Disrespectful

“I’m just saying, I think it’s kind of fucked up,” I said, my arms crossed.

Blair chuckled and looked me right in the eye. “It’s been, what, ten days now? I think this is the best we’re going to manage.”

I scoffed. “This?” I motioned behind her. She looked back and walked over to the dining room table.

Blair’s cramped apartment was dimly lit with an assortment of old, multicolored candles. The only sounds were the hum of the A/C and the cars passing outside. She shrugged at me and sat down in one of the two chairs.

I reluctantly walked over and rolled my eyes, sitting down opposite her.

“If you thought it was so fucked up,” she smirked at me from across the table, “then why did you come in the first place?”

“Fine, let’s just get this over with.”

We both reached out and placed the tips of our fingers on the planchet in the middle of the Ouija board. It felt like it was in poor taste, but I knew Blair was lonely in that apartment. If this was the kind of comfort she wanted, I might as well be supportive however I could.

“Are you with us, Megan?” Blair asked aloud, and our hands remained stationary. After a moment, the planchette seemed to be pulled from my hands. I figured it was Blair doing it, just so she could write things off and find some kind of closure. Of course the piece of plastic hovered over “Yes”.

“What happened to you?” Blair asked.

I frowned, not liking how forward she was being. You don’t ask someone’s salary, I figured, so you ought not ask something like that.

The planchette moved again, tugged away from me. I frowned harder, worried what morbid things Blair was thinking. Blair read each letter aloud as it shifted.

“B. A. T.” She paused. “Like a baseball bat? Yes.” She didn’t seem phased by this. It was out of my hands, though.

“Where are you now?” She asked.

“W. H. O,” Blair said.

“Who?” I asked.

“Five,” Blair read.

“Five?” I asked, puzzled.

“Eight. Seven. Five.”

“What does that mean?” I asked.

“I don’t know,” Blair said.

A heavy silence permeated the apartment while we sat there, our fingertips on the planchet, its open space centered on ‘5’.

“I don’t want to do this anymore,” I said

She looked at me, her face more slack than when I had first arrived. She tightened up her expression with a wry smile. “Too scary for you?”

“No,” I demanded. “I just think it’s disrespectful.”

Half an hour later, I had calmed down, and we were sitting on her couch with the floor lamp’s bright glow illuminating the room. We were watching something on TV when a knock came at the door. Blair went to answer it, and she found Josh standing there. He didn’t come in. He’s a big guy, but he’s pretty meek around other girls. You would think just by looks that he would be a sexbomb. Not even close. We’ve been friends for a while, so he’s more open with me, but with most women, he’s as quiet as a mouse.

I gathered my things and followed him out the door. Blair gave me a concerned look as I went. She was alone in the apartment. I had figured that the Ouija board was just an excuse to get someone to spend time with her in light of recent events.

“Don’t worry,” I said. “You’ll be fine.”

She smiled thinly and waved goodbye.

Josh drove me back to my place. I didn’t have a car, because my dad said I didn’t need one my first year of college. I had protested, but he said it was only right that we kids learn about the value of public transport in big college cities. In reality, it just meant I relied on other people like Josh for rides.

We pulled up to my dorm and he put it in park. He looked across the car at me.

“There’s something I’ve been wanting to tell you,” he said.

I froze up. The last thing I needed was another person trying to emotionally rely on me after all of this.

“Can you tell me tomorrow?” I asked. “I’m really tired, and need to get some sleep.” I motioned at the building to my right. “I’m pretty emotionally drained. I don’t know how much more I can handle.”

Blair used her occult shit to cope, and I worried that Josh was going to use affection. We had been close since high school, but it was always platonic. I didn’t want anything besides that.

He sighed, looking sad. “Yeah, I can talk tomorrow. You wanna go out to lunch or something?” The next day was Sunday, which meant I would have a good bit of free time.

I laughed tiredly. “That sounds great. You sure it can wait?”

“Yeah,” he nodded, smiling with a hint of sadness in his voice. “Yeah, it can wait.” “Sleep tight tonight, okay?” I popped open the passenger side door and hopped out. Closing the door, I waved him off, and he sped out of the parking lot.

As he went, I noticed something about Josh’s car that I had never seen before. The plate on the back read WHO-5875.