The Summoning

BEFORE THE SUMMONING

As a kid, I’ve always been interested in the supernatural. This interest started in elementary school, at the time there was a popular rumor. Almost everybody knew about it, unless you lived under a rock. The rumor was that a ghost family of four, a mom, a dad, the daughter and the younger brother. Many kids had reported seeing footprints leading into the forest, silhouettes behind trees, distant painful screams, and even feeling creepy vibes in the bathroom by the cafeteria. Of course, me being me, I just couldn’t get over this.

“What do you think about the ghost rumor?” I asked my friend who was sitting across from me in class working on her vocabulary words.

“Umm, I don’t know. I think it’s real, I swear I’ve heard footsteps in the bathroom right there when I was going.” Victoria said, staring down at her paper. We sat in silence for a minute. “What about you?”

“I don’t think it’s real, I mean, how am I supposed to know?” I scribbled on my paper.

“Well… do you wanna find out?” She replied. I looked at her as if she was a dancing lion with a tutu on. I thought she was talking nonsense so I didn’t bother to answer her. “Do you?” She repeated, this time she was looking straight at me.

“How would we do that? Are you okay? Are you sick?” I answered. After that, she told me about how we could see if this ghost family rumor was real. As much as I didn’t want to admit, it made sense. At recess, we would sit on the dirty faded magenta playground and call out for the ghost. If we received some sort of sign, it was true, if we didn’t, it was nothing but a rumor. I agreed. I felt dumb trying to pull something like this off, but anxiety filled every single part of my body. From my head to my toes.

It was 10 minutes until lunch and recess. Was I scared? Definitely. Could I back out? No, it was too late. I didn’t wanna seem like a chicken. My elementary school reputation would be ruined forever.

“Time for lunch finally, I’m starving,” I hear one of the kids say. I looked at the black clock, he was right. It was time for lunch, more importantly, recess.

THE EXPERIENCE

After eating our stale pizza and stale blue Doritos, it was time to start dismissing tables for recess. Our plan was to head straight to the playground so no one takes our spot that we chose. The adrenaline in my blood rose as the sun hit my skin. The smell of grass and wind filled my nose, but anxiety filled my heart. We sat down and began. “So how are we gonna start?” I asked peering over at the forest.

“We should try getting them to show us a sign that they’re actually here.” She answered. “Ghosts, if you are here, show yourselves.” She said with a dead serious face. At first there was no answer. I laughed, I was relieved. This whole thing was fake after all. “You try now.” She noticed me silently giggling. Why not, it was all fake anyways. We would just get the same answer.

“Ghosts, Paige, if you are here, show yourself,” I mocked my friend. Paige was the oldest daughter's name. Few seconds passed, and we heard something terrifying. It was the sounds of blood curdling screams coming from the direction of the forest. It was no scream of a child who was getting chased by their friend. “D-did you hear that?!” I cried. I couldn’t believe it. There was no way that this was actually real?

“Yeah, I heard that….” Her voice trailed off. She was staring at the forest for a good second. I looked over too.

“What are you looking at?” I asked her. She pointed and there I saw. It looked like the faded face of a ghost, at that moment, my heart was beating out of my chest. All of a sudden the high pitched whistle of the recess bell filled the long silence. We headed inside, but shock and fear remained in my stomach.

THE AFTERMATH

After that, I couldn’t get rid of the remaining anxiety that was left with me after that horrifying experience. My mind couldn’t think straight all day. The feelings remained. I was scared to go home. I thought that if I went home, the ghost would follow me and haunt my entire family for all of eternity. I thought maybe I just shouldn’t go home. Maybe I should run away, to save my family. But then I realized I was just a small child in the 4th grade, where would I go? My friend and I hadn’t said anything of what happened. We acted like everything was normal, when on the inside we were scared. We were scared of what would happen to us. We were too young to die. Ever since that day, I believed it all. Ghosts, mermaids, demons, I believed they were all true. The memory may have faded from my mind, but the feelings still remain lurking inside my body. It’s a feeling I would never forget.