AN: Prompts will be displayed at the bottom to avoid them potentially giving away things.
~ WARNING: Brief mention of suicide (no details). ~
lonely spirits collide (eventually)
AlwaysPadfoot
"You're never going to let that go, are you?"
Even though she said it casually, Rita Skeeter felt well and truly trapped. She was going to have to go with Narcissa, otherwise she was going to tell everyone about how Rita had used the art of seduction to sleep with their maths teacher. She hadn't, of course, but she found that Narcissa — being the Queen Bee she was — was particularly persuasive when spreading rumours.
"Nope," Narcissa responded. "Come, we have ghosts to communicate with."
The last thing Rita wanted was to go to Psycho Sybill's house to do a fucking Ouija board.
Reluctantly, Rita got in Narcissa's car anyway and it shot away from the curb before she'd even put her seatbelt on. Rita wasn't particularly fond of the girl's driving, but again, she wasn't going to complain. Narcissa played top hits and sang loud, driving over the speed limit until they finally arrived outside their destination.
Rita's eyes skeptically studied the house. It was old; it had the Tudor-style beams on the outside and definitely looked like it might be haunted — with or without the Ouija board.
A low rumble of thunder sounded above the as they hurried up to the door through the wall of rain that had appeared as if from nowhere.
There was a large brass knocker — no doorbell — and Rita was apprehensive. Narcissa, however, had brazen confidence, and reached up and knocked three times. This was not how Rita wanted to spend her Friday night at all.
The man who answered the door actually seemed somewhat normal. Considering Sybill was far from normal, it surprised Rita that the man — her father — looked like he could be any old Tom, Dick, or Harry. He beamed at them, his arms outspread and his eyes large behind his glasses.
"Ah, you must be more of Sybill's friends," he said. "Please, follow me."
"More of Rita's friends?" Rita hissed to Narcissa as they followed Sybill's dad through the house. "Who else is here?"
"Andy and her boyfriend are here," Narcissa muttered, waving her hand dismissively. "You remember Ted's the weirdo type — him and Psycho Sybill are friends or whatever."
Sybill's Dad lead then to the back door, flicking the outside lights as he opened it.
"They're in the summerhouse."
He gestured to a small wooden building at the top of the garden.
"Thank you, Mr Trelawney," Narcissa said.
The two girls slipped past him and back out into the rain. This weather was going to ruin Rita's hair; she huffed in annoyance as they quickly took to the stone steps from the patio.
"Please, that's not a summerhouse," Rita said. "It's a glorified shed."
"For God's sake, Rita," Narcissa said. "If you're scared you can always go home."
"I'm not scared," Rita retorted.
"Sure."
Rita detected the hint of sarcasm in the girl's voice, but before she could defend herself further they reached the door of the shed.
Sybill Trelawney opened the door and Rita found herself restraining herself from rolling her eyes at the bizarre girl's clothing. She had a thin orange bandana in her hair, a floaty shirt in a clashing pink colour, and worse, multiple rings on her fingers. She inspected Narcissa and Rita with blue eyes, magnified by her thick-lensed glasses.
"Thank you, Dad," she called into the darkest behind them.
"No problem, Sibby."
His voice was nearly indistinguishable by the rain and Psycho Sybill stepped aside to let them in. Andromeda, Narcissa's sister, was sat draped over her boyfriend's lap. Since Rita last saw Ted, he had changed the colour of his hair from blonde to blue.
"Still dating I see," Narcissa said.
Andromeda stuck her middle finger up at her sister. "Funny that, you sound just like mother."
Rita switched off from their bickering after Narcissa shrieked that she was happy being single, and rubbed her hands together to warm them up. For a summerhouse, it really did feel more like a shed; cold as fuck. There was a heater in the corner so Rita surreptitiously moved close to it. She would sacrifice herself moving closed to Psycho Sybill in exchange for some much needed warmth.
Rita did her best to not look up, not wanting to draw attention to herself, but unfortunately that had to end sooner or later.
Rita jumped slightly when she looked up to see Sybill was right next to her.
"The moon reminds me of you." Her voice was spacey, ominous, and Sybill continued. "So beautiful, so bright… and so far away."
Feeling her cheeks heart slightly, Rita stammered.
"Um, thanks?"
It was at that moment that Narcissa clapped her hands together and dropped into one of the five seats with a smile. "Right, enough about my tragically single life, let's contact the dead."
An atmospheric flash of lightning lit up the space and Rita sank into a seat, her stomach twisted in knots.
She did not like the idea of the supernatural. Dead sure that ghosts and spirits existed, Rita did not have avid curiosity to meet any of them. She didn't even watch horror films, because afterwards they caused her to lie in bed thinking about them all night, sure something or someone was there watching her.
The only reason she was doing this was because Narcissa had given her out from just being that girl who was on the school paper.
The Ouija board was already laid out on the table. The triangular piece that they were all supposed to touch sat unmoving in the middle of the board. Sybill cleared her throat and started to explain what they were to do, and not to do.
Do not remove your fingers from the piece until the spirit has moved the planchette to the goodbye on the board.
Do not be disrespectful or insult the spirit.
Do not give a spirit permission to enter an object, or your body.
Rita could feel the fear deep inside her. She recited the multiple rules in her head, forcing herself to remain calm. It probably (hopefully) wouldn't even work anyway. Narcissa would be pissed and call Sybill a fraud, but Rita would remain unpossessed and have a easy job at staying far away from any Ouija boards in the future.
"Right, so how quickly are we going to get to talk to someone?" Narcissa said, her eyes alight with excitement.
"One must be patient when attempting to communicate with the dead," Sybill responded.
"Basically, we might have to wait around," Ted said. "It can sometimes take upwards of an hour to finally find a spirit; that being said, Sybill has a gift."
Rita wouldn't call it a gift — more a curse, if anything.
"Bor-ing." Narcissa rolled her eyes, undoing the top button of her blouse and pushing her sleeves up over her elbows. "Right, well, we better get started then."
Sybill straightened up. "You are all ready to begin?"
The quicker they began, the quicker Rita could get the fuck out of here. They all unanimously nodded, and Sybill's eyes lingered on Rita for the longest, before she began to explain the procedure. They would enter the board one by one, Sybill first and then clockwise until they were all sat with their fingers on the planchette. Sybill cracked her fingers slightly and then began to lean forward.
Except, before she could do anything, Sybill's eyes rolled back into her head and she made an inhuman gasping sound. All of them jumped, and Narcissa was on her feet faster than anyone could move.
"What fresh hell is this?" the girl stammered.
Rita was glued to her seat in shock as Sybill's body jerked and her mouth opened to speak. "Narcissa Black, I talk to you from another realm."
Her voice didn't even sound like hers — it sounded male. Narcissa had gone ghostly pale and snatched up her coat.
"Reggie?" she stammered. "Fuck, no, I'm out."
She stumbled from the summerhouse, leaving the door to slam shut in the wind and rain. Fearfully, Rita's eyes snapped back to Sybill's convulsing body, and then suddenly stopped. Rita could feel her heart in her throat, her fingers gripping the arms of her chair. Then, as blood pumped behind Rita's eardrums, Sybill cracked an eye open and her lips played into a smile.
"I did not expect that to work," Sybill said, her voice a little hoarse.
"That was pure gold," Andromeda responded.
Rita noted that Andy had a glint in her eye. What on earth had just happened? Rita's mind was spinning with possibilities and she realised fear was still rife inside of her.
"Was—was that, all fake?" she asked.
"Goodness no!" Sybill said it with such horror that Rita held her hands up in surrender.
"No." It was Andromeda who spoke then, her eyes were dark now. "Last year, my darling sister told someone that our cousin, Regulus, was gay. The rumour spread like wildfire. Regulus couldn't deal with the torment — he killed himself."
Ted shifted, leaning over to take Andy's hand in his, before continuing for her. "Sybill really does have a gift; she offered to contact Regulus. He was keen to talk to Narcissa, and things escalated from there."
Rita's jaw dropped, looking between the three as the storm raged outside, the only noise she could hear for a long moment. Her gaze shifted to Sybill who was sipping water from a bottle of water. In RIta's head, Sybill couldn't have possibly have managed to emulate a voice like she had if there wasn't another force involved.
"You really can communicate with the dead?" Rita asked in a quiet voice.
Sybill nodded. "Since I was a child."
Rita couldn't even begin to imagine how that might have impacted the girl's life, no wonder Psycho Sybill was her long-standing nickname. Her natural curiosity wanted to ask a million questions, but she refrained, still understandably shaky from the events of the last fifteen minutes. She wasn't actually sure what she should do; Rita no longer had a lift home and the three friends probably didn't want to her to hang around. This would be quite a story to tell one day.
The other started moving around her and Rita was suddenly aware of Sybill saying her name. "Rita? Do you want to stay for pizza? We're going to watch Brooklyn 9-9 on Netflix."
Rita was surprised. "Really?"
"Yes, of course, honey." Sybill smiled and nodded, Rita blushing at the nickname. "No Ouija boards, I promise. Perhaps some palmistry but nothing intense."
Now, that sounded like a Friday night Rita could appreciate.
Comp/Challenge & Prompts:
Femslash February: 28. Sybill/Rita
Serpent Challenge: 61. Trinket snake - (object) button
Insane House Challenge: 14. Character - Regulus Black
365 Prompts Challenge: 109. Dialogue - "You're never going to let that go, are you?"
Writing Club [Character Appreciation]: 9. (setting) Shed.
Writing Club [Disney Challenge]: 4. Character - Jafar - Write about someone manipulative. OR. Write about someone with an awesome moustache.
Writing Club [Book Club]: Nadine Cross: (character) Narcissa Malfoy, (word) pure, (object) Ouija/spirit board, (word) seduction
Writing Club [Showtime]: 10. A Sentimental Man - (relationship) Father/Child
Writing Club [Days of the Month]: Singles Awareness Day - Write about someone who is happily single
Writing Club [A Year in Entertainment]: Book: My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult - (relationship) Sisters
Writing Club [Liza's Loves]: 2. Dark 'N' Stormy - Write about a storm
Writing Club [Jenny's Jovial Quotes]: 23. "What fresh hell is this?"
Word Count: 1771 — not inc. notes, titles, or ANs.