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The little witch closed the door behind her, and counted up to fifty. The first dozen numbers blurted out of her lips as spiked breaths, her pulse racing against the aged clock on her gradmother’s kitchen, which ticked dryly against the empty house. Every number above thirty six came with bewildered agitation, under the strained effort not to blurt out everyone of them together in a single word. Her back pressed against the front door, she scratched the wood and tapped her toes incessantly.
“Forty six… Forty seven.... Forty-eight-forty-nine-Fifty!” She spun on her toes and flung the door back open, with a toothy smile on her face. A bright summer day greeted her, light spewing from the holes in the forest canopy. “It’s safe now!” She called into the open, half a whisper, half a scream.
Three more, agonic, seconds passed before the rosemary bushes began shaking. A piping bell rang, and a bright orange mane popped up from among them.
“Are you sure she won’t be back?” Cried a voice among the shrubbery.
“Absolutely.” Alicia assured. Ninny lifted herself off the ground, shaking the rosemary leaves off from her dress, and skipped towards the front door. The girls giggled in their mischief and embraced, landing a kiss on each cheek as their usual greeting. When they parted, the witch signaled the living room. “Come right in!” She said, and Ninny answered with a thrilled smile.
Alicia waited for her friend to be inside, before sticking her head out on a final look out, and locking the door behind her. She turned to the younger girl, with a malicious expression and asked with a voice she hoped might be chilling.
“Are you ready for it?” She made a big show of it, buy Ninny continued to giggle.
“You can bet I am!” Said young lady attempted to mimic the sorceress, pointing her chin to her chest, in a way that she could glare more effectively.
Alicia wiggled her eyebrows, her smile only growing as their conversation progressed. “Then you’re not scared at all?”
“Not one bit.” Ninny stated, and stuck out her tongue. It caught her off guard, and the witch found herself breaking character. She faked a vexed gasp and took the chance to turn away, towards the stairs.
“Alright then,” She called from over her shoulder. “Come on up!”
Alicia’s room was an absolute clutter of books, hanging herbs, candles, and an assembly of trinkets ranging from cute to creepy, that spread over every available surface, and then some. But Ninny was used to stepping over the piles of stuff, and found a familiar place sitting over her purple bed cover. Meanwhile, the witch began to look inside her drawers, and under some large, aged tomes of witchcraft, mumbling to herself. A minute or two were wasted in her search, under which her guest became impatient.
“So.” She said, “got any snacks?”
“Not much, actually” Alicia answered without looking back. “You can check my stash.”
Without further prompt, Ninny jumped off the bed, and stuck her head underneath it. She pulled out a wooden box, and was quick to take the lid off. Inside where a tin, containing eight simple sugar cookies, two wrapped pieces of hard candy and a chocolate bar. Her eyes lingered between the treats.
“Don’t grab the chocolate, please”. Alicia’s voice chimed from across the bedroom. She nodded absently and grabbed a hard candy, before closing the box and pushing it back under. Sitting back on the bed, she began half-heartedly unwrapping the candy, twisting the bit of waxed paper in her fingers, making a ruffling sound. She stared pensively at the small jawbreaker, round and translucent red, rolling it between her index finger and thumb. “You’re really not living deliciously.” She deadpanned. The apprentice witch groaned in return. “You haven’t gotten out much, have you?” Ninny insisted before poping the sweet in her mouth. It tasted a little bit like cherry, mostly sugar. Her eyes lifted to her friend, who was growing more exasperated by the second, and thus, becoming messier in her rummaging.
“Nah.” Alicia extended the word bitterly. “Nanna has been such a drag lately. It’s my first break in weeks!” She twisted on her waist, a hand on her hip, and shared a look with her friend. The exchange lasted only a second, before she turned away again, checking the drawers for a second time.
“I could help you run away, if you wanted.” The former invisible child offered, offhandedly, making a click with the piece candy against her molars.
“Oh yeah? Where would we go?”
“Too Ticky has a place down south. She’d take us in.” Her sentence was cut in half by a victorious exclamation, as Alicia found the box she’d been searching for under a dirty sweater that had been discarded on the floor. She picked it up, and immediately threw it over the mattress. It landed with a flop, followed by the young witch herself, who took a place besides her friend.
“I could make a living selling my potions.” She reflected, leaning until their shoulder bumped. The younger girl let her head fall into the other’s shoulder, and the witch stacked her own head on top of the bright orange mane.
“And I could tell people’s fortunes.” Ninny added.
“But you can’t tell fortunes.” Alicia pulled away, frowning down at her.
“Yeah, but you’re not going to rat me out, are you?”
Both girls broke out laughing. The witch flicked her wrist, and after thumping a couple times, the chocolate bar came floating right to her hand. Ninny spit the jawbreaker back into its wrapper. The strawberry blonde split the chocolate by halves, and surrendered the bigger portion to her friend. They bit into the sweet and bitter treat and chewed in silence, with complicit smiles on their faces. Alicia swallowed, and raised her voice again. “So you’re ready?”
“Ready.” Ninny’s voice was certain. The witch flicked her wrist again and the window curtains were drawn shut, and with a click of her fingers the various candles around her room sprouted flames. She lifted the lid off the box by hand, revealing a wooden ouija board, with its corresponding planchette. Her guest made playful booing sound, shaking her shoulders and wiggling her fingers. Alicia giggled in return, but scolded her nonetheless. “This is a serious matter, you know?”
“Of course.” Was her answer.
She brought the board out, and placed it directly over the bed cover. Then came the planchette, which she set over an illustration of the sun and moon engraved at the top of the board, between the words Yes and No. She pushed the carton box off the bed, and proceeded to sit over her calves. Ninny copied her posture, looming over the board. She was growing quite excited over this whole business, and Alicia’s solemn poise gave the moment an air of importance. Ninny’s stare was fixed on her best friend, as she closed her eyes in concentration. Her nostrils flared, when she breathed in. She took notice of every freckle, golden brown, sprawled across her nose and cheekbones, how they almost matched the color of her eyebrows under the dim light. She focused on a few stray hairs that fell over her forehead, and followed their length down to her chest, watched it rise and fall rhythmically for perhaps a second too long. Every nerve in her body was suddenly on edge, and her eyes drifted instinctively down to her knees. Alicia cleared her throat.
“Now,” The witch’s voice was low and somber. “we place our fingers on the planchette, and we cannot lift them until the game is closed, okay?” Ninny felt lightheaded. She watched Alicia’s long fingers travel over to the large wooden pick, feeling her heartbeat accelerate. Her eyes flickered up, and met a piercing stare. She shivered, and Alicia smiled tauntingly. “I thought you weren’t scared of all this, Ninny.”
“And I’m not!” The ginger found herself blushing brightly. Curse her complexion. She took the jawbreaker back into her mouth and stretched her hands down to the board. She felt another wave of goosebumps go through her, as her fingers reached the planchette, brushing slightly with her friend’s. “Lets do this.”
“Alright.” Alicia sounded pleased. She closed her eyes and breathed through her nose one last time, stretching her back and lifting her chin. “Spirits and ghouls, thoust who abide beyond the veil. Manifest! Grant us your knowledge of all things past, present and future, and answer our questions!” She chanted with grandeur. “Is there someone with us?”
Both girls stared intently down at the planchette. It remained fixed over the eclipse. “Is there someone with us?” The young witch insisted, enunciating every word. Ninny felt a bit daunted for her friend, and thought it might be harmless to incite their communication with the dead, by her own hand. She pushed the pick, only a little bit, towards the word ‘Yes’, and it slid smoothly all the way. Alicia let out a small gasp, and their bewildered eyes met one another.
“Did you move it?”
“I didn’t.” Ninny lied. The witch nodded slowly, setting her gaze back on the spirit board.
“Ok. So, what should we ask?” She questioned.
“Maybe we should get their name?” Ninny raised her shoulders, and the witch nodded again, more enthusiastically.
“Spirit!” She demanded. “Tell us, what is your name?”
This time, Ninny made an effort not to interfere. She closed her eyes and focused her energy into breathing, and trying to connect with whatever forces might be out there. She could feel her fingers sliding along with the planchette, making loops and turns without a definite direction.
“J...F...N...E...O.” Her friend spelled. “That...doesn’t make much sense.”
She sounded disappointed, and it just wouldn’t do. “Maybe they’re initials.” The ginger suggested.
“Yeah…” Alicia casted her eyes away, looking around the room. “What else do you wanna ask?”
Ninny pondered for a moment, rolling the piece of candy around in her mouth. But soon, she jumped up as an idea stroke her. She bounced on the bed a couple times, nearly flipping the board over. “Oh! I know!” She exclaimed. “Ask them when my aunt is going to die!”
Alicia froze from the question. Ninny was the picture of excitement, but the weight of her words didn’t pass by inconspicuous. Her smile was wide and wild in quite a violent manner. Her eyes where nearly rampant, growing frantic with every second that the planchette remained immobile. She willed the wretched thing to glide over a number, any number.
“One… Eight… One again...Two... December eighteenth!” Ninny laughed wickedly. “We’ll throw such a party!”
Alicia pressed her ribs to force a chuckle. “The greatest that the valley’s ever seen.” She measured every word, forcing a cheerful note to every one of them. She slid her fingers over those of her friend, and smiled warmly at her. “We’ll invite Moomin, and Snufkin, all of their friends. Salomé, Tuttle, and Mymble. Even the fillijoink’s children so they can learn what’s good.” She only felt her tension break as Ninny laughed at her suggestion. Less of a crazed cackle than before. She continued to milk this moment. “I’ve another question. Will Ninny finally get her first kiss at our party?”
The alluded girl gasped, pulling her fingers away, but not entirely off the pick. “Alicia!” She was blushing madly from the apples of her cheeks all the way into her ears. The witch wiggled her eyebrows and faked surprize, as the planchette glided back over the ‘Yes’. Ninny screamed and squirmed, drumming her feet on the mattress.
“Why would you ask that?” She cried, pinching her eyes closed. Alicia answered with a noncommittal noise, grinning. Ninny groaned, and frowned at her friend, who struggled to keep back a giggle. “If that’s how it’s gonna be…” Her voice was daring again, harbouring nothing but trouble. “Spirits! Speak the truth!” She yelled into an empty corner in the room. “Does Alicia have a crush on Snufkin?”
The planchette hurled violently into the ‘No’. The ginger gasped at the sudden movement, jumping her eyes between the board and her friend. Alicia herself held a blank, if slightly strangled expresion. “You did that.” Ninny accused.
“No I didn’t!”
“You so did! Why would the spirits be so passionate about that particular question?” She leaned closer, inquisitively pointing her nose towards her friend. “I think you did that to hide that you do have a crush on him, don’t you?”
The witch bared her teeth, cheeks flaring. “Ninny…” She grumbled. “I’m not… into…”
“Say it! Deny it one more time, I dare you!”
“I’m not into... boys.” The room fell quiet. Alicia had never felt a stronger urge to plunge underwater and run for the hell of it. Her hands started shaking with the struggle not to flee. She bit her lower lip, buried her eyes on a collection of tinted glass bottles, kept over a floating shelf on the wall. The seconds slipped by, static filling up the room. She refused to move, to look back at her friend, nearly even to breath. Ninny bumped the tip of her fingers against hers a couple times, but she didn’t bulge.
“Spirits.” Her friend’s voice cut through the silence. “Does Alicia know how much I care about her?”
The planchette took a while to start moving, but once it did, it headed straight to her right. Her lips tugged at the sides, as Ninny inhaled dramatically. “ She does! ”
The exclamation brought a chuckle out of her, but she remained otherwise unfazed. It only encouraged Ninny to press further.
“But does she know that I would never stop loving her, no matter what?”
Alicia’s expression acquired an exasperated glint as she glared up at the ceiling. Her eyes seemed to be watering a little, but her teeth where showing in a smile. The young witch made a small circle with her fingers, to which her friend reacted with an exaggerated gasp.
“ She does !” Ninny cried. The witch let her head fall limp over her shoulders, stifling a sob that was starting to form at her throat. “Alright spirits! Now here’s a harder one.” The ginger carried on in her investigation. Her voice was certain, and she paused in a way that build up the intensity of the words that followed. “Does Alicia know I think she’s very pretty?”
Alicia shivered in an entirely different manner. The air around them had certainly dropped at least a couple of degrees. She tried to pull the pick towards the ‘No’, but it resisted, stuck in its place. Her eyes snapped towards her friend, and met bright emeralds staring intensely into her. She choked, and chuckled, and suddenly her palms were very sweaty. Another silence was spreading, quite different from the last, but nearly as unbearable.
“Spirits.” She said looking away again. “Is Ninny messing with me?”
The planchette traveled firmly over to the ‘No’. She swallowed air, and nodded. Her lips formed a thin and tense line across her face. She must have been developing a fever, as her cheeks were burning red, and she was most certainly delusional.
“Alright then.” She gulped. “Does Ninny know I think she’s very pretty as well?”
There was a moment of uneasy stillness, before their hands traveled back to the 'Yes'. Alicia's heartbeat was drumming maddly against her ribs. Her mind entirely blank, to scared to process the the door that she'd opened. The veil that had lifted. She felt Ninny's fingers slide over her own, caressing them softly. Every hair on her arms stood on end, and breathing stopped being as easy as she remembered.
"Alicia," Ninny spoke softly. "Do you think the spirits could be wrong? About a couple things?"
The witch furrowed her eyebrows and faced her friend. She looked bashful, and subdued in a way that wasn't usual. Her face nearly as bright as her hair, in a outstanding contrast to her bright green eyes. But despite all timidness, the girl lifted off her knees, bringing herself closer to the strawberry blonde. "I just think," Alicia could feel her warm breath tickling her ear. "That maybe, I'd like to have my first kiss sooner…than the spirits predicted."
Despite herself, and despite the situation, and perhaps as means of deflecting her embarrassment, Alicia couldn't help but tease. "I don't know, Ninny." She flicked her chin up, bumping their noses together. "They were pretty adamant about the date." She grinned.
Ninny growled playfully. "To hell with the spirits, then."
Alicia's smart retort was pushed back into her throat, as Ninny closed the distance between them, pressing her lips against hers, gentle but firm. They held the kiss a couple seconds. The witch leaned on her fingers, to keep her balance as she gingerly clasp her best friend’s bottom lip within her own, pushing delicately into her. She could feel a smile within the kiss, and every other second, lighthearted giggles would scape one girl or the other. Ninny could almost feel herself floating. Everything inside of her blossomed, like a tidal wave of spring washing her over. It was everything a kiss was brought up to be in Moomin’s favorite novels. With the added spice of a savoury taste in her friend’s breath. She pushed away to sneak a laugh, and ask away. “Spirits, did Alicia have an onion omelette for breakfast?”
Her question was rewarded by a head bump against her forehead. The taller girl muttered something under her breath, a dark blush spread across her features.
“What was that?”
Alicia looked slightly angry, but in way that amused Ninny, more than worried her. “Just pass me the candy.” The witch nearly spat.
The ginger lifted her right hand a couple centimeters towards her mouth, but was promptly scolded.
“Don’t take your hands off the board!” Alicia cried. “Just-” Rather than explaining herself, the young witch pushed her lips back to her friends, parting them slightly and coercing Ninny to do the same with a light flick of her tongue. She caught on quickly, and opened her mouth only enough to roll the jawbreaker towards Alicia’s own, and then they parted again. The witch savored the cherry sweet with satisfaction, whilst her friend eyed her fervently, as if holding back a ravishing hunger.
“Oh, you want this back?” The sorceress taunt. She made a show of pressing her mouth shut, while Ninny approached her warily.
Both of them were drawn back together by a bewitching magnetism. They kissed again, and kept at it. Pecking and nibbling, and sharing the piece of candy between one another in shameless abandon, until Ninny’s fingers began to scale up Alicia’s wrists, and the perceived danger brought the sorceress back on her senses. “Don’t! Take! Your hands! Off!” She scolded between kisses, before sighting “We have to say goodbye.” Her eyes dropped down on the board.
“But I don’t want to say goodbye.” Ninny said sadly.
“That’s how you catch a curse you dingus!” The witch grumbled. “Let’s be serious for a moment.”
Ninny reluctantly fell back down on her calves. She muttered her agreement, staring impatiently as her friend performed a closing ritual.
“Great spirits that have granted us your wisdom! We humbly thank you, and with your stated permission, we shalt say goodbye.” Alicia chanted, closing her eyes and throwing her head back. This once, the ginger didn’t feel remotely guilty as she pulled the planchette towards the ‘Goodbye’ engraved at the bottom of the board. After the game was closed, both girls pulled their hands back, stretching their slightly cramped fingers. The witch took the board and gently placed it down on the floor. When she came back up, Ninny was bouncing on her heels, waiting for her. The sight of it filled her with a warm and tingling feeling, that pulled at her cheeks and buzzed at her fingertips.
Ninny placed a hand on her knee, and she took to cupping her face. They kissed again, a bit more deeply, with their mouths opening and closing, in varying degrees of intensity. The younger girl trailed her left hand up Alicia’s arm, provoking the witch to gasp into her. She giggled at the sound, warranting a bite at her lower lip. Then it was her turn to gasp, and pull away enough to see Alicia glaring down at her with wicked fascination. The ginger shivered under that gaze, and froze helpless when the sorceress jumped towards her.
They fell together over the plush pillows, with a screech from the recoiling springs of the mattress. Ninny took a moment to appreciate her friend’s beauty, brushing pale fingers against her freckles. Alicia closed her eyes and leaned into the touch. She couldn’t bare not to kiss her. She did, and then did so again. And Alicia kissed back, and everything blurred into a spellbinding feeling of elation. Somewhere, among the sea of caressings, Alicia reached for her hand and held it. Their fingers interlocked.
Their kisses became slower, and more tender after that. Carefully building down the rush, until every other peck could be intercalated with a couple breaths. They untangled their legs and laid besides each other, breathing loudly and hearts beating wild. Finally, they shared again a silence that was comforting. Ninny curled into Alicia, and said girl wrapper her in a hug. She kissed her forehead and then placed her chin over the crown of her head.
"What are you thinking about?" The younger friend asked in a small voice. Alicia grinned and kissed her head again, feeling a bit guilty before even playing her joke. Nonetheless, she was committed to comedy.
"Snufkin." She snorted. Ninny gapped and choked, and then slapped her playfully. Alicia broke into a booming laughter, as her friend squirmed in her arms. But she wouldn't let her escape. She held her tight, planting a plethora of kisses anywhere they would land. Once her friend gave out, she spoke in earnest. "I was just thinking of how glad I am the spirits lied to us."
Ninny squeezed herself closer in their embrace. "Me too." She said softly.
They held one another for a little longer, basking in the mirth of their enchantment. As so the afternoon eluded them until the moment when the boisterous sound of the front door slamming open broke the spell, and the girls jumped away from each other. A booming voice greeted Alicia from the floor below them. The witch’s granddaughter yelled her own greeting back, before she jumped off the bed and rushed to the window. She signaled her guest, who ran to her side. Alicia mouthed a set of instructions which Ninny didn’t understand at all, but she took her hand nonetheless, and allowed her to guide her towards the window. She climbed over the frame and glanced anxiously at the long drop ahead of her. Alicia squeezed her hand and came close enough to whisper in her ear.
“Just imagine there’s a path in the sky, and go. I’ve got you.” Alicia accentuated her statement with a quick kiss, and rubbing the tip of her nose against the ginger’s. “Trust me.”
Ninny nodded. She climbed over the frame and stood courageously on the outside. She flashed a smile down to the sorceress, who felt a little faint at the sight, and she stepped forward into the air. She skipped straight into the sky. The young witch held her up with an ardent stare. As a last gesture before parting, she spinned on her heels, a beaming bright as sunlight, and blew out a kiss Alicia caught it, and placed it over her lips without breaking eye contact. She continued to stare, until she saw Ninny smoothly descend, several meters away, into the forest. Then she watched the sky a little longer.