Yep. Not good with horror stories.
I had an encounter with an Ouija
board when I was 16, which probably explains my fascination and terror when it
comes to stories that have to do with spirits and evil and the like. (By the
way, vampires don’t count. Especially sparkly ones. Just in case you wondered.)
The
Ouija Board Story, Part 1:
I was home alone one weekend and a
friend brought over the board. We joked and teased each other about it, but
ended up lighting candles and turning off all of the lights. I don’t remember
what questions we asked or what the answers were from the board – but I do
remember that every candle in the room was extinguished simultaneously for no
good reason. (Gives me goose bumps just to type that.)
The
Ouija Board Story, Part 2:
Later that weekend, I was still
home alone. Just me, my dog, and the cats. A huge thunderstorm whipped up and
the power went out. No TV, no lights, nothing.
I huddled in an overstuffed chair
in the family room (my back to the rest of the house) trying to read a book by
flashlight. Strange bumping sounds started up in my basement. The dog perked up
her head, looked past my chair into the kitchen….and whined. She was not a
whiner, this dog.
The bumping in the basement was
erratic. The dog started growling. My heart in my throat, I finally worked up
the courage to peek around the edge of my chair toward the kitchen and the
basement door. The light over the kitchen table – which should have been dark
since the power was out all over town – was glowing red. By this time, my hands
were shaking so badly, I couldn’t hold my book still anymore. The occasional lightening
lit up the entire house with bright white light – but the glowing red in my
kitchen was steady. Every time I looked behind my chair, that light was glowing…and
sometimes swinging just a little bit.
I was bolted to my chair,
terrified to move. To get to my phone, I would have had to pass the open
basement door and walk right through the kitchen. The dog continued to growl
and whine and I continued to shiver until the power came back on.
I turned on every single light in
the house, pulled the basement door shut and blocked it with a heavy chair, and
tried to get some sleep. (What did I think the chair was going to do? Stop some
evil from coming up from the basement? GACK! But it somehow made me feel
better.)
I picked up The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle
Hodkin a few weeks ago based on the cover. Little did I know, an eerily familiar scene at
the beginning of Ms. Hodkin’s story would suck me right in. Teenage girls
huddled around an Ouija board… And I’ll just tell you this story gets much
spookier than a glowing red light over a kitchen table!
Keep a flashlight handy. And maybe a generator. Just in
case. You definitely want the lights on when you’re reading this one.
Have you read any good October Spooky Stories lately?
