by Michael Bray
“We don’t even know how to use these things,” Emma argued. “There are certain things you’re supposed to do to be safe. I’m hazy on the details. I remember reading something about making sure you are protected against the spirits.”
“A protective circle,” Carrie said. She smiled as the others looked at her.
“It’s okay, I know how to use these,” She replied, trying her best to reassure Emma. “They’re perfectly safe if you use them properly and follow the rules.”
“Tell it to the Samsons,” Emma replied.
“Hey, it’s up to you,” Alex said as Cody finally handed him back the board. “If you don’t want to take part, feel free to go back home where it’s warm and safe.”
“You don’t need to be so condescending.”
“And you don’t need to be such a coward. Come on, take a risk. What’s the worst that could happen?”
“Fuck you, all of you,” she spat as she stood and walked to her tent, ignoring Alex’s. She went inside and closed the zip, just about holding off the tears until she could be safely out of sight. She lay in her sleeping bag, listening to them getting ready to perform the séance, but was filled with such an overwhelming sense of dread and isolation, she was sure she was going to be sick. A shadow approached the tent, cast into stark clarity by the firelight. She half-hoped it would be Cody, even despite his odd behavior.
“Hey, can I come in?” Carrie said from outside, then opened the tent anyway without waiting for an answer. She closed out the cold and sat cross-legged beside Emma.
“Come on, Em, I don’t want to do this without you. What’s wrong?”
“Nothing, I just don’t want to do this. It doesn’t feel right.”
“I get it,” Carrie slurred, well on her way to being shitfaced. “You were closer to this than most of us, I promise you I know how to do this and make it safe. It’s all about following the rules.”
“It’s different for me. I’m local. It’s still fresh to a lot of people here.”
Alex is a local too and he seems fine with it.”
“He’s a prick.”
“I used to think the same, now I’m starting to see his good points. I actually think I’m starting to like him.”
The words cut Emma to the bone. “I didn’t think he was your type.”
“He wasn’t… he isn’t, it’s just… I don’t know. Something about him. I keep seeing these images of doing things to him. Things I would never in a million years have considered. It’s crazy. Maybe it’s the weirdness of this place affecting me or something. I just can’t get him out of my head for some reason.”
“If that’s what you want.”
“What is it, what’s wrong?”
“Nothing.”
“Yes there is, what’s the problem? Do you like him too? I thought you were into Cody.”
“No… I mean yes, I am into Cody, it’s just…”Her heart was racing as she sat up in her sleeping bag. “I like you too in the same way.”
The words were out of her mouth before she could stop them. She had gone over it in her head a hundred times and how it could change things forever. The fear was so thick she could taste it in her throat. Yet for all the scenarios she had imagined, the one which came was never considered.
Carrie laughed.
She rolled onto her side, cackling as Emma looked on and wished the ground would open up and swallow her.
“I’m sorry,” Carrie said as she sat upright. “I really didn’t expect you to say something like that.”
“Forget it,” Emma said as she climbed out of her sleeping bag and slipped into her boots.
“Look, I’m flattered. I just don’t think I feel the same way…”
“You kissed me.”
“I was drunk, I kiss everyone,” she said, and broke into a fresh bout of giggles.
“I thought it meant something.”
Realizing she had crossed the line, Carrie stopped laughing and tried to be serious.
“Look, I’m sorry, Em, I didn’t know how you felt. Just stay here and we’ll talk okay?” she slurred, still fighting the compulsion to laugh.
“I don’t want to talk about it. God, I’m so embarrassed.”
“It’s nothing to be embarrassed about, please don’t go.”
Emma could feel her cheeks flushing. She couldn’t be around any of them, not now. Not after this. She unzipped the tent and clambered out, quickly followed by Carrie.
“Hello hello, what have you girls been up to?” Alex said, looking up from the Ouija board as the two girls walked past.
“Fuck off!” Emma spat, then headed back down the trail and into the forest.
“Oooooh, you got told!” Scott said to Alex as Carrie hurried after her friend.
“Hey, Em, come on, it’s not safe to be in there after dark. You’ll hurt yourself. Please…” She looked at the boys for help, and was greeted only with blank stares. “You’d better start without us, I’ll bring her back,” Carrie said, and then disappeared into the woods after her friend.
“Women,” Scott said as they took their positions around the board.
“Probably queer for each other,” Alex muttered, and laughed at his own joke as he drank the last of the vodka. “Okay girls, let’s do this,” he said, placing a plastic planchette onto the board. “Let’s see if we can raise the dead.”
IV
Emma pushed through the brush, shrugging away from grasping branches as she tried to distance herself from Carrie. She was crying, and her makeup left black streaks on her face. She could hear her friend behind her, calling to her to stop. Frustrated and angry, Emma complied, whirling around to meet her friend.
“Look, I didn’t mean to upset you,” Carrie said as she stopped to catch her breath. “For the record, charging into the woods at night is a bad idea all around.”
“You hurt me, you made me think we had something special,” Emma sobbed.
“Look, Em, I love you, but only like a friend. Nothing more. I don’t want things to be awkward between us, I’m just not gay.”
“I’m not either.”
“I’m sorry, I don’t understand.”
“I don’t either,” Emma said, wiping her eyes.
“Look, let’s just talk about this, see if we can work it out.”
“It’s too late. I feel like a fucking idiot,” Emma said, leaning against a tree. “I knew I shouldn’t have said anything.”
“I’m glad you did. What happened between us… it was a mistake, a bit of drunken fun.”
Emma nodded and wiped her face. “Yeah, you made it clear enough.”
“Look, I don’t want this to be awkward. I love you completely as a friend. Nothing more.”
“I’ll be a laughing stock. I’ll never live it down.”
“Nobody will ever know, okay? I promise.”
“I’ll know.”
“We’ll know. And that’s as far as it will ever go. You’re my best friend. I care about you.”
“I appreciate it… thank you,” Emma replied, staring at her feet. “So what do we do now?”
“Nothing. Not now, not here with the boys able to eavesdrop. When we get back, we’ll get together and talk about it. Try to understand it together.”
“How can you be so calm about this?” Emma said.
“I don’t see anything we need to get upset about. We have a misunderstanding here caused by a drunken night. It looks like it’s caused some confusion. Either way it’s nothing we can’t sort out by talking things through. A couple of weeks from now, we’ll laugh about this.”
“And there won’t be any awkwardness between us?”
“Hell no, we’ve been through too much together already. I think we’re stronger than this,” Carrie said, giving Emma a hug.
“Come on,” she said as she released her grip. “We better get back before the boys do something stupid.”
“It’s a bit late for that. Those guys are always having dumb ideas. To be honest, I don’t much feel like doing thi
s anymore. Dragging up all those old memories has put me off a little. I just want to go home.”
“I don’t particularly want to be here either. I also don’t want you hurting yourself trying to get through these woods in the dark and risking having an accident. How about we just leave the guys to it and go to the tent? First thing in the morning we can get out of here. We can even talk about this… situation if you like?”
“I don’t want to talk, not here anyway.”
“Then we won’t talk about it. Not until you feel you want to.”
“I appreciate it. Can we just forget everything that happened, just for tonight?”
“Of course we can,” Carrie replied, giving her another hug. “We need to stick together anyway against the raging sea of male hormones.”
Emma managed a smile, and some of the awkwardness went away.
“Shall we head back?” Carrie said. “I don’t like leaving the guys on their own for too long. You know what they’re like when they start drinking.”
“Good idea. Actually, before we go, I wanted to ask you something about Cody.”
“About the weird way he’s been acting?”
“Yeah,” Emma said, starting to make her way back towards the clearing. “I thought it was my imagination.”
“I noticed it too. He seems distracted or something.”
“Do you think he’s okay?”
“Yeah, I think so. I get the feeling this place is freaking him out and he’s just too proud to show it. It wouldn’t surprise me if they were all the same.”
“Does it scare you? This place, I mean?”
Carrie didn’t answer at first, and Emma was about to repeat the question when her friend responded.
“I don’t know. Something definitely feels unusual here. The natural energy of the place seems off somehow, you know?”
“I know what you mean. It’s like the feeling you’re being watched, only all the time.”
“I was brought up to believe everything has an aura, an energy which affects people around it. That’s why I think certain areas are classed as bad, or rough. It’s the energy of the earth in those locations which affects people.”
“I’ve heard of that,” Emma said. “Some claim to be able to see auras around people too, lets them read someone’s mood.”
Carrie nodded. “I’m a big believer in it. Spiritual energy and all that stuff. This place feels like some kind of void.”
“What do you mean?”
“Imagine two magnets pushing against each other. Their forces cancel each other out. This place feels like the space in the middle where the energy has a negative effect and leaves a black spot.”
“It’s a more interesting theory than ghosts,” Emma said with a smile.
“I think the two are linked. Good spirits are attracted to good energy and vice versa.”
“So a place like this would only attract bad spirits?”
“Maybe, I really don’t know what to think about it to be honest with you. I’m still trying to process it.”
They were nearing the clearing now and stopped their conversation, content to walk in silence for a while.
“Where did you two run off to?” Alex said as the two girls reappeared. He produced another bottle of vodka and took a swig before handing it to Scott, who was equally on his way to being shit-faced.
“Nowhere, I just wanted a bit of quiet.”
“Is everything alright?” Cody asked, the only one of the boys who was still sober.
“Yeah, I’m fine, thanks,” Emma said, letting her eyes linger on his for a moment.
“Well, come on you two, let’s do this,” Alex said, patting the ground beside him and giving Carrie a leering glare.
“Count us out. We’re going to turn in early.”
“No way, are you fucking kidding me? It’s still early!” Alex whined as Scott looked on, swaying slightly where he sat.
“You boys feel free to play with yourselves as much as you like. We’re going to bed.”
“You were going to show us how to use it. You said you would show us how to make it work.” Alex slurred.
“You boys will have to just figure it out for yourselves, won’t you?”
Emma was grateful for Carrie’s ability to control the situation. As it was, she was just about able to stop herself from crying again.
“Your loss,” Alex cackled. “When we make contact and you miss it, don’t blame us.”
“I’m sure you’ll be first to let us know,” Carrie grunted.
Alex gave her the middle finger which was swiftly responded to in kind, before the two girls clambered into their tent. They could see the dull flickering light from the fire through the pale green canvas walls, and heard Alex and Scott engaging in a drunken debate about how to best go about conducting the Ouija session.
Emma was sure she would be too frustrated and angry to get any sleep, and had already decided that if she would have to, she would fake it, if only to avoid having to discuss what had happened. Both girls clambered into their respective sleeping bags, lying in silence for a while.
“Hey, Em?” Carrie whispered in the dark.
“Yeah?”
“Everything will be okay. You know that, don’t you?”
“Yeah,” she replied, not in the least bit convinced. She turned on her side, away from the other girl, staring at the flickering light of the fire which danced against the tent walls. She closed her eyes and, against all odds, drifted into a deep sleep.
V
Heat.
Emma woke to find the tent had become a raging furnace of heat. The thin lining of the tent walls were now a fiery orange. She scrambled to sit up, intending to wake Carrie, only to find she was gone, her sleeping bag half-unzipped and empty. Outside, she could see silhouettes, dozens of elongated humanoid shapes dancing around the tent. The sound of fire roared in her ears, and the ground shook with what sounded like a thousand feet stomping in unison. Through the thin canvas, and beyond the dancing marionette-like shadows, she saw a shape, a mound of some kind which was impossible to comprehend. She knew well enough what it was. There were sharp shadows of arms and feet protruding from the mass. As if to further confirm her fears, two of the misshaped shadows picked up a body, one at the hands and one at the feet, and tossed it onto the pile. She heard it land with a searing hiss, and warm air pushed against her face, tainted with the stench of seared flesh and burnt hair. The shadows were charging the tent now, starting off light like wispy smoke and growing more solid in shape and appearance as they approached, slapping their hands against the material, their chanting becoming a cauldron of noise as they repeated the same passage with increasing aggression.
We are the wood and the trees, and the blood-soaked earth.
We are the things that live in the dark, all seeing but unseen.
We are the wood and the trees, and the blood-soaked earth.
We are the things that live in the dark, all seeing but unseen.
We are the wood and the trees, and the blood-soaked earth.
We are the things that live in the dark, all seeing but unseen.
She heard other sounds now. Anguished wails of pain. Alex’s voice somehow rose above the deafening wall of noise surrounding her, quiet and afraid as he begged one of the unseen things for mercy. The tent unzipped itself, and the twin door-flaps billowed inwards, showing her what was happening outside. Cody was by the giant mound of burning corpses, his naked body writhing against Carrie. Emma watched as she clawed at Cody’s back, pulling great chunks of flesh away from bone as Cody gritted his teeth and moaned in delight. Scott was sitting cross-legged beside them, the contents of his stomach cavity pooled on and around his legs. She watched as he gave a dopey, bloody-mouthed grin and ate a lump of his own innards, swallowing them down and catching them as they fell into the empty space where his stomach should have been. He chuckled and repeated the process, this time selecting a slick snake of intestines. She was desperate to turn away, yet couldn�
�t move. Her eyes were being forced open, her head held in place. Something wanted her to watch this ghastly display. The wind began to howl, whistling through the tent and pushing the stench of hot, burning flesh smell onto her.
We are the wood and the trees, and the blood-soaked earth.
We are the things that live in the dark, all seeing but unseen.
We are the wood and the trees, and the blood-soaked earth.
We are the things that live in the dark, all seeing but unseen.
We are the wood and the trees, and the blood-soaked earth.
We are the things that live in the dark, all seeing but unseen.
A figure approached the tent, a black form silhouetted against the raging fire at its back. The dancing creatures were now in frenzy, slapping the canvas with what appeared to be a thousand hands. The figure crouched by the entrance, and as it did, the light of the fire caught its face, bringing its features into stark clarity.
It was him. Donovan.
He reached for her, his arm part human, part tree branch. Emma scrambled back. Donovan’s cold mutated hand brushed against her skin, then closed around her throat. It spoke to her, its hissed words garbled and wet as it squeezed down on her windpipe.
No loose ends.
She screamed as the cackling thing lurched into the tent towards her.
She woke with a start, disorientated, confused and very afraid.
Just about managing to swallow the scream, she let out a short whimper instead. For a moment, Emma was lost in limbo between the world of her dream and reality, and then it all came into focus. Gone was the hellish orange glow and misshapen Donovan thing. Instead, it was exactly as it should be – the soft glow of a pre-dawn morning, casting everything in muted shadows. She sighed with gratitude, as to have sunlight streaming through the tent walls would only have brought vivid memories of her dream all too close to home. Carrie slept soundly beside her, breathing gently, her nose wheezing slightly as she exhaled.
Flustered and shaken up more than she dared to admit, she pulled on her shoes and unzipped the tent.
There were no burning bodies. No chanting shadow people. Cody, Alex and Scott were sitting around the fire, the bleary look in their eyes evidence of their lack of sleep.
