|| Arabella ||
'... so if you place your hand on that ouija board, all sorts of misfortune will befall on you according to its predictions. Chances are that you might not even make it out alive if it spells out ‘death'—"
'Theo, stop creeping me out!" I pressed my palms on my ears to block out Theo's creepy voice as he followed me around the living room.
'I'm only saying it for your own good. You shouldn't go wandering around the campus. Who knows where the ouija board might appear under your hand and—"
'Wyatt, tell Theo to shut up!" I hollered.
'Will you two shut up and let me get ready in peace?" Wyatt hollered back from his room.
'But Theo is disturbing me!" I complained.
'No, I'm being a good person who is warning his roommate about the upcoming dangers," he protested.
'No one wants your goodness." I puffed my cheeks and plopped down on the beanbag.
'Alright, don't say I didn't warn you later."
'Never."
Theo and I were already dressed up in our respective Halloween costumes. I was wearing a yellow top attached with Pikachu's tail at the hem and a black short ruffle skirt with yellow socks and black ankle boots that I borrowed from Coral. Of course, I had the Pikachu headband and the red cheeks on.
I looked cute, I knew that much—as much as Theo insisted that I looked shorter than usual. However, Theo, on the other hand…
'You look dorky," I tittered. In short, Ash's outfit didn't suit him very much.
Theo frowned. 'No one asked for your opinion, Pikachu. Go back to doing pika-pika."
'I'll use my thunderbolt on you," I warned and crossed my legs smugly.
He rolled his eyes. 'As I was saying, beware of the ouija—"
'Shut it, will you?"
We bickered some more before the calling bell rang up. I got up to open it, thinking it was one of the kids from the apartment trick-or-treating. I opened the door but found no one. 'Hello, kids?"
Just then someone jumped out of nowhere in front of me, giving me a big scare.
'Spooky Halloween!" Coral beamed, swinging her broom enthusiastically.
I glared at her. 'Thanks for making my heart jump out of my chest, little witch," I greeted flatly and let her in.
'Happy Halloween, Mr. Ketchum," she wished Theo, gracefully taking her witch hat off with a bow.
'Happy Halloween. Good job on the jumpscare," he said and high-fived her.
'You guys planned it?" I asked in disbelief.
'No, Mr. Ketchum wanted to do it himself but his outfit was too lame to be spooky," Coral explained. I suppressed my laughter as she kept referring to him as Mr. Ketchum purposefully, just like I had instructed her.
'Yeah. Um, Coral, can you not call me by Ash's last name? It sounds like ketchup," Theo let out.
'Why, Mr. Ketchum? I find your surname to be very interesting. I was even thinking of naming one of my secret techniques after it," Coral said innocently.
'Then, I must say, either you have a weird, horrible naming sense, or your techniques have something to do with ketchup," Theo responded, and I started cackling.
The three of us chatted for a while until Wyatt came out.
'Hey, Happy Halloween, Wyatt—" Coral paused between her greetings and took in his black wizard outfit that matched her. 'Oh, my God, are you a wizard?" she asked in awe, cupping her face.
Wyatt awkwardly nodded and glanced at me and Theo suspiciously.
'You guys match!" I exclaimed, going to stand beside Coral.
'What a coincidence," Theo added.
'Isn't it too much of a coincidence?" Wyatt raised an eyebrow at us.
'You're right. This is fate," I emphasized. 'Theo and I are partners, so are you guys."
After talking for a bit more, we decided to take some photos. Wyatt and Coral pushed me and Theo to take one together as a pair at the end.
'Ara, climb on his back as Pikachu does," Wyatt instructed.
'No—"
'Do it, Ara. It will be super cute!" Coral gushed.
'Do I get any say in it?" Theo asked, but they simply ignored him like me.
'Hurry up, you guys. We are gonna be late for the party," Wyatt urged.
Frowning, I shared an annoyed look with Theo and started to climb on his back by wrapping my knees around his waist and my arms around his shoulder.
'We were supposed to be getting them together, and look what they are doing to us," Theo muttered.
'Pika-pika," I let out in agreement while tilting my head over his shoulder to pose for the photo.
'We're not attending a funeral, you know?" Wyatt urged.
'It'll be yours if you don't hurry it up," Theo threatened.
'It's okay, Wyatt. Click whatever expression they have right now. It shows what they feel towards each other," Coral said.
Before I could change my expression to one with more hostility, the photo had been clicked and Theo dropped me off.
Once we were at the parking lot after the photo session, Coral asked, 'Are we all riding in Wyatt's car?"
Theo nudged me to speak up according to our plan. 'No. Since Wyatt will be leaving the party early, it's better to take two cars. So how about I put up with Theo while you and Wyatt go together?"
'Okay, sure!" Coral was an extrovert, so she could hit up a conversation with almost anyone. She got into Wyatt's car with no hesitation, though I knew Wyatt was dreading inside. But he had to face her, otherwise, we would get nowhere with our plan.
As they drove off, I got into Theo's car.
'Do you think we are doing the right thing?" I asked once he started driving.
'Who knows?" He shrugged his shoulders.
I narrowed my eyes on him. 'Then why are we putting so much effort?"
'Because it's fun."
I smiled. 'I guess it is."
We talked with each other about random stuff for the rest of the ride. The party was supposed to start at six in the evening, and we were only ten minutes late.
Theo and I parted ways in the school parking lot like always to not arouse suspicion among other students.
The Halloween party was like every year. The campus was decorated with jack-o'-lanterns, festoons, a costume contest, a mummy-wrapping race, a haunted house, and other basic stuff. Coral volunteered to participate in the ‘capture the witch' game.
I settled for the jack-o'-lantern face crafting contest and made some pumpkin pie, all the while missing my mom. Mom and I used to have tons of fun tonight.
Later, I joined the gathering in the auditorium where most of the people were dancing, having soft drinks, festive food, and judging the costume contest.
I was trying to look for a familiar face when a hand tugged my wrist. 'I got them to join the truth and dare. You come too," Theo whispered in my ear, almost startling me with his sudden appearance.
'Okay."
At the corner of the room, a large group of people was playing truth and truth while spinning the bottle. I noticed Wyatt and Coral standing opposite us.
'Stop on Wyatt, stop on Wyatt…" I chanted. Theo chuckled, earning a glare from me. Nonetheless, my prayer seemed to have worked.
'Truth or dare, Wyatt?" one of the seniors asked.
'Tr—"
Wyatt started to say but Theo cut him off, saying, 'C'mon, take the dare. You're not a coward, are you?"
Wyatt sighed and said, 'Fine, dare."
Theo grinned and said, 'I have the perfect dare."
'Oh, no," Wyatt groaned, realizing what a mistake he made.
'I dare you to take the girl you think is the prettiest here for playing seven minutes in heaven with you," Theo stated.
If looks could kill, Theo would have been dead by the glare that Wyatt shot him.
Everyone cheered Theo for giving such an amazing dare which had apparently gotten Wyatt's panties in a twist—their words, not mine.
Coral watched the event with enthusiasm until Wyatt put forward a hand in front of her, shocking the crowd. I cupped my mouth with one hand and clutched Theo's elbow with the other one.
'Um, Coral, do you mind?" Wyatt asked as Coral tried to absorb what he just asked her for.
'Will she accept? Will she accept?" I muttered repeatedly.
'Gripping my elbow tighter won't give you the answer," Theo hissed, but I didn't care, rather increased my grip out of spite.
'Uh," Coral spoke up after a prolonged silence, 'Since it's a dare and you chose me, I don't think I have got any other option, so okay."
'Oh, my gosh, yes," I almost cheered out loud, and to suppress my full-blown grin, I buried my face in Theo's biceps. I was ready for Theo to oppose but he didn't react at all. He was probably too busy ushering others to guide Wyatt and Coral to the janitor's closet.
After that, I composed myself and the game continued. I was going to leave, but the bottle stopped at Theo.
'Take the girl you think is the hottest in this school to the haunted house," one of his friends dared.
This ought to be interesting. Theo had said he was yet to find the right girl for him, so I was curious to know who he thought was the hottest in this room.
Theo ran a hand through his hair, biting his lips. His look screamed that he wanted to avoid this question at any cost. However, that didn't stop from some girls twirling their hair around their fingers seductively while winking at him—Michelle, for example.
'I don't really, um, think any girl here is that hot," Theo said.
'C'mon, you have got to have someone. Almost every girl in our year is in this room," his friend said, pointing at the girls dancing around in the auditorium.
Theo stole a glance at me—I swear to God that I thought I was hallucinating—until he grabbed my hand and started marching away.
'W-wait, what?" I squeaked as he kept walking. 'Where are you going? You can't just walk away from the dare. You have got to take the girl you think is the hottest to the…" My words died off in my mouth when we reached the entrance of the haunted house.
Then it hit me like a brick in the head.
'Oh, my God," I let out in shock. 'You think I am the—" I cut myself off and tried to string my thoughts together. I couldn't believe it...
I swear if where we were standing wasn't dark, I might have seen Theo blush as he stammered while speaking, 'D-don't flatter y-yourself. I, uh, just wanted to take y-you to the haunted house," his voice recovered a bit, 'Because it will be much more fun to see your terrified expressions than any other girl's."
His explanation made sense. But that didn't mean it was okay.
'You're such a jerk. You saw how freaked out I was last night."
'You think I'm gonna show mercy because of that, wuss?"
'Of course not. But you know what? I'm gonna go in there and prove to you that I can be strong." I held my head high and entered the haunted house which was made throughout a big portion of the campus with classrooms and hallways.
And it was a joke.
'Wow, you really aren't scared," Theo said, sounding impressed as we were near the exit.
'I don't know why, though. I usually keep screaming in here."
'Maybe it's because I'm with you," he joked.
'As if." I rolled my eyes.
Next, we reached a room filled with mirrors and a table. When I first glanced at the table, it was empty with nothing on top.
But as the mirrors started showing weird reflections, I stumbled and supported myself with the table. The next thing I knew, my hand was moving on its own.
My eyes grew wide in horror. I slowly looked at the wooden table to find what I was hoping to see the least—the ouija board. How did it get here—
'Annabelle, what's wr—" Theo stopped midway when his eyes fell on my hand.
I remained rooted to my place while the spirit moved my hands.
'W-why, why is it m-moving?" I choked out. 'I-I didn't even ask anything." I was scared to death. This board's predictions were spot on tonight.
'Calm down, let's see what it shows," Theo said, taking my hand that was clutching his jacket and giving it a light squeeze.
I nodded and looked back at the board, watching the plaquette move my hand, spelling out on its own. I started to pray, 'Please don't show anything horribl—"
My prayer remained incomplete as the ouija board reached ‘Goodbye' after spelling out ‘car accident'.
