CH 10.2

Soon, night fell and Chen Yunzhi arrived at the main hall with his family, just as the clock struck twelve. They were far from ecstatic to be present, and their sullen, doubtful eyes followed Tang Tian’s movements as she shuffled about, closing the doors, turning off the lights, and placing candles around them. She cleared her throat, then conveyed the instructions to them, briefly. 

She paused to check if she had left out anything else, then concluded, “…Anyway, just be aware of these rules. Please obey them.” 

Chen Yunzhi nodded and sat down on one of the chairs around the table. The woman beside him whined, “Does this require more than two people? Can’t just the both of you play with the ouija board? I’ll stand aside and watch.”

Tang Tian pointed at them. “One, two, three, four. Two are men and two are women. This is the prerequisite to using the ouija board for the summoning ritual. We have just the right number.”

Chen Peng’s brows were furrowed into a tight line. Every nerve in his body screamed for him to run away from this eerie setup. However, at his father’s command, he reluctantly sat down next to him. The three of them then turned to the only person who remained stiffly standing. Under their combined stares, Lin Luoyan had no choice but to sink into her seat. 

“Now that everyone is here, let’s begin.” Tang Tian glanced at her phone. It was 30 seconds to midnight. The four of them sat in silence at the round wooden table, staring at the makeshift ouija board in the middle, which had an overturned saucer placed on top of it. A large, lit candle was placed beside it, which cast a dim, yellowish glow onto the table. As the light danced amidst the darkness, their faces were illuminated, but the candlelight seemed to impart a dark orange veil that shrouded their expressions, making them hard to read. 

The silence in the hall was unnerving, even frightening, to say the least. 

Under Tang Tian’s lead, everyone placed their index finger onto the saucer, closed their eyes, and murmured synchronously, “Are there any spirits with us right now? Show yourself. Are there any spirits with us right now? Show yourself. Are there…” 

Upon the third repetition, a gust of cold wind rushed over their heads, sending the candle flame into a frenzied flicker. No one knew where the wind came from—there were no fans nor air conditioning in the hall, and all the windows and doors were shut. 

Suddenly, the three Chen family members froze in terror, as they could vaguely detect a musty, damp smell wafting through the air, like that of water from a murky river. 

Tang Tian smirked. Things were going as planned.  

The strange gust had dispersed into the darkness, but the candlelight continued to flicker and falter, turning dimmer and dimmer. They held their breath and didn’t dare to peek at their surroundings, thus failing to notice there were now five, not four, silhouettes around the wooden table. 

The dark apparition dressed in a drenched tailored suit appeared between Tang Tian and Chen Yunzhi. It extended one hand towards the saucer, pressing a finger to the porcelain surface, just like everyone else present. Its skin was pale and swollen, with visible green veins crawling underneath, as if it had been soaked underwater for far too long. 

The temperature in the hall dropped, and the cold pricked at their skins like a thousand tiny icicles. 

Everyone except for Tang Tian wrestled against the growing fear in their minds. They mustered all their willpower to keep their index fingers glued to the saucer, as Tang Tian had warned that, if anyone were to break away before the ritual ended, the summoned ghost would continue to linger around them forever.

Abruptly, the porcelain saucer moved. Shifting slowly in circular motions, it dragged each of their fingers as it went, making a low rustling sound as it slid across the ouija “board” made of paper. 

Chen Peng felt as if there was a cold weight pressed onto his chest. He tried to breathe, but each breath was like a desperate gasp for air. His mother beside him trembled and whimpered in horror. Chen Yunzhi was relatively calmer than the other two, but there was a grim expression on the usually reserved man’s face. No one dared to speak, and eerie silence filled the hall. 

One round… 

Two rounds… 

Tang Tian silently counted as the saucer moved in circles. She asked, “Are you here, Chen Xu?”

She purposefully spoke in a slower, deeper voice than usual, just to add a more dramatic effect to the disturbing atmosphere. She imagined that the Chen family members were possibly cursing her inwardly for doing so. 

The saucer seemed to react to her words, as it spun around in a larger circle, making a few more rounds before coming to a complete stop. 

There was a protracted pause before everyone slowly opened their eyes, after making sure that the saucer wasn’t moving anymore. As they regained their sight, the fear that had gripped them in a chokehold faded slightly. 

At the same time, four pairs of eyes followed the red line on the porcelain saucer and stared at the word pointed above it. 

Yes.