The Haunted

harassing her. She could just get on with her life and concentrate on her slumber party.

Maybe it was someone who found out about the party but wasn’t invited. …

No. It was a man. Besides, she didn’t have the kind of social standing that would make anyone jealous of not being invited. Her friends were probably the only ones who would want to sleep over.

“Thanks, Mom,” she said, and smiled gratefully.

“If anything else like this comes up—”

“I’ll tell you.”

Her mother smiled back, and Megan returned to rearranging her room, although she could not help peeking out the window at the street outside as she took the horse poster off her wall.

Zoe arrived early, shortly after three. Her mother said that she’d been antsy all day, and she’d finally given in and brought her over. While the moms talked downstairs, Megan led Zoe up to her room and let her pick out a sleeping spot. “First come, first served.”

“Where are you sleeping?”

“My bed.”

“I’ll sleep next to the bed, on the feather mattress.”

Megan grinned. “Then I guess Julie and Kate get the floor.”

Zoe went downstairs, said good-bye to her mom, and brought up her luggage, placing it next to the spot where she’d be sleeping. “I brought a Ouija board,” she said, pulling the Parker Brothers box out of her suitcase.

Megan said nothing, although the idea made her uncomfortable. It was just a game, she told herself. A mass-produced product stamped out by a factory and sold in toy stores. But it still made her feel uneasy, and she changed the subject, explaining that she’d rented two movies for tonight, and that they were going to have not only pizza for dinner but ice cream and brownies for dessert.

Megan was glad Zoe had come early. Zoe was her best friend, and the two of them had time to talk a little, gossip and plan, before the other two girls came over.

Julie and Kate arrived together shortly after five, driven by Kate’s mom. It was so nice not having James around, and the four of them ate pizza, watched one of the Twilight movies, ate dessert, watched the other movie, and then went upstairs, ostensibly to bed. But the moment the door was closed, Zoe got out her Ouija board.

“I don’t—” Megan began.

“Cool!” Julie took the box from Zoe, opening one end and tipping it. An instruction book fell out, and she handed the box back to Zoe, picking up the instructions.

Zoe took out the board itself, putting it on her lap.

“What’s a planchette?” Julie asked, reading.

“It’s this pointer.” Taking it out of the box, Zoe placed it on the board, a heart-shaped piece of plastic with short felt-tipped legs.

Julie continued to read the directions. “So, we …”

Kate pulled the booklet out of her hands. “Come on. Everyone knows how to use a Ouija board. It’s not brain surgery.”

“I don’t.”

“Okay, then,” Megan said. “You’re responsible for writing things down.” She handed Julie a pen and a Hello Kitty notepad before sitting down on the floor next to Zoe and Kate, the three of them forming a triangle. They each placed a portion of the board on their laps, adjusting it until it was as flat as possible, then placing their curved fingers atop the planchette in the center of the board.

“So it’s going to spell things out, and I just write them down?” Julie asked uncertainly.

“Yeah,” Zoe told her. “Now everyone be quiet. And concentrate.” She took a deep breath. “Is there anyone there?” she asked in a solemn voice.

Nothing happened. They waited a few moments; then Zoe spoke again. “Is someone there?”

The planchette started to slide slowly across the board

“You’re pushing it!” Kate accused Zoe.

“No, I’m not!”

“I’m not moving it,” Megan said.

“No one’s moving it,” Zoe told them. “It’s working. Now just shut up and concentrate.” The pointer had stopped sliding, but they all quieted down, and in a moment it started up again, moving over the board in an ever- widening circle. When it came close to the edge, the pattern changed, and it began sliding slowly to the left and right before finally stopping, its tip pointing to a letter on the top row of the alphabet.

“I!” Zoe announced.

Julie wrote it down.

The pointer moved again.

“C!”

It slid over to the opposite side of the board.

“U!”

I C U Megan

Megan lifted her hands before the device could move any farther.

“Hey!”

“What are you doing?”

“Megan!”

Her friends cried out in surprise and disappointment, but she didn’t want to know where this was going, didn’t want the next letter to be M. She still wasn’t sure she believed that the Ouija board actually worked, but she was starting to, and she was afraid to see where the pointer would land.

What if it spelled out, Take off your pants?

“I’m not playing anymore,” Megan said.

“Are you scared?” Zoe teased.

“Yes,” she stated matter-of-factly, and that shut them up. Suddenly, all of them seemed a little nervous, and Megan helped Zoe put the pieces of the game back in the box. Julie handed back the instructions.

For a moment, none of them were sure of what to do.

“I know,” Julie said brightly. “Let’s play Truth or Dare.”

“Yeah!” They all thought that was a good idea, but before they played the game, they decided to change into their pajamas, each of them taking turns in the bathroom. Megan was last, and her friends were giggling when she came back into the bedroom. She was afraid she’d missed something, but Zoe, sensing her concern, said, “We were just laughing at Kate’s pj’s.”

Megan didn’t see what was so funny. They were kind of old, yeah, and they were Finding Nemo pajamas, which was kind of babyish, but …

Julie pointed between Kate’s legs, where the tail of an orange Nemo was protruding from a seam directly over Kate’s crotch. Megan started laughing, too, and Kate said, “All right. That’s enough. Truth or Dare: who’s going first?”

“I’ll go,” Zoe volunteered.

“Truth or dare?”

Zoe and Julie both opted for truth, and to much delighted squealing, they answered questions about their feelings for two of the hottest boys in school. But when it came time for Megan’s turn, and she chose truth, Kate asked her, surprisingly, “Why did you stop the Ouija board?”

Startled, Megan didn’t immediately respond. She briefly considered lying, but her friends had all been honest, and it wouldn’t have been right for her to be the only one not telling the truth. Besides, she’d already admitted it. “Because I was scared,” she said.

They all laughed, but to her relief, no further questions were asked. That was the end of it. After her, Kate chose dare, and when she refused to lift up her pajama top and show them her chest, her punishment was to go into James’s room and kiss his pillow.

On the next round, Julie got to ask the questions and decide the dares, and when Megan’s turn came up and