Dark Winter: Last Rites

by Hennessy, John

  “I’m reducing our search to just three places, Beth. The Circle, the Withers residence, and East Gorswood Forest. If it is in the first place, we had better find a way to locate it. If it is the second place, expect Toril to put up a hell of a resistance. And if it is the third place-”

  I paused, because I was extremely unsure what to do and where to look if the Mirror was somewhere in Gorswood Forest. One thing was for certain – if it was at the house of Redwood – Diabhal Takh, then the battle was already lost, but we were still here, so I discarded that thought.

  “Romilly, there’s only one problem with trying to find the Circle. No-one who wants to know where it is, can find it. So how can we find it?”

  A good question. It meant doing something Beth had some experience with, and I would need her help. A question about the Circle demanded we do something extreme. I grabbed Beth’s hand and pulled her towards the front door.

  When she asked where we were going, I told her we were going to her grandparents home. When she asked me why, I told her the truth.

  “Because your Grandma Finn has a Ouija board.”

  ***

  My every step gave me strength. I had the greatest sense of purpose in a long time. Beth protested, stating that I had only been discharged from hospital a short time ago, and she told me that I should rest.

  I told her that I had had enough rest. That’s what Diabhal wanted me to do – to do nothing, and just fade away. That would be convenient for him. I would not let him have what was convenient. I was going to make it extremely difficult for him.

  Even so, Beth was right with some of the arguments she put forward. I knew there was a risk in using the Ouija board. I had thought to go to Nan’s grave, even my parents, but I would have felt stupid standing on a bit of grass with a stone and asking them a direct question, as if I was expecting them to answer.

  It saddened me at times, and angered me at others; that I had never felt the presence of my parents after they died. With Nan, I still felt she was with me, guiding me, protecting me, even though she could not directly advise me.

  She had tried, God she had tried. But I knew that I would have to find the answers myself.

  Beth continued to tell me in no uncertain terms that By Jesus, you are not using a Ouija board in my grandma’s house but I wasn’t listening to her. I really should pay attention to her sometimes, otherwise I am at risk of being as dismissive to her as Toril had been in the past.

  She even reminded me of what Jacinta had said regarding Toril’s use of a Ouija board.

  Toril knows what she’s doing.

  Maybe she did. I can say for a fact that I don’t know what I’m doing. But this feels right; it feels like the only way to resolve this once and for all. A Ouija board gave up secrets that the other world didn’t want you to know. A spirit world where anything could communicate with you.

  Beth knocked on the door but there was no answer. Her grandparents had trained her not to burst in unannounced, even though she had keys. Whether they were asleep or not, Beth had to get us in somehow.

  She unlocked the door, and ushered me up the stairs.

  ***

  My feet were heavy as I climbed the stairs as gently as I could after Beth. She whispered that I was making too much noise. I countered by saying that I didn’t think her grandparents were at home.

  But I understood why Beth was on edge. If they weren’t at home, but returned whilst we were contacting the spirit world, it’s fair to say they wouldn’t be best pleased.

  “She has a Ouija board, but it is not hers, not originally,” said Beth.

  “So where did it come from?” I asked. By now we were on the upstairs landing. The house appeared to be empty.

  “Gran says she was running one of her many church fetes when the Ouija board turned up in one of the black bags someone had donated. The priest, unofficially, was fascinated. But the church’s official position on the use of such things are that ‘they are an artefact of Satan.’

  “Gran took it home, stuffed it in our upstairs loft, and thought no more about it.”

  I stifled a chuckle, because it would have irritated Beth. I had a hard time believing that the Devil would waste time coming through something like a Ouija board. The chuckle that was rolling around inside me vanished for good when Beth added to her statement.

  “Things like that Mirror of yours.”

  True. It wasn’t for certain, but it seemed that Mirror was a portal of some kind. A gateway to Hell, perhaps. I know – it’s hard to believe. But where else would entities like the Zerythra come from. I may not be going to Heaven but if I somehow managed to arrive at the Pearly Gates, I doubt those blue-eyed wraiths would be there to greet me.

  “Did it really turn up at a church fete, Beth? Really?”

  She paused. “Okay, so….no. I’ll tell you the truth, that is to say, what I know to be the truth surrounding it. When I’m done, I bet even you won’t want to go through with this.”

  Don’t hold your breath, my friend.

  I wanted to make a start. Instead, Beth insisted – and let’s not forget that this girl can be very insistent when she wanted to be – on telling me a story.

  “You should know that this is a thing of evil, Romilly. My grandparents told me something you may not believe, but it’s true, I swear it.”

  You know those times when you want someone to go on, but you don’t? This was one of those times. I must also have one of those faces that people think I can’t handle bad news. I’ve been tracked by ghosts, attacked by Zeryths, almost sacrificed on an altar by an axe wielding psychopath. I think I can handle this. Let’s hear it, Bethany.

  “This Ouija board was used twenty-one years ago. The couple using it were unable to conceive a child. They had tried everything, IVF, holistic therapy, priests, going to church every week. Nothing worked.

  For a laugh, at least they thought so at the time, they consulted a medium. Soon after that, they got into some dark stuff; and eventually, they bought a Ouija board. This oujia board.”

  “Okay…..” I thought I should say something in case Beth thought I was tuning her words out in place of my own thoughts. She was actually saying something of great interest to me. I let her continue.

  “The man in question brought an animal here, with the sole purpose of giving it up for sacrifice. He had drawn pentagrams on the floor and placed candles everywhere. His wife was in on it, though not a true believer herself, she chanted occult phrases, and he repeated them with her.

  He impaled the animal to the Ouija board, and when all of its blood had spilled out, the whole room went dark, save for the floor.”

  “The pentagrams illuminated, didn’t they?” I asked, though I felt I knew the answer to the question. I just wanted to help Beth talk this through. She seemed to have reached a point where she did not want to continue.

  “The thing is, Milly, they didn’t need to ask any questions of the Ouija board. They had made an offering to the Devil himself. That was all the communication he needed, and he made good on their request of him.”

  Dear God, what did they ask for? I know, I know, I know…..please don’t let it be that, please!

  “The very next morning, the woman had morning sickness. Imagine it, Romilly! They had tried so hard to conceive, and when all else failed, it was not God that helped them, but the Devil.”

  Beth did not look comfortable at all in saying this. I tried to help myself out, by helping her out.

  “Who are these people, Beth? Do they still live in Gorswood? Do we know them?”

  “Romilly, bear in mind I don’t know everything. My grandparents told me only what I’m telling you. They had kept the fecking Ouija board in what is now my room; I suppose they didn’t think anyone would be taking up residence once they had retired. The Ouija board had been there for years, and it’s so easy for evil spirits to enter there. They come and go as they please, even with all the crucifixes and holy water in there.”

  Which be
gged the question, why would anyone keep a Ouija board in their house if they had no desire to use it?

  “I can’t be sure, Romilly, but I expect the board had similar power to that Mirror of yours. You see, the couple in question did try to get rid of the board. The woman was delighted to be pregnant, of course she was, but her husband was less pleased that his wife only wanted to protect the baby, and not engage in dark arts again.

  Once he had calmed down, he realised his love for her was the most important thing, so when she asked him to get rid of the Ouija board, he agreed. He didn’t take it far though. He only went to the bin, put it in there, and forgot all about it until the next day.”

  Beth took a sip of water and continued.

  “His wife was up before him the next morning. This wasn’t unusual, but when he heard her screaming downstairs, he jumped out of the bed, running downstairs to see what was the matter.

  At first the scene in the kitchen appeared to be normal, but she was pointing to something on the washboard.

  ‘I thought I told you to get rid of it!’ she exclaimed.

  ‘I did. I did!’ came his earnest reply.

  ‘Well, it’s back. Now, unless the shape has changed, this is no boomerang. Get rid of it!’

  He picked it up, and took a few steps back, keeping his eyes on his young pregnant wife the whole time.

  ‘Is everything okay? The baby’s okay?’

  ‘Yes, the baby’s okay!’ she shouted. ‘I am not though, I’ve been bleeding. This baby kicks me a hundred times a minute. You be bloody thankful it’s not you that’s carrying this baby.’

  ‘I’ll get rid of it. Now,’ he affirmed. ‘When I come back, I’ll be spoiling you, okay?’

  ‘I don’t need spoiling, I just need to lie down. I don’t want to have to see that thing ever again.’

  “The man was as good as his word. He drove out to the country, about twenty-five miles or so from here. He parked up on a very quiet country road, took the Ouija board into his hands and hurled it as far away as he could. It was a cornfield, and if he went looking for it, the Ouija board would not be found.”

  “Unless it wanted to be found,” I quipped.

  Beth tilted her head and sighed. I knew what ever she was going to say next wasn’t going to be pleasant.

  “He arrived home to more screaming. His wife said that she was resting on the bed, when she felt something under her pillow. The Ouija board had returned.”

  This kind of made sense to me. An animal had been sacrificed. Its life-force was tied to that particular Ouija board. It would always return to the scene of its greatest triumph.

  “The woman did not wait for her husband to act. She prepared a pyre, assembling blocks of firewood and coal, before setting the Ouija board down on top of it.

  ‘Light it up,’ she said, and her husband, a twenty a day smoker lit his lighter for the very last time.

  “The board refused to go alight, Milly. They looked on in disbelief, but no way would that board catch fire. Everything around it did, but not that board. Again, this board.”

  Beth tapped a finger onto it to emphasise her point. She didn’t need to. I totally understood what she was going on about.

  “Look, if you don’t want to use it Beth, I fully understand. We’ll find another way.”

  “Romilly, I love you but I wasn’t finished. Don’t interrupt me again, okay?”

  “Okay.” I sounded a little hurt by her abruptness, but actually, I was enjoying this strong, assertive Beth. This was a very attractive quality in a friend. We might actually achieve something together.

  “The husband marked the reverse of the board, cutting through it with a bread knife. This time, he drove fifty miles, to Ironbridge in Shropshire. He pulled up, threw the board into the river that ran underneath the bridge, and this time, he believed he had been successful, because when he went back to the house, his wife was sleeping soundly, and there was fresh air coming through the house.”

  As if a great evil had been lifted, I thought.

  “Two days passed, and when the husband was in his workshop fixing up some car, he found that the board had returned. Again. In a frenzy, he broke the board by snapping it over his knee, breaking it into smaller pieces. The bin collection was the very next day, so he bagged bits of the board in separate bags, keeping two or three pieces back in an old paint can in the garage.

  He said nothing to his wife about it, and looked especially pleased when the bin collection had been completed. He believed the board had no way to come back.”

  Another sip of water. “Of course, he was wrong. The board came back, and well, they had heard something about how the evil in it could be kept at bay, if maybe it was placed in a holy area. Churches wouldn’t have anything to do with that, but my grandparents were of a different mind.”

  Now I just had to interrupt.

  “Beth, given the history of this…object, why would anyone take it in?”

  “My grandparents are devout Catholics, Milly. Especially my grandmother. She believed a thing of evil could be contained in a godly house. So far, so good.”

  I had always assumed that when Toril conducted her little game all those years ago, that the Ouija board belonged to her. It didn’t.

  “I only took it out when Toril wanted to use it. As a Wiccan and a white witch, she’s not supposed to have one of these. It’s not strictly against their laws, just Toril’s. I am sure she hoped that maybe she could have gotten through to Jacinta’s parents. It just wasn’t meant to be.”

  “Do you think this board is a de facto evil one? That no good could come of using it?”

  Finally, I could hear Beth saying something that cut through the jumbled thoughts in my head.

  “I don’t think it’s necessarily evil. Apart from Toril, we don’t know many people who have used it for good. So my advice, if you want it Milly - at least try and communicate with someone who loved you. Please Romilly. Don’t do what those two did.”

  Okay Beth.

  How could I refuse her?

  With a straight face, I asked Beth if her grandparents had ever used it.

  “God no! That would go against everything Gran believes in. I can’t guarantee that you’ll get anything good come out of this, but if you’re determined to use it, I’m certainly not letting you do this on your own.”

  I wanted to agree with Beth. Using a Ouija board was going to bring out potentially more bad things than good. But we had run out of leads. We needed answers, and I believed that the Ouija board could provide it.

  “We’re agreed then. Let’s get this over with, Beth.”

  A Voice that Dare not Speak Its Name:

  Chapter 11

  Jesus asked him, "What is your name?"

  "Legion," he replied, because many demons had gone into him.

  Mark 5:9

  “You’re awfully quiet, Beth,” I ventured.

  Beth, who knew that words jumped out of her mouth far too quick for her brain to process them, was very quiet indeed. She had refused to handle the Ouija board that had lay in her grandparents’ loft for many years.

  She just pointed to an oblong shaped bin bag in the far corner. Through my kung fu training I had very loose shoulders, but strong arms. The battle with the demon hadn’t yet taken that from me.

  I was able to reach in, and touch the bag with my finger tips. I pulled myself up a little more, and was able to tip the bag in my direction. When a spider ran over my hand, I screamed a little, but I felt I overcome my fear of creepy crawlies when dealing with Curie in the pit.

  Thanks, you rotten old bastard. Now stay dead like a good old boy, won’t you?

  I would rejoice if Diabhal himself came through the Ouija board and said that Donald Curie’s spirit resided with him.

  Of course, Beth didn’t want any part of it.

  “I don’t want any part of this Romilly. I really don’t.”

  I gave her my best Toril impression, trying to enlarge the pupils in my eyes like
one of those Disney princesses.

  “But you will help me, won’t you Beth?”

  She took a look at the door.

  “If my grandparents return, we stop. I’m not debating it with you, Romilly. We try this once. If you get your answer then I may even ask you to take the damn thing away. I don’t want to see it ever again.”

  I understood her fears. If I had been present when Toril had played the game, as she had termed it so innocently back then, I would be pretty sure I would concur with Beth’s position.