Chapter 1 + 2: I want to play a game

"I want to play a game." Anna mysteriously said. "Okay..." I responded and looked at her with patience.

"Let's summon a demon."

 

We all had plenty of wine, but I didn't think we were THAT drunk.

 

"Excuse me?" I answered. "I'm in!" Fay immediately shouted.

 

"What? No! Fay, Anna, we are not summoning a demon." I said with a stern voice. "Are you scared?" Anna said with a mocking horror voice back to me. I looked at her with a huff. "Scared? No, of course not, but why would you even want to summon a demon? They don't exist?" I asked her with a shake of my head.

 

"Come on, it will be fun! Maybe the demon in question can help me with my school work. You know, I will sell my soul and stuff." Anna said with a serious tone. She had been failing one of her classes repeatedly, and always blamed the teacher for it.

"You're joking, right? You are going to summon a demon to get higher grades?" I responded to her. My head was a bit woozy from the alcohol and I tried to ignore the look that Anna and Fay gave each other. All smiles and giddiness. "Elle. It will be fun. Let's get you out of that comfortable shell." Fay replied, backing Anna up.

I looked at Elyse to get her to back me up, seeing her drinking another glass of wine and getting candles from the cupboard. "What are you doing?" I asked her. My heart sank. She obviously didn't get candles out to set them next to the other already burning ones on the table. "Are you guys serious?" I exclaimed while throwing my hands up in the air. "You guys are drunk! Let's at least do this tomorrow." I said, hoping that they would agree with me. Surely they would think differently with a sober mind.

"Alright. Elyse, you sit there. Fay, sit next to her. We will make a circle. Come, Elle." Anna said, ignoring my point. All the lights were turned off and soon the only light illuminating us were the candles on the coffee table.  Elyse walked back with a stumble and some wine sloshed from her glass on our wooden floor. "Oopsie," she giggled and with her sock, she mopped up the wine into the fabric. I let out a deep sigh.

My three friends sat down and Anna started lighting the candles. "How do you even know how to do this?" I asked, still standing in the middle of the room. "Internet." Anna answered. I frowned at her, wondering when she even researched this.

I don't know if it was the wine or my friends who looked at me with expectation, but eventually I let out a deep sigh and sat in between Anna and Fay. Fay laughed at me and Elyse stared at the candles with interest. We all sat cross legged and with tension, I looked at Anna who got very serious. Nerves lined my belly, I don't know why I was so nervous but I held on to the thought that nothing would happen anyway. Demons didn't exist. The horror stories going around are all fake.

"We need some blood from all of us." Anna's voice woke me up from my trance and I looked at her with an incredulous expression. "Blood? You want my blood?" I asked her with annoyance. "It's just a little cut. It won't even hurt. Give me all of your wrists." Anna replied. She got out a small chalice and set it in the middle of us. We all moved back so there was enough space for this 'demon' to stand in. Fay gave her wrist without any issues. I could see the glee on her face from doing something new, out of the ordinary. Anna went to the kitchen to get a knife and cut the wrist of Fay and poured a few drips of blood in the chalice. She did Elyse next and then looked at me with a smile.

 

After drinking the rest of my wine to get some liquid courage, I gave her my wrist and a line of dark red blood ran down my wrist into the chalice, dripping on top of the rest. "Thank you for doing this with me, besties. I have always wanted to try this!" Anna exclaimed and we all nodded at her, patiently waiting for the rest.

 

"Alright. I have a Latin spell." Anna said mysteriously and got out a little notebook. We were all silent, Skinnydipped by Banks softly playing in the background, making this entire thing a little less intimidating. I bet it was quite the comical sight. Four girls sitting in a circle, candles around us and a chalice with blood in the middle. An almost empty bottle of wine lay behind Elyse, the alcohol completely forgotten by this new adventure. A trickle of fear ran through me but once again, I pushed it to the side and focused on Anna.

“Omnipotens sempiterne deus adesto magnae pietatis tue misteriis, adesto piis Invocationibus nostris ut speculum istud quod in tuo nomine bene dicere facto…”

The foreign words made no sense to me, but Anna said them aloud like she exactly knew how to say them. It was actually quite impressive. Anna got a long, burning candle from behind her and put it above the chalice.

KNOCK KNOCK

"AAAAAAHH!"

 

Four loud screams bounced off the walls. Elyse jumped up straight away, clutching her chest with her hand. "I almost shit my pants! Who is at the door at this time!?" She shouted, giving the door a dirty look. Fay grinned and walked to the door, revealing Reggie and Dante in the doorway, our two other best friends. "No boys allowed tonight. See you guys tomorrow. Bye!" Fay happily said to them as she slammed the door in their faces.

 

Elyse sat down with a big sigh and Anna was still waiting for us, a smirk on her face. "Wrong demons. Let's try again." She said. "Maybe this was a sign from higher up not to proceed with this." I said while sticking out my tongue at Anna. She flipped me off and Fay and Elyse got into their spots again. We were all giddy from the shock of the interruption and it took a while for us to be completely serious again. Some snorts still escaped us and the alcohol was making this entire situation quite laughable.

 

Anna shushed us and she started again. With closed eyes,  she recited the Latin words again and after, she put the burning tip of the candle in the chalice. The fire roared from the cup for a single second and we all let out a gasp. I felt the heat of the strong flame still warming my skin and I was wondering what was in the chalice to make it almost explode when the fire hit it. Maybe Anna put some spiritus in there. The chalice was burning and while the flame was reflecting in Anna's eyes, she continued.

 

“Deus qui hoc speculum ex materia fragili…”

 

A whisper sounded around us. The sound was absolutely chilling and shivers lined my skin. "Did you guys hear that?" I whispered. "Shut up," Anna whispered back and while raising an eyebrow, I fell silent again.

 

"Hold hands." Anna whispered, so soft I almost didn't hear it. I grabbed Fay's and Anna's hand and our arms were outstretched, making a big circle around the chalice.

 

“Discendat in hoc speculum virtus spiritus sancti…”

 

Nothing happened. We stared at the fire, at each other and around. Anna looked around with annoyance. "Guess you're not as good as you're claiming, Anna." Fay said with a laugh and Anna huffed in response. She got her notebook out again and nodded as she read everything. "The oil!" She exclaimed proudly. She let go of my hand and got a tiny bottle of oil out. "Rub this on your hands. It creates a circle for the demon to stand in. I can't believe I forgot this!"

 

Anna put a bit of oil on all of our hands and after making our hands sickly greasy, we held hands again. Anna recited the last sentence again and I closed my eyes.

 

Nothing happened for a few seconds. Then, a deep, male voice.

 

 

"Girls. You need to know better than to play a game with the demons."