Chapter Text
Jeremy sat on the couch, slightly anxious. He felt the old leather as he fidgeted with the fabric. It was late autumn and the crisp air of Halloween was approaching. The past few days Jeremy had been feeling particularly paranoid. It was either his brain playing tricks on him or something else, but he could swear he kept hearing that creaky stair or thumps coming from the walls. He was skeptical of ghosts, but still open to the idea. And especially open when he’d been hearing unsettling noises. He suspected watching too many ghost-hunting shows was to blame, but he used to be fine before.
Either way, Jeremy didn’t want to be alone again, so he had decided to invite a few friends over for a sleepover. But where were they? He checked his phone again, two texts to a group chat with Michael and Rich left unread. He knew they were coming over together, but still couldn’t help but worry.
Maybe they have better plans than this. Or they’re making fun of me right now. They probably don’t believe me.
Jeremy pushed the thoughts aside. “Loudest voice is mine,” he recited to himself before the doorbell rang and startled him.
“Jeremy! Go get the door!” his dad called from the other room.
“On it,” he responded and raced over, opening the door with a loud creak.
“Jeremy!” Michael grinned, Rich following close behind him.
“Hey tall-ass.”
They entered the house, setting down their bags and taking off their shoes.
“You guys are a little late,” Jeremy observed.
Michael sighed, “Yeah. Traffic was pretty bad. Sorry it took so long, hope we didn’t keep you waiting.”
Jeremy shook his head, “Nah, it's fine.”
“Cool place you got,” Rich commented, looking around. Jeremy and Rich had hung out several times since the past year, but Jeremy rarely invited anyone over besides Michael or Christine. And she was only over a few times.
Jeremy shrugged. “It’s alright I guess.”
Rich and Michael took off their coats as Mr. Heere entered the foyer.
“Hello Mr. Heere!” Michael enthusiastically greeted Jeremy’s dad.
“Hey,” Rich waved.
“Good to see you again Michael,” Mr. Heere winked, “and you must be Rich.”
The short teenager nodded, running his hand through the red streak in his hair.
“Well. I’m off on a business trip downtown. Feel free to order yourselves a pizza while I’m out, the menu and some cash is on the table.” He motioned towards the hallway that led to the dining room. Mr. Heere put on his coat as Rich and Michael grabbed their bags once more and started up the stairs.
“And you boys better stay out of trouble, okay? I’ll be back tomorrow morning,” Mr. Heere called out as the boys raced up the stairs.
“Of course!” Michael responded, smirking back to the group. Jeremy knew that smirk better than anyone. It clearly meant he planned to get up to something.
Grabbing their bags, they reached the top of the stairs and headed into Jeremy’s room. It was not too small nor very big. A desk with a computer sat in the corner next to a stack of unfinished homework assignments Jeremy never bothered with. He couldn’t stand doing math, especially when a certain, annoying part of him already knew the answers within seconds. Posters of retro and new games alike lined the walls and various geeky memorabilia sat on shelves. A comfortable bed lay in front of one of these shelves. It was slightly disheveled, but better than it normally was.
“Did you actually make your bed for Rich?” Michael snickered. Since Michael came over frequently, Jeremy never cared to clean up his room. But he figured on this rare occasion with Rich coming over he’d tidy up a bit.
“Hey!” Jeremy frowned. “At least I cleaned up!”
“Damn. He’s really calling you out, huh?” Rich smiled and laughed as he set down his stuff. The other two laughed in return, setting down the bags they held. They quickly found comfortable spots– Michael rested in a beanbag, Rich at Jeremy’s desk, and Jeremy himself sat on his bed.
As the brief chatter ended, Jeremy asked a question, “Did you guys bring it?”
“Of course! I’m not going to miss a chance to use my grandma’s old, haunted Ouija board.” Rich pulled out the board from his bag to show off before tucking it back in. Jeremy smiled softly. He was thankful they decided to humor him.
“We’ll save it for later tonight though,” Michael said. “Let’s play some games first.” He grabbed a few controllers from his bag.
“Duh. You guys aren’t going to let me get away without playing some dorky game from the 90’s.” Rich teased, having been successfully dragged into sharing Michael and Jeremy’s interests.
“You bet!” Jeremy grinned.
The three boys continued the night playing video games, chatting, and eating snacks until it began to near midnight.
Jeremy crunched on the last chip from the bowl and picked it up to go clear it.
“Do we wanna try the board now?” He offered, seeing as they were at a stand still in the game they were playing. They were in the middle of the fifth world and had made quick progress, but it was getting a bit tiring at this point.
“Sure.” Rich smiled, standing up with Michael to go wash their hands.
“Michael, could you go fetch some candles?” Jeremy asked.
“In the cupboard next to the dishware, right?”
“That’s the one!” Jeremy called as he stepped out and started down the stairs. Michael made a quick trip to the bathroom, but Jeremy felt a familiar chill go down his spine. Turning around, he stared down at the unlit hallway. He could’ve sworn he saw something move for a moment. Fear rose in his chest before being abruptly shut down as Michael reentered his view.
“Jeremy? You alright? You’re staring at nothing.”
Michael waved his hands in front of Jeremy’s face. Pushing his hands down, Jeremy shook his head.
“Sorry I’m just… paranoid. Thought I saw something,” he mumbled.
“We haven’t even started to use the board and you’re already spooked?” Michael chuckled. Jeremy rolled his eyes in response, taking a deep breath and brushing off his nerves. Michael trailed a few steps behind him as they entered the kitchen together. Michael went straight to the candles and Jeremy rinsed the bowl before setting it next to the piles of dishes. He supposed he’d probably have to clean them before his dad got back.
Making a mental note in the back of his mind, he headed back upstairs, a lighter in hand.
“Alright. Ready?”
Rich and Michael nodded, Michael setting up the candles in a circle on the hardwood flooring. After he was done, Rich set the board in the center. Jeremy turned off the lights and bent down to light the candles near him. Rich narrowed his eyes wearily as the flames danced. He seemed mildly uncomfortable but grabbed the lighter out of Jeremy’s hands to ignite the candles on his side. Together, the three sat in a circle around the board.
“How do we do this?” Jeremy brushed the hair out of his eyes and focused on the board. Ink-black letters sat in the middle, forming an arch. A set of numbers and “goodbye” lined the bottom. There was also a “yes” and a “no” in the top corners– left and right respectively.
“Simple. We’ll just each place our fingers on the triangle piece here– the planchette– and ask questions to the ghost.”
“Shouldn’t we welcome it first?” Michael said, placing his hands on the planchette.
“Oh yeah. Right.”
“U-Uh. Welcome. Whatever ghost that lives in my house.” Jeremy chuckled slightly, being the last one to add his fingers to the planchette. He felt unnerved. I guess we’re really doing this, huh.
After a brief moment of silence and awkward eye contact, Michael frowned.
“Hey Rich, I think your thing is broken. It isn’t doing anything.”
“Shut up. Maybe it's just waiting.”
Suddenly, Jeremy sensed a cold feeling creeping down his back as the planchette began to shift. The wooden triangle slid around and his fingers felt tingly. Weird.
“An H!” Rich cheered as it began to continue across the board. After a few moments of everyone repeating out the letters it had hovered over, the planchette went back to the center.
“‘Hello.’ How original,” Michael scoffed.
Jeremy hummed in agreement. He hadn’t expected anything to come out of this, but here was a message clearly spelled out. He expected Rich had probably moved it but wasn’t sure.
“What should we ask it?”
Rich shrugged at Michael’s question. “What’s your name?”
The boys awaited a response and subsequently didn’t get one for a short while until it glided over towards “no.”
“No?” Rich echoed.
“Maybe it doesn’t have a name?” Jeremy shrugged, laughing slightly.
Rich seemed defeated. “I guess. What a loser though, am I right?” All three laughed. Jeremy felt much more comfortable with his friends around. Building up confidence, Jeremy decided it was his turn to ask a question.
“Uhh,” Jeremy paused, “who’s your favorite here?”
He watched as the planchette slid around the board, seemingly slightly confused. He guessed Rich and Michael were fighting over what letter to move it towards. After all, Jeremy doubted there really was a ghost in his house. Wouldn’t make sense , he reasoned.
“You forgot to tell it our names!” Rich spoke in a hushed alarm.
But before Jeremy had the chance to follow along and introduce themselves, the piece shifted over to J, then to E.
“‘Jeremy!’” Michael gasped. “Looks like someone is particularly fond of you huh?”
“And it's not Michael for once,” Rich smirked as Michael blushed.
“Well. Thank you very much, ghost.”
Michael considered the board for a moment. Looking back up, he glanced at his friends. “Hmm… next question! If you had to kill any of us, who would you kill?” He grinned.
“Michael!” Rich and Jeremy shouted at the same time, just getting a response of laughter. It was only when the board spelled out his own name when Michael’s face fell.
“W-Wha…”
“Michael, that was a reckless question to ask!” Concern peaked in Rich’s voice.
As the night went on, they continued asking the spirit questions. They asked what it thought of them, how it died– “drink.” (whatever that meant)– and various other questions. At a certain point they asked the ghost what it thought of Rich and got “fire” in response. The mood became significantly more unnerving after that.
“Is someone fucking with this shit?” Rich said in between deep breaths. “It’s not funny.”
Michael and Jeremy shook their heads, both clearly freaked out. Jeremy’s hands felt clammy and he stared intensely at the board. It wasn’t like Rich to point out what happened last year. He didn’t like to bring it up and when others did he usually got quiet. Jeremy knew Michael for ages and he was never the type to do something like that either. Sure, he’d accidentally make jokes in poor taste sometimes– everyone does– but nothing ever this serious when he clearly knew how Rich felt.
Nobody had been moving the planchette, had they? Jeremy had assumed his friends might, but after this he was certain of it. They hadn’t been. Something was actually messing with the board and it knew more than it let on.
Jeremy swallowed and took his hands off the planchette. “I don’t think I can do this anymore.”
Rich quickly nodded, his hands shaking. Michael shot him a worried glance.
“This is so fucked,” Rich choked out, on the verge of tears. Jeremy nodded, placing his hands back on the planchette.
“Any last goodbyes, ghost?”
The board shifted towards “no” again.
Jeremy felt unease wash over him as he looked down at the “no” with uncertainty. He didn’t want to dwell on the fact that the ghost, demon, or whatever that haunted his house refused to leave.
“Let's just get this over with already. I’ve had enough of this asshole ghost.” Michael grimaced, helping the rest of the group move the planchette over to goodbye as Rich instructed them to.
Afterwards, they put out the candles and turned on the lights. The whole experience started out fun but devolved into something much more sinister. Jeremy didn’t know what to make of it. He helped the other two set up their sleeping bags and get ready for bed. Nobody dared to mention anything about it for the next hour, switching the conversation to more light-hearted topics. Jeremy tucked himself into bed and stared out at the wall, thoughts swarming in his head. He wasn’t sure if he’d get to sleep tonight.