There are many things that cannot be explained in this world so easily. Where do we go after life? Are there some that linger? Why do they linger if they do? For those who still like to delight in the spooky, this one is for you:

(Forewarning: This story was read live for the first time during a twitter event I liked to call #scaremearual to celebrate the Halloween season. In case you want to read it again, here it is in its completion. This story takes places after the events of Sarah’s Grave.)

The River Game

If he didn’t understand the words coming out my mouth, he did now as I walked away. We hadn’t been dating long, but he made it clear that it was my silence that made our arguments deadly. We argued enough for me to wonder when I’d walk away for good. Tonight, he was proving that he’d cross lines that I wouldn’t. I wanted no part in his little game.

I walked until I was a few feet from the river and could still see the picnic table up the embankment where he was still setting up his homemade board. I could still hear his friends giggle with nervousness. I stood there for a moment.

I could just drive away. I could walk back to the car and go, but we had driven out of town in the dark to the Hawkesbury River. Blake and I loved visiting historical sites together, learning its haunted history and exploring what could be the supernatural. It was one of the reasons we kept going out on dates. A few weeks ago, we had gone to Sarah’s Grave, which had proven to be more than I could chew, but this time Blake went too far. He seemed inspired by the ghost sighting of Sarah, whereas, I was more inclined to leave well enough alone and make peace with whatever was unsettled.

I was tired of standing and I knew the night had collected against the grass, but I lowered myself onto its surface anyway. The moisture quickly seeped into my clothes. A slight mist was rising up from the water of the Hawkesbury River. Blake kept saying it was the spirits waiting for us but I put my teacher hat on and explained the science behind it. But he didn’t want to hear about humidity and his friends just laughed and called me a nerd.

They weren’t even supposed to be there. When I had pulled up to Blake’s driveway, the two girls just stood casually at his side. He hopped into the back with the girls sliding in on either side of him. I stared at the empty passenger seat and turned around. It was my first silent stare I gave him before he woke up to himself, and instead of climbing back out of the backdoor, he decided to clamber over the seats to the front.

There was an added silence to my own as my eyebrow raised and I cleared my throat, “Um, hello?”

Blake pulled out a cigarette, a habit I didn’t let him do in my car and he knew that. I gave him another silent glare before he stuck it behind his ear. So before waiting any longer for Blake to give me reason to dump his ass, I turned back to the girls, “Hello, I’m Michael.”

“Oh right,” Blake laughed, “This is Madison. That’s Ally. They’re coming along.”

I silently screamed at statement instead of a question. After all, this was supposed to be a date.

“Nice to meet you,” I smiled at the girls.

“Are you really a teacher?” Ally asked. She had to be the youngest here and even though it was hot outside, she wore jeans and a long sleeved shirt.

I nodded and Madison sighed, “That’s so hot. Good find, Blake.”

“I know right,” he grinned, “And he just drives me around, too. It’s great.”

I faced forward and turned on the car. I adjusted the rear-view mirror and as my reflection appeared I asked myself when I stopped having self-respect. I wanted to drive in silence but I felt so awkward and I wanted to get to know the girls. They were sisters and heard about our trip to Sarah’s Grave. Hawkesbury River was known for ghost sightings, since many years ago during colonisation, many people drowned in the floods that would plague the area. Madison was hilarious and we got on quite quickly. Ally’s immaturity really showed and I found myself slipping into teacher mode and correcting a lot of false statements. I didn’t want to be that guy but there was no avoiding it.

I rested my hands on my legs and stared into the river. Everything was going as well as it could be. It just wasn’t a date anymore and I just had to deal with that disappointment. But I wasn’t prepared for Blake to pull out his game. At first, I marvelled at how creepy it looked without knowing exactly what it was. It wasn’t until he pulled out the carved bone fragment and Ally squealed in disgust that I started really asking questions.

Blake had created a homemade Ouija board.

I parted my mouth and tried to control my breathing. My eyes stared into the depths of the water as I tried to ignore the murmurs coming from the picnic table. No doubt they had started their chanting. Despite their protest, I was content in my solitude while they dabbled with their game and that’s all it was to them. A simple game to talk with the spirits of those who drowned so long ago.

Ally had tried to take him by the hand before he walked away, “Please stay, sir.”

She kept calling me sir like I was her teacher. It creeped me out. I withdrew my hand, “I am curious about the supernatural, but I’m also not stupid. This isn’t a game.”

Blake rolled his eyes, “It’s not even a store bought one.”

“Which, for me,” I snapped, “makes this whole thing worse. You just thought you’d google how to make one?”

“An authentic one,” Blake puffed out his chest and that’s when I fell silent and walked away.

“I feel bad now,” I heard Madison say, “I don’t want him excluded.”

Blake muttered, “Don’t worry. He does this. He’ll just wander away and lay beneath the moonlight somewhere and cool off. Hey, where’s my cigarettes?”

I stared up at the moon. The only sound I could hear were the bats chattering in the trees across the river. Blake, Madison and Ally had fallen silent. A few of the trees spread across the embankment groaned. My eyes fell back to the river and I felt a stillness in the air before I whispered, “I’m sorry.”

The mist travelled across the water. Thick with illusion. The bats. The Trees. The moonlight. All slow and majestic. I stood up and walked carefully down the few steps it would take to reach the bank of the river. My head swam in the humidity. I knelt down to the water and watched the natural flow of it as it rippled with the light of the moon. The trees across the river stood across from him like soldiers. White stems that glowed with the moon. The bats cried out to me from their branches. Shapes stuck out of the water. Their silhouettes shadowed against the light. They must have been small rocks sticking out from the water like little gravestones. Some of them seemed to move against the rippling water. Almost grow in height. I shivered and pulled my hoodie around me as a slice of chill found its way onto my skin.

But it still found me. My eyes watched the ripples of the water as the gravestones neared, rising higher…

and higher…

and higher…

Ally’s scream woke me, “I just want to go home, Blake! Take me home!”

My ears felt muffled and I realised I was holding my hands over them.

Madison’s arms were wrapped around me. She was whispering over and over again, “I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry.”

I slowly shrugged her off and looked up at Blake, a smoking cigarette hung from his mouth. His eyes stared down at me. I could see the fear sitting uncomfortably there.

“What’s happened? Are you done?”

“Are we done?!” Blake snapped, “Oh hell yes, we are done. Get us out of here!”

“What’s happened?” I asked, watching the hysterical Ally pull at Blake’s arm.

Blake turned to her and snapped, “I told you. He’s driving and he was out of it, wasn’t he? If I knew you were going to be like this, I wouldn’t have brought you.”

“We shouldn’t have come,” I whispered and Madison took a few steps away from me in fear. Blake looked as if he shit his pants and Ally snapped her mouth shut and stared at me wide-eyed.

“What?” I asked.

“Are you still you?” Blake whispered.

I nodded.

“You really don’t know what you did, do you?” Madison said, taking steps back to return to me.

I shook my head and Blake continued to whisper as if my very presence intimidated him, “We just got done asking a question when you approached. But it wasn’t you. Your steps were heavy. Your eyes didn’t even look at us. The mist turned to whispers.”

“I looked,” Ally tried to whisper but the panic made her volume ascend quickly, “they were coming out of the water. All of them. I saw all of them!”

Blake continued, “You stood at the end of the table. I thought you were returning to join us, but you wouldn’t sit. You wouldn’t even look at us. I thought you were just being a dick. Ignoring me. So I turned back to the board.”

“That’s when you slammed her hand down on it,” Madison said, holding Ally in her arms, “We screamed. Thought you were just trying to scare us but that’s when your mouth opened. Your voiced sounded like creaking branches. The bats echoed your sound.”

“The candles went out,” Blake explained, “one by one. Not all at once. There was no breeze. You were shivering as if it was cold, Michael, but it’s humid as horseshit out here, mate. But you were shivering.”

Ally sobbed from Madison’s arms, “Like them. Like all of them.”

“Then you raised your hand and pointed to the board,” Blake whispered again, “You tapped it with her finger. Each time you spoke.”

“Don’t. Do. That.” All three of them whispered in unison.

I stared at them for a moment and then I laughed, “Right.”

Blake’s eyes widened, “You don’t believe us?”

Ally pushed away from Madison and turned to me, “Please, take us home.”

I nodded, “Great idea. Let’s go. No more games.”

“This isn’t a game!” Blake snapped, “You really did all of that!”

Much to Ally’s relief I started walking towards the car. Madison followed closely. Blake stood back for a few moments before chasing after us.

“You were literally out of your mind,” Blake continued, “It wasn’t you.”

“He’s not wrong,” Madison said, putting a tentative hand on my shoulder.

I stopped walking for a moment and looked at each one again. I heard the bats. The moonlight glinted against the moving river and I remembered. I remembered the chill that wouldn’t leave. I remembered the compulsive steps and the whispers.

I nodded, “Let’s go. I’m taking you home.”

Through tears Ally thanked me and Madison nodded her head. Blake rushed in front of us, holding his bag out, “We should finish this. See what they want.”

“This isn’t a game anymore, Blake,” Madison snapped and pushed passed him, “I want to go home!”

The girls climbed into the car quickly as I turned to the river once more. The soldiers and bats stared back. I could feel them across the water. The mist seemed to settle. The river rested. The stillness that had a hold on us lifted.

Blake tried to be tender and put his hand on my face and searched my eyes, “I’m sorry okay. It was just a game.”

I sighed, “Some games aren’t meant to be played.”

“You were drowning,” Blake whispered, as we both got back into the car, “After you spoke. Water started to pour out of your mouth onto the table. Your lips turned blue. Your skin paled like the moon. I didn’t know what to do. Madison stood up and shook you. Told them to let you go. That’s when you started walking backwards. Like you were in reverse. You sat right back down near the river. That’s where we found you. I asked if you were okay and that’s when you spoke again. Well, it was your voice. Your mouth opened and water poured out again. And your voiced called to us from the river.”

“What did it say?” I asked, as I started the car up and put it into reverse. I turned around to look through the back window. They were all staring at me.

They all shivered in unison. I could see it in their eyes that they had seen something on the river that had my voice. They whispered, “Are you joining us?”