Chapter Six
Don't Fuck With Ouija Boards
The closet door was thrust open, Aradia and Equius both blushing at their close proximity to each other. Aradia's eyes darted to Sollux first, whose face wore a crumpled frown. He fidgeted with his glasses before darting away. Aradia looked down. Equius's hand appeared back at her waist, pulling her closer to his side as they walked out of the closet past Vriska, a victorious smirk across her face. Aradia glanced sideways at her, then at Equius as his hand left her waist and tried holding her hand instead. She leaned away. Equius looked at her with some concern, but didn't press the situation further as Aradia slunk into the other room, where she'd seen Sollux disappear to. He leaned over the sink, glasses on the counter next to him. He looked crumpled and defeated, struggling to compose himself, not noticing Aradia.
"Sollux…" she murmured. He jumped to attention, straightening himself out.
"Hey, AA," he answered, trying to remain cool. But he hardly ever used that nickname anymore, except when he was embarrassed. Hearing it so casually again felt like a step backwards in their friendship. "How was your, uh, time in 'heaven'?"
"Nothing special. Equius asked me out, though."
"I see," Sollux said, his words hanging in the air. The two stood on opposite sides of the counter, Sollux's heterochromatic eyes baring into Aradia. She wanted to say something, wanted to explain what had happened. Which was nothing, not to her. She didn't say she'd go out with Equius, but he certainly took it that way. The truth was, she hadn't known what to say. Nobody had ever asked her out, on a date, and she didn't know what to say. She'd always expected the first guy to ask her out would be Sollux, because it was obvious to both of them, even if they'd never act on it, that they wanted to be with each other. But Equius asked first, and Aradia hadn't been given an opportunity to say no before Vriska'd yanked the doors open.
Aradia couldn't bring herself to say anything else, and Sollux turned on his heel and walked out of the room again, leaving Aradia in the quiet, staring at the place he'd been moments before. The party seemed to resume out of nowhere, the rest of her friends filling up the empty space and the silence being reoccupied by music.
Aradia lay awake that night, Tavros's guest room occupied by all the ladies who'd chosen to spend the night. Jade and Rose and John and Dave left, but not until a little after midnight, and Feferi had a curfew, but other than that, everyone stayed the night. At least to Aradia's knowledge. But she herself couldn't fall asleep. She glanced around the room at the four still, sleeping bodies. What she would give for things to go back to normal. With a quiet sigh, she carefully got to her feet and padded out of the room.
Aradia knew Tavros's house well enough and felt comfortable enough there to make herself a mug of hot chocolate and sit herself on the couch, which was exactly her intention, but as she came into the kitchen, she was startled to find someone already down there. Rufioh was quietly watching television from the cushy armchair, and caught Aradia staring like a deer in headlights. He paused his show and stood from the chair.
"Hey Aradia," he said, coming into the kitchen.
"Oh…hey…Rufioh," Aradia answered, her voice trailing between every word. Aradia had been friends with Tavros for long enough to feel comfortable around his brother. He'd taught them how to play Pokemon when they were younger, and he never hesitated to join in their card games, and Aradia would just as easily count him as a friend. He was way easier to get along with than some of her other friend's siblings, not an intimidating fellow like Mituna. (Well, okay, she wouldn't say Mituna was intimidating, but he had an awful, awful time with social interaction and was difficult to talk to.)
"What's goin' on, li'l Droog? Thought you guys were all asleep," Rufioh asked. His intuition brought him to prepare two glasses of hot chocolate, and he held the conversation with Aradia as she stood blankly in the kitchen, watching him pour the instant powder into a pair of mugs.
"I couldn't sleep. Mind's too occupied," Aradia said, her voice becoming hollow and tinny.
"Mm," Rufioh hummed. He popped the hot chocolate out of the microwave and pushed a mug into Aradia's hands. She took it with a light grip, the warmness in such contrast to her cool hands. "Come on, let's talk. If it helps any, I couldn't sleep either."
Aradia took a seat at the kitchen table, Rufioh sitting across from her. At first she couldn't say anything, and Rufioh just let her stay quiet, sipping on his hot chocolate. And then it all came crashing down.
"Rufioh, where do I even start?" Aradia cried, tears pooling on the brims of her eyes. "I…"
"Take a breath. It's alright."
Aradia took a few slow breaths, making sure her exhalation was slow and calm. "Okay, okay. Um, my dad remarried last year. And… my stepmom is nice and all, but I feel like she hasn't really bothered to get to know me. She's not really, ya know, she doesn't seem like she's great with kids. Which is fine, I guess. She supposedly had a really crappy childhood herself, and I guess doesn't know how to handle people my age. But she tries and I try to give her credit for that. Hell, she took Fef and I shopping for Homecoming dresses. It's… augh, it's her daughter I can't stand. She smokes and does drugs and, like, dropped out of school… she's rude and curses at me and refuses to speak proper English even though I know she's been learning…"
Rufioh's brow creased more and more as Aradia told her about the family dynamic. "Wait, hey. What did you say your stepsister's name was?"
"Um. Damara."
Rufioh's eyes shot wide open. "Oh. Makes sense now."
"Huh?"
"Damara and I used to date. She's a crazy chick, doll. Nearly ripped my head off a coupl'a times."
"Was she really that bad when you two were dating?"
"Um…no," Rufioh answered as though he were having an epiphany. "It wasn't until things were ending that she started acting like that. Before, she was real timid, and nice. We'd sit and watch anime together, and like… couple stuff, ya know?" Aradia nodded. "But she got, like, weirdly jealous of my friends." Rufioh's cheeks slowly grew more intensely red. Aradia was able to pick up on the fact that Rufioh wasn't telling the whole story, but she didn't have the energy to push him any further. "Hey, Damz and I… we still talk. We're still friends. Tell her I say hey." Aradia nodded again. "Anything else buggin' you?"
Aradia sighed. "Just the story of my life. Relationship issues. Equius asked me out tonight and I didn't know how to say no, and I think I really hurt Sollux."
"Ah. Been there too, doll, and I'm gonna share my motto with you: Never Panic. You'll figure it out, I'm sure."
"Have you?"
"Rufioh ran a nervous hand through his red-tipped Mohawk. "Working on it. Zahhaks…man, they're tricky. But hey, both of us should probably get some shut-eye."
Aradia nodded again, traipsing back upstairs as Rufioh disappeared into his room on the bottom floor, and to her own surprise, fell asleep the second she hit the pillow.
Aradia dreamt, but it wasn't the same as her regular dreams. Her dreams were usually haunting, echoes of the voices lurking around, the same ones that had been following her for… how long had it even been now? Years?
That night's dream was more of a memory, a memory of when the voices in her head first appeared. They came and went, and she thought they were finally gone. Despite everything since the wedding, she hadn't heard them. She'd never listened to them when they were there, though. Not since that first night. It had happened years earlier, but the memory played through her mind that night like a projection on a screen.
It was about a month after the death of a Mrs. Rachel Droog. Aradia was 9, sitting in the backyard with her spade in the dirt on an 'archaeological dig', which her father never minded. But she wasn't really invested in what she was doing. She was crying, tears rolling down her cheeks and falling into the dirt underneath her, not paying attention to much else. Somehow she was vaguely aware of her front door opening, a few muffled voices joining her father's, and then the back door opening.
"Hi, uhm, Aradia?"
She looked up at him with a start. A dorky-looking boy stood in front of her, his face covered with a messy, stringy mop of black hair. He wore an oversized yellow t-shirt with a giant bee on it, baggy jeans that, even cuffed, were too long for his legs, and mismatched sneakers. He peered at her from behind round glasses, offering a hand to help her out of the small pit she was sitting in. Aradia stood up herself, brushing dirt from her pants and wiping the tear streaks off her face.
"Hi…" she murmured. She recognized him from class but didn't really know him. "What's your name?"
Sollux fumbled for a moment, giving a slight bow. "M'names Sollux. Captor." A very noticeable lisp escaped his lips.
"Tholluckth?" Aradia giggled a bit. Sollux's cheeks flushed bright right.
"Don't make fun of me!"
"Sorry," Aradia said, studying him a bit. "Your eyes don't match." Sollux didn't say anything, instead tugging on the hem of his t-shirt in a futile attempt to hide his eyes. "Sorry," Aradia said again.
"S'alright. Uhm, I guess my dads know your dad, and I heard about your mom."
"Oh."
"They told me to come out and talk to you. We brought flowers." Aradia didn't say anything, didn't even look up at him. "I bet you miss her, huh? I miss my parents too. Or I guess… I just wish I could meet them."
Aradia crinkled her brow. "I thought you said you were here with your dads."
"Yeah, but two daddies can't have a baby, dummy. I mean my real parents."
"Oh."
"Hey!" Sollux said suddenly, rocking on his heels. "Do you wanna talk to her again?" Aradia nodded enthusiastically. "I have something that can help!" Sollux grabbed Aradia's hand and the two kids raced inside.
It sat in front of them, Aradia and Sollux sitting across from each other. Aradia played with the ends of her hair.
"Sollux, are you sure about this?"
"Mhm! If you get scared, you can hold my hand." Aradia nodded curtly as Sollux drew a long breath. "Are there any spirits here?" he asked, bringing his and Aradia's hands to the planchette. It was still, filling the children with a sense of relief. But after a quiet moment, it hovered and shook. The board said 'yes'. Aradia gasped.
"What is your name?" Sollux asked. Slowly, it moved, spelling out a name. R-A-C-H-E… but before it could finish, the planchette shook violently; the board itself shook violently. Aradia pulled away from the board, as the lights flickered and a low rumbling seemed to fill the room. Aradia and Sollux fell backwards on opposite sides of the room. Sollux began crawling towards the door, reaching for the doorknob. Aradia scrambled to her feet as the door got yanked open, then-
Aradia woke up. The voices were back.
That fucking Ouija board.
