Not Real Pt. Two

A Story by Xylo

Continuation of the "Not Real" story I posted a few days ago.

    The sun rose and shined through the curtains. Sophia’s eyes slowly slid open and she grunted as she rolled out of bed. Many thoughts ran through her head as her mind drifted back to the night before. Her memory on the events were rather hazy, but one key image stuck out in her head. A dark figure standing in her kitchen plagued her thoughts, and sent chills down her spine. She couldn’t help but wonder if the events of the last night were even real. Ghosts couldn’t be real, could they? She quickly gathered her thoughts and shook it off. It was a dream.
   Like every day before, Sophia went about her day. She made coffee, got dressed, made some breakfast, and then headed off to work. The figure quickly slipped her mind as she fell into her normal routine. After all, it was just a bad dream. Reality was still very much in front of her, and she had bills to pay. It wasn’t until later that afternoon that she even thought of the night before. Her phone rang.
   “Sophie, it’s Anna! Michael is hosting a party tonight! Want to come?” Anna’s voice was bright and giddy as per usual. Sophia sighed and thought about what she had seen in her apartment. Despite her reservation towards Anna’s invitation, she certainly didn’t want to go home alone. Not yet at least, and she definitely didn’t want to be there alone after dark.
   “Sure. I’ll meet you there. What time?”
   “It starts at eight o’clock. I’ll see you there!” Anna promptly hung up. Sophia stood up and began to clean up her desk.
   Sophia made the drive home so that she could get ready for the party. Knowing Michael, this certainly wasn’t a suit-and-tie affair, so she threw on some of her cleanest jeans, and a hoodie. After getting dressed, and putting her hair up in a messy bun, she stepped into the kitchen. A small gasp escaped her lips. One of the cabinets was hanging open.
   Being the paranoid mess she was, Sophia immediately checked all of the bedrooms for an intruder. When she found nothing, she immediately thought of the figure she saw in the kitchen the night prior. The thought alone sent a chill down her spine, and shook her to her core.
   “It was just a dream… It was just a dream.” she muttered to herself and shook her head. She gathered her things and set off for Michael’s.
   Upon her arrival, she was immediately greeted by Anna and her brutish boyfriend Michael. Michael was the arrogant type; he was quite full of himself, and frankly, didn’t know when to keep his mouth shut. To Michael, however, that was one of his many “strengths.” Sophia immediately began to regret her decision.
   “What’s up string bean?” Michael roared as he swept Sophia into a bear hug. His breath reeked of alcohol. Holding back a gag, Sophia grimaced as he released her.
   “Hi Michael,” Sophia said with a slight, insincere smile. Anna immediately took her hand and began to pull her towards the door. One thing Sophia noticed, almost instantly, was the lack of music and lights coming from the house. Normally, Michael’s parties were roaring by the time they “started.” Something about tonight was different.
   Upon entering the house, she was greeted by three other people, all sitting in a circle around the coffee table. The lights were off, and instead, there were dozens of candles lit all around the room. In the center of the table, there was a small wooden board, inscribed with the letters of the alphabet: a talking board. Sophia felt a knot form in her gut.
   “I thought you said this was a party.” Sophia muttered.
   “It is a party! We are going to try and talk to spirits.” Anna exclaimed, clearly excited. Was there anything she wouldn’t get excited about? Anna pulled Sophia to the table and pulled her down to the floor. Michael quickly joined them. He nodded towards the first of the three people sitting across from them.
   “Sophia, this is Harry.” The young man nodded towards Sophia as acknowledgement of his introduction. He had dark brown hair, that was well-groomed, and combed to the side. It looked like he had just come from the office, with his pressed dress shirt and slacks. The candle light was flickering in his black-rimmed glasses.
   “Hello.” was all he said, as his fingers fidgeted. Michael went on.
   “These two here are Mary, and Jane,” Michael leaned in towards Sophia. “You think their parents were stoners?” Anna punched him in the arm. Mary looked towards her sister, smiled and then looked back at Sophia.
   “Nice to meet you, and actually, our parents were complete hippies. Vegetarian, and Woodstock, and what-not.” Mary and Jane had these intense blue eyes that stared straight through you. It unnerved Sophia a little. Other than that, they were very pretty. They had long brunette hair, that fell in waves down their back. They were both wearing black t-shirts and jeans. They were nearly identical.
   “Everyone, this is Sophia. She’s Anna’s best friend and roommate. Now that everyone has been introduced, let’s get started!” Michael put his fingers on the planchette, and everyone else followed suit. While Sophia was incredibly reluctant, she didn’t want to be a killjoy, so she placed her fingers on the small wooden token.
   “Close your eyes everyone,” Michael continued. He was grinning from ear to ear. Everyone proceeded to close their eyes, except for Sophia. She looked around the table, and felt a cold chill run down her spine. The planchette twitched; everyone around the table gasped.
   “Stop it, Michael.” Anna gasped with an airy breath.
   “I swear I didn’t do that.” He snapped back. Even he seemed short of breath. Sophia was shaking.
   Sophia felt the planchette begin to shudder under her fingers. The room immediately became cold, and terror coursed through her body. The room began to shake. Was this a nightmare? Pictures fell off the wall, and the decorations around the house toppled over. The candles went out.
   Moments later, there was a flash of light as Michael turned on his phone’s flashlight. He pointed it around the room. Sophia’s breath caught in her chest. Everything was in its place. The pictures were hanging on the wall, and all of the knick-knacks that were on the tables and cupboards were right back where they were a moment ago.
   “What was that?” Sophia yelled at Michael. Michael was white.
   “I " I don’t know.”
   “That was awesome!” Anna shrieked with glee. “Babe, how’d you do that?”
   “I " ” Anna interrupted him.
   “I don’t want to know, but it was awesome! C’mon Sophia, let’s go home.” she gave Michael a quick kiss on the cheek before pulling on Sophia’s arm. Sophia was frozen in place. Her face was pale and she was shaking. Harry, Mary, and Jane, who hadn’t said anything at this point, all looked green. Harry looked up at Sophia.
   “Sophia, are you alright?” he asked. The sick look on his face immediately became concern. Sophia simply nodded, at a loss for words. Harry pushed his glasses back up his nose, before standing up, and turning on the lights. “That was quite the evening Michael, but I think I’m going to leave. I have work in the morning.”
   “No you don’t. We work together, you idiot.”
   “Right. Well, I’ll be seeing you.” Harry walked out the door quickly; Mary and Jane quickly followed. Anna and Sophia turned to leave, but Michael grabbed Anna by the arm.
   “Babe, can you stay with me tonight?” he pleaded quietly. His face was filled with fear. He seemed more shaken up than Sophia. Anna laughed.
   “Stop being such a crybaby. The board was your idea.” Anna scoffed. She gave him another kiss and pulled Sophia outside.
   On the way home, Anna wouldn’t stop talking about the night’s events; Sophia didn’t say a word. Upon entering their apartment, Sophia instantly burst into tears.
   “What the hell happened back there? What was that?” she sobbed before collapsing on the couch. She just didn’t understand. Things like that didn’t happen, not to her. The feeling of dread that resonated so deeply within her just wouldn’t go away.
   “Look Sophie, sleep on it.” Anna said, rolling her eyes. “Everything will be fine in the morning.” Anna gave Sophia a hug, and retreated to her room. Feeling defeated, Sophia decided it would be best to try and get some sleep. Sophia plopped down in bed, and recounted the last two nights. First the nightmare. Hell, that was terrifying enough as is, but now the board; the board was just a bad idea.
   “I shouldn’t have gone to that party.” Sophia couldn’t help but think to herself. She wondered if she had been better off coming home alone. Breathing a sigh of resignation, Sophia finally drifted off to sleep.
   She awoke with a shock many hours later. Her room was pitch black; the clocks had gone out again. The darkness was almost overwhelming, and it made her feel like suffocating. She couldn’t move.
   Sleep paralysis is a relatively common phenomenon where the individual loses the ability to move while sleeping. In a sense, the person is consciously awake, but the body is still shut down, in a sleep-like state. While it is common, Sophia had never heard of it, and she certainly had never experienced anything like it. The horror she felt was overwhelmed by the sheer weight of the darkness around her. Shadowy figures danced in front of her eyes, and she could feel the dark crushing down on her chest. She wanted to scream, but her lips wouldn’t move. Noise wouldn’t come out. The sound of rushing water filled her ears, and she could feel her heart pounding. There was a loud creaking noise, and her door opened to reveal a dark figure in the doorway., outlined by the light in the hallway. Sophia wanted to scream, she wanted to plead with the figure.
   “Don’t kill me. Don’t take me!” She’d scream into the dark, if only she could scream.
   If only she could scream.
   In an instant, the darkness turned to light. Sophia shot up in bed, drenched in sweat, and looked around the room in a panic. Light filtered in through the window, like every morning before. She pulled the blankets back and saw that the sheets were shredded in the area where her hands had been by her sides. What was happening to her? These dreams were becoming so vivid. Were they even dreams? The shadowy figure in her doorway was the same she had seen the night before last in the kitchen. Something wasn’t right.
   Suddenly, Anna burst into her room, tears streaming down her face.
   “Michael is dead.”