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I’m Elsa and my roommate is Jessica; what I am about to share should be heeded. Do not play with fire; not literally, not emotionally, and not spiritually. Even if you think it might be fun to test the waters, do not play around with the spirits of the afterworld.

  For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.  Ephesians 6:12 NKJV

I was born into a Christian family; I have always had my faith.  I am 24 years old, navigating college, and trying to be a good citizen.  I drink wine and something a little stronger from time to time. I read my bible daily, I try to be kind to those around me, and I volunteer at my local shelter.  My roommate, Jessica, grew up much the same as me. We are both from middle class families, love hard work, we try to be ethical in everything we do, and we are trying to figure out what we want to do with our lives.  Jessica, Jess to me, thinks she wants to do computer programming. I want to do architectural project management. We have been roommates for 3 years, but friends since 1^st grade.  We are best friends and would do anything for each other.

The day of the incident, we were out shopping at garage sales for some end tables. Our rental house was semi-furnished, but we wanted to add our own touch.  We are both local, going to local colleges, and figure we will share rent until one of us finds our soulmate to marry and move out.

We came across a garage sale at a house that had all kinds of funky furniture and décor. We bought some end tables, some art, some dishes, and rugs. As we were leaving, we saw a box with a bunch of games, priced at $2.00, for all.  On top of the box, was the game of Life, we could see Monopoly sticking out, and the faint hint of Scrabble.   We didn’t want to dig through the box, so we decided that two bucks was a pretty good deal.  We added the box to our other purchases, threw it in the back of the car, and ventured home.

 After making dinner, having some wine, and each going into our own rooms to chill, we reconvened in our living room.  Jessica looked over at me, as she poured another glass of wine for each of us, turned on the music, and said “Hey, we haven’t looked at those games! We should play a game of Life or see what else is in there”.  I agreed, and we went to fetch the box.  As we unpacked the box, we had a few laughs at the games; Life, Uno, Monopoly, a light-bright, a Candy Land box, and then a Ouija game.  We both looked at each other. “Oh, heck no,” I said; this is too creepy. I do not want this game in our house”.  Jess shook her head and told me that she was creeped out by it too, from all the odd stories she had heard about it.  She told me that her Pastor warned against playing with fire.   It isn’t the game so much as the idea behind it, he told her.

Jessica looked at me and said “Oh, come on, let’s just open it up and mess around, what can it hurt”?  I looked at her, in all her playful glory that I have come to love over the years. She is adventurous, fun-loving, positive, and playful; all the things I want to be and admire about her.  I took a swig of my wine, more than I normally imbibe in, and said “okay, let’s do it”.

We took the board out, took the weird-looking plastic thing out, and placed it on the board.  We put our fingers on it, closed our eyes, and waited.  Neither of us said anything for a long time.  Suddenly, I, for no reason, said “Hey, whoever is out there, what do you want to talk about tonight, we just decided to play along, so let us know what you are up to”.  After about 10 seconds, the plastic thing moved.  Jessica and I looked at each other.  “You did that” I said to her.  “No way, YOU did that” Jessica replied.  Each of us, not believing the other, decided to continue.  We asked it a few questions that I can’t recall, but we asked one that I wish we hadn’t.  Jessica asked, “What do you all want with us” and I asked, “Show us where you are”.  The thing moved around to letters that spelled out You-will-see.  We were a little creeped out, so we put the game away, not really believing each other that neither of us moved the plastic thing.

We had another glass of wine or two, to wash away our creepy feeling, put on some fun music, danced around the living room, and ended the night with a big glass of water, and our plans for tomorrow to go to the Farmers Market, returning home to study.

I took a Benadryl, in hopes of sleeping and put my music on.  I was awake for what seemed like an eternity before feeling my eyes get heavy.  Suddenly, I awoke to a whisper of “hey, come here”.  I thought it was Jessica, so I got up and went to my bedroom door.  I opened my door and went into a room I didn’t recognize.   There was a lady sticking electrical needles into her arm. Every time it would go in, it made an electrical zapping noise, followed by a chime. After the chime, blood would flow into a large, glass bowl. It was almost full, and the lady just kept sticking. When she noticed she was being watched, she turned her head and looked directly at me. There were needle holes all over her face and blood coming directly from one of her eyes. The lady was emotionless and just kept sticking herself over and over. I ran into the next room, thinking it must be a mistake.

In the next room, someone was using a water vacuum to clean out a large container.  The water was flowing into another large metal container that was overflowing. The man didn’t seem to notice, and when he did look at the container, he didn’t seem to care, he just kept vacuuming the water.  As I looked at it, I realized it was muddy, stinky water. It began to smell rancid to the point I felt like I might vomit.   I thought about saying something, but I wasn’t even sure he was aware of my presence; even after he looked at me, he just seemed to look right through me.

I left and tried to find my way out of this building. Every door I came upon was without a handle, it was as if the doorway was built but the handle was never installed, only the lock. There were no windows, and I could hear the constant sound of chomping and cracking, I couldn’t figure out where it was coming from or what it was.

As I turned another corner, I saw a cat, eating a dead mouse, even the cat didn’t seem to realize I was there; I began to wonder if I was a ghost in this crazy nightmare. Was I just observing?  As the cat chewed, I could hear the chomping and cracking. It sounded too exaggerated to be coming from the cat.  I started to walk toward the cat, to see if it would acknowledge me, when I heard someone say, “Hey honey, don’t disturb Flowers while she’s eating”.  I whipped around letting out a wince. Rocking in a chair, in front of me, was the oldest lady I have ever seen.  If someone could live to 200, they would look like her. Her eyes weren’t unkind, her face had so many crevices, it was hard to make out her features.  Her lips were so thin; they were almost non-existent.  Her hair was as yellow as a corn kernel and hung on the floor.  I saw a spider climbing up a strand before hopping over to the dusty bookcase behind her.  “You see me”?  I asked.   “Of course, I am the one who called you into this place” the old lady replied.  “What is this place, and how did you call me, why do you want me”? I asked.

“That’s enough questions for now, let’s finish the tour”. The old lady said, smiling and revealing nubs for teeth. The old lady rose out of the rocker with little effort at all. She just seemed to float out of the rocker.  She turned and did a head nod as if to indicate I should follow her.  I didn’t want to, but I had no other choice.  I had nowhere to go and no way to get out of whatever this was.

“What do you mean by, telling me you called me here” I asked.  The old lady looked at me and told me that I had welcomed her and her friends in and opened the door while playing our little game.  “We didn’t mean anything, we were just messing around, we were bored. We are good people, we are Christian girls, how do we get out”?  I pleaded.  “You don’t get out unless you join us.  You agree to help us out, and you get out. You don’t agree, and you are stuck here” the old lady said as she grinned and revealed her brownish black nubbed teeth.

I ran from her. I don’t know why; it didn’t seem like there was any place I could go.  I just knew I didn’t want to stay with her.  As I ran, I came to a room with a lady pulling her hair out, strand by strand. She just looked at the glass window and pulled her hair over and over.  Next, I came across a man that was pacing a room.  He paced fervently, and as he paced, he looked at a clock on the wall. I couldn’t imagine what was possessing him to pace so violently that his shoes were worn out; I couldn’t imagine what he was fearing or waiting for.

I ran further into the building and came across horror after horror.  I saw children chained to chairs, women bruised from head to toe, men shackled and chained, animals wailing in agony.  I felt the weight of all the sadness, pain, agony, and anger. I couldn’t stand it any longer; it was crushing to the point I felt like I wanted to end my life. 

I turned to run again and ran right into the old lady.  I screamed and tried to run but my feet wouldn’t move.  I looked down and my ankles were chained to big rings on the concrete floor.  I couldn’t move and as the old lady got closer to my face, I tried to push her away. I grabbed at her hair trying to throw her to the floor.  She started chanting my name: “Elsa, Elsa, Elsa”.  I tried to get free when suddenly, I opened my eyes to see Jessica.

“Oh Jess, is it you? Are you down here in this abyss”?  I asked.   “Elsa, it’s me, Jess, we are here in our home. You are safe, nobody is after you” Jessica reassured me.  I looked at her and told her that she had no idea how horrific my dream was.  She shared with me that she had had a bad dream as well.  “I dreamt of a dark place where an old man told me that he summoned me” Jessica told me.  “Oh Jess, that is too similar to my dream, it has to be that awful board we messed with”, I replied.  “It is creepy Elsa, but we have had wine, it’s 3:00 o’clock in the morning, and we are a little stressed, let’s talk in the morning” Jessica suggested.  “Okay, maybe you are right” I conceded.

We both tried to sleep, in our own rooms, but sleep wouldn’t come.  I got out of bed and walked near Jess’s room.  I saw her looking at her phone.  “Jess are you okay” I asked.  “I can’t sleep, I feel really strange, like there is darkness all around me”. She replied.  I relayed to her that I felt the same and couldn’t shake my dream, so we both stayed up, on the couch, watching music videos and talking about how we should destroy the board.

“I think we should bury it” I told Jessica.  “What if the next renter finds it and goes through the same or worse” Jessica responded.  We both agreed that it would be good to throw it into a crematory, but we didn’t know anyone that could get us access to that.  We decided to smash the plastic piece to bits and put it and the board in a bag that we threw into the local dump.

When morning came, we drove to the dump, pieces in hand, and dropped the load over a fence that led to the dump.  We drove home, silent at first, then laughing it off as if we were being silly.  As we sat in our rental kitchen, sipping coffee with sunlight streaming in, we felt good.  “You know, I’m glad we got rid of the game, but we were a little extreme and over dramatic, don’t you think?” Jessica said as she chugged her coffee.  “You’re right, we probably let the wine and ghost-story atmosphere get the best of us.  It doesn’t seem like it was that real now that we are sitting here.  I guess we just let our imaginations get the best of us.  I mean, I don’t want to invite trouble in, and I would never dabble in darkness, but I think we just over-reacted” I added.  “I’ll tell you what, I am going to go grab my sweater, I’m a little chilled, and come out and make breakfast, how does that sound?” I asked.  “Perfect, I will finish another cup of coffee and ponder on our silliness,” said Jessica.

I walked into my room and went to my closet.  I fished around for my favorite, old sweater.  As I took it off the hanger and put it on, something caught my eye.  I looked over at my bed as the sunlight shone in on it.  Something was reflecting the light. I went over to the bed and bent down to see a long strand of yellow hair hanging from my bedspread.  “Jess’!!!!!!!!!!