Cassidy was the only one whose finger was still touching the tear drop shaped piece of wood.

His finger seemed to be glued to its surface and he couldn't pull it away. The faces Fish and Snot had, however. They were staring at their fingertips.

"Did you feel that?" Jazz asked.

"Feel what? I can't..." Cass began, but he was interrupted by Ethan.

"Like an electric shock. Or pulse. More like a pulse."

"Yes! Shit, that felt weird. What about you, Fucky?"

"No! I didn't feel anything. I can't take my finger off it, though."

"Huh?"

"It's stuck. I can't lift my hand."

Ethan reached out to his brother's hand and pulled. When it didn't move, he tried again, yanking it upwards suddenly. The hand didn't budge. Both hand and puck were immobile.

"Stop it!"

"I'm not doing anything! It won't let me go!"

"It's a chunk of wood," Ethan said. "It can't do anything."

"Well, it is. I can't let go. Which of you put glue on it? Who pushed it?"

"Neither of us," Jazz said. "Don't be stupid. This wasn't done as a joke."

"Good, cos I'm not seeing the funny side. Fuck, why did I agree to this?"

"'Cos you've got a ghost. That's why."

"She's not a bloody ghost!"

"Whatever the hell she is, she's dead and she can talk through a mirror. We need to do this. It's the only way to understand any of it!"

"If a demon comes through," Cass said, "I'm telling it to eat you first."

"Gladly, if it gets me away from you."

Jazz slammed her palm on the table.

"Children, stop fighting. Something just happened. That means it's working. Assume the position."

"I can't do anything else," Cassidy told her.

"Well, you have an advantage, then."

She put her fingertip back on the planchette and gave Ethan an angry look. He complied, sitting and putting his finger back.

"Right," she said. "Back to it."

"Is someone with us?"

Her voice trembled slightly, and she gulped to swallow back her fear. Rather than look upwards, she was staring at the board. Waiting.

"Give us a sign," she said, trying to make herself sound authoritative while feeling far from it. "Let us know you're with us."

Their hands moved, with none of them applying any pressure, moving the planchette wildly around the board before stopping in the centre. There was no need for Yes to be highlighted. They knew.

They were not alone.

"My hand!"

Jazz was attempting to pull her hand away. Like Cassidy, she was unable to. Ethan's hand was similarly fixed in place. They each stood abruptly, doing everything they could to disengage themselves. Their chairs were knocked back and over. They pushed against the table. Each other. Nothing worked. Their hands would not move. They were not glued in place, as there was no stretching or ripping of skin. They were held by an unseen and unfelt force.

"What the fuck?"

Cassidy and Jazz had stopped fighting with whatever held them captive. Ethan continued on for a few more seconds before admitting defeat himself.

"Why did we start this shit?" he asked.

"Because you wanted to..." Jazz didn't finish her sentence. She coughed and looked downwards.

"Wanted to what?" Cass asked.

He used his foot to help pull his chair upright and sat down. His siblings did the same, ignoring his questions.

"Wanted to...?"

"Nothing," Jazz said.

"What you on about? What's going on?"

"Nothing," Ethan said. "I was thinking this would be a waste of time. It was just meant to be a bit of stupid fun."

"Are we having fun yet, then?"

No

The planchette had moved to the word without releasing its hold on those touching it, but also without them feeling the shift. Jazz's expression, when she noticed, alerted her brothers.

None spoke. None could. There was nothing preventing them, such as with their fingertips. They were unable to find the words. Fun had turned to fright.

The planchette sped across the board, covering each letter half a dozen times. Then it stopped and spelled out a word.

W

H

Y

Ethan found his voice.

"Why? Why what? What do you want?"

W H Y

"What the fuck do you mean? We don't know what you mean?"

"Fishy, don't antagonise it!" Jazz hissed.

"I'm n..."

W H Y A R E Y O U D O I N G T H I S

The trio stared at each other. They weren't expecting a message like that! Did spirits complain about séances? Why else would they be doing this if not to speak to the undead?

"Doing what?" Cassidy asked.

T H I S

"Calling out to you?"

The planchette moved to Yes, then flicked away and slid back again. Again and again, faster and faster. There arms were yanked about, dragging them against the table.

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

"OK!" Jazz cried out. "We get it!"

"We're sorry," Cassidy said. "We didn't... This wasn't meant to work!"

The planchette stopped abruptly. It was resting on the letter L. It didn't move for a moment, then it slowly slid across to another.

E

T

M

E

G

O

"Let you go?" Jazz pulled at her hand, unsuccessfully. "You've got us!"

The planchette shot to the middle of the board and began to vibrate, moving only a millimetre from side to side, but at a high speed that felt as if it could rattle their bones from their bodies.

"What's going on?" Jazz shouted above the buzzing the vibration was creating.

"Fuck knows!" Ethan yelled. "I've never seen this happen before!"

"We've only ever seen movies, idiot!" Cass was gripping the table for support. "It's not real! Didn't you think of this?"

"It's not supposed to be like this!"

"Snotty, what have we done?"

Another message?

C A S S I D Y

What the fuck?

"Are you doing this, Fucker?"

"Me? Of course not!"

C A S S I D Y

"What? What do you want?"

L E T M E G O

"How?"

L E T M

"We can't!"

The movement stopped, and their fingers were released. They fell back, holding on to their hands.

C

The planchette was moving by itself, sliding over the board of its own accord.

A S S I D Y

"How do you know my name? What do you want with me?"

P L E A S E

The three siblings looked at each other. What was going on? Where was the ectoplasmic smoke or the flickering of lights? What sort of ghost was this?

"What?"

"Wait!" Ethan said. "What if...?"

"What if what?" Cass asked. "Do you know something?"

"Hold on. Give me a second. Let me..."

"Let you what?"

"Who are you?" Ethan asked.

The planchette didn't move for a moment, then slid to a letter.

A

M

Y

"No fucking way!"

It was Jazz. She slapped her hand on the table and stood up abruptly.

"Amy?"

Y E S

"What are you doing here? What's happening?"

Y O U C A L L E D M E

"We didn't! We just asked for... anyone!"

M E

"No. Just... anyone. Just a ghost!"

N O G H O S T S

M E

"I don't get it," Jazz said. "Why her? What's she doing here?"

"Did she follow you?" Ethan asked.

"I don't... I don't know."

"Amy? Is it really you?"

L E T M E G O I T H U R T S H U R T S S O M U C H

"Hurting her? But she's dead!"

H U R T I N G M E

"How are we hurting you?" Cass asked. "We didn't mean to!"

L E T M E G O

"How do we do that? We don't know how!"

P L E A S E

"We want to, but how?"

L E T M E G O O O O O

It was Cassidy's turn to jump to his feet.

"HOW! Tell us how!"

D O N T K N O W

P A I N

That was when the noise started.

It was high pitched to begin with, a sound that was only there if you closed your eyes and concentrated. Its tone shifted down slightly, to become an itch, deep within the ear that no amount of scratching could appease. Another tonal shift, along with a slowly increasing volume, brought it within the spectrum of human consciousness. It was no longer felt. It made them aware of itself. Was it sentient? Was it deliberately building, with each change adding another layer to the aural abuse?

"What's that?" Ethan asked, cocking his head to the side. "Can you hear it?"

Cassidy looked around, as if he might see the sound.

"I can't... I don't think so..."

"I can. What is it?" Jazz said, tilting her head too.

They listened, temporarily forgetting about the now stationary planchette. Cass closed his eyes. He could... just... was that...?

"I hear it," he said. "It's getting louder."

It was. The initially measured swelling increased in pace. What, at first, seemed to be a single tone could now be discerned as something else. It was not a random noise. It wasn't a collective tinnitus.

It grew to suffocate any words they might speak. It grew to the point it forced them to cover their ears. It grew to tremble the board. The table. The very floor.

Ethan had his eyes squeezed shut and his mouth and teeth clamped together in an attempt to block any possible ingress. A trickle of blood seeped from Jazz's left nostril. Her teeth were chattering together.

Cassidy was the only one unaffected by the reality shredding cacophony.

His eyes were closed not in pain, but in order to allow him to determine the source of the sound. It seemed familiar. Unintelligible, yet recognisable, if he could only catch on to its rampant discord.

Then he did.

The sound was pain. Not merely a cry of pain, but pain itself. Pain embodied.

When he realised what the noise was, he knew what caused it. Not what. Who.

Amy.

Amy was screaming.

https://youtu.be/Z6aImzGLhTw