CHAPTER SIX
Trent texted me off and on the entire next day at school. He texted about lunch, homework, and even the weather. And then he asked me out to eat. I didn’t answer because I wasn’t sure what was happening to me, and I didn’t want to bring some super nice, popular, hot and normal guy into my messed-up life. That wouldn’t be fair. But when I went to Infiniti’s to hang out, Trent and his texts came up.
"What? He asked you out and you’re ignoring him?" She threw a couch pillow at me.
Saying it like that made me feel like crap. "No! I’m just, I don’t know, not looking for a boyfriend or anything."
She had just stuffed her face with a handful of hot Cheetos and downed them with a root beer. "Let’s just go over this for a moment, okay?" She crisscrossed her legs, yoga style, and gave me a serious look. "He’s the most popular guy at our school. He has top grades. He’s our best soccer player by the way, and he’s totally into you, and you don’t want anything to do with him. Does that sum it up?"
"I, uh, guess so."
She narrowed her eyes. "Oh, I get it. You’re interested in someone else, aren’t you? Maybe some ultra-gorgeous hottie living under your roof?"
Just the thought of Farrell gave me an odd yet warm tremor, but something told me not to go there, that it wasn’t right. "No," I said. "There’s no one else."
"Shit, I can't believe I'm going to say this because I'll probably lose you like I lost Veronica to Billy, but you're being an idiot!"
I stared at Trent's text. Infiniti was right; I was being a complete idiot. I mean, why not go out to eat with him? What could it hurt? "Okay, you're right. I’ll go."
"Sure, how’s 7?" I texted.
In a flash he texted back. "K, will pick u up. 2 story corner house on Infiniti’s street, right?"
"Yep. 9002."
"All right, I did it. He’s coming to get me at seven." Then, I muttered underneath my breath, "I hope I’m doing the right thing."
Infiniti put her Cheeto bag and root beer on the coffee table. Her eyes went wide. "Wanna consult the spirits? We can use the Ouija board."
I had completely forgotten about the Ouija board I had seen there earlier. "I don’t know, Infiniti. Stuff like that freaks me out."
"It’s totally cool. I use the board all the time. Even my mom uses it."
My palms started to get sweaty. What if I saw the red desert again? Or encountered that dark presence from my vision? Or what if something worse happened?
"You know you wanna! I can see it in your eyes!" Infiniti said. "And, you’ll get answers. I promise."
Answers…I definitely needed answers. "Fine, just this once. But you have to promise not to tell anyone. Okay?"
"You got it," she said. "But before we play, this calls for a trip to the garage. I’ll be right back."
She disappeared for a few minutes, returning with a now familiar odor of weed that always remained on her, and the Ouija board.
"Okay, let’s do this," she said. She turned off the lights and closed the blinds and curtains. Beams of sunlight trickled through anyway. She placed the board on the coffee table. I sat on one side, and she sat on the other.
"Have you ever played before?" she asked.
"Once, a few years ago at a party, but it didn't work."
"The board always works for me," she said. "Just follow my lead."
I nodded, letting her take charge while I concentrated on following her moves. She took two deep breaths and slowly placed her fingertips on the pointer in the middle of the board. I did the same. As soon as my fingers touched the pointer, my vision snapped to the red desert, and then back again. My hands trembled. I tried to steady them, but found it difficult. My body wanted to get up and run, but my mind said to stay, to get some answers.
"Whoa, you're pale as shit," she said. "You okay?"
I closed my eyes. When I opened them, I stared at her, waiting for the red desert to reappear, but it didn’t. "Yeah. I’m fine. Let’s keep going."
"Relax," she said soothingly.
"Okay," I said, breathing in deep. Even though my hands had stilled, my heart drummed out of control.
"Do you believe in the power of the board?" she asked.
"Yes," I said with a gulp. If it meant my visions would go away and I could be normal again, I was willing to believe in anything.
"Open yourself to the spirits," she whispered.
I did my best to clear my mind, and continued taking slow and steady breaths. She studied my face, gave a nod, and then closed her eyes. "Good spirits. Connect with me and Dominique. Give us insight into these matters where we need your guidance."
After a moment, the pointer started moving all by itself, our fingertips barely making contact.
She opened her eyes. "I’ll go first," she whispered.
"Okay," I said, glad for her to take the lead.
"Is there a spirit here?"
The pointer went to YES.
"Are you a good spirit?" she asked.
YES.
"Do you know me and Dominique?"
YES.
NO.
Was the board confused?
"Do you know me?" Infiniti asked.
NO.
"Do you know my friend, Dominique?"
YES.
The answer stunned me, gripping me with panic, each hair on my head tingling. A stream of sunlight streaked through the house and passed right over the board. For a minute there, I thought I saw a hazy gray vapor hovering over our hands, but it faded away when the ray of light disappeared. Dust—it had to be dust in the air. As much as I wanted to stop, I kept my fingertips planted on the pointer, my desire to know more outweighing my fear.
"Who are you?" she asked.
The pointer hesitated for a while, making small circular movements. Then it spelled:
F-R-I-E-N-D.
I stared at Infiniti, my mouth open in complete disbelief, the panic inside me growing stronger. I pushed it aside, determined to figure out what was happening to me.
"Will you please answer my friend Dominique’s questions?"
YES.
Infiniti whispered for me to ask my questions. There was a lot I wanted to know, but where to start and what to ask? I thought for a moment before I began.
"How do you know me?" I asked.
The pointer circled and circled, pulling our fingertips and arms every which way, like it didn’t know how to answer. Then, slowly, it spelled: F-O-R-E-V-E-R.
My eyes grew wide, and so did Infiniti’s.
"Are you saying you’ve known me…forever?"
YES.
"I don’t understand."
Again the board spelled: F-O-R-E-V-E-R.
"Do you know about the—" I hesitated, afraid to ask about my visions in front of Infiniti, but I had to. "Red desert?" Infiniti’s eyes almost popped out of her head.
YES.
NO.
YES.
NO.
The board seemed confused again. Every molecule in my body filled with fear. I wanted to ask about my soul life and my visions when my brain flooded with Farrell—the spark when his hand touched mine, the lightheadedness that followed, the way I thought I knew him. "Is there something I need to know about…Farrell?"
The pointer went back and forth between YES and NO, then stopped.
Slowly it spelled:
N-O-T
F-A-R-R-E-L-L
The pointer paused then circled between YES and NO. What? It didn’t want to answer questions about Farrell? But why? Did it have something to do with the way he made me feel? Was there some sort of dangerous secret about him?
Infiniti blurted out, "What do you mean not Farrell? If we want to know about him, you must answer."
Again the pointer spelled, a little quicker this time:
N-O-T
F-A-R-R-E-L-L
Why couldn’t I ask about Farrell? My stomach twisted into a giant knot. If I couldn’t ask about Farrell, then what should I ask about?
r /> "Am I…in some sort of…danger?"
The pointer shot to YES so quickly that neither one of us had our fingers on it.
Infiniti clutched her hands to her chest. "We need to stop."
I looked at her, her face so white that her black hair stood out in sharp contrast. If she wanted to stop, there had to be a good reason. "Okay, let's stop."
Just as the words escaped my lips, a gust of wind swept through the room. The pointer shot across the board to NO.
"The spirit has changed," Infiniti said. She backed away from the board like her life depended on it.
I also scooted away, but kept my eyes on the board. I held my breath, waiting for something to happen, when all of a sudden the pointer started moving all by itself in crazy circles. Then it stopped and shot across the board, stopping over the letters so quickly that it took me a while to make out the message it spelled over and over:
Y-O-U-M-A-R-K-E-D
Y-O-U-M-A-R-K-E-D
Y-O-U-M-A-R-K-E-D
Y-O-U-M-A-R-K-E-D
Darkness blanketed the room. Every glimmer of daylight erased. Infiniti let out a high-pitched scream. She bolted for the back door. It wouldn’t budge. There was no way out. We were trapped. My heart echoed her pounding. My legs froze. Shivers covered my body. A strange eeriness filled the room. I knew this feeling. I knew it was coming. And it did. The red landscape flashed before me. I blinked, and I was back in the den. Another blink—I was back in the desert. My vision flashed in and out of my reality so fast I had no idea where I was.
I tried to focus on one image, but neither one would hold. My head began to spin. My legs weakened. I tried to steady myself when a blast of sharp cutting pain pierced through the back of my neck, like someone had rammed a hot poker right through me. My hands slammed over my birthmark. I opened my mouth to scream, but nothing came out. Then I saw it. A deep, black mist trickling out of the Ouija board, just like my vision, but this time it was real. The warm vapor swirled around my ankles. Blasting brushes of heat and grit scraped against my skin. As it swept up my legs, it tightened, like giant hands grasping me, holding me in place.
There was nothing I could do. It had me. And then, my parents appeared before me. "You need to call for Farrell," Mom said. "Now. Hurry."
I stretched out my hand, but they faded away. Mom's words echoed in my head. I turned all my thoughts to Farrell.
Farrell!
Farrell!
Farrell!
The house shook with tremendous force. An explosive thunder filled the air. I covered my ears and fell hard to my knees. A flashing blast of light illuminated the entire house with such intensity that everything went white. Just before losing consciousness, I saw Farrell, his face so close to mine that I could feel his breath on me.
I wanted to scream out, tell him that it had me, but I couldn’t.
I was dying.