Did it Work?

"N'gal paruvik ichtani'la Nebet paradum sakis belfor Uu'a!" Priscilla chanted with conviction, and yet, nothing happened. Nay, a good minute had gone by and the girls of the Catherine David High School paranormal club officially doubted the summoning spell had any effect whatsoever. "Maybe you mispronounced something." Trixy remarked, adjusting her purple-framed glasses. "I totally agree! Probably the Uu'a. After all, it's pronounced Levi-O-sa, Hermione Granger, not Levio-Sa!" added Siobhan. Siobhan fancied herself the toughest lesbian teen in all of Dunwich. From a young age, she's always wanted to spite her old man for using derogatory terms referring to women, and she thought cutting her red hair short and dressing like a punk rocker would get under his nerves. She chickened out of getting that tongue piercing just after her sweet sixteen, but she got him by making out with her cute cousin Aoife at the last St Patty's day family get-together. Let's just say the River Shannon ran red that day. "Can it, Siobhan! You know you couldn't have done any better! I practiced the enunciation for a week!" Priscilla defended. Priscilla was the most popular girl at Lavinia Whateley middle school. Stellar grades which came easy to her meant she could tackle the worthy goal of climbing the top of the social ladder. Everything changed however come grade 9 when Priscilla met face to face with Mildred Hubble middle school mean girl Stacey Kilpatrick. Stacey had the reputation of putting out when she was just fourteen, to all the boys the other girls wouldn't stop talking about. She had them all wrapped around her little finger and she didn't care about a single one of them. Priscilla would fall hard for one of Stacey's 'exes' Mark Waterman. The two bonded together over mutual hatred of Miss Kilpatrick, but when Mark made an inappropriate sexual advance on Priscilla, who was planning on maintaining her V-card at least until senior year, everything went to hell. Priscilla became Catherine David High's quintessential goth girl, jet black hair, pounds and pounds of make-up, and wore nothing but black and pastel pink. Her grades took a dive too, but rumour has it she's doing it on purpose to spite her mom. "Why don't you try saying it again? Say it again!" Siobhan insisted. "Uhm - no! What if it worked but our lord Nebet just didn't show up within your crooked oval, Siobhan?" Priscilla begrudgingly replied. Siobhan crossed her arms. "Every symbol looks like it was ripped straight from the damn tome, admit it!" Siobhan bit back. "Girls, let's please calm down! I'm sure Siobhan is right. No offence, Priscilla, but wouldn't an eldritch god emerging from a deep slumber make one hell of a racket?" asked Courtney. Courtney was absolutely the glue that held the club together. Priscilla may have founded it, but Courtney keeps everything afloat, and actually crates an agenda for each meeting, whereas if Priscilla was left to her own devices, the club would have devolved into nothing more than a pity party for what awful thing Priscilla's mom said to her over the past week, and trust me, Priscilla keeps a journal. "Maybe not everybody's heart was into it. We all want this, right?" Courtney asked around. "Well - I mean the thought of a big scary alien god roaming our otherwise peaceful town seems kind of foolish." Trixy replied. Trixy was the only member of the club who joined looking for new friends. She wasn't at home in the sports clubs and the chess club was packed with all guys she detested. She enjoys learning about the occult, but never imagined summoning rituals in the dead of night would be in the cards. "Seriously? Come on, Trixy! What about your wish? I told you all to come prepared with one wish each because Nebet would owe it to himself to grant us all our deepest desires as a reward for awakening him!" Courtney explained. "I have to confess I'm also not crazy about the idea of something cooler than me walking around Dunwich." Siobhan said. Courtney let out a big sigh of frustration. Priscilla's phone alarm goes off. "Crap! That's ten after midnight, you guys. If my mom gets wise to my little watermelon wearing a wig trick, I'm toast. I gotta go!" Priscilla explained. "I gotta go too." Trixy said, putting away the candles on the ground into her backpack. "Ugh! You girls suck! This was the perfect night for this! We were all here and everything!" Courtney said. "Forget it, lassie. We were clearly in over our heads, this night. Let's pack up. I'll walk you home and promise to behave." Siobhan said sleazily.

Monday came around and the stench of teenaged enthusiasm was nose blinding. One might even say the grim reaper himself was attending class amongst the rest of the sleepy-eyed, dreary student body.

Priscilla was rummaging through her locker. She needed a post-first period snack and swore she had an old Twinkie Siobhan dumped in there last semester hiding somewhere. Her cell phone went off. She checked to notice Courtney sent her a DM on Instagram. “Not sure if you care, but Trixy decided to quit the club last Sunday” it read. Did Priscilla care? Did she form any valuable bonds with her club mates? How many friends did she let herself become estranged to from back in her days at Lavinia Whateley middle? How often does she think of her former best friend Larissa, and how she admitted she didn’t care that Priscilla changed her attitude and style to piss off her demanding mother?

The sound of someone smashing the neighbouring locker startled Priscilla.

“What’s up, Pissy?” Siobhan asked. Siobhan wore a very uncharacteristic pink, shooting star hair clip that Priscilla found really cute on her.

“I hate it when you call me that. I haven’t whined about anything to you today, have I?” Priscilla asked.

“Not yet, but Begorra, I reckon it won’t take you long.” Siobhan teased lovingly.

“Hey, did you hear that Trixy quit the club?” Priscilla said to cut an awkward silence.

“I did, and furthermore, we discussed in depth what the club meant to her and I all Sunday. She really opened up to me.” Siobhan explained. Priscilla began feeling a little jealous.

“She hasn’t spoken to me since Saturday night during the - you know what.” Priscilla admitted.

“She told me she never really felt a connection with you. Would you disagree?” Siobhan asked.

“No, I think that’s fair to say. She’s always had a much more positive outlook than me. I think it’s for the best she moves on. I would hate to corrupt her.” Priscilla giggled. She knew she was a big softy at heart, and she probably wouldn’t be able to bring someone over to the dark side unless if that meant merely turning the lights off in a room.

“What class do you have next?” asked Siobhan.

“Biology. Say, I seem to remember you tossing a Twinkie in here last semester. Do you remember where?” Priscilla asked.

“That thing? I opened your locker and nabbed after my Calc exam back in January. You know what they say, be careful who you share your locker combo with.” Siobhan practically skipped her way to her next class. As Priscilla looked on, she realized that sharing her locker combination meant she had trust in Siobhan. If she didn’t know any better, she might even say Siobhan has become her new best friend.

Another alert from her cell phone, again from Courtney.

“Hey, I really want to try that ritual one more time! Can we meet tonight? Just you and I this time.” One on one? Priscilla distinctly remembered a group of individuals were needed for the ritual to work. What trump card is Courtney hiding up her sleeve?

“You won’t need that silly incantation again.” Courtney assured. Priscilla was definitely underdressed for tonight. She wore pyjama bottoms and a light jacket, but it felt like the cold touch of winter was still lingering this late into April. Courtney on the other hand looked downright satanic. She wore a black dress with sheer stockings and drew ritualistic war paint on her face. The ritual circle featured different symbols this time. They weren’t replicating the same, lacklustre ritual they performed last Saturday, this was altogether different. Priscilla was scared.

“Courtney, what the hell is going on? This isn’t like before!” Priscilla noted.

“No, it isn’t! You have no idea how much I pleaded with cowardly little Trixy last Sunday. Told her she could quit after one more try at the ritual but no! She insisted on quitting then and there! So - she forced my hand. I went digging further into that tomb, and found there was another ritual.” Courtney took several, predator-like steps towards Priscilla. Priscilla began backing away slowly, not realizing she had just stepped into the ritual circle. Courtney pounced! She wrapped her arm around Priscilla’s throat and began to squeeze.

“You won’t believe this, but I found a ritual where I can use another human being as the vessel for our lord, the great Nebet, and I couldn’t think of a better victim than you!” Courtney said, wrestling Priscilla to the best of her abilities.

“Why you - doing this?” Priscilla asked with a laboured breath.

“Why? Because I’m tired of living in poverty! I’m tired of Value Village and hiding at lunch time, force feeding myself some two dollar, processed lunch. I want it all! And what better way to get it but by being the queen of Fear Itself!” Courtney said maniacally. Priscilla’s vision darkened, the sounds around her began to fade. She was out of time. If she passes out now, she doubts she will ever wake up again.

Without warning, she fell to the ground, but Courtney had released her hold on her. She gasped, tried to sharpen her vision. She finally saw Siobhan slap a pair of furry, pink handcuffs on an unconscious Courtney. She also saw a branch the shape of a club on the ground next to them.

“Siobhan, where did you even get those?” Priscilla asked.

“Uhm, I snuck into my parent’s bedroom right after school before they arrived back home. I’m a little repulsed by myself but I couldn’t let you down.” She admitted. Siobhan came over and helped Priscilla up to her feet.

Are you alright?” Siobhan asked.

“I’m dizzy, but I’ll manage.” Priscilla added. Siobhan gave her friend a big hug, one that surprised even her. Siobhan lingered a moment before Priscilla broke the silence.

“We should call the police.” she said.

“Right - right!” Siobhan agreed, finally breaking her hold on her friend. The two look back at the unconscious Courtney.

“When did that one go all barmy?” Siobhan asked.

“I think she always sorta was. Tough lifestyle. I know we should wait here until the police arrive to get her, but can we wait maybe a few more feet away?” Priscilla asked. Siobhan takes her by the hand and the two mosey a few feet away. They stop to appreciate the sight of the moon past the leaves of the forest.

“So, did your little witches’ coven turn out the way you were hoping?” Siobhan asked.

“Wow, this was both the best and worst idea I’ve ever had!” Priscilla remarked.

“Best how?” Siobhan asked.

“Well, at least I made a great friend out of it.” Priscilla replied. Siobhan smiled gently at Priscilla, and took her by the other hand as well.

“Siobhan! Come on! You know I’m not attracted to girls!” Priscilla insisted.

“Well why not one kiss for your saviour then?” Siobhan asked nicely. Priscilla leaned in for a small peck, but Siobhan held on for a little longer. Priscilla did not back away.

The End