We Never Said Goodbye

I will never have another sleepover again. Not after what happened at Sophie’s birthday.

The plan was to have a sleepover party, it was simple, and supposed to be a fun night with lots of typical horror movies, junk food, and scaring each other with ghost stories, just the usual stuff. There were six of us: Sophie (the birthday girl), Hannah, Jordan, Lily, Emma and me (Amber). Am old Victorian house that looked like it an haunted place was rented out from the Airbnb by Sophie’s parents for this night.

This house was massive. There are so many rooms, and long hallways, the ambience is set like the long lost shadows are stretched too far. With old wooden floors that creaked when walked on them.

It was around midnight, after we’d burned through all our horror movies, we made a move and raided the kitchen for late-night snacks, Sophie shouted that she had an idea.

"Guys, I found something super duper creepy in the basement earlier. Wait here, I will be back!"

She ran out quickly and bought a dusty old wooden box. She then immediately set it down on the floor, puffing the dust, it looked like it had never been touched in decades.

"Ouija board," she announced, grinning.

Hannah hesitated. "Um…guys do we really need to play with that thing?"

"Duh, this is just a small board game, you just move the thing around and spell out words, it would be fun, Trust Me" Sophie said, rolling her eyes.

Just then the lights flickered, that should’ve been the first sign saying we shouldn’t play with that thing. But as always we were stupid and curious.

The Game Begins

We sat in a circle, out knees touched each other, and placed a single candle in the center. The board felt weirdly cold under my fingertips.

"Hi, this is Sophie, Is anyone out there?" Sophie asked, trying to sound spooky.

Silence.

"Helloooo, Sophie!" Jordan teased, giggling.

Everyone was laughing.

Just then, the planchette twitched. At first I thought someone in the group was messing around, but everyone swore they weren’t moving it.

It slid to YES.

The mood instantly shifted.

"Okay, hi who are you?" Sophie asked.

The planchette moved, slow and deliberate.

M A R C U S

Now the candle flickered violently. Emma sucked in a breath.

"Um, Are you really a ghost?"

YES

"How did you die?" Jordan whispered.

I really didn’t want to know.

B U R N E D

The room felt tight as if the air got thick.

"Are you alone?" Hannah asked.

It was silent for a long moment, there was no response and nothing happened. But then, the planchette slid once again.

This time there was a heavy thud echoed upstairs. Like someone was running towards us.

"No, No, No, I’m done," Emma said, pulling her hands away.

I followed her lead, yanking my fingers off the board. Jordan, Lily, and Hannah did the same. But Sophie was still gripping the planchette, she was frozen.

"Sophie, let go, leave it" I urged her, repeatedly.

She was just stared at the board, her face became pale. "Guys… Help me, I can't pull my hand!"

I just grabbed the board while Lily pulled Sophie's hand, throwing it away.

Silence.

The planchette moved on its own...

L E T S P L A Y

Now we want to make them leave but none of us knew.

The candle suddenly went out. and the room went ice cold.

Never Left

We tried to shake it off, and started pretending it was all a joke, but something felt wrong in that house. The air was heavy, like someone was breathing down our necks.

We locked the board in a closet and crammed onto king-sized bed, whispering nervously.

Then, at around 3 AM, we heard the floorboards creak. Outside the room.

Slow. but deliberate moments can be heard.

The door handle unexpectedly rattled.

Jordan clapped a hand over her mouth holding her screams. We were all frozen in fear, no one moved and it suddenly became too silent the only sounds heard in the room are our heartbeats.

The door creaked open slowly.

There was nothing but darkness beyond it.

I reached for my phone to turn on the flashlight. The second I did that

A shadow darted past the doorway.

It was already dark but there was something, it's not a person but something solid.

Just… a black, shifting mass, like a smear of darkness in the shape of a human.

Sophie whimpered.

I don’t know how long we stayed like that, frozen in fear, waiting for something else to happen. The house fell into silence again, like it was holding its breath. But fortunately nothing did happen.

By morning, we ran out of there.

Sophie told her parents she was not feeling well, so they packed up early. We never talked about it. It was really an Haunted Sleep Over Birthday Party.

But a week later, Sophie texted us.

"The Ouija board is in my room."

No matter how many times she throw it away, it somehow ends up in her room, and sometimes, late at night, she swears that she hears footsteps outside her bedroom door.

She stopped sleeping with the lights off.

And I think MARCUS never left.

We never said goodbye.