Hm hm hm, have fun reading this one. Please tell me what you think when it gets to the end!
"If a man harbors any sort of fear, it percolates through all his thinking, damages his personality, makes him landlord to a ghost." ~Lloyd C. Douglas
Ryou opened one eye a crack and looked at the glowing alarm clock on the windowsill. It was almost midnight. He sat up quickly, quietly slipping out of bed. Gently, so as not to make any noise, he slipped over to the door and eased it shut until it locked into place with a click that resounded like thunder. It was far too loud in the unbroken silence. He held his breath, pressed against the door, waiting to see if his father would come to see what he was up to. Finally he felt it was safe enough to relax.
He set to work, pushing things against the walls to make room, shoving clothes into a basket, clearing away any thing that was on the floor. He opened a window a crack, allowing a warm breeze to flutter his hair. Walking around his room, he grabbed anything else he needed and began setting them in the center of his room. It was a strange, and seemingly random assortment of items. A candle here, a neatly folded letter there, a small doll that was worn from use, and most notably was a golden pendant that peaked out from within the folds of a small blanket. Ryou looked over the things he'd gathered then turned to get the last piece.
Reaching far under his bed, to the corner against the wall under a discarded towel, he reached for a cardboard box. He pulled it out and swept the dust off from its decorated top. Just as he was about to pull the top off, he hesitated. Everyone said that these 'games' were dangerous. Even his own mother would never have approved… She'd never liked his interest in the occult anyways. His hesitation wasn't about his deceased mother's opinions though. It was more about his own courage. His warm chocolate eyes lingered over the words printed largely at the bottom of the box:
Not for the faint of heart.
And yet…this was the only way. People said that the game worked, and Ryou had no doubt that there was a way to contact people who'd already died. It could work. He could talk to his sister again. He'd waited almost a year to try it. He had always been too scared though. The fear was like a stone, weighing itself against his desire to try, just try to contact Amane. Would he back down again? Not this time he thought, and pulled the lid off.
He began to set up. Midnight was only minutes away, and he wanted it to be ready. He placed the board—a simple design filled with numbers, letters, symbols, and a large Yes or No on either side—in the middle of his room. On the spot designated, he placed the tall, unused candle, and beside it a wooden marker with a hole in the middle so that if it moved to a letter you could see which it was.
On each side, except for the one he sat on, he placed the letter (a letter he wrote, yet to be sent to his sister's grave), the doll, and the pendant wrapped in the soft pink blanket. His hands lingered on it. He'd always admired it, been jealous that his father had given it to his sister and not to him when he knew he'd always appreciate it more. But it didn't matter, it was hers and she had loved it.
South, East, West. And he sat on the North side. Something significant in every direction. Everything was set. According to some brief instructions, he was supposed to light the candle. It also said that supposedly if a spirit were strong enough, the candle would light of its own accord, but Ryou didn't want to wait. He pulled a small box of matches from his bedside table and lit the tall candle.
It lit, flaring slightly, and then receding to a small glowing light that flickered in the breeze from the open window. It provided a small circle of light around the board, like a barrier to the dark of his room.
And now Ryou paused. He wasn't sure what to do next. Should he say something? Call for an audience with his long-dead sister? Or perhaps he should wait… He consulted the instructions again, and read carefully. It said that spirits were often shy and had to be drawn out. By using things of special importance to the deceased you could try to call them specifically, but it was never sure if you were getting the right one or not. Especially since spirits were fond of tricks...who could tell whether a spirit was telling the truth?
He took a deep breath. His heart was pounding in his chest.
"Amane?" He whispered, closing his eyes tightly. "Amy?" He said, even softer. His lungs felt constricted. He knew he needed to calm down. The game's instructions specifically said that spirits could sense fear, in fact some spirits fed off fear. They craved it, and the more scared you were, the darker the spirits that would be drawn to you. He breathed deeply again. Amane was one of the purest spirits ever, so he needed to calm down and focus on her.
"Amy, can you hear me?" He tried, opening his eyes. The board was still. The wooden diamond didn't even twitch. He sighed, knowing that it had been a foolish hope. He reached over to snuff out the candle when the wooden marker shifted. He froze, his heart pounding into high gear again. He waited to see if it had just been his imagination, but it wasn't. The marker shifted, moving slowly as though searching. It slid down to the alphabet section of the board and began spelling.
H-E-L-L-O
Ryou realized he was hyperventilating, whether because of fear or excitement he really couldn't tell. Butterflies swarmed in his stomach, making him jittery.
"Hello." He replied softly. "Is…is this Amane Bakura?"
It moved to the Yes, but then slid over to the No.
Yes and No Ryou thought. What does that mean? He chewed on his lip, thinking.
"Is this Amane?" He said.
The marker slid off and then returned to the No. Ryou sighed in disappointment. He tried to hide it though, and look at the bright side. He'd connected with someone, which meant the board worked, and he could try to speak to Amy later. And whoever it was had replied Yes & No to the question 'Are you Amane Bakura.' So maybe it was a relative.
"Who is this?" Ryou asked, feeling braver as the conversation went on.
B-A-K-U-R-A The board spelled. N-A-M-E-?
Ryou smiled slightly. "Ryou Bakura." He was starting to get a hang of the game. It was just a conversation, albeit with someone slightly less than alive. "How old are you?" He asked.
3-0-0-0 the board spelled.
"Wow." Ryou said. "Is it rude to ask how you died."
N-O-T-D-E-A-D The board spelled.
"But you're a spirit…" Ryou noted, watching as the board spelled Not Dead again insistently. "Okay, is it rude to ask how you lost your body, then?"
K-I-L-L-E-D…M-U-R-D-E-R-E-D
"Did you come back for revenge?" Ryou asked softly in response to the chilling revelation he'd just received. The marker slid to the Yes.
"But…the person who murdered you would also be dead already." Ryou said.
N-O-T-D-E-A-D
Suddenly it started shifting all over the board, spelling quickly. Ryou struggled to keep pace with it, writing down the letters as they came so that he could decipher the message.
A-R-E-Y-O-U-S-C-A-R-E-D-?
For an unexplainable reason, Ryou felt like the message was hostile. His heart began to race again, and he forced himself to calm down before saying, "No."
The marker moved up and down, and Ryou got the feeling that the spirit was laughing at him.
Y-O-U-A-R-E-L-Y-I-N-G It spelled then it continued. I-C-A-N-S-E-E-I-T. I-F-E-E-L-Y-O-U-R-F-E-A-R
Ryou swallowed hard, but leaned forward, ignoring what it had just said. "Why did you come when I called?" He asked, switching the subject.
D-I-D-Y-O-U-E-X-P-E-C-T-S-O-M-E-O-N-E-E-L-S-E-?
Ryou sighed. "My sister. I thought that her things would bring her. What brought you though?"
D-R-A-W-N-T-O-Y-O-U-A-N-D-R-I-N-G
The explanation didn't make much sense to Ryou, but he didn't think he'd get much more out of the spirit. He shifted, stretching his cramping legs. "What are you? I mean, I know you're a spirit, but…what is a spirit?" He asked curiously.
A-S-O-U-L-W-I-T-H-O-U-T-A-B-O-D-Y…T-E-M-P-O-R-A-R-I-L-Y
Temporarily Ryou thought. What did it mean? He leaned forward even more, about to ask when the marker started moving again.
I-S-T-H-E-R-I-N-G-Y-O-U-R-S-?
It took Ryou a moment to separate the letters so he could understand the message, and then a moment more to understand its meaning. This was the second time the spirit had mentioned a 'Ring'. His eyes fell onto the pendant, glowing in the soft candlelight. Understanding came to him. The 'Ring' must be the pendant. It was very old. Maybe it came from a time when this spirit had lived.
"No." He whispered, watching to see how the spirit would respond. Why did it want to know in any case? But the marker was shaking now; shifting back and forth just inches…as though more than one spirit were fighting for control of it.
The candle wavered, flickering dangerously. The marker started pulling slowly towards the letters slowly, shivering as it did.
E…V…I…it spelled before it jerked erratically to the side and started spinning in circles, faster than his eye could follow. Then, as quickly as it had started, it stopped. The marker started moving, slowly at first, and then faster and faster until it was going so fast Ryou could barely keep up.
I-T-I-S-M-E-A-M-Y. It Is Me, Amy. Ryou's spirits soared, and the first spirit was forgotten. He'd done it; he'd contacted his sister!
The marker started moving quickly, though precisely, to each letter.
C-A-N-T-S-T-A-Y-L-O-N-G
Ryou frowned, trying not to feel disappointed. Of course she wouldn't be able to stay for too long. "Are you okay?" Ryou whispered.
The marker started on its way to the Yes, but paused suddenly, then went to No.
W-O-R-R-I-E-D
"About?" Ryou said, worry for her entering his heart like a dark shadow.
Y-O-U
Ryou turned his head to the side curiously. Why would Amane be worried about him?
"Why?" He asked. The marker shivered slightly, then, slowly now, it moved to the side of the board and pointed at the pendant. A gust of wind blew through the open window behind him and the candle flickered, almost going out, but managing to stay alight.
He waited and waited, but the marker didn't move again. He wondered if she had left, but smiled when finally, after at least five minutes, the marker moved again.
"Amane?" He asked warily, hoping she'd stayed. His hopes were disappointed though as the marker slid over to the No.
T-H-E-R-I-N-G-I-S-Y-O-U-R-S it spelled.
"No, it's not." Ryou explained. "It was my sister, Amane's."
S-H-E-I-S-D-E-A-D-I-T-I-S-Y-O-U-R-S the spirit insisted. Ryou knew that, though Amane's body was dead, her spirit was still alive. He'd just spoken with her! Though he did wish she could've stayed longer. His eyes strayed back to the pendant though. It was so pretty, its golden form glimmering in the half-light.
Ryou couldn't explain why, but this spirit, 'Bakura', still felt hostile to him. He didn't like its talk of revenge. He shivered as another breeze tumbled over him, driving his silvery hair around his face in gentle waves. He snatched the instructions, looking for how to end a conversation with a spirit.
Generally, the spirit will be the first to break the connection, It directed, It may or may not announce its departure, but with it will go the flame from the candle, as the spirit will steal its warmth with it. To end the conversation, simply inform the spirit of your desire to stop talking with it. It will leave, and if it does not then snuff out the candle and it will not linger.
Ryou looked up to where the marker had been spelling something out, but he'd missed it. "I'd like to stop speaking with you now, spirit." He said.
The marker shifted up and down, and again Ryou felt that the spirit was laughing. I-M-N-O-T-G-O-I-N-G-A-N-Y-W-H-E-R-E I'm not going anywhere…Ryou shivered involuntarily as he read the words. His heart thudded painfully, leaping up into his throat.
"Why?" Ryou whispered. Another breeze floated around him, feeling like soft fingers pulling through his hair.
The board spelled quickly. Y-O-U-B-E-L-O-N-G-T-O-M-E. The words had a sense of finality, as though the spirit were in charge; as though its word was law.
Ryou's mind was on high alert. He watched the words be spelled out again and again in his mind, though the marker had stopped moving. The words of the spirit were haunting, and Ryou knew that he shouldn't have kept talking to it. The game said there were good spirits and bad ones, and Ryou knew he'd just attracted a very bad spirit. But he was okay, because the game also said that a spirit couldn't harm a living human. He just hoped that was true.
He leaned forward and grabbed the burning wick of the candle between two fingers, intent on getting rid of the flame, and so the spirit. It should've gone out, but it didn't. Instead the flame flared even brighter under his skin, burning his fingers. With a cry he pulled them back and pushed the burned fingers in his mouth to keep from making any more noise.
It was surprising his father hadn't heard any of this and come down the hall to see what he was doing. If he did he would be in huge trouble. After all, his father had told him to stop with the occult, but it was fascinating! Although it wasn't very fascinating right now. Ryou pulled his fingers from his mouth, scooting away from the board so that he was leaning against his bed, arms wrapped around his knees, eyes fixed on the marker. "Why won't you leave?" He asked, almost to himself.
Y-O-U-A-R-E-M-Y-H-O-S-T-B-O-D-Y the board spelled, then spelled two words.
H-O-S-T…H-I-K-A-R-I
Ryou stood up suddenly and grabbed a towel from the side of his room. He had to get this spirit to leave. He dumped the towel on the candle, sure that the thick fabric would smother it. He was wrong again, though, as the towel caught fire as well. Ryou bit his tongue to keep from yelling, then grabbed it off the candle and dumped it on the floor and began stepping on it until the flames were gone. His breath was coming in short gasps, both because of the suddenness of the flames and his panicking about the spirit.
He looked at the clock. It was almost two. He hadn't realized how long he'd been talking with the spirit. He began pacing, making a line in front of the board. His heart was pounding loudly in his chest, and his lungs couldn't seem to get enough air. What am I going to do Ryou thought in a panic should I go get father? Should I throw the candle out the window…? Or if I just leave it will the spirit go away? It has to go away sometime. It can't stay here forever.
He turned to the board and said, sounding as strong as he could. "I want you to leave now. I have nothing more to say, nothing more to ask, and there's nothing left for you here. If you're smart you should move on."
The marker moved up and down, the movement Ryou had coined as laughter. Then it said, N-O-T-P-O-S-S-I-B-L-E
"I want you to leave, now." Ryou said again, his voice not quite as sure.
N-E-V-E-R-L-E-A-V-E… Y-O-U-A-R-E-M-Y-R-Y-O-U… The marker moved up and down again in its laughing pattern.
Ryou bit his lip, then crawled over and climbed into his bed, leaving the game board, candle and all, in the center of his room. "Please leave." He whispered softly to himself. "Please." He closed his eyes and turned his back on the board, not watching its response.
He tossed and turned, trying to avoid looking at the board and the softly glowing candle, but his eyes always seemed to be drawn back to it, wondering if the spirit was still there; if it was watching him. Finally, though it was nearly 4:00 am by the time he managed it, he fell asleep, candle lit, breeze blowing through the open window.
It felt like he'd only drifted to sleep for a few moments, instead of five hours. But his clock told him that it was 9:00 am. He stretched, reaching his arms far above his head. He was glad that it was Saturday. Ryou had almost completely forgotten the game…that is until his eyes fell down to it mid-stretch.
It sat, exactly as he'd left it except for one thing. The candle was gone. Or rather, it had been burned down throughout the night so that it was nothing more than a giant hardened puddle of wax that was in a large blob across the board. The wick was gone, burned down to nothing, and the flame was gone with it. He exhaled a giant sigh of relief, and—before his father could come and discover what he'd been doing and get mad—he began to clean up the board. He put away the letter and the doll, cleaned up the mess of wax and placed the game neatly back into its box and shoved it far under his bed under the blackened towel.
Everything was clean…but Ryou frowned. Something was wrong. He felt like he was forgetting something. He looked around his room until he spotted Amane's soft pink blanket wrapped up on his desk. Grabbing it, meaning to put it away, it occurred to him that the thing that was missing wasn't the blanket itself. He looked around his room. Where was the pendant? His father would be furious if he'd lost it! He looked all over the desk, checked under the bed with the game, and even looked in his closet to see if for some reason he'd placed it in there.
It wasn't there.
A breeze played over his shoulders from the open window, and Ryou wondered if someone had come in during the night and stolen it. But somehow that didn't seem likely to him. It was somewhere in his room, he just had to find it. He sat down on his bed, looking around, and something shifted across his chest. He put a hand up to it in surprise. There was something slightly bulky beneath his shirt. He pulled it out curiously.
It was the pendant. He looked at it in confusion. In the brightening sunlight, it glittered prettily, and he couldn't help but admire it as he usually did upon seeing it. But still, he'd never put it on. It was Amane's, regardless of her death, and he knew better.
He was just about to take it off, and leave the mystery of how it had gotten on to itself when a cold voice whispered to him, 'What's wrong, my Ryou?' there was a cold chuckle. 'Afraid your sister will come back to haunt you if you keep it?'
"What…" Ryou started, holding the pendant in his cold, clammy hands. The words, the presence, felt familiar. It felt like...
'That's right, it's me, little Hikari. Didn't you believe me when I said never?'
Chills shivered down Ryou's spine, and his skin crawled as his breath began to come in short gasps. With all his study of the occult, he knew exactly what had happened. He'd tried to contact roaming spirits, restless spirits. Spirits that had nowhere to go. He'd invited it in, spoken to it, and now it had taken its payment for his entertainment. The spirit, desirous of a body it didn't have, had decided to take up residence inside a host. Him. Spirits were the most intelligent of all parasites after all.
But spirits also had to have a reason to need to inhabit a body. A goal unfulfilled in life.
'My my, you are intelligent.'
Ryou grit his teeth, trying to keep a lid on his terror. It was inside him. It could read his thoughts. For all he knew, it could possess him.
Answering his earlier thoughts the spirit said, 'I am called Bakura, I have one single purpose. Revenge through power. You, Host, are going to help me get it.'
And the Host had no choice but to agree.
I don't know where this idea came from, honestly. It just came.
My little A/N: Ryou is meant to be around 10-12 yrs old in this, and the Ring was originally given to Amane (self explanatory!). I actually like that idea. :)
Anyways, I have to say that my stories have been lacking popularity lately, and (having the low self-esteem I do) its taken a blow to my ego! :'( Please review!? PLEASE!!! Oh, and if you have an idea for a better name for this story, also leave that in a review and I'll consider it, because I don't really like the one it has.
A'ight, till I write something new, Sayonara.