Psychopathia: A Horror Suspense Novel (6 page)

‘The
planchette?’

‘Yeah. That. You know a lot about this for a guy who works in a toyshop.’

Spotty guy pulled the board game out of her hands and stuck it back on the shelf. ‘Listen to me,’ he said. ‘Whatever you’re planning, it’s a really bad idea. You don’t mess around with the Ouija.’ He turned to Damien. ‘Dude, you’re supposed to back me up on this one. Bad shit happens when you play with the Ouija. There’s no knowing what can come through.’

Damien was shaking his head, and
Lara could feel his hand still on her elbow, his skin warm through her thin shirt.

‘I did the Ouija for months,’ he said. ‘Nothing happened. It’s mostly your own subconscious that comes through. And if you make a little speech at the beginning of your session, say how no dark spirits are welcome, then you’ll be fine. Nothing can go wrong.’

Spotty guy was red in the face and spluttering. ‘Make a little speech? Nothing can go wrong? Do you hear yourself?’ He turned to Lara. ‘Listen, don’t do this. Nothing good ever comes through the Ouija board. There’s all these bored and nasty spirits out there just waiting for someone to start messing around with this stuff. Everyone with half a brain knows this. You just don’t wanna do it.’

But
Lara was shaking her head. ‘You don’t understand. I already know who we’re going to contact. The spirit’s already made its presence known. I need to make contact so I can ask it to go away, back where it came from.’

There was a huge groan from spotty guy, and he hid his face in his hands. ‘You’re fucked,’ he said.

‘Bullshit,’ Damien said and twisted Lara away from the other man. ‘Listen, I’ll do it with you. I’ve done the Ouija board heaps of times, there’s nothing to worry about.’ He took his hand off Lara and pulled the Scrabble box down from the shelf again. ‘Let’s get this, and go back to your place. I’m off work in five minutes, I’ll help you do everything right, what do you say?’

Lara
chewed on a lip, thinking about it. ‘Sure,’ she said after a moment. ‘Why not? Thanks.’ It was her turn to lay a hand on his arm. ‘But I gotta tell you straight up – I have a boyfriend.’

‘Will he be there?’

She nodded.

Damien smiled again, and she liked it even better this time. It was
kinda crooked and boyish. Charming. ‘No worries,’ he said. ‘Thanks for the heads-up.’ He held the game up. ‘Shall we do this?’

‘You guys are in for a whole lot of trouble,’ spotty guy said. ‘I’m walking away from this. I’m not having anything to do with it.’ He shook his head. ‘Just remember though – I’m telling you it’ll end badly.’

Lara wasn’t listening. She was digging in her purse for her credit card, Damien leading her to the till, slipping behind it and ringing up the purchase. She handed him her card and he looked at it before swiping it for her.

‘
Lara. Nice name. So where do you live?’

For a moment, she wasn’t sure what he meant, and frowned.

‘So I can come out for the session with you?’

‘Right. Of course. Um, we’re out in Seacliff. Sorry.’ It was almost half an hour out of the city.

‘No problem.’ Damien stuck the Scrabble game in a bag and handed it to her. ‘What’s the address?’

’32 Rainer Street. It’s a
cabin right on the estuary. We rented it for the summer. Thought it would be more fun.’ She stuck her credit card back in her purse. ‘Um, it’s not just me and Matt, we rent the place with my friends Tully and Toby. They’re twins.’

‘Sounds cool.’ He looked at his watch. ‘I’m off now, so I can pretty much go straight there. I’ll see you in half an hour, 45 minutes tops?’

Lara nodded. ‘That’ll be great. We’re going to have a barbeque, so you can come along for that first.’ She calculated the number of steaks she’d bought, decided there’d be enough if she didn’t have hers, or Tully decided not to have one. Tully had sounded pretty grossed out over the rotten meat in the fridge. Maybe that had put her off.

‘All right. See you soon, then.’

‘Yeah, great. Thanks. See ya.’ Lara tucked the game under her arm and walked out of the shop, stood on the footpath feeling a little dazed. Then, blinking a couple of times, she patted the game in the bag and walked back to the car. Tully would be impressed she’d come up with such a good plan – and found someone to help. Someone experienced, in case Tully or one of the others decided to freak out over the whole Ouija board thing. Damien had said it wasn’t dangerous if you took the right precautions, and that sounded just like what Lara herself had thought.

It was going to be one interesting evening. She hoped Matt and Damien would hit it off. And who knew – maybe Tully would be interested in him.
Lara felt a twinge of jealousy at the thought, but shrugged it away. She had Matt, even if they had been fighting a bit lately. And Tully was practically her sister. She’d almost share Matt with her if asked, so seeing her hook up with Damien would be cool.

Smiling
, Lara unlocked the car and got in, tucking her long legs under the steering wheel. Everything was going to be great. If she did say so herself.

There was a strange car in the driveway. Tully peered out the window in surprise, then let the gauzy curtain fall, and stepped outside.

‘Hello?’ she asked. ‘Can I help you?’

The car door was open, and a young man unfolded himself from the sporty vehicle. He was tall and his smile was wide.

‘Don’t tell me I got here before
Lara?’ he said, sticking his hands in his pockets and looking around, before zeroing in on Tully again. He pulled his hands out and stepped forward. ‘Sorry,’ he said. ‘Bad manners. You must be Tully?’

‘Must I?’ Tully asked, perplexed.

‘Well, I’m guessing you’re not Toby.’ He smiled some more, like he was auditioning for a toothpaste commercial. ‘Tully’s good though. I really like that name.’ He rolled his eyes and looked abashed. ‘But I’m making a complete hash of this, aren’t I? I’m Damien. Lara invited me out here tonight.’ He glanced back at the road. ‘It’s kinda awkward that I got here before her though. What’s she driving?’

It was hard not to like the guy. At least a little. ‘She’s driving a crappy Ford Laser,’ Tully allowed. ‘It doesn’t like the hills too much.’ She took a step closer and turned on her own smile. ‘You’re right,’ she said.

He raised his eyebrows. ‘I am?’

Nodding. ‘I’m Tully,’ she said.

‘Ah. I am. Nice to meet you, Tully. Toby must be…your brother?’

‘Yep. My twin. The guys are out back. Come and meet them. We’re going to have a barbeque.’ She was already turning to lead him down the side of the house, hoping there wasn’t going to be any trouble with Matt and the new guy. Sometimes
Lara didn’t realise the sort of effect she had on men. Or maybe she just didn’t care. Lara was the sort who treated everyone as her best friend. Or good friend. Tully had reserved the position of best.

‘Nice place.
Lara said you rented it for the summer? Great idea.’

Tully turned and smiled at him. ‘Yeah, we thought so. Didn’t want to be stuck in the city all summer. Didn’t want to go home.’ She shrugged. ‘You know how it is.’

‘You’re all students?’

‘Oh, yeah. You’re not?’

Damien shook his head. ‘No, I’m amongst the ranks of the employed, unfortunately. Forced to join the nine to five revenue stream.’

Laughing, Tully looked at him. ‘I guess that’s waiting for all of us.’ She
discovered she was in no hurry to find the others.

‘What are you studying?’ Damien didn’t seem to be in
a great rush either.

‘Um, I hate this bit. I’m doing accounting.’ She grimaced. ‘Good job prospects and all, you know how it is. Toby’s doing engineering, Matt’s getting himself a totally useless English degree, and
Lara, well, I guess you already know what Lara is doing.’

He shook his head. ‘No, I only just met her an hour ago.’

Eyes widening in surprise, Tully tried not to let her mouth fall open as well. ‘Oh. Well, she’s a drama student.’ She laughed. ‘Headed for fame and fortune is our Lara.’ It was said without rancour – Tully really did hope both things waited for her friend.

‘You put me all to shame,’ Damien said. ‘I work – wait for it – in a toy shop.’ He laughed.

Tully looked at him, smile widening. ‘Well, in that case, you must really be ready for a drink. We’ve got beer and maybe a bottle of bourbon.’ She frowned. ‘The beer’s not real cold though.’

As expected, Damien looked dubious. Tully hurried on. ‘We’ve had some problems with the fridge – as in, everything kind of rotted in it. Including the beer, kind of.’

‘I don’t follow.’

Sighing, Tully gestured Damien to follow her into the back yard, which spread right down to the little shingle beach against which the water from the
estuary lapped.

‘I don’t follow either, to tell the truth. This
morning, everything in the fridge just went mouldy.’ She snapped her fingers. ‘I mean, just like that. One minute everything was good, and the next, you could have manufactured mega batches of penicillin with the amount of mould growing in there.’ She pulled her shoulders up around her ears for a moment. ‘Even the beer turned bad. Undrinkable. Matt tried some and spent the next half an hour retching.’

‘That’s kind of weird. It wouldn’t be anything to do with why
Lara wants to do a session with the Ouija board, would it?’

Tully stopped dead, her hand on the little gate to the back yard. Turning around, she stared at the new guy. ‘What did you say?’

‘I met Lara because she came into the shop looking for a Ouija board.’

It took a moment for Tully to get her tongue to wrap around the words. ‘Tell me you didn’t sell her one.’ She shook her head. Unbelievable. ‘Tell me that’s not why you’re here.’

Damien shifted on his feet and turned his gaze away from her and out over the water. ‘I didn’t sell her one,’ he said. ‘They’re not available for sale in this country.’ He cleared his throat. ‘She bought a Scrabble game instead. We’re going to make our own board.’

This time, Tully couldn’t even think of the words. She just stared at him.

‘It’s completely safe, I guarantee it.’

‘Completely safe? You guarantee it?’

The sound of a car in the drive, and in a moment, Lara appeared at the bottleneck on the path.

‘Hey Tully – I see you’ve met Damien. He agreed to help us!’
Lara’s smile was a hundred watts of pure excitement.

‘Ah, yeah.
Lara, can you and I have a word for a minute?’ Tully didn’t wait for an answer, she just pushed past the stranger and grabbed Lara by the elbow.

‘
Ow, not so rough. Jeez Tully, what’s the problem?’

Tully dragged her best friend up the path and around to the front of the house. ‘What’s the problem?’ she asked.

‘Ah, yeah? What’s the problem?’ Lara rubbed her arm.

‘
A Ouija board?’

Lara
broke into a smile. ‘Brilliant idea, right? I went to buy a board, but I can’t believe it – you can’t buy them in this country. Is that backwards or what?’ She tried to peer around the corner of the house where they’d left Damien. ‘That’s where I met him,’ she said. ‘He’s had bulk experience with doing the Ouija stuff. Said it would be a piece of cake, said he’d help if I liked.’

‘And of course you liked.’

Eyes narrowing, Lara met Tully’s look. ‘What’s that supposed to mean?’ She threw her hands up. ‘You know what? Don’t bother. We have a problem, I’m trying to solve the problem. It’s as simple as that.’

‘
Lara, what sort of problem gets solved with a Ouija board?

‘Um, one that involves spirits?’

This was a disaster. Taking a deep breath, Tully tried to keep her voice down, temper tied up and locked in a cupboard. ‘Lara, honey, Ouija boards are dangerous. You never know who or what is going to come through.’

She got an impatient look in return. ‘Don’t patronise me, Tully. Shit.’
Lara pushed back her dark hair. ‘Look, that’s why I agreed Damien should come over. He’s
experienced.
Knows what to do. Safely, I mean.’ She started back around the side of the house. ‘Nothing’s going to go wrong. Trust me.’

Tully trotted after her friend, still thinking up objections. The gate was open, and the guys were standing in the back yard, Matt and Damien standing,
Lara’s boyfriend looking more than a little perplexed. Lara lodged herself under Matt’s arm, and was making the formal introductions.

‘
Lara wants us to use a Ouija board,’ Tully burst out. Four pairs of eyes swung around to look at her. ‘Tell her it’s a bad idea.’

For a moment, no one said anything, then the new guy cleared his throat. ‘Really,’ he said. ‘It’s okay. I wouldn’t say it’s completely harmless, but if you take, you know, suitable precautions,
it’s fine.’ He helped himself to a bottle of beer and tipped it in Matt’s direction. ‘I’ve used one heaps of times.’

‘Hang on,’ Matt said, frowning first at Damien standing there drinking his beer, then down at his girlfriend. ‘What’s a
weegee board when it’s at home?’