Warm Reminiscent

She treaded all the way down to the banks of the lake. Old reminiscent struck her mind. Good old memories, when she was only 10 years old. As she gazes over the imperturbable lake, she gets an urge to feel the cold waters. She gleans the entire surroundings, makes sure nobody is in the vicinity. She takes her top off and feels the pristine breeze shroud her half-naked body and dives into the lake.

Now she is all fervid to swim across the lake. As she is half way through, she tries to float with her front facing upwards. She takes a moment contemplating the sky. She nestles comfortably on the water, as she watches dark clouds wade by. The breeze picks up and drops immediately, and then there is dead silence. All of a sudden she hears a weary whisper calling out her name “Evelyn”. She flinches, wiggling her arms and legs in fear. She felt as if someone rose from the waters and retorted a caveat. She looks around, but there is no one there.

     

She immediately swims back towards the banks, glimpses back at the lake, then climbs onto the land and wears her top. She rushes to her home. She takes a moment to catch her breath. She steps into the shower, mulling over what had just happened. She can’t shake the feeling that this has happened before; this was something of a similar experience which her friend Carol had described. Carol was an occult enthusiast; secretly she dabbles with an Ouija board. Nothing happened during the ritual but the days following she gets an uncanny feeling of being watched by someone.

     

One night when Carol was alone in her dorm room, she hears a faint whisper calling out her name. She panics and finds nobody around. Carol describes this to Evelyn, and this was the last time Evelyn ever saw Carol. She has gone missing. Days later Evelyn finds the Ouija board at carol’s dorm and takes it with her. Evelyn never believed in the supernatural phenomenon. She meddles with it. Everything seemed to be normal at that moment. Everything comes in flashes as she is in the shower. As she is done, she walks into her bedroom and sprawls out in her bed, completely perplexed about what had just happened. Lying in her bed thinking, she drifts off to sleep. It’s absolute darkness now.

“Evelyn…. Evelyn, can you hear me”, a brusque voice. Evelyn slowly opens her eyes. She discerns white, dwindling, distorted images of light and ceiling. At that very moment, she is unaware of where she is until she sees a man with a white overcoat and a stethoscope draped around his neck. She suddenly realizes that she is in hospital. “How did I get here?” Evelyn retort with panic. “Hey…. hey relax. Just calm down. You are all okay. Don’t worry”, doctor consoles. “Who brought me here?” Evelyn cries. “A local guy who was at the lake, he said you had an accident”. “An accident” Evelyn perplexed. “I remember coming back home, taking a shower and going to bed”. “You must be in shock. Sometimes it takes you into dreams” doctor replies. “Hmm… I don’t understand” Evelyn shrugs her shoulder. “Well, you’ll be okay. Take some rest”, he gives her a smile and leaves the room.

Evelyn gives out a sigh, as she sprawls her head against the soft pillow. “Un-fucking-believable, that was very real” she whispers to herself. Hours later she gets discharged from the hospital. It’s almost evening and it’s very cloudy. It’s going to rain anytime sooner. She immediately gets a cab and heads towards her home. Her parents are out for a day and they’ll be back the next day morning. She is alone for the night. As she reaches homes she rushes directly to the kitchen and grabs a sandwich. As she munches she tries to forget all the hassle and inexplicable.

Later that night she spends lots of time on the internet searching about the occult and Ouija. She comes across unimaginable, disturbing stories. These stories broached more qualms than ever for her. “Well, this is gonna be an uneasy night”, she whispers. As she gleans on the screen, her attention is slowly diverted on to the wooden board at the corner of the room. It’s an Ouija board. She slowly gets up as if she startled at the very sight. She slowly walks towards the board and perches her fingers on the edge of it and picks it up. She strokes over the letters. “What are you?” hushes as if a secret is been told. The board is suave and shimmering, yet its weathered nature will give you creeps.

The more you gaze at it, the more you reach the entrails. It has a story of its own to tell. “Let’s see what you made of”, with an indignant face. Evelyn rushes towards the storeroom, picks up three incense candles. She embellishes the floor with it in a pentagram shape and lights it up. Something of a picture she came across in an occult book. She slowly places the Ouija on the center, and sits in front of it by folding her legs. Evelyn contemplates at the letters for a moment and then perches her fingers on the triangular planchette. She gives out a deep sigh. “All right”, with an ardent voice.

“Is there any spirit in here with me? Is there anybody here?”. It’s absolute quietness. “Show me a sign. Move something”. She gets an involuntary feel in her arm, but nothing happens. She gives out a deep sight. “Did you drown me the lake?” Suddenly the planchette moves towards the ‘Yes’. Evelyn’s heartbeat rose to the apex. “What do you want from me? Please leave me alone” to her consternation the planchette moves towards ‘No’. She gets up immediately. She is sweating. Suddenly she hears something moving in the kitchen. With a deranged feeling, she slowly treads towards the kitchen. She slowly peeps her head through the ajar door; she steps in and finds nothing there. And then all of a sudden she hears a weary whisper calling her name... … “Evelyn”. She turns around and in a horror, she screams at the top of her voice. We hear the echoes throughout the yard.

A few minutes later, she wakes up completely startled on the floor, like one gasps for breath after a terrible nightmare. She feels as if she just had an amnesia attack. She couldn't remember anything about what happened last night. The only memory was that of weary whisper she heard. And that scares the hell out of her. The moment she is about to make any sense of what was happening around, the front door opens up. She sees a shadow, in fact, many shadows. She holds her breath. The police bulge in with neighbors. She sighs a relief after seeing them.

They go on investigating the house and her neighbor Racheal picks up the Ouija board with oddity but then why was it that Evelyn was imperceptible to their eyes?? They had not noticed her. Suddenly she hears the same whisper. "Evelyn... Evelyn.. Come to me...". She gets skittish as though something was wrong. She slowly turns around. Carol was standing behind her with a malevolent smile. "Carol... Where had you been??" But Carol’s malefic smile daunts her. "Evelyn.. . Welcome to our world". She gets baffled of what she hears. But her eyes widen in bewilderment when she sees unusual. It was Evelyn lying on the floor.