“Is there anybody here?”

Marissa’s question hung in the air, floating across the rafters of the attic and landing softly somewhere in the dark. 

Joel looked from Marissa to Mark. All of them had the tips of their fingers on the small wooden triangle, which sat lifeless on the board of numbers and letters. 

They were in the attic of an abandoned house that sat deep in the Gruber woods, and this was the house they had come to with Billy when he was hiding from the cops. There were more than a few people who had wanted to find Billy, and as his friends, they had protected him, even after finding out what exactly he had on his computer. When he disappeared, they found themselves a bit relieved, yet the mystery behind Billy had been far from over.

There was nothing left of Billy, except a letter taped to this old toy board. The letter said “talk soon–Billy.”

The planchette moved, suddenly, slowly, and gently.

“Y’all doing that?” Joel asked, not surprised.

They shook their heads, watching as the board game indicated letter after letter. 

R E M O V E H A N D S

They all pulled their hands back as the board came back to life.

A S K

“Are you Billy?” Marissa asked incredulously.

T O L L G A T E

“What’s your price?” Marissa asked while shaking her head. Joel stood up and walked to the far wall of the attic, listening quietly as the wooden piece scraped gently across the tattered cardboard game. Joel grabbed a nearby golf bag, rifling through the sets of clubs and picked up the fairway driver, feeling the heft of the head in his hands.

He rejoined the group, walking up between Marissa and Mark. 

“What do you mean? Head?” Mark asked, squinting in confusion at Marissa.

Joel swung the golf club as hard as he could into Mark’s head, dropping him loudly to the floor of the attic. Joel continued bashing at Mark until the club broke in half. 

“Lovely,” Marissa said, rolling her eyes. “Been waiting to do that or something?”

“You know Billy,” Joel said, rubbing his temples and wiping blood from his eyes. “Sick bastard likes to make things hard. Plus, Mark was new. Didn’t even know Billy.”

“What about now?” Marissa asked, looking at the board.

The board sat motionless.

“Huh?” Joel kicked the board with his toe. “Paid in full!”

The board began again.

T O O M U C H

“Too much what?” Joel asked.

R A B B I T O R B I R D N E X T T I M E 

Joel tossed the golf club pieces at the wall, throwing his hands into the air in frustration. Marissa leaned closer to the board.

“So we should get to know whatever we want, right?”

The board didn’t respond for a moment, but then slowly began spelling again.

I G U E S S 

Joel rushed close to the board, sitting quickly. “Are you Billy?”

N O

“What are you?” 

S O M E T H I N G E L S E

“Name?” Marissa asked.

N O 

“Where’s Billy?” She yelled, her face getting red with frustration.

D E A D 

“But where?” she asked. “He go…South?”

Y E P

“I knew it,” Marissa held her hands over her face, trying not to sob. Joel sat beside her and rubbed her back gently, shaking his head.

“Can we bring him back?” Joel demanded loudly.

G O T O H E L—

“Oh, screw you!” Joel said, kicking the board as the planchette was still moving. 

“No, wait!” Marissa crawled quickly towards the board and replaced it where it had been sitting. “What if it means we can go there—and bring Billy back?”

Joel scrunched his eyebrows together, nodding slowly. “Is that what you meant?”

N O T S O E A S Y

“How do we do it?” Marissa asked, shifting to her knees and rubbing her hands together in anticipation.

S A C R I F I—

“Already done!” they said in unison, pointing excitedly to Mark’s beaten, bloody body.

E A C H

They looked at each other as the board returned to its motionless state. 

“I guess you have to kill someone,” Joel said softly.

“Who?” Marissa asked, beginning to cry. 

“Well, why not me?” Joel asked. “Then I’ll go and bring Billy back and everything will be like it used to.”

“Joel, I’m not sure that it works like that!”

“Would that work?” he asked the board, but it sat completely still, not answering. He turned back to Marissa. “It’s not a bad idea.”

“It really is!” She yelled, standing and pacing the room. 

“I’ll be right back! And Billy will be with me, I think.”

“That’s not good enough! We need to know!”

“Come on, Marissa. Just trust me.”

Joel rifled through his pockets and pulled out his small pocket knife, unfolding it and handing it to Marissa. 

“Quickly, please. Don’t make me suffer,” Joel smiled. 

Marissa looked at the pocket knife and shook her head.

“Marissa, plea—,” he began, but Marissa grabbed the knife and slit his throat, sending waves of red cascading onto the floor of the attic. Joel dropped to his knees, smiling gently before his face smacked into the hard wood. 

Marissa stood over him for a moment, trembling as she clutched the knife close to her. The sound of the planchette moving brought her stumbling towards the board, throwing the knife to the side.

G E E Z

“What? What does that mean?”

G O I N G T O B E S I C K

“Huh? You said to do it!”

B R U T A L

Marissa sobbed even harder. 

“Even the demon is disgusted!” she yelled as dust rattled loose from the attic rafters. “Did it work?”

The board sat motionless, and Marissa trembled as she waited.

N O

Marissa screamed loudly, banging her hands against the floor and splashing in Joel’s blood.

“Why not?” she managed to whisper.

B U D D H I S T

“What! Joel never mentioned that!” 

A L R E A D Y B O R N A G A I N 

Marissa sat back on her heels and wiped her eyes. 

T R Y A G A I N

“No. No, no, no, no! I’m done playing your stupid games. Nothing ever works!” Marissa stood, taking off her blood stained jacket and throwing it into the corner. 

“I’m going home,” she said quietly, looking back at the planchette one last time. She then opened the hatch to the floor below and began climbing down the ladder. As she stepped onto the second highest rung, it gave away, and she fell to the floor below, cracking her head open and creating yet another pool of red, oozing blood.

As she lay there, the black closing in on her sight, and the bright moments of her life flashing slowly through her brain, she heard the planchette scraping out another message that she would never get to read. 

O U C H