Part 2
Three weeks had passed since the boys tempted fate by playing with a ouija board. Mike’s parents grounded him for two of those three weeks, because he left the front door wide open and the house was robbed. Mike’s parents came home drunk from their friend’s house that evening to find the front door lying wide open, and their electrical goods stolen from the living room, and Mike’s mum was furious.
The strangest thing about Mike’s story, was that the makeshift ouija board was stolen, he knows this because if his mum found out he played with a ouija board, he would have been grounded for the rest of his life.
The bell rang at 15:30 on Friday afternoon, and the boys made their way to the bus to head home.
“Whit dae you fancy dain the night?”, asked Mike.
“I’m easy, if it’s rainin’ we should play FIFA in mine, managed to grab a bargain deal for a new tele last week, some guy puntin’ them out a van, come tae think of it, it looks like the wan fae your livin’ room”, said Allan.
“Aye very good, I’m never gawny live that doon am I?”, said Mike.
“No for a wee while at least mate”, said Allan.
“I’m up for a FIFA night regardless of the weather”, said Ginger.
“Right, fuck it, I’ll say to my mum n dad that yer comin’ round and they’ll maybe buy us pizza or suhin”, said Allan.
When Allan got home from school, he always had ninety minutes to himself before his mum and dad got home from work, today he chose to go for a nap. He claimed that his paper run every morning, apart from a Sunday, was “taking it out of him”, so he closed the blinds and curtain in his room to make it as dark as possible. He lay down in his bed and went out like a light.
Allan didn’t dream, he was just out like a brick. He opened his eyes, still in a sleepy state, and he saw it, he saw a figure standing at the foot of his bed. The figure he made out was tall, slim and looked as though it was wearing a long trench coat. At this point he realised he needed to wake up fully and prepare himself for either attack, possession or just to run like fuck out of the house.
Allan reached for his bedside lamp and switched it on, as soon as the light came on, the figure vanished. Allan just sat upright laughing now that he was fully awake. He checked the time and realised he still had forty-five minutes before his parents got home from work, so he had time to freshen up before his friends came round later that evening.
Allan walked over to his hi-fi system and put on some Darren Styles, and turned the volume up to thirteen, loud enough so he could hear the electric beats from the shower.
He made his way down the hall to the bathroom, turned the shower on and pulled his toiletries from the cabinet, while humming along to Skydiving by Darren Styles. He stepped into the shower and gave himself a good scrub with the lady’s favourite, Lynx Africa Body Wash, and rinsed off all the soapy suds.
He turned off the shower and stepped out to dry himself when he noticed he could not hear the music from his bedroom. Allan found this strange but thought that it could be the end of a song with a new song about to start, but he heard nothing.
He made his way up the hall to his bedroom, his wet feet leaving footprints on the laminate flooring, and he entered his bedroom, when he noticed that his hi-fi system was flashing mute, Allan knew that this was only possible if you physically pressed the mute button on the remote control or the hi-fi itself. Fear crept into Allan now, he seen a figure, now his hi-fi playing tricks. Thoughts were running through his head as he stood there with the towel wrapped around his waist. He was in a daydream now, filled with all sorts of crazy thoughts, when suddenly there was a loud bang at the front door, and the door opened.
“Hi son”, his mum shouted from down the hall.
Allan’s mum made her way to his bedroom where he stood with the hi-fi remote control in his hand and the towel still around his waist.
“I said Hi son, you deaf?”, his mum said.
“Sorry, I was in a day-dream there. Is that you just home there?”, he asked his mum.
“Aye, your dad is on the phone in the car. We’re having a take-away tonight, so let me know what you fancy”, his mum said.
“I’ve got Mike and Ginger coming roon the night to play FIFA since the weather is crap, can we just get a couple of pizzas?”, asked Allan.
“Aye fine, wish their own mums would bloody feed them”, she said and made her way down the hall.
Allan still stood in the middle of his bedroom with the remote control in his hand wondering how the hell the hi-fi was put on mute.
The evening came, Mike and Ginger were in Allan’s bedroom playing FIFA like they planned, with Tiesto’s greatest hit album playing in the background.
“Lads, has anyhin’ weird happened to ye since the night wae the ouija board?”, asked Allan.
“To be honest with ye mate, a part fae ma mum n dad’s hoose getting’ robbed, I’ve no experienced a hing”, replied Mike.
“I’m the same mate, nuhin at all on my end, why ye asking?”, said Ginger.
“Suhin weird happened tae me earlier on man, in here. I don’t know if it was sleep paralysis or that, but I seen this figure at the foot of my bed, I wasn’t frozen stiff like ye’d expect, but when I put the light on it vanished”, said Allan.
Mike and Ginger turned to look at each other, then back to Allan.
He continued, “That’s no even the weirdest hing, I jumped in a shower wae ma music on, and when I came back through, the music was on mute and I don’t ken how that’s possible without physically pressin’ mute”.
The three boys sat there obviously shaken a little by the story.
“Surely no man, it’s been a few week since we even done it, canny be right, must just be a coincidence”, said Ginger.
“I’m serious mate, it just happened earlier and had me thinking about it”, said Allan.
“Listen let’s forget about it, it’s obviously just playin’ in our heeds”, replied Ginger.
The three of them continued to play FIFA, when Allan’s mum entered the room.
“Here is pizza for you boys, enjoy. Allan, me and your dad are headin’ to Jan’s tonight for drinks, so keep the mess to your room and lock the door before you go to bed”
“No worries mum, thanks”, replied Allan.
“And the take the dog out every hour, don’t forget”, and Allan’s mum and dad left the house.
An hour or so had passed, and Allan made his way to the kitchen to take the dog out for some fresh air and a toilet break. He opened the kitchen door and the dog made a bee line to the landing on the stairs, and uncharacteristically, the dog started violently barking and growling at the wall.
“Boys, come here!”, Allan shouted, but the boys were already on route to see why the dog was going ballistic.
Allan’s dog was going wild. He tried to persuade the dog to go outside, and even opened the front door, but the dog showed no signs of stopping. The music from Allan’s room went silent, all the boys turned and looked in the direction of the bedroom, and the dog bolted outside.
Allan, Mike and Ginger walked cautiously to the bedroom, and entered the room slowly. The bedroom looked the same as the way they left it, except the hi-fi was flashing mute again. Panic crept in on all the boys, and they all began to well up, then the front door slammed shut and the letterbox chapped.
They all stood in the room terrified. The letterbox chapped again, and again.
“You gawn tae see who’s at the door?”, asked Mike.
“Only if you pair come wae me”, said Allan.
“Fine, let’s go”, said Ginger with a tone of bravery.
They stood a few metres from the front door before the letterbox chapping stopped, when a letter came flying through the door as if they were accepted into Hogwarts.
It landed right in front of Allan’s feet. He picked up the envelope and opened the letter to see the contents inside. The handwritten letter read,
Hello boys,
The past few weeks have been fun, haven’t they?
Your friend Mike didn’t speak to his papa, and he didn’t make a ouija board.
Mike made a Weegie board, it’s a wee bit different.
I’m no sharing the details with you, just know this, I’m going to haunt fuck out the lot of you for the rest of your days.
Yours truly,
Jessie McTavish x
PS – Allan your music is shite, you’ll get haunted the most.
Allan's Short Stories 