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BEFORE

Laurelton, Rhode Island

THE ORNATE SCRIPT ON THE BOARD TWISTED in the candlelight,the letters and numbers dance in my head They were jumbled and indistinct, like alphabet soup When Claire pushed the heart-shaped piece into my hand, I startled I wasn’t normally so twitchy, and hoped Rachel wouldn’t notice The Ouija board was her favorite present that night, and Claire gave it to her I got her a bracelet She wasn’t wearing it

Kneeling on the carpet, I passed the piece to Rachel Claire shook her head, oozing disdain Rachel put down the piece

“It’s just a ga even whiter in the diht Rachel and I had been best friends since preschool, and where she was dark and wild, I was pale and cautious But less so ere together She made me feel bold Usually

“I don’t have anything to ask dead people,” I said to her And at sixteen, we’re too old for this, I didn’t say

“Ask whether Jude will ever like you back”

Claire’s voice was innocent, but I knew better My cheeks flahed it off “Can I ask it for a car? Is this like a dead Santa scenario?”

“Actually, since it’s ers on the piece Claire and I followed her

“Oh! Rachel, ask it how you’re going to die”

Rachel squealed her assent, and I shot a dark look at Claire Since o, she’d latched ontoleech Her twin missions in life were now to make me feel like the third wheel, and to torture me for my crush on her brother, Jude I was equally sick of both

“Remember not to push,” Claire ordered me

“Got it, thanks Anything else?”

But Rachel interrupted us before we could descend into bickering “How a to die?”

The three of us watched the board My calves prickled fro, and the backs ofhappened

Then so did We looked at each other as the piecepast A through K, and crept past L

It settled on M

“Murder?” Claire’s voice was soaked with excitement She was so sketchy What did Rachel see in her?

The piece glided in the wrong direction Away from U and R

Landing on A

Rachel looked confused “Matches?”

“Mauling?” Claire asked “Maybe you start a forest fire and get eaten by S the panic that had slithered into my stoe to roll my eyes at Claire’s melodramatics Now, not so much

The piece zigzagged across the board, cutting her laughter short

R

We were silent Our eyes didn’t leave the board as the piece jerked back to the beginning

To A

Then stopped

We waited for the piece to point out the next letter, but it remained still After three minutes, Rachel and Claire withdrew their hands I felt the me

“It wants you to ask so,” Rachel said softly

“If by ‘it’ youand nauseous I was done

“I didn’t push it,” Claire said, wide-eyed as she looked at Rachel, then at me

“Pinky swear?” I asked, with sarcasm

“Why not,” Claire answered, with reen eyes were dangerous “I didn’t push it,” she said again “It wants you to play”

Rachel grabbed ht at Claire “I believe you,” she said, “but let’s do so else?”

“Like what?” Claire’s voice was flat, and I stared right back at her, unflinching Here we go

“We can watch The Blair Witch Project” Claire’s favorite, naturally “How about it?” Rachel’s voice was tentative, but firm

I torea smile Claire did the sah, I tried to s er and unease as we settled in to watch the movie Rachel popped in the DVD and blew out the candles

Six months later, they were both dead

AFTER

Rhode Island Hospital Providence, Rhode Island

I OPENED MY EYES A PERSISTENT MACHINE BEEPED rhythht Another machine hissed beside the bedside table My head ached and I was disoriented My eyes struggled to interpret the positions of the hands on the clock hanging next to the bathroom door I heard voices outside my roo underneathtickled the skin under my nose A tube I tried to move my hands to pull it away but when I looked at the frohtness as I moved my hands and my stomach slithered into my toes

“Get them out,” I whispered to the air I could see where the sharp steel entered my veins My breath shortened and a scream rose in my throat

“Get them out,” I said, louder this time

“What?” asked a small voice, whose source I couldn’t see

“Get them out!” I screamed

Bodies crowded the room; I could make out my father’s face, frantic and paler than usual “Calm down, Mara”

And then I saw my little brother, Joseph, wide-eyed and scared Dark spots blotted out the faces of everyone else, and then all I could see were the forest of needles and tubes, and felt that tight sensation against my dry skin I couldn’t think I couldn’t speak But I could still move I clawed at my arm with one hand and ripped out the first tube The pain was violent It gaveto hold on to

“Just breathe It’s okay It’s okay”

But it wasn’t okay They weren’t listening to et the the room

“Mara?”

I blinked, but saw nothing The beeping and hissing had stopped

“Don’t fight it, sweetie”

My eyelids fluttered at the sound ofone of the pillows, and a sheet of black hair fell over her alet out of her way, but I could barely hold limpsed two dour-faced nurses behind her One of them had a red welt on her cheek

“What’s wrong with me?” I whispered hoarsely My lips felt like paper

My ave you so to help you relax”

I breathed in The tube under one And the ones froes wrapped aroundreleased itself froh shuddered from my lips The room shifted into focus, now that the needles were out