Lloyd wouldn't say he believed in ghosts. He was 15, of course he didn't.

But when Nya stumbled into the warehouse, her eyes gleaming with excitement, challenging them to play the Ouija board with her, he'd found himself hesitating.

Okay, maybe he was a little scared of something, he didn't even believe to exist, but he wasn't the only one!

Jay had been even more hesitant than him, even speaking his mind on it. To Lloyd's surprise, Cole hadn't really seemed much into the idea either, but it only took a mocking "Chicken!" from Nya to get them all on better thoughts, than chickening out.

That's what Lloyd thought back to, as he found himself seated around their small coffee table, hands on a planchette, that had barely moved, beside making them aware, that a spirit was present, at their first question.

Why'd he let her talk him into this? It wasn't that he was scared, but this sucked, and he'd had a bad enough day as it was.

He stared into one of the candles, they'd lit on the table, his mind slowly drifting off to earlier today, Nya's voice blurring out into white noise, as he re lived his school day.

It wasn't that he wanted to, it had been horrible, and all he wanted to was to forget it, really. But his mind tended to work like that. The more he wanted to forget something, the more it'd haunt him.

Huh, maybe school was the real ghost here. He thought, but was then suddenly snapped back to reality, by the screams of his teammates.

Slowly, as in a daze, he drew his eyes away from the candle, and looked at the board.

The planchette had moved, now resting at the No on the board. Huh, he hadn't even noticed the movement. Weird.

Lloyd looked at his teammates, and was surprised to find them all looking horrified, pretty much writing off any of them moving the planchette.

They weren't that good actors.

Lloyd now realized, he hadn't even heard the question. Crap! Was it too late to ask?

"What happened?" He cringed at the way his voice had gone a pitch higher. He wasn't scared!

"What do you mean, what happened!?" If Lloyd had thought his voice had been high-pitched, then Jay's was high-pitched ². At the very least. "Nya asked the question, and the planchette moved! What else do you think happened?!"

Lloyd felt a wave of irritation run through him. Just couldn't give him a straight answer, could they?!

"Yeah, I see, but I didn't hear the damn questions, mind you." He didn't mean for it to come out that hard, really, it just happened. Well, he thought to himself, no going back now.
Jay flinched and Lloyd could've kicked himself. No damn wonder people thought of him as a monster, he thought bitter, before taking a deep breath trying to catch Jay's eyes. "Sorry, didn't mean it like that." Jay just nodded.

"Geez, should we get going?" Kai's voice broke through the air, reminding Lloyd of the others presence. "Nya asked if it was a good spirit, btw." He added, trying to sound calm, but failing miserably. Lloyd noticed how his eyes darted back to the No, and felt how his own heart rate increase, as Kai's word sank in.

But it was just a stupid game, right? Right... Just a game. A stupid one.

"Well, what are you waiting for? Ask the next question." Was he stupid? What was he thinking! Someone just stop him now. But he couldn't take it back. That'd be admitting that he was scared. That he believed in something, so stupid, as that a piece of wood could contact the dead.

Lloyd's palms had gotten sweaty, his heart beating loud in his chest. There was no way the others couldn't hear it. And yet, Cole asked the next question.

"Do you want to harm us?" Cole almost managed to keep his voice under control. Lucky, Lloyd thought, remembering how his own voice had been high-pitched and shaking, just half a minute ago, when he was stupid enough to encourage this question, that he really didn't want the answer to.

But nothing happened. The anxiety slowly left Lloyd's body as he relaxed.

Then then the planchette jolted to Yes. Their hands almost slipped off of it.

"Screw this, I'm out!" Kai drew his hand off the planchette, as if he'd been burned. His voice shaking slightly.

"Okay it's not funny anymore," Nya had completely dropped her cool, which was when Lloyd really started feeling worried. "who moved the planchette?" Her eyes searching their expressions, almost begging to find a sign, that they were just messing with her. After searching for a little while she gave up, and Lloyd felt the anxiety increasing as he saw her frightened expression.

It was quite silly, actually. Really. Nothing had happened. But he couldn't help this nagging feeling, that something was just wrong.

Lloyd sucked in a shaky breath. They were fine. Nothing had happened. He needed to calm down, he couldn't just lose his shit over some stupid ghost. Ugh

The packed the board into the box and blew out the candle. The air filled with tension, the silence almost unbearable.

Lloyd wanted to cry. Or laugh. He didn't really know. Because they were scared. All of them, him included. Scared of an invisible, non-existing ghost, in a piece of wood. It sounded silly.

But it felt wrong.

He wondered if the others could feel it too? Or maybe he was just being paranoid? Probably.