if
someone is
here and
wish
es
to
share
something
with us
.”
She looked up
and gave
me a smirk.

We paused
for a moment.
Nothing happened, n
o movement.

She
spoke
again
,
this time in her
normal voice
.
“
Ouija, woul
d you please give us a sign
you’re here and
you
wish
to speak with us.”

Just when
I thought nothing was going to happen,
the triangle
slowly
scratched along the board
angling
itself up towards
the left
,
point
ing
directly at
‘yes.’

The sound
of the triangle moving
sent shivers through me.
I squirmed in my seat. I really didn’t like using the
se things. T
hey were creepy and
never said anything good
. W
ho really wanted to talk to dead people anyway?

Ginata looked up at me,
excitement
filling
her eyes. She got thrills of
f
this stuff.
“Who are you? Will you tell us your name?”

The triangle moved. I swear I wasn’t moving it. It landed on the letter “D” and then s
lid over to the “A.” I looked
at Ginata. “You’re doing it!” Her scowl and expression told me that she wasn’t. I looked back down and
the triangle was now on the “R.”

“D A R,”
Ginata said, but then the triangle rushed to the “A” again and then the “Y” before it stopped.

“Daray?” we said in unison.

“Is that your name?” Ginata said.

The
triangle moved
to
‘yes
.
’

Something about this name made me feel uneasy.

“How did you die?” Ginata asked.
She was always the bold one, s
peaking
right to the point, no goofing
around
or
wasting time
with
small chat.
If sh
e wanted to know something, she’
d
just
come straight out and ask.