#badseanceii

          “My friends and I were playing around with a Ouija board and…”

          “I’ve heard enough. Get out.”

          “But…”

          “It’s time for you to go, now!”

          “You know what, you’re a fucking phony. This whole fake ass satanic house of worship is bullshit! You don’t really believe Lucifer exists. If you did, you’d know the fear I have been living with for the past year.” I spit on the floor and then left the building as quickly as I could.

          I felt like I truly was out of options at that point. I was walking back to my car when out of nowhere, this old woman began approaching me while whistling this creepy tune. She looked very old and had long straight grey hair. Her skin was dark brown with liver spots all over, and her eyes were a dark green color. She stepped up to me and said, “If you’re trying to communicate with Satan, then you’re going to have to summon him.”

          Not knowing what to make of her, I asked, “How do I summon him?”

          “How did you do it before?”

          “Me and my friends were messing with this Ouija board. I know it sounds crazy but…”

          “You were tricked, weren’t you?”

          “Yes. He tricked us. He tricked us and he took our friend. Is there any way I can get my friend back?”

          “You’d have to ask Satan yourself. I’m Esmeralda and I can help you. Come with me, sweetheart.”

          I followed her around the block and into her apartment building. It was an old building and looked abandoned. I would’ve thought she was homeless if it weren’t for how decent her apartment looked inside. She turned on a light and then took off her jacket. As she went into a back room, I stood by the door and hoped that this old woman could help me. She returned a few moments later with a Ouija board box.

          “He has many ways of tricking people,” she told me as she removed board from the box and sat it on a small table. “He can come to you in a dream if you’ve committed a grave sin and talk you into signing your soul over to him. He can even get to you through the food you eat if you’re not careful. Not all people who die from food and drink are poisoned. This board here is one of the easiest ways he can get to you.”

          “I wouldn’t have touched it had I known. I wouldn’t have come up with the stupid idea to buy it.”

          “What are you looking to do? Are you looking to make a deal with him?”

          “Yes.”

          “Well, you have to be very careful and listen to him very closely. I can get him here but you have to do the talking.”

          “What will you be doing to get him here?”

          “You’ll see.” She gave me the creepiest look as she told me, “Place your hands on the pointer, dear.” I placed my hands on the Ouija board pointer and she said, “Ask him if he’s here with us right now.”

          I took a deep breath and asked, “Lucifer, are you here with us?” The pointer moved to the yes circle.

          Without saying anything else to me, she chanted something in another language over and over again. About the fifteenth time she chanted the saying, she began screaming. I backed away from her because I had no idea what was going on. She screamed and covered her eyes as she began to run around in a circle. Her hair flew up in the air as if she were standing on a big fan. And then, she collapsed to the floor. She wasn’t moving or anything and I was scared out of my mind.

          I moved closer to her and asked, “Esmeralda, are you okay?”

          She began groaning nonstop as her body slowly lifted itself from the floor while remaining horizontal. She was levitating. Without turning to face me, she declared, “This isn’t Esmeralda anymore.”

          I was beyond scared at that point. I was shaking so bad that I could barely control myself. I took a deep breath and asked, “Lucifer?”

          She laughed and replied, “In the flesh.”

          “Do you remember me?”

          “I remember all who have summoned me. So yes, I remember you, Cedric.”

          “May I have my friend Alton, back?”

          “No.”

          “Well, can I at least speak to him?”

          “No.”

          “There has to be something I can do. Can I trade myself for him to be free?”

          “No.”

          “Come on, damnit! You claim to have all this power and control but you can’t do a damn thing to put my friend back on this earth! You took him from us, so you can give him back if you wanted to. It shouldn’t have been him. It should’ve been me. Do you hear me, you bastard?! It should’ve been me! I talked them into doing that stupid crap with the Ouija board. I caused this. Take me and give him back!”

          “No!”

          “What can I do? Just tell me what to do and I promise you, I will do it. I swear I will do it.”

          “Anything?”

          “Anything.”

          “One of my eternal slaves found a way out of my kingdom and I want him back. He’s possessed the body of some lost soul and he knows I can’t get to him without him summoning me in some way.”

          “I’ll find him and bring him to you. What do I have to do?”

          “You have to kill the body he is hiding from me in. Kill him and repeat this phrase after you’ve put some of the body’s blood on your forehead: I have your slave, Almighty Father. If you bring back the soul of my eternal slave, then I will do anything that you wish.”

          “But you’re a liar. The devil is a liar. How am I supposed to trust that you’ll honor the deal?”

          “Because my eternal slaves are supposed to be mine forever unless I say otherwise. Your friend Alton will be released from Hell if you wish. I can make any wish come true, Cedric.”

          “How do I find the eternal slave that escaped?”

          “He’s living in this city. He’s living in the body of a man named Dreyonn Smith, but his real name is Mason Holt. If an eternal slave escapes Hell, it means their soul has taken over the body of a mortal. They are aware of it but the longer they are in the mortal body, the more they forget about being in Hell. If you say Mason’s name, even in a silent whisper, he will hear you and he will remember. You’ll see it in his eyes. You kill him, Cedric. Kill him and say the phrase. It’s the only way.”

          Before I could ask anything else, Esmeralda fell to the floor and began coughing. I bent down to help her up and after she calmed down, she told me, “That’ll be two hundred dollars, sweetie. And I only take cash.”

          After going with her to a nearby ATM and giving her the money, I ran back to my car to begin looking for the man I was supposed to find. It took me hours but I was finally able to track him down on the other side of the city. He was a construction worker and since it was getting dark, all of the construction workers at the site were leaving. I tried to think of a way to get him but couldn’t think of anything. It wasn’t until I noticed some prostitutes getting out of a car that I finally came up with something.

          “All I have to do is get him into the room and tie him up?” a prostitute, Stephanie, asked me.

          “Yes,” I told her. “And don’t forget to put this over his head.” I pulled a mask I’d purchased from a nearby store out of the bag and handed it to her. “If you do all of that, I’ll pay you five hundred dollars.”

          “I don’t know what kind of kinky shit you’re into, but you got yourself a deal.”

          “Ask which one is Dreyonn and then tell him you’ve been paid by a friend to give him a good time at that motel over there.”

          “Alright, I got it.”

          She walked away from me and I climbed into my car and watched her as she hurried across the street. She stopped a group of construction workers as they tried to get to a subway terminal. Three of the guys walked away from her, but one stayed. He was a tall dark-skinned black dude. When I saw him put his arm around Stephanie and head over to the motel, I knew it was all going to work out. I climbed back out of my and hurried into the motel to follow them inside. They took the stairwell and I carefully followed. They went into room 318 and closed the door. About a few minutes later, Stephanie quietly opened the door.

          I handed her the money and told her, “Thank you.”

          “No problem, doll,” she said back. “I can tell you’re gonna have some fun with him. He is sexy and has a big dick. It was nice doing business with you.”

          “Ditto.” I let her leave and then I stepped into the room and closed the door.

          “Sexy, is that you?” the guy asked. He was naked and tied to the headboard of the bed. The mask was covering his face.

                          Dreyonn Smith (aka Mason Holt) [pic link]

          I paused for a second before saying in as silent a whisper as possible, “Mason Holt.”

          “What did you say?” he asked as he turned his head towards me. “What the fuck! Who the hell are you? Man, untie me right now!”

          “No, I can’t do that, Mason.”

          He stopped trying to break free and asked, “Who sent you? What do you want?”

          “The devil sent me and today just isn’t your day, man.”

          “No. No, you can’t do this. I’m a person again. You can’t…”

          “I made a deal. And to be honest with you, I don’t give a fuck if that deal goes through or not at this point. I have no other options. I want my friend back and this is the only way. I’m sorry, but you should’ve found another way out.” I pulled a long kitchen knife that I’d brought from my apartment out of the bag I was carrying.

          “Wait, you don’t have to do this. You can find another way. If Lucifer has your friend then your friend deserved it!”

          Without saying another word to him, I raised the knife and stabbed him deep in his stomach. I raised the knife again and stabbed him in the chest. He began coughing up blood and convulsing. I stabbed him over and over again until he finally stopped moving. Once he stopped breathing, I slit his throat to make sure he was dead. Finally, I sat the knife down and put my thumb in his blood. I smeared it across my forehead and said what I had to say.

          “I have your slave, Almighty Father,” I said as I closed my eyes.

          When I reopened my eyes, I was no longer in the motel room. I was completely naked and I was standing beside a naked white man. The way he was looking at me made me feel weird. Finally, he shook his head and asked, “Are you happy now? Look at what you’ve done.”

          “Mason?”

          “You’re damn right it’s me. You piece of shit! I was out of this place and now you’ve ruined me. You’ve probably ruined us both. Come on.”

          He grabbed my hand and pulled me deeper and deeper into what looked like a cave. The deeper we went, the hotter it became. The ground was so rough that I could feel it cutting the soles of my feet. We turned a corner and what happened next will forever haunt me. Standing right there before us was him; Lucifer. This time, he wasn’t using someone’s body to communicate. He was right there in front of me and he looked scarier than I ever could have imagined. He began laughing at the sight of me in shock.

          “What is this?” I asked. “Why am I here?”

          “Don’t worry,” he said to me. “I just wanted you to see the slave you’ve brought back to me. Now, name your wish.”

          I thought on it for a second and then told him, “I want to go back to the night you took Alton and I want all of this to be erased. I want to remember everything, but I don’t want my friends or anyone else involved to remember.”

          He clapped his hands and said, “As you wish. Close your eyes. When you open them, all of this would have never happened.”

          I took a deep breath before closing my eyes. When I reopened them, I was back in the house I shared with Alton, Denny and Wade. I was in Denny’s room and he was wearing the same clothes he had on the night Alton was taken. Everything was exactly how it was. I looked over at Denny and he smiled and asked, “Why are you looking at me like that?”

          “Nothing,” I said with a smile. “I just missed you.”

          “Missed me? You’ve been with me all day, baby.”

          “I know.”

          “Y’all come here!” Wade called out from the living room. Denny and I headed downstairs to see Wade and Alton were lying on the floor.

          “What’s going on?” Denny asked.

          “I just learned some crazy shit about this house,” Wade replied. “Y’all know how this part of town used to be called Little Jamaica, right?”

          “Yeah,” I answered. “What about it?”

          “A dude died in this house,” he explained. “Like ten years before they gentrified this area, some homophobic Jamaican dudes tortured and killed this gay Jamaican dude here.” He scrolled through his phone and read more about the situation. “The dude they killed was into some crazy Voodoo type shit.”

          “Man, that’s probably fake,” said Denny.

          “It’s true,” Alton certified. “I’ve looked it up before. The gay guy was a known prostitute in the area. His name was Almani Breaux and he was lured to this house by the guys who lived here. They tricked him into thinking they’d pay him for letting them run a train on him and when he came inside, they attacked him.”

          “Damn,” I said. “That’s messed up.”

          “Do y’all think his spirit is still trapped in here?” Wade asked.

          “Spirit?” Denny asked. “Man, that shit ain’t real.”

          “No for real,” said Wade. “What if his spirit is trapped in this house? I have noticed some weird shit happening around here.”

          I realized it was starting to happen all over again. However, I was supposed to suggest going to Wal-Mart to get the Ouija board. Instead, I suggested, “Guys, let’s stop talking about this. It’s creepy.”

          “Yeah, it is a little too creepy,” Wade agreed.

          “No, wait,” said Alton with a smile. “I think it would be cool to see if we can release the spirit from this house.”

          “What?” I asked. “Alton, no.”

          “Let’s go to Wal-Mart and get a Ouija board. I heard you can communicate with spirits through it.”

          “I’m game,” Denny said. He turned to me and said, “We’ll be right back, baby. We’re gonna go to Wal-Mart.”

          “No,” I screamed as Denny and Alton headed out of the house. “No! He tricked me! He fucking tricked me! No!” I tried to run out after them but it was like they were moving faster than me. I turned back to Wade but he seemed unbothered by me freaking out. “Lucifer, you tricked me! No!”

[Disclaimer]: Pictures used do not reflect the sexuality or personality of people in the pictures. They only serve as visual examples of the characters.

© D.A. Morrison 2017