This Unexpected Thing by Tabitha Drake

Author:Tabitha Drake [Drake, Tabitha]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Moon Shower Press
Published: 2021-08-26T23:00:00+00:00

July 31, 2020

“Are you still here?”

Like being rudely woken from a deep, drug-induced sleep, I cross the threshold from rejuvenation to the here and now. Before I can shake the hazy confusion enough to contemplate this unnatural rousing, as though by some gigantic, invisible magnet, I am forcibly pulled through the wall from Julian’s room to Annora’s. I don’t understand my lack of control until I take in the scene that awaits me in the middle of her bedroom floor.

With a sigh, I resign myself to partake in this event. Somehow, I feel compelled, as though the choice isn’t mine. I recall the first time Annora roused me in such a manner. I was a willing participant and drained before having an opportunity to find out if I could, in fact, insert my own free will. And with Julian and Wayne, I was already there to begin with, eager to communicate of my own volition. This time is different. I’d rather not have to contribute to this scenario.

Annora has a friend with her tonight, presumably the same girl on the phone the other day when she was planning a sleepover. Together, the two girls sit on the floor with Annora’s ouija board propped between them. Two pairs of delicate fingers lightly perch on the planchette, their owners clearly waiting for me to respond.

“Is someone there?” the strange girl asks in a bored monotone.

Annora hears the irreverence and shoots the girl a scowl that goes unnoticed. “Come on, Nadia. I need proof that she’s here so mom and Julian will believe me. If she shows up tonight, I need you to back my story up. And she’s not going to come if you don’t take it seriously,” Annora warns.

“She’s not going to come anyway. She isn’t even real.”

Finally! A skeptic!

Annora’s frown deepens. “You’ll see.”

And so, they wait, eyes closed, fingers expectantly trembling on the edges of the planchette. I am curiously drawn toward them, as though their summoning renders me impotent to refuse their calling.

Julian is home. I was yanked from his room so suddenly and was still so groggy that I didn’t even notice if he was in there or not, or if he perchance noticed my arrival and might come to intervene somehow. His radio is on and barely audible through the wall. As desperately as I want to see him and wish I could float back over to his room, I’m powerless.

Perhaps Annora and her friend summoning me forces me to stay involuntarily, but I do apparently still have the free will of choosing whether I respond to their questions or not. However, Annora looks so afraid I won’t show up that I just can’t let her down. I will try to do something small and ambiguous to leave her friend with sufficient doubt without absolutely giving myself away.

While the two girls wait for me to hurl a book across the room, Nadia opens her eyes and closely watches the board. I study her. Simply put, she’s beautiful.

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