Her head was brimming with questions. Why had he chosen her? Was there a reason he wanted to get her attention? But those were questions that would require the words being spelled out. She would need to begin with simpler questions.
The Ouija board had in each top corner an image of the sun and the moon. On the right side, beneath the image of the sun, was the word “YES.” On the left side, beneath the image of the moon, was the word “NO.”
She decided to ask a simple question first and see if the planchette moved to either corner.
Shoulders hunched, her legs crossed beneath her, Violet sat on her bedspread and murmured her first question to the Ouija board.
Her question was simple. “Harry, are you there?”
Her fingers hovered lightly on the planchette. But nothing happened. Wasn’t it supposed to zoom over the surface, lurching toward each letter until an answer was spelled out?
She waited. She focused all of her energy one more time into her question. In the library, she’d heard a knock back immediately. But now there was absolutely nothing.
Her eyes bore down on the plastic triangle, hoping she could will it to move, but there was no pull from beyond. Her wrists stayedsteady. The triangular piece of equipment remained completely still.
Just as Violet was about to ask another question, she heard a knock at her door. Then another.
She froze.
“Hey, Vi? Are you in there?”
She recognized Lara’s voice.
The rapping grew louder, and Violet hoped if she ignored her, Lara would eventually go away. But as she uncrossed her legs, her foot accidentally hit the edge of the Ouija board and it slid onto the ground with a loud thud.
“Is everything okay in there?” Lara turned the doorknob and slowly opened the door.
“What are you doing, Vi?” Her eyes slid to the floor where the board and planchette now lay. “Are you having your own private séance or something?”
Violet’s face flushed with embarrassment.
“I really think you’re losing it, Violet. You know? Like you’redefinitely not well.”
“I’m fine. Really. Stop making a big deal of nothing.”
“Nothing? You locked yourself in your room so you could speak to a Ouija board, and actually expected it to answer you?”
“First of all, the doors don’t lock. And you have no idea what I was even doing.”
“I assume you’re trying to speak to Hugo. Confirming what we’ve all suspected for months, which is that you’re not dealing with the reality that he’s gone. And…” She took a deep breath. “… that you’re losing control of reality.”
“I was not trying to speak to Hugo!” Violet’s indignance came freely. She wasn’t lying.
“We could go to Health Services now. It might be a good idea.” Lara lowered her voice. “I’m concerned about you. We all are.”
Lara’s eyes flashed. “Wasn’t there an incident in the library today? Didn’t someone write a note in one of the books saying they wouldn’t stop until the voices in their head told them to?”
Panic seized Violet’s chest. Was Lara insinuating she might have written the message?
“You think that was me? How could you even suggest something so terrible?”
“Well, I don’t think it’s impossible. You did tell us you thought you sensed a ghost in the library, didn’t you?” She crossed her arms in front of her. “And even if you’re not out there slashing books, it does look like you’re holed up in your room trying to talk to Hugo.”
Violet’s eyes fell to the Ouija board on the ground. Had her suitemates been discussing amongst themselves that she might be losing her mind?
What if she lied and said she really was trying to reach out to Hugo: Would that have made her seem any less crazy?
Throughout history, countless writers, scholars, mothers, and fathers who’d suffered the impossible loss of a loved one had all done something similar. But had anyone ever tried to force Victor Hugo or Charles Dickens into a sanitarium because they dared to ponder the existence of a spiritual world? Because they tried to connect to the other side?
