The raven haired girl

First date, part 3

"What's going on, Zoe? I thought we were going to talk to River Phoenix," Carolyn said.

"Um, well I guess he's giving us his real name. I mean who would really name their kid River?" Zoe said with a huff. The planchette went to 'K' next, then as if in afterthought, it went to 'Y'.

With a laugh, Kai said, "Ricky? I see why he changed it to River."

"Well, Ricky, when did you die?" asked Zoe, trying to get control of the show again. The planchette moved to the numbers: 1, 9,9, 4.

"Is that when River Phoenix died?"

Carolyn asked.

"No, he died in 1993," Ben said. He had his phone out and showed that he was on River's Wikipedia page.

"Maybe he can't count," Kai quipped.

He must've thought he was hilarious.

Zoe shot him a glance spiked with daggers. Kai had the presence of mind to look sheepish, but when she turned to Olivia, Zoe’s eyes were laced with full-fledged swords. "Olivia, do you know who this is?" She stared back at the cheerleader dumbfounded.

"No, I don't," she stammered.

Olivia didn't like the way the séance was going. The hairs on the back of her neck were ramrod straight now. Then she heard it.

"I want you all to leave. Don't want you here. Julie can tell you what happens to people who don't listen to me," the voice growled.

"Let's ask it another question," Carolyn said.

"I'll make you pay for coming here. You think you can invade my home?"

Zoe nodded, but she put a cruel little twist to it. "Why don't you ask it something, Olivia?"

Her body broke out into a cold sweat at the request. She didn't want to open her mouth. She knew that if she spoke, the ghost would answer, and she didn't want to hear anything else he had to say. She clenched her jaw and shook her head.

Ben spoke up, "Come on Zoe, this is freaking all of us out. Why'd you bring it?"

She looked at Zoe with narrowed eyes. "The same reason Olivia’s faking this whole thing. She's the one making the thing move. She's trying to scare us.

Leave it to the freak to freak everyone out."

Olivia stared back at her dumb-founded. She was accusing her of rigging this? It wasn't even her spirit board, and she hadn't touched it. How was she supposed to have faked this?

Instead of pointing out how preposterous her accusations were, she said, "I think you all should go."

"You think we're scared of your parlor tricks?"

"I'm not the one who brought the Ouija board."

"But you know how to use it. I bet you know how to make it do whatever you want. I knew if I brought this you wouldn't be able to help yourself. You think you can fool us?"

Olivia’s eyes snapped to Zoe in out-rage. None of them were as scared as her. All they had were the heebie-jee-bies. She was clenching every muscle in her body as she tried to keep from bolt-ing. They didn't know anything. They acted like they did, but they knew noth-ing. She'd show them. She decided to share her fear.

"Ricky, how did Julie die?" Everyone looked at her in shock.

"How do you know Julie?"

"Answer the question."

"You want me to spell it out for you?

Okay, I will."

Ricky's answer made the planchette whiz around the board. Carolyn shrieked and snatched her hands off and clutched them to her chest. Kai also jerked his hands away. He looked at the palms of his hands in disbelief as the planchette continued to skitter around the board. Zoe tried to hold onto it to show she still had command of the séance, but soon her hands slipped off too, and the planchette was left to spell out its message alone.

"What's going on?" Kai demanded.

His voice was an octave higher than normal.

Ben was using his phone to type out the letters the planchette chose.

"What's it spelled so far?"

"I don't want to know," Carolyn cried.

"What's it spelled so far?" he demanded again as he kept track of the current letters.

"S-H-E-D-I-D-N-O-T," Olivia answered.

Ben took over recording the letters. Olivia lifted her gaze to stare down the table at Zoe whose eyes were huge. They looked like they could roll out at any moment.

Ben was having trouble recording the letters because his hands were shak-ing. Kai looked back and forth between the planchette and the screen of his brother's phone. Carolyn had her hands over her mouth as tears dribbled out of her eyes.

Now they were afraid.

When the planchette stopped, Ben read the message aloud. His voice qua-vered. "She did not see it coming. I showed her just how much I love her."

"How did you do that, freak?" Zoe spat.

Olivia stared back at her. If Zoe thought that was scary, she hadn't seen anything yet. "Ricky, how did you show Julie that you loved her?"

The planchette flew off the board straight at her head. She barely ducked in time. It smashed a vase behind her. Everyone looked at the planchette and the broken vase in disbelief except Olivia. She was looking at her hands.

They were clasped in her lap to keep them from trembling, but to everyone else, she looked calm.

"Olivia, what did you do?" Ben shouted.

She twisted her hands but didn't look up at him.

Carolyn picked up the Ouija board and slammed it shut. "That's it, Zoe.

I don't know what's going on, but I am out of here, and I'm taking my aunt's board with me. Kai, drive me home." She ran and snatched up the fallen planchette and dashed for the door.

Kai lumbered up. His face was so red; it was bordering on purple.

"I don't want to find you here when I get back, freak," he said to her. He followed Carolyn.

Olivia looked down the table at her nemesis. Zoe didn't look so good. Her whole body was rigid, and her eyes were locked on her. She stared back. Did the cheerleader still wonder why people paid her grandmother to do this type of stuff instead of doing it themselves?

Was talking to the dead still 'fun'? Zoe didn't answer any of her silent ques-tions, instead, the cheerleader slowly climbed to her feet. Her legs were a little wobbly.

In a low menacing voice, Zoe told her, "You wait until I get to school.

Everyone's going to know how big a freak you really are. You just wait!" She ran to catch up with Kai and Carolyn, but in her haste, she fell on her face at the doorway.

"Zoe, are you all right?" Ben leaped up to check on her. She brushed off his help and dashed out of the house. Seconds later, the SUV screeched out of the driveway. Ben closed the front door with a soft click. He looked really jangled.

He went to the other end of the coffee table and stared down it at Olivia. She tried to give him a smile but smothered it when it became apparent that he was not going to smile back. In fact, it looked like he might not ever smile at her again. The thought made her want to cry. She may have really screwed up.

"How did you do that?" he asked.

She blinked as she stared up at him.

She had hardly done anything. The spirit board had done most of it. It wasn't her fault. "Zoe told me to ask a question, so I did," she said as she got up. "I can't help it if you didn't contact

River 'freaking' Phoenix."

"Olivia, how did you do that?" he re-peated.

"It wasn't my fault," she said more to herself than in answer to him.

She went for her bag. He grabbed her arm, stopping her. Their eyes locked.

She searched for any glimmer that he believed her, but all she found was anger, anxiety, and something else that made her flinch. She lowered her eyes and murmured in a small voice, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean for this to happen." He dropped her arm. "How can you lie like that?" Her mouth fell open. He con-tinued, "I admit I wasn't thrilled when those three showed up, but you didn't have to scare the bejesus out of them like that!"

He wasn't worried if she were upset.

He didn't care if she were scared. Zoe was the one who barged in with the Ouija Board. She was the one who insisted on talking to the ghost, and he'd still asked the cheerleader if she were all right. He hadn't asked Olivia if she were okay. No, he just accused her of playing tricks. She picked up her fallen bag and shrugged it on. "Like I said, I didn't mean for any of this to happen. I'm sorry."

"What?" he snapped. She winced.

"How did you do it anyway? Is it some trick your grandma taught you? Is this how you and Charlotte get your kicks on a Saturday night? You go and scare people out of their wits? Is that what you do?" She didn't answer. She was too angry to answer. She was mad that the evening had happened. She was mad that Zoe had appeared. She was mad about the séance. She was mad that she'd opened her big fat mouth. She was mad that Ben was mad at her. She was mad that he'd found out the truth about her and like everyone else hated her for it.

She was mad that she was a freak.

"Olivia!" he yelled. He wanted an an-

swer.

She looked back at him. She wasn't

crying. That was a small relief.

"Do you have anything to say for yourself?" he demanded.

"I'm sorry," she repeated and slipped out the front door.