Page 79 of A Love Like Candle Light

They’re surprisingly calm considering the havoc wrecked in my living room only fifteen minutes ago as Kieran and I were heating up the food.

"So, why a Ouija board?" I nod at the box and take a bite. Damn, this casserole is as good as when I freshly made it. Shame I’ll never be able to replicate it because I measured with my heart instead of following a recipe.

"Because I’m curious." He shoots me a grin. "I’ve always wanted to try out a Oujia board but never had any friends to try it with. Now, Lauren and Nic scare way too easily, but you? At this point you’ve been cohabiting with a ghost for weeks and you’re barely fazed.”

Well, he does not know about the time I called Erik over because I was creeped out. Before I can decide whether I’d prefer to keep it this way, he continues.

“What if the ghost living with you is actually Svetty the Skelly and it turns out Svetty the Skelly is Elizabeth? Just think about it, Kylie!" He waves his fork through the air. "If we get a name, we're going to make Erik's life so much easier."

I stare at him and narrow my eyes. Unfortunately, this might be the argument to win me over. Erik has a lot on his plate and if I can make at least one of them go away, I think I could live with the heebie-jeebies a seance will give me.

"Do you really think he will base his investigation around answers we get from a Ouija board?" I tilt my head and tap my fork against my lip. Saying it out loud makes it sound more ridiculous than thinking it.

"Hey, who knows?” He shrugs and shoves another fork of casserole into his mouth. “Maybe the woman will tell us her name is Olga, and she traveled here from Scandinavia 500 years ago, then died a nice natural death in her forties, surrounded by her loved ones. Case closed."

I stare at him and sure hope my eyes convey the ‘do you really think it’d be that easy?’ I’m thinking.

"So, what if we talk to the ghost?" I ask and push a piece of pasta around on my plate. "Or if the board tells us it's not a ghost, but we summoned a demon? What if the answers are only gibberish? What if—"

"Kylie," he interrupts me, grinning. "Girl, you need to stop the what-ifs. They're not helpful to anyone. Have some fun! Take a risk!"

I let out a deep sigh and pinch the bridge of my nose. I’m pretty sure our definitions of ‘fun’ are very different. I’m sure he’d be just as, if not more, apprehensive as me, if it were his home we’re talking about.

"The less I know about whoever is living with me..." I make a vague gesture towards the living room. "...the easier I can ignore some unpleasant truths.”

“It could be a pervert ghost and the town cast her out because of it. You really wouldn’t want to know that?"

I stare at him deadpan. "You think I'm living with a lesbian peeping ghost?"

"You said it, not me." He lifts his hands defensively. “I’m only saying, if you know you’re living with a lesbian peeping ghost, you could call an exorcist.”

I can't help but roll my eyes. But now the picture is in my head and I’m replaying every slammed cabinet, every creaking door, wondering if he might have a point. Damn him.

"Okay. Eat up." I spear a piece of pasta with my fork. Apparently today we're finding out the name of my ghost roommate.

As soon as we're done, Kieran scoops up our plates and puts them in the sink, then grabs the Ouija board and sits down on the ground by the coffee table next to my couch.

"Do you have candles?" He pointedly glances around my living room. "You know, to set the mood." I shoot him a dry look. “Spooky mood. Get your mind out of the gutter.”

"Sure, I have some candles." I stocked up after the power outage. Now my cupboard is stacked with all kinds of candles, from tea lights to twenty-hour candles, from unscented, to pumpkin spice and vanilla because the scent reminds me of Erik. I get a bunch of them from my cupboard. Kieran lights them as I trudge over to the doorway to turn off the light.

"Okay." He rubs his hands together excitedly, grinning wider than a child on Christmas morning.

The candles cast a flickering orange light over my living room, stark contrasting shadows on the walls. Raindrops hit my window hard, and the wind has picked up, making nature around my house howl and whistle.

"I swear to God, Kieran, you couldn't have picked a worse day." I grimace and sit down at the coffee table in front of my couch, opposite him. The setting alone is enough to make the hair in my neck stand up.

"Come on, it's spooky season. You should be glad I didn’t wait until Halloween for this." He takes the Ouija board out of its packaging and sets it in the middle of my coffee table, and the wooden planchette right in the center. I eye it as if it’s poisonous.

"Did you research this at all?" I ask, glancing around uncomfortably. "Is there anything we need to do to keep, I don't know, bad ghosts and demons out? I once saw this thing about a salt circle..."

I'm already getting back up to grab a pack from my kitchen when he stops me by grabbing my wrist.

"I did. But if we put a salt circle around us, wouldn’t it be impenetrable for good ghosts too?"

I freeze. His logic isn’t wrong. Still, it feels weird to… not prepare anything. Had he warned me I would have made a little church trip to grab some holy water. I could have sent my mom a selfie and told her I was there to repent. Maybe she’d lay off her rants for a while.

With an uncomfortable knot in my stomach, I sit back down.