It was Halloween of 2011. Usually people are out trick-or-treating, but not me. I was stuck. I had nothing do to. I didn’t have a costume, and I wasn’t going to spend a couple of hours trying to think of one, and then put one together just to get candy. No way, no how.
Thoughts poured into my mind about what I could do. I could throw a party, I could just go to bed, or I could play the guitar for hours. But it occurred to me: I wanted to do something dangerous. Not just the “Oh, I’m going to jump off the roof and survive” dangerous, it was the “let’s mess around with the paranormal realm of the world” kind of dangerous. My parents had an Ouija board and I had a car.
Perfect, I thought.
I snuck out my window, Ouija board tucked under my armpit, and car keys in hand. It was just about 10:30 and the moon was starting to kiss the top of the sky. There was a slight breeze that whispered through the naked tree branches causing chills all over me. So far nothing was stopping me.
My car was chilly, so I started it and waited a couple of minutes before I backed up and went to the cemetery. The back roads were surprisingly vacant. Usually there are a couple stray cars cruising along, but that night nothing was there. I was getting a little nervous because you never know what is out in the night.
I slammed on the brakes suddenly. Fumbling for my phone in my pocket, I think of my best friend, Dallas. Dallas isn’t the kind of guy everybody would think of him to be. He’s the kind of guy who looks nerdy, gets good grades, and is somewhat popular. Outside of school, he’s the guy that every parent warns their girls about. Dallas loves to live on the edge and he’s open to doing anything possible that quite possibly get him into trouble with the law or his parents.
I dialed his number.
“’Sup?” he answered on the fourth ring.
“I was wandering what you were up to.” I said, a playful smile dancing on my lips.
“Well, I’m just sitting here with my dear friend, bed.”
“Would you like to come with me and mess around with ghost, spirits, and demons in the old cemetery?”
“Would I? I think the right words would be could I.” I could tell by the way he was talking that he had a wide grin on his face.
“Can you leave now?”
“Hang on.” He set the phone down and I heard the door open. “I can,” he said. “Snores are coming from the ‘rent’s room and my sister’s.”

“Good deal. I’ll be there in five.”

“Sounds good.”

We disconnected. I put my phone back in my pocket and I took a wide U-turn. In the distance, I noticed a white streak in the corner of my eye. At first I thought it was just my imagination, but as I moved closer I couldn’t make up an explanation for it.
When I got to Dallas’ house, he was sitting on the top of his shed. It was typical Dallas trying to do something horrendously stupid that it’s funny. He jumps down and does a flip and lands on his feet.

“Are you excited?” I asked, moving the Ouija board.

“Am I excited? Very excited. Are you?”

“I’m stoked.” We both laughed.

Back down the back roads, the atmosphere changed. Something about the change in the air caused my excited level to decrease by a few centimeters. Hopefully, Dallas was still as excited as he was earlier.

When we got to the cemetery, we looked around for a couple of minutes to make sure there was nobody here except for us and the ghosts. It took us an hour to find a good place to ask our questions. The area was fenced off and there was a large headstone with an engraving for an army general that died in World War II. I set the Ouija board in between Dallas and I, put candles around them, and lit them.

“And our adventure begins,” Dallas said.

“If anyone is here, tell us your name,” I said hoping to get an answer.

We waited five minutes and there was nothing. It was so quiet you could hear the clouds moving. Out of nowhere, two of the candles suddenly went out. I jumped up.

“What was that?” Fright was in my voice, I could almost taste it.

“I don’t know, but that wasn’t wind.”

Then, the hand piece started to move; first to the “H,” to the “A,” then to the “N,” and lastly to the “K.” Hank.

“Okay, so the guy’s name is Hank. Ask it another thing,” Dallas said.

“What is beyond your grave?”

The hand piece moved again. It spelt out the word hell.

“How did you die?”

Shot.

“What do I ask it next?” I asked Dallas.

“I don’t know.” He shrugged.

More candles got blown out, and there was still no wind.

Dallas asked, “Are you blowing our candles out?”

The hand piece moved to yes.

“Well, there’s our answer,” he said.

“Yeah, this isn’t really cool. This ghost is lame. I want to find a demonic spirit.”

“I agree. Let’s go somewhere else.”

We blew the rest of the candles out, grabbed the Ouija board, and went off on another search for a better, and hopefully more creepy grave site. As we were searching, I saw the white streak again. I ignored it because Dallas probably would say it was my imagination.

In the back of the cemetery, we found a section of fenced of headstones. The air suddenly got chillier as we jumped the fence. We set of the board and candles again. I took a deep breath.

“Ghosts of the night, if you are here show us a sign,” I repeated a cliché line from any scary movie that deals with paranormal.

Dallas snickered. I pushed playfully and rolled my eyes.

The air got colder and all the candles got blown out. Either this was someone more demonic or Dallas was messing with me. I pulled my jacket closer around me.

Dallas then took control of the questions. “I don’t believe in ghosts, so please, will you scare the tar out of me?”

With pleasure.

“Are you a demon?”

Yes.

“Are you here to seek revenge?”

Yes.
“Who killed you?”
My father.
“How old were you?”
Sixteen.
My ears perked up and I whipped my head to the east. Something breathed in my ear and it was so chilling that I goose bumps rose on my skin.
Dallas pulled something out of his coat.
“What are those?” I asked.
“Dowsing rods.”
“What do those do?”
“If there is anything here they will play with these and move the ends around. Some say if you hold these they are easy way of a demon to attach to your soul.”
“Where in the world did you get those?”
“ I bought them off the Internet because I wanted to see if they were actually worked.
Tonight is the perfect time to try it out. If you are here, demon, turn these to the right.”
They moved to the right.
“Move them to the left.”
They moved to the left.
“Now move the one in the left hand to the one in the right hand, and the one in the right hand to the left hand.”
They did. I knew it was not Dallas because he had a wide-eye look on his face.
He got up and started walking around. He was mumbling something, but it was too quiet to hear. The white streak flashed by me again. This time I knew it was not my imagination, something about was real and Dallas saw it too.
“Lenny,” he said. “Did you just see what I just saw?”
“Yes. I’m getting freaked out.”
“Me too.”
I showed him the “rock on” hand gesture. He smiled and sat back down.
“Demon, I hate you,” Dallas said.
The hand piece started moving. Must kill.
“Kill who, demon?”
You.
“How?”
Choke.
“Show me.”
Nothing happened for a few minutes.
“C’mon, demon. I’m not afraid of your little games. I don’t believe y—,” Dallas started, but he was choking on his words.
I gasped.
“Help,” he rasped.
“I can’t. I just can’t.”
His shaky hand grabbed mine. “Lenny, please.”
“Okay, okay, okay,” I kept repeating. “Stop, demon! Don’t kill him now,” I shouted.
“Demon, you sure showed me,” Dallas said in between deep breaths.
“Dallas, I think we should leave,” I said.
“Yes, let’s go.”
We grabbed everything and left right away. Running back to the car, I sensed that something was following us, but there was nothing behind us. I fumbled around the center console for the keys. I put them in the ignition and turned it. The engine would start. I tried again and it still wasn’t starting.
“Lenny, why won’t it start?” Dallas asked. I could tell he was scared.
“Dude, I don’t know.”
I tried again and it started. Ten thousand pounds was lifted off my shoulders. I sped out of there as fast as I could. A couple miles down the road, Dallas was starting to rub his calves’ legs every thirty seconds.
“Stop the car please,” Dallas basically begged.

I stopped. “What’s wrong?”

“My calves are burning and itchy.”
Dallas pulled his pants leg up and there was a star etched on his calf. It look like it was scratched with a finger nail.
“Whoa. This is not right.”
“You don’t think it would be the demon, right?”
“I think it is. They do these things all the time.”
“Don’t let anyone see it. Not even your guy friends.”
“Promise.”
I put the car into drive and started on the back roads again. The white streaks kept appearing and I was suddenly not in control of the steering wheel. I stepped on the brakes, but they just wouldn’t work.
The car started swerving and I couldn’t do anything about it. I was scared we were going to crash. The unthinkable happened right then, I was being choked. I could barely get any breath in. I looked over at Dallas and he had a vacant stare on his face. I touched him. He was freezing cold.
I became freezing cold.