Danny Summons The Devil

“Hey Max. There's a graveyard near my house and I have a few sleeping bags and a tent. Wanna sleep in the graveyard?” Danny coos.

“Sleep in a graveyard?” I ask. “Danny you are out of your mind.”

“Out of my mind? No! You're just a big wimp!” Danny yells.

I sigh. Why am I friends with such a weird girl? Beats me. But I am and she is not allowed to call me a wimp. Which is why she is doing it. To get me mad, so i'll say yes. But I won't. She can't control me.

“Guess you'll just have to stay at home and be bored while the girl shows you up. And Talks to spirits,” Danny taunts.

“Spirits? You can talk to spirits?” I gasp.

“I'm a medium at the talking-to-spirits game,” Danny says.

“Game?”

“You ask so many questions. You coming or not?” Danny asks irritated

“We'll, I have a medium. I'll go then!” I say.      

When I thought about staying in a graveyard with Danny, I thought it would be fun and cool. We would talk to ghosts and tell people how cool we are. Danny is a Medium. Or at least she says she is. We set up camp in the dead center of the graveyard and tell a few stories. The stories are lighthearted and funny stories. Danny lays out her sleeping bag and pulls out a thick square of fabric, sets it in between us.

"What is this?" I ask.

"Guess," she whispers, uncovering it.

I don't guess and suppress a scream and gasp instead.

"Is that-"

"Our ticket to contacting the dead?" Danny cuts me off. "Yes. Yes it is."

I stare at the ouija board and look around.

"Danny. We are in the dead center of a graveyard. This is a really bad idea," I say, yelling "And you said you were a medium!!"

"Yeah," Danny confirms, setting up the board. "I'm medium skill at using this."

"That is not funny Danny!" I yell as she laughs.

"Max. We will be fine," Danny smiles, sitting back and examining the set up.

"I am not doing this Danny," I inform her, standing up.

Danny pulled me back down and put my hand on the triangle and started to summon someone, more like something, and when she was done, I looked around like someone was watching. Maybe something was.

Danny smiles. "See? Nothing. Don't be a big scaredy-"

We both freeze and hold our breath.

"What. Did. You summon," I barely whisper.

"I didn't think it would work," Danny says.

"Danny. what did you-" Then I see it.

The shadow lurking behind the circle of salt behind Danny.

"Danny. You idiot," I breathe.

Danny had single handedly summoned the devil himself.

"Danny. Don't move," I say, holding her hand still and keeping her in place as she tries to pull away. "We just need to end the game and it'll go away."

I slowly drag the triangle to the 'goodbye' at the bottom of the board and right before it gets there, it stops and won't let me end the game. Danny's hand is limp. What is stopping me? I look up and the devil is staring at me. I freeze up and Danny rips her hand away, bolting out of the salt circle. I yell after her and stare at the gap in the salt circle. I hear Danny scream, take a breath and bolt for the entrance of the graveyard. I made it. I slam the gates closed and chain them together with a chain Danny had used her lockpicking skills on so we could get in. I step back and examine the gates. No one is there. I start to wonder if a salt circle worked backward and would trap the devil in the graveyard and scream as Danny slams into the gates.

She reaches through the gate with bloody hands. "MAX! OPEN THE GATE! PLEASE!"

I stare at her. If I open the gate. He might be able to get out while Danny slips past. I don't know how to pick a lock either. I look around in a panic and see a hole in the wall close to the gate.

"Danny. run for that hole. Please forgive me for leaving you. i'm sorry."

Danny turns to run for the hole, but falls and looks like shes being dragged away, clawing at the dirt and screaming bloody murder.

"Danny!" I grab the gate and call her name.

No answer ever comes. I step back from the gate and look to the road. I turn back around and Danny is in front of the gate, staring and seeing nothing. Her skin is torn open and her head split open, her brains literally falling out of the open gap. I gag and my chest tightens with fear. I can't breathe and I freeze up. Danny reaches through the gate and grabs my arm. I pull away and she catches my arm and pulls my face to the gate.

“You left me,” Danny says, her breath stained with the scent of blood and her teeth falling out with every word. “You left me. But i’ll never let you leave me again!” Danny yells, pulling harder.

The cold metal of the gate cuts into my cheek and Danny keeps pulling. But this isn't Danny. It can't be Danny. I look into her eyes, and then behind her to see the devil copying her exact movements. Or is she copying him? Danny let's me back up a little bit, enough for the gate to not cut into my face and steps back, pulling my arm and using her weight to yank me forward. 

She's trying to pull me through the gate.

I push against the gate and pull my arm out. Danny screams, more like screeches, and bites my arm. I scream as she rips a chunk of flesh off my arm and spits it out, biting into the same spot. She stops, freezes, and drops to the ground. The devil reaches through the gate, grabs my head and rips it through the bars. 

I still don’t recall dying. But I watched as the police bagged me and Danny’s bodies and dragged us out of the graveyard. All I know is that the devil is still lurking in that graveyard and I will not let him take anyone else.