Sitting there on the couch next to Rihanna, I couldn't help but feel a little weirded out by the whole evening. Here I was calmly eating fried chicken strips when just ten minutes ago my sister and I had banished, I guess that would be the appropriate word, some dark spirit.
I assumed it was a spirit. I couldn't be sure. The "d" word kept popping into my brain, but I refused to utter "demon" aloud. To me, that was just asking for trouble.
My back ached, and I had a deep scratch on the inside of my right thigh where the barbed wire had torn into my skin. The hog chase alone was enough to give anyone the willies.
The guy from Ghost Hunters was yelling, daring the "evil ghost" to come out and slap him or something. It was just silly. I had the real thing hanging around my upstairs banister.
Rihanna drained the last of her beer. She let out a fat man-sized burp and looked at me. The shadows under her eyes were still worthy of an Oscar, but she had a gleam in her eye. I had seen that gleam before, and got a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach.
"What are you thinking about?" I asked. I reached over to get my beer and took a swig. The yeasty taste was delicious, and the bubbles made my eyes water.
"Something is stalking me at my house. It calls my name, and sometimes I see it out of the corner of my eye, or fleetingly in the mirror. It's dark and it seems mean. But," Rihanna looked away, staring at something I couldn't see, "it's exciting. I don't know how to describe it. A part of me is thrilled by the idea that something unknown, whether it be evil or not, is attempting contact. Sometimes I get so bored that any distraction would suffice. I know it's bad for me to think that, but I do."
She looked back at me, then stood up, taking her plate to the kitchen. I saw her glance up the stairs.
"How do you mean, excited?" I asked. "Excited as in, let's do that again, or excited, as in, I really need to do something about this before it gets me?"
Rihanna put her plate in the sink and rinsed it off. She wouldn't look at me.
"I don't know. When I'm at home by myself, I think I'm going nuts. Then, I come here, and we actually see something that seems like it wants to communicate and I think maybe we should try to talk to it."
She turned off the water, moving the handle around until the faucet stopped dripping. I'd been meaning to fix the leak for about a year, and just hadn't gotten around to it.
"Whatever this is, it wants me. And, dammit, sometimes I think it might be kind of fun to see just what would happen if I let it have me. The freedom of not caring or worrying about anything or anyone is enticing and that part of me that just wants to let go and do what's fun and possibly dangerous just for the excitement is growing....stronger" She did look frightened then. Maybe it was openly acknowledging her thoughts.
"I admit that all this seems like an adventure you read about in books, but at the same time, Rihanna, giving in to the darkness even a little is a slippery slope." That "d" word popped into my mind again, but I was still reluctant to speak it, as my voice would give it power.
"Have you thought that this might not be spirits, but something else?" I asked. At that moment Cleopatra jumped on the couch, brushing my arm with her soft fur. I jumped, not expecting that to happen. She walked along the top of the couch, past my face, tail high in the air. I pushed her tail out of my nose.
"You mean, could it be demons?" she said, "Yes, I have."
I felt kind of stupid, knowing I acted like a coward, waiting for my sister to say that word so I wouldn't have to.
"I think you might be right," I said, "But who would have summoned it? They can't just pop into this world whenever they want, can they? Or, what if we summoned it somehow?"
I wanted to look up the stairs, but I refused. I looked down at the cat, who had plumped down beside me. She had half-open eyes, claws moving in and out as she purred.
Rihanna sat down next to the cat, another beer in her hand. She absently petted Cleo between the ear. "Well, if we summoned it, I think we have some real soul-searching to do, no pun intended. If someone else summoned it, then we have a really big problem, but one that can be solved."
"The bigger issue for me; however, is if this is something we conjured ourselves. If its an extension of our darker sides. If that's the case, then how do we stop 'ourself'?"
Ghost Hunters was over, and I picked up the remote and started surfing channels. I wasn't sure either of us was going to sleep tonight.
Cleopatra stretched, enjoying the attention, and lost her balance, rolling off the couch. She hit the floor sideways, then quickly regained her composure.
It looked like the night wasn't going well for anyone.
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