by Carl Alves
A vibrant odor, similar to the scent of the ocean, filled the air. Kenna felt a surge of electricity in her fingers. Goose flesh sprang on her arms. She looked up, her eyes wide.
“Is she there?” Ben asked.
Kenna nodded.
“Mia, it’s Kenna. I’m here with my friends. Are you there?”
Kenna smiled as the planchette slowly moved to yes.
Cordy pumped her fist in the air. “I knew she would answer.”
Kenna began speaking rapidly. “I’m so glad that you’re here. After all that weird stuff, I wasn’t sure what to think. I know things got rushed the last time we spoke to you, but we had a chance to speak with Mark Saleski.”
The planchette began to move with a strong jerk.
SPOKE TO MARK
Kenna nodded. “Yeah, we did. That’s what we were trying to tell you last time.”
HOW IS HE
“He’s doing good,” Ben said. “He misses you. His family life isn’t so great.”
Kenna nodded. “Yeah. He still thinks about you a lot. That’s what he told us. He’s, like, in the process of getting a divorce. I think it’s because, you know, he doesn’t love his wife like he loved you.”
Carlos frowned. “Do you have to go and make this all sappy?”
Cordy punched his arm. “Of course she does. Girls love this stuff.”
The planchette spelled MISS HIM
Kenna’s entire body tingled. It was as if Mia’s feelings from the spirit world were flowing into her. Kenna pulled away from the planchette and took a deep breath. She blinked rapidly, trying to get her bearings. Mia’s emotions were overwhelming her.
Ben looked up at her. “You okay?”
She nodded. “Uh-huh.” During their last conversation with Mia, their normal spiritual connection had not been there.
“He said to let you know that his cup is still full,” Kenna said.
OUR SAYING
An overwhelming feeling of joy surged through Kenna’s body. She closed her eyes and swayed backward. She felt as if she had just soared into the sky and had landed on soft clouds, which were keeping her afloat. When she opened her eyes, she was surprised to find tears trickling down her cheeks. Without having to ask, she knew Mia was happier than she had been in a long time.
Those same nagging doubts that Kenna had been feeling earlier flooded into her.
“You didn’t seem excited the last time we told you about what Mark had said.” Kenna tensed. It was like all the joy she had been feeling burst out of her like a balloon popping.
The planchette jerked violently. NEVER TOLD ME
Ben frowned. “What are you talking about? We told you. You weren’t interested. Instead, you wanted us to chant that saying with that strange word at the end.”
WHAT CHANT
Carlos crossed his arms. “How doesn’t she know about that? She’s the one that kept telling us to say it.”
A growing despair filled Kenna. When she spoke, her voice was shrill. “Don’t you remember those words you wanted us to say?”
The movements on the planchette began to take on a desperate quality as the device moved across the board. Normally, Kenna could feel where it wanted to go and help guide it, but now it was moving on its own.
WHAT WORDS
“I don’t like this,” Ben said.
Kenna frowned. “I don’t like it either. In fact, I’m getting a really bad feeling about this.”
“I still have the words written down.” Cordy reached into her pocket and fished out a crumpled sheet of paper. “Here it is.” She handed it to Kenna.
Kenna straightened out the sheet of paper. “You told us to say ‘By the power of wind and fire, I give you passage. Eachlais’. You told us to say it over and over. Then something weird happened.”
For a while there was no response from Mia.
“Mia, are you there?” Kenna asked.
“What’s going on?” Cordy asked.
Kenna shrugged. “Wish I knew.”
“I don’t know why she can’t remember. I definitely remember it.” Carlos sighed. “I don’t think I’ll ever forget it.”
“Mia, are you okay?” Kenna asked.
The planchette slid across the board to No.
Kenna’s heart raced. “What’s wrong?”
VERY BAD.
“What’s bad?” Ben asked.
The planchette kept going back to No. It was as if Mia was freaking out in her own way, causing Kenna’s panic to grow.
“What’s going on, Mia?” Kenna felt cold dread as the planchette spelled COTTER. “What does Cotter have to do with this?”
The planchette moved quickly. BOASTED COULD ENTER UR WORLD
Ben frowned. “What do you mean, enter our world?”
MUST HAVE FOUND WAY
Kenna wanted no part of Cotter. It was bad enough knowing he hurt Mia, but him being here was much worse.
“How could he do something like that?” Kenna asked.
LEARNED
“Learned what?” Kenna asked.
HOW 2 RETURN
Ben shook his head, his face incredulous. “He could do that?”
The planchette spelled BIG TROUBLE.
Kenna’s anxiety was becoming a three-alarm-fire. “What can we do?”
STOP HIM
“But how?” Kenna asked. “We’re just kids.”
The planchette repeated STOP HIM.
Kenna was near tears. “How can we possibly stop him?”
GET HELP
Kenna looked at her friends in despair. The situation had gone from very bad to hopeless. She had no idea what to do, and based on the looks on their faces, neither did her friends.
Chapter XXIII
Kenna felt numb as she put away the Ouija board. How had it all gone wrong? Contacting Mia had been fun and exciting, even after seeing the silhouette and those red eyes. They had made a friend in Mia, and Kenna had been so eager to help her. Somehow, Cotter had entered their world, and it was all her fault.
Ben looked to be on the verge of tears. “What are we going to do?”
Cordy folded her arms. “I don’t know.”
“We need to get help,” Kenna said.
“But who can we talk to?” Cordy asked. “Who’s gonna believe us?”
“Jake,” Kenna said without hesitation. “I trust him more than anyone else in the world. He’ll help us.” He would be mad at her for continuing to use Ouija board when he told her to stop, but if she was in danger, he would move mountains to save her.
Cordy nodded slowly.
“Okay, let’s talk to him,” Carlos said. “I trust Jake, too. He’ll help us out.”
***
Jake’s body ached after another day of hard sparring. As he drove home, he could barely move his neck, and his abdomen felt like it had been pounded repeatedly and relentlessly by a sledgehammer.
He went all out during training today, as he had for the past week. His upcoming fight was the biggest of his life. An impressive victory could propel his blossoming career. Sponsors had been showing interest in him recently, and he even signed a deal with a local car dealership yesterday. Furthermore, this would validate himself in his own mind as a fighter. Paulo Santos was the toughest opponent he had ever faced. Jake had seen footage of one of his fights, where he chopped down his opponent with nasty looking leg kicks and then finished the fight with a knee to the head from the clench that sent his opponent to La La Land. If Jake could win this fight, then he could make a career being a mixed martial artist. A loss would mean he would have to start over and work his way up from the bottom. He kept telling himself that if he lost, he could still use this as a learning experience, but in his heart, he knew how devastating it would be. As much as he tried to be mentally tough, he knew his psyche was fragile. Doing time in prison had done that to him.
He wasn’t going to lose. He was preparing himself for this fight as if it was life and death. That’s why he went all out in practice, working himself to
exertion, having heavy sparring sessions that would make a lesser person quit.
Finding himself dozing at the wheel, Jake opened the driver side window and turned up the radio. He felt physically drained, yet tomorrow would bring more of the same. He would bust his ass at the dojo again, leaving the gym aching and depleted.
Jake dialed June’s cell phone but got her voice mail. He left an awkward message on her phone, asking about her day was and if she was interested in getting together Friday night. He wished he was a smooth talker. He would see her at the mixed martial arts class he taught tomorrow but hearing the sound of her voice always uplifted him.
He arrived at his street and parked his car. His mom wasn’t back from work. He had planned on viewing footage on his Brazilian opponent, but all he wanted to do now was lie on his bed and close his eyes.
He picked up the mail and walked toward the house. When he first entered, he thought the house was deserted until he heard rustling from the basement, probably Kenna and her friends. He was glad to see they were getting along again after their blow up with Carlos the other day.
He drank two full glasses of water since there was no Gatorade in the refrigerator. He closed his eyes, feeling dizzy. Maybe it would be best to lie down. Nine days away from his fight with Paulo Santos, he couldn’t let the pressure get to him. That would be his enemy on fight night.
Jake plopped himself on the sofa and rested his feet on the coffee table. He was starting to doze when the shuffling of feet coming from the basement awoke him. As he rubbed his eyes, Kenna and her friends emerged. “Hey, what’s going on, guys?”
“Jake, we need help.”
The urgency in Kenna’s voice startled him. She sounded horribly frightened.
He sat upright, the last vestiges of slumber being swept away. “What is it?”
Kenna’s eyes filled with tears. “Something really bad happened.”
“What? What happened?” None of the four kids appeared to be injured. Maybe they broke something in the basement, but there was nothing valuable down there.
“You know your old Ouija board that we’ve been using,” Kenna started.
Jake narrowed his eyes. “Yeah? The one I told you stop using, you mean?”
“We did something wrong,” Kenna said. “And now things are getting out of control, and we don’t know what to do.”
Cordy nodded. “It’s really bad, Jake.” She had this sad look on her face, like her favorite pet had died.
Jake frowned. Kenna had mentioned using his old Ouija board, and that she had seen something strange, but he had not put much credence into it. It was just a silly toy. Combined with their overactive imaginations, it was little surprise they had conjured up crazy things they thought they saw.
Jake raised his hands. “All right, guys, calm down. Whatever’s going on, we’ll figure it out.” He tried to keep his voice steady, not wanting to talk down to them. “Who wants to start?”
For the next ten minutes, Jake let them speak. Kenna started, but Carlos and Cordy frequently interrupted her. Ben sat silent as they told their tale. It was one of the craziest stories he had ever heard.
Jake folded his hands and tried to process this insanity. The damndest thing was that they seemed so sincere. He wasn’t sure about the other kids, but Kenna never lied to him. At least he had never caught her in a lie. She was sometimes brutally honest, even when he wished she would have more tact. He didn’t see her making up a wild story, but what was the alternative? That they were telling the truth?
“Let me get this straight. You guys were messing with my Ouija board and you’ve been in contact with this ghost named Mia.”
Cordy shook her head. “She’s a spirit, and we’ve spoken to her like dozens of times.”
“Okay, so you’re communicating with this spirit and you emailed some dude who was her boyfriend back when she was alive. Then you met up with this guy. Do you realize how terrible of an idea that was? I can’t believe you would do something like that. You don’t know anything about him. He could have been a child molester or a murderer.”
Kenna gave him a severe frown. “He was Mia’s boyfriend. Plus, he’s a partner at a law firm.”
“All the same, I would have felt better if you asked me to take you to meet this guy. You never know who you’re going to run into. Some people seem alright on the surface but turn out to be creeps. Anyway, so there’s this bad spirit…”
“Cotter,” Kenna said.
“Who terrorizes Mia,” Jake said. “So, I don’t get this last part. What did this Cotter fellow do?”
Kenna looked down, a guilty look on her face. “Mia thinks he found a way to enter our world.”
“And this was because you guys repeated a phrase he told you to say while you were communicating with him on the Ouija board?”
Kenna nodded. “And he told us to say this foreign word we had never heard before.”
“Look, I’m not saying I don’t believe you, but you have to realize how nutty this sounds.”
In a very soft voice, Kenna said, “We’re not making this up. It’s all true.”
Jake put his hand on her shoulder. “I never said you were making this up. I’m just saying it’s hard to sign off on. I mean, talking to spirits with an Ouija board is one thing, but one of them actually coming alive, that’s tough to swallow.”
“We wouldn’t be telling you this if we didn’t think something really bad was happening,” Kenna said. “We need your help, Jake.”
“I promise you I’ll help you in any way I can.” Jake closed his eyes and took a deep breath. What could he do? His sister needed him, and as impossible as her story seemed, she seemed genuine. “Let’s get the Ouija board out. I want to talk to Mia.”
Chapter XXIV
Cotter glanced at his growing stack of chips. Just eyeballing it, he had to be up ten large. He was fleecing these boys in this high-stakes poker game. They thought they were dealing with some clueless yuppie. This Ryan guy, whose body Cotter had taken possession of, certainly looked like one. Instead, they were dealing with a card shark of the highest magnitude.
Cotter was a formidable player, but he never played by the rules. He could crush these hammerheads with his card skills alone, but what was the fun in that?
One of the players, a twenty-something guy wearing a goatee and sporting thick arms covered with tattoos, was staring him down, as if that would intimidate Cotter. He had gone toe to toe, knife to knife with much bigger fish. Mr. Tattoo, who fashioned himself as a tough guy, probably had a hunch Cotter was cheating but wasn’t smart enough to figure out how. “I’ll call your hundred.”
Cotter smiled. This guy was going down hard on this hand. There had to be a few grand in the pot already.
When they laid their cards down, Mr. Tattoo was all confident with his two pairs— jacks and tens. His smile faded quickly when Cotter showed three kings.
“Sorry, big guy,” Cotter said. “I guess it’s not your night.”
Mr. Tattoo slammed his fist on the table. “You’re cheating.”
Cotter narrowed his eyes. “That’s a hell of an allegation, one I don’t take lightly.”
Mr. Tattoo stood with his fists clenched. “I know you’re cheating.”
Cotter raised his hands. “I’ve played an honest game. If you think I’ve been cheating, I suggest you show proof.”
Mr. Tattoo gave him a cold stare but said nothing.
Charlie Watts, an old associate of Cotter’s from his previous life who had organized this card game, said, “I don’t want any trouble. I haven’t seen any cheating, and I’m an old hand at this sort of thing. If you have anything to back your claims, then bring it to the table. Otherwise, you’re going to have to leave.”
Cotter held back his smile. Charlie Watts was a big ole’ country boy who was as tough as shoe leather, not the kind of guy a sane person would want to mess with. Having run poker games for the better part of two decades, he was known for keeping order. Considering he was alm
ost six and a half feet tall and north of three hundred pounds, people were usually intimidated by his size alone. If they had seen him in action, they would be downright scared. Granted, it had been nearly a decade since Cotter had last seen him fight, but age only appeared to season this tough bastard.
Mr. Tattoo’s face tightened into a scowl. He cashed his chips—what was left of them—and left.
As he was leaving, Cotter called out, “Have a good night, darling.”
“I’ll be seeing you later,” Mr. Tattoo said.
Cotter went back to the card game. “Some guys are just sore losers. Now, where were we? You know, I usually don’t do so well at poker. Just last week, I dropped two grand at the casino. I guess tonight’s my night.”
Cotter won at a more moderate pace after that. The other players seemed to be wary of him. At least he got satisfaction from wiping out Mr. Tattoo. Cotter had been roping marks like him for years.
Just yesterday, Cotter had opened a safety deposit box to store his cash. He had pilfered Ryan’s bank account. Good ole Ryan was going to be in for a big surprise after Cotter vacated his body, which would be any day now. He should have exited already, but Cotter wasn’t done with the guy’s wife just yet. She had a bit of a wild streak under her good girl demeanor. She had made a couple of promises that enticed Cotter to stay longer. Not more than a day or two, however. Ryan’s employers had already called several times, inquiring why he hadn’t been to work.
Ryan’s employers would probably can the poor bastard. Cotter felt a strong urge to return and see what kind of damage he had wrought in this sucker’s life. The dude would be devastated. Cotter felt like a kid on Christmas Eve. The world was his for the taking. He could do all sorts of shit he always wanted to do and not face any consequences for his actions. What a beautiful world he was living in.
After Cotter cashed his chips, he left the smoke-filled house. The house was on the middle of the block in a run-down North Jersey neighborhood. There was nothing special to distinguish it, and Charlie ran a tight ship, so the cops would have no reason to hassle them.
He walked out of the house humming a new tune he had heard on the radio. So much had changed since he was alive. People now had these smart phones. That Ryan guy owned three iPhones. Cotter was perplexed trying to figure out how they worked. He asked the guy’s wife how to use it to make a phone call, and she looked at him like he was crazy. Hey, he didn’t need a friggin’ computer, just a damn phone.
