"ok, everyone ready?" michael asked, looking from calum to ashton.
"ready," calum smirked.
ashton hesitated, "y-yeah."
the boys lightly placed two fingers each on the planchette. michael took a deep breath, and asked a question.
"is anyone there?"
nothing happened for a few minutes, and calum sighed, "maybe it's-"
the planchette slowly moved up to the corner of the board, pointing to the word 'yes'.
ashton chuckled nervously, "very funny, michael."
michael looked up with wide eyes, shaking his head. "i swear, it wasn't me."
"c-cal?"
"i didn't move it either," calum replied.
"oh my god," ashton muttered under his breath.
"what is your name?" michael asked cautiously.
the reply was faster this time, the planchette moving from 'l' to 'u' to 'k' to 'e'.
"your name is luke?"
'yes'
"how did you die?"
's'-'u'-'i'-'c'-'i'-'d'-'e'
"you killed yourself?"
'yes'
"luke, how old were you when you died?"
'1'-'5'
"and how old are you now?"
'1'-'9'
ashton gulped as michael asked another question.
"where did you die?"
'h'-'e'-'r'-'e'
ashton started to tremble. he didn't like this at all.
"you died in this house?"
'yes'
ashton felt sick. if this wasn't just a big joke that his friends were playing on him, then this luke boy had died four years ago, in ashton's house.
"can you prove to us that you're real?"
like before, nothing happened for a couple of minutes. ashton relaxed a bit, thinking that it was a joke all along, until the candles went out one by one, and the planchette went flying from under their fingers, crashing into the wall with a loud bang.
"fuck, get out!" michael yelled, and the three boys went stumbling through the dark to the front door. they ran to calum's house, not stopping once. they thought they were safe, but what they hadn't realized, was that they had forgotten one of the most important rules in using a spirit board.
always say goodbye.