UnseenCH1Sample.doc

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THE UNSEEN

by J.L. Bryan

Chapter One

Years later, Cassidy would remember the night of the party as her first encounter with the unseen

world. It began with broken glass, blood, and a homemade Ouia board.

!he day after Cassidy"s se#enteenth birthday, her mother was away at work for the night, inad#ertently

gi#ing Cassidy the best possible present$ a %aturday night alone at the apartment. &er younger brother

'ieran was staying at a friend"s house for the weekend. Cassidy"s mother had forbidden her to ha#eany guests e(cept for her best friend, Barb. Boys, as always, were doubly forbidden while Cassidy"s

mother was working the night shift at the hotel. &er mother called her on the land line to make sure

she was home)ne#er Cassidy"s cell, always the land line.

!he night started out calmly, with no sign of the horror to come.

Cassidy and Barb stood in the narrow kitchen, spreading sauce and mo**arella on a pre+made Boboli

crust. Cassidy opened a ar of oli#es.

%eriously- Barb asked. /hy you are always trying to sneak oli#es into e#erything- You"#e got an

oli#e fetish.

Oli#es are awesome on pi**a, Cassidy said. /ay better than one of your &awaiian+style tra#esties.

I like things that follow a theme.

0#en though pineapples and ham actually taste terrible and ruin it- Cassidy scattered oli#es on one

half of the pi**a. !here. I"m sa#ing you from any oli#e deliciousness. !amila and I can eat this half.

You really in#ited !amila- Barb frowned.

I told you I was.

I thought you were kidding. Barb had ne#er particularly liked !amila 0#ans, who was Cassidy"s

old best friend from middle school.

Barb was the sort of si(teen+year+old girl who dressed in black lace, corpse+white face powder, purplelipstick, and hair dyed Black 1eath, ust one of the colors offered by Barb"s belo#ed &orror 2irl

Cosmetics.

Cassidy"s old friend !amila, by contrast, played trombone in the marching band and had oined groups


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like 3ath League to pump up her college application, while Cassidy and Barb spent the football games

getting high or drunk under the bleachers. Cassidy and Barb also struggled to pass %cience and

%ociety, a boring remedial class better known as %cience for %lackers.

Cassidy had tried for a couple of years to create a friendship between !amila and Barb, but neither girlhad any real interest in the other. Cassidy had found herself drifting away from !amila and closer to

Barb, and ha#ing both girls to her apartment at the same time could get awkward.

4eese said she"s coming, too, Barb said.

5gh, Cassidy said.

I"m telling you, you"d like her if you ust gi#e her a little bit of a chance.

/hat"s to like about 4eese-

%he"s fun, Barb said.

Let"s not confuse loudwithfun, Cassidy replied, shaking her head.

Cassidy couldn"t stand 4eese /arwick, but the skinny blond girl was Barb"s latest girl+crush. Barb wasalways hunting for a third girl to link into her and Cassidy"s friendship so they"d be a cli6ue instead

of ust a couple of losers.

Barb had been hopeful about 4eese as a third 3usketeer because she was pretty and had a salty tongue,

able to cut down the lame preppy kids with a few choice words. Cassidy thought 4eese was a big fake)her blond pageboy+type hair, the golden ring in her nose, the skimpy tops and ultra+short skirts she

wore, as though being pretty wasn"t enough and she ust had to snag the attention of e#ery male in the

room at all times.

Barb herself was chunky, with a low build a bit reminiscent of a bulldog. Cassidy was tall and gangly,with a hideous number of freckles and long, unmanageable red hair. Cassidy was fi#e foot ele#en and

holding, hoping each day she didn"t grow another inch and cross o#er into si(+foot territory. %he

already towered o#er her mom and her brother.

Cassidy"s unusual height had led to her being recruited for the girls" basketball team as a freshman.

%he had sucked at basketball and 6uit after one season)Cassidy liked the 7rt Club, she liked painting

backdrops for school plays, and she liked getting high in the woods behind the gym. %he did not like

chasing a ball and putting it through a hoop like some kind of trained hamster.

Cassidy thought Barb ust wanted a hot girl like 4eese around to make their small group look more

attracti#e.

!he doorbell rang. Cassidy opened it and hugged !amila, who ga#e her an uncertain smile that said

e#erything about the deteriorating state of their friendship. !amila was de#ol#ing toward a grosspreppylook, too. %he wore a blue and white 7bercrombie dress with two matching bows in her long,

soft black hair.


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!amila"s smile, weak enough to begin with, faltered more when she saw Barb.

&i, Barb. !amila wa#ed. !amila was a shapely, dark+skinned black girl who had grown out of

middle+school gawkiness to become a real beauty with large, deep brown eyes. If Barb wanted a cute

girl for their group of friends, !amila should ha#e been a top pick, but she was too bookish and notwild enough for Barb.

!amila8 Barb said with fake friendliness, then turned her attention to sliding the pi**a into the hot

o#en.

/ant some wine- Cassidy offered.

Is it a merlot- !amila asked.

It"s a...pinot noir. Cassidy read the words off the label, pronouncing thempeanut no-wire, since she

had no idea how else to say it.

Just a little, thanks. I don"t want to get di**y, !amila said.

!his should be fun, right- Cassidy asked them, handing !amila her wine.

%ure. Barb refilled her own glass, a#oiding eye contact.

!he e#ening was 6uiet and awkward until 4eese arri#ed, at which point it became loud and awkward.

Barb let 4eese in the door while Cassidy and !amila sliced the finished pi**a in the kitchen.

/hat"s up, bitches- 4eese announced as she entered, wa#ing a tall #odka bottle like a trophy. !heblond girl staggered into the room, dressed in a transparent mesh shirt with a skimpy bra top

underneath, her tight low+rider denim shorts strategically slashed in se#eral places. %o you call this aparty, huh-

/ant some pi**a- Barb offered.

5m, do I looklike I want a giant ass- 4eese unscrewed the #odka bottle and swigged. %o can we

ha#e some fucking music up in here-

!he group mo#ed back to Cassidy"s room to blast Cassidy"s stereo. Cassidy sat on her daybed, which

was lined with cushions, between !amila and Barb. 4eese was left with the sagging armchair in thecorner.

%o what"s for entertainment tonight, ladies- 4eese asked.

I brought a pack of 5no cards... !amila reached into her purse.

5no- Because we"re a bunch of kindergarteners- 4eese snorted. Let"s play 9&ot or :ot."

/hat"s that- Cassidy asked.


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/here we udge the boys at school like the pieces of meat they are, 4eese said. I"ll start$ &ot or

not- 1e(ter 3c'enna.

0w, not, !amila said, frowning.

&ow is he not- 4eese scowled.

Because he"s a dick. !amila sipped her glass of wine.

You don"t likedicks- You"re a chick+licker, aren"t you- 4eese laughed and stuck out her tongue,

pierced with a stud that looked like a black pearl. 7 preppy little dyke.

I am not8 !amila snapped. %he ga#e Cassidy a desperate look, her eyes pleading for rescue.

Come on, lea#e her alone. Cassidy held out her glass to Barb, who had the open wine bottle. Let"sdrink more.

/hat do you think, Cassidy- Barb poured until Cassidy"s wine glass was dangerously full. Is 1e(hot or not-

&e"s kind of cute, but !ami"s right. &e"s a dick. Cassidy drank her wine and fought down the urge togrimace at the bite of the alcohol. %he had a feeling 4eese would make fun of her for it.

I think he"s hot, Barb said.

!hank you, Barb8 4eese said. 7ll guys are dicks, people. You ust ha#e to pick the hot ones.

/isdom from 4eese. Barb toasted her and drank.

I"m full of it. 4eese lit a ;arliament.

You really are, !amila said softly.

/hat was that-

I"m going to let the smoke out. It"s getting hard to breathe in here. !amila stood and opened the glass

door to the balcony, letting in a warm, damp 7pril bree*e from the night outside.

Cassidy"s apartment was crappy and small. !he air conditioner smelled like sour rust, the plumbing

was unreliable, and she could hear her neighbor"s dog barking day and night on the balcony belowhers. %he and her brother shared a small hallway and a bathroom. !heir mother had the master

bedroom, all the way across the li#ing room. !he only good things about her apartment were that itwas on the top floor of the three+story building and it had the little corner balcony. 1oors opened onto

the balcony from both the li#ing room and Cassidy"s room.

1oes my smoke bother you- 4eese asked, blowing a thick plume toward !amila.

It bothers anyone who doesn"t smoke, !amila said.


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Can I ha#e a ;arliament- Barb asked.

Oh, sure8 4eese stuck a cigarette in Barb"s mouth, then held out the open pack to Cassidy. 7nd you,

ma"am-

Let"s go outside. Cassidy took one and led the way out.

!he balcony wasn"t large, but Cassidy and her mother had decorated it with outdoor shel#es full ofsmall, blooming plants. It o#erlooked a broken concrete walkway ne(t to a chain link fence. ;ast the

fence lay a big sinkhole thick with pine brush and kud*u. !ires, beer cans, and an old bo(spring had

accumulated in the weedy sinkhole o#er the years despite the high fence around it.

Oh, yeah, we wouldn"t want to bother allthe non+smokers here. 4eese ust happened to blow a big

cloud of smoke into !amila"s face on her way out.

!amila hung back, standing inside Cassidy"s room and watching the three girls stand at the wooden

railing. !he railing"s blue paint was faded and peeling, neglected for years by the apartment comple("s

cheapskate management.

Cassidy wondered what 4eese was secretly thinking about her tiny apartment. %he"d been to 4eese"s

house for a party once. 4eese had a big princess bed, a flower garden and swimming pool in her back

yard, and a pool table and a bar in her finished basement.


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bologna. It was like sticking my tongue up Oscar 3eyer"s crack.

I don"t want those guys in my house, Cassidy said. 4eese, you should ha#e asked me.


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=odka shots. 0#erybody empty your glass, Cassidy said. 7ll four girls turned their glasses up and

drained the wine. 4eese poured #odka.

!hat"s too much8 !amila gaped at her wineglass, filled to the lip with clear li6uor.

If you get drunk, maybe you"ll be more fun8 4eese ga#e her a chipper smile, and Barb laughed.

4eese raised her glass. &ere"s to me hooking up with 1e(, and to whate#er you bitches want foryoursel#es.

Cheers8 Barb replied, clinking her glass against 4eese"s. =odka sloshed o#er her fingers. Barb turned

to Cassidy and held up her glass. !o whate#er us bitches want for oursel#es.

Cheers. Cassidy clinked her glass against Barb"s, then leaned and stretched toward !amila, but it was

too far to reach, and neither of them made the effort to stand up and cross the room.

Cassidy, Barb, and 4eese downed her entire drinks, but !amila took a small sip, wrinkled her nose, and

coughed. %he wa#ed her hand in front of her mouth and set her mostly+full glass on Cassidy"s dresser,

shaking her head.

/hat- &ow can you wuss+gag on #odka- It has no taste, 4eese said. /ho wants seconds-

/e don"t want to waste all of it right away, Cassidy said.

It"s not wasted if we drink it. 4eese winked, and Barb laughed.

You know what we should do- 7 full moon is the best time to contact the dead, Barb said.

/hy would we want to do that- 4eese asked.

!o see what"s on the Other %ide, Barb replied.

Isn"t that why the chicken crossed the road- !amila asked, but only Cassidy laughed at her oke.

I"m serious, let"s do it, Barb said. Let"s talk to the spirits.

Cassidy bit her lip. Barb thought death was dark and romantic, but Cassidy didn"t find it romantic atall. &er own father had died when she was si( years old.

&ow do you want to contact the dead, Barb- Cassidy asked. 7 s>ance-

Oh, this is all part of your 9Look at me, I"m so 2othic and mysterious and weird" thing, 4eese said to

Barb.

It"s better than your 9Look at me, I"m wearing a see+through shirt" thing, Barb countered.

Bitch8 4eese replied.

%lut8


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4eese gasped and slapped playfully at Barb, who tackled her in return. Cassidy watched them, drunk

and friendly on the bed beside her, and still couldn"t think of a single good reason to e#er hang out with

4eese again.

/ant to do the s>ance, !ami- Cassidy asked.

!hat"s not funny, !amila said. Let"s talk about something else.

Yeah, a s>ance8 4eese suddenly seemed interested now that !amila was clearly uncomfortable.

/e used a Ouia board at my cousin"s house during Christmas, Barb said. It really does mo#e by

itself, it spells out words. It was creepy.

!hose are dangerous, !amila said. /e did a study unit on them at church. Ouia boards, !arot cards,%atan+worshipers, /iccans)

&ey, /iccans worship nature, Barb interrupted, sitting up and looking serious. :ot %atan. %atanists

don"t worship %atan, either. I read the %atanic Bible. /ell, like three pages of it.

!hen that"s a rip+off, Cassidy said. /hat are people who worship %atan supposed to call themsel#esif they can"t use the word 9%atanist"-

!hey need a name, Barb said. !hey should organi*e. !hey need like a de#il+pope, and a whole

%atanic bureaucracy)

%top it. !amila said. %top saying 9%atan."

7re you fucking serious right now- 4eese asked. Let"s break out that Ouia board, ladies.

:o8 !hey can make people cra*y. !here"s demonic possession, ghosts...if you really read up on this,

4eese, you"d know. It"s dangerous, !amila said.

4eese and Barb looked at each other, then burst out laughing.

1angerous- !hey"re made by ;arker Brothers, 4eese said.

I don"t ha#e one here, anyway. I bought one in middle school, but my mom found it and threw it

away before I could use it, Cassidy said.

1id she throw it in the sinkhole out back- Like ne(t to the old homeless+person mattress- 4eeseasked, and she and Barb broke down laughing again.

Cassidy felt herself blush)part anger, part embarrassment)and she poured herself more wine.

/e can make one8 Barb, who knew Cassidy"s room as well as Cassidy herself, stumbled across the

room and opened the door to Cassidy"s tiny closet.

!he closet door was co#ered in drawings, as were all the walls in Cassidy"s cluttered room. &er oldest


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works were appro(imate drawings of Oscar and 0lmo from %esame %treet, in the medium of Crayola,

ust abo#e the springy doorstop that had fascinated her as a small child.


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3ake it more occult+y, 4eese said, with a sharp grin at !amila.

Cassidy used the no**le of her 0lmer"s 2lue bottle to sketch stars in each corner of the poster board.

%he dusted them with red glitter and blew off the e(cess, lea#ing four sparkling red pentagrams.

!hat seems like a bad idea, !amila said. Just take off the pentagrams, okay-

!he pentagrams are great8 Barb said.

&ell, yeah, keep them, 4eese nodded.

/hat other occult symbols are there- Cassidy asked.

In#erted crosses- 4eese suggested, then smirked at !amila"s shocked look.

!here"s a symbol for each horoscope sign. I"ll sketch them... Barb drew the symbols on a scrap of

notebook paper, and Cassidy copied them in marker around the edges of the posterboard)blue wa#es

for 76uarius, a red bull pictogram for !aurus.

!he symbol for Cancer is a si(ty+nine- 4eese snickered, looking o#er Barb"s shoulder.

!hat"s what Cancers like. I"m a Cancer, so I know, Barb replied.

&ere it is)the ultimate Ouia board. Cassidy held up the colorful, glittering poster board. /eshould be able to talk to ghosts from all o#er the world with this thing.

%weet, international ghosts8 Let"s see how it looks in the dark. Barb turned out the light, lea#ing the

room in the dim glow of three candles. !he letters and numbers glowed an eerie green. Outside, the

trees rustled in the wind and light rain tapped on the balcony.

3aybe I should go, !amila said 6uietly.

3aybe you should8 4eese snatched the newly made board from Cassidy"s hands and tugged Barb

down to the carpet with her. Come on, let"s call up some dead people.

/hat do we use as a pointer- Cassidy asked.

You mean a planchette- Barb drained her wine glass, then placed it upside down in the center of theboard. 7 few droplets of red wine dribbled down and blurred the glowing letters Mand N. Barb and

4eese laid their fingertips on the base of the in#erted glass.

Let"s do this8 4eese said.

Cassidy slid down from her bed and sat across from 4eese. %he placed her own fingertips on the glassalong with the other two girls.

One spot left, Cassidy said to !amila, who had made no mo#e to lea#e the chair.


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I"m not doing it.

Come on, !ami. It"ll be fun. ;lease- Cassidy resorted to a begging tone, locking eyes with !amila.

/hat she wanted to say was$I am desperately trying to make you part of the group here, so please stop

acting like such a tromboner tonight. 7s a fa#or to me-

It does work better with four people, Barb added.

!amila sighed, looked at the board, and reluctantly left her chair to sit ne(t to Cassidy, while offering a

shaky, frightened smile to no one in particular.

Okay. Let"s get it o#er with, !amila whispered. %he placed her trembling fingers on the base of theupside+down wine glass. /e should say a prayer first.

Barb and 4eese found this hilarious, and !amila frowned at their peals of drunken laughter.

Let"s go, Barb said. %he closed her eyes. 7re there any spirits)

Come talk to us, spirits8 4eese interrupted, closing her eyes and also swaying from side to side. In

her best drama+club #oice, she proected, %peak to us, gi#e us messagesfrom the worldof the dead...

!he glass trembled under their fingers, and Cassidy gasped. 0#erybody leaned in for a closer look, but

the glass became still again.

You should say onlygoodspirits, !amila whispered. Or we could end up talking to demons, or e#il

ghosts, or dead murderers...

Calling all demons, e#il ghosts, and dead murderers8 4eese cried out in a slurred #oice, then doubled

forward, laughing.

Be serious, 4eese, Barb said. In a louder, more formal #oice, she asked, 7re there any messages

from the Other %ide- Like from our spirit guides or totem animals-

!otem animals, 4eese snickered.

/e all ha#e one. 3ine"s a frog, Barb told her, and 4eese laughed and shook her head, tossing her

blond hair.

You looklike a frog8 4eese said.

%h8 It"s mo#ing, Cassidy told them.

!he wine glass shuddered again, and this time it began to slide o#er the poster board, the lip scraping

and smearing a few of the still+wet letters, gathering glowing paint around its rim.

!he glass mo#ed across the alphabet to the word YESin the upper left corner of the poster, scraping up

glue and glitter from a sparkly red pentagram along the way.


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/ho"s doing that- 7re you doing that- 4eese asked !amila, who shook her head, her wide eyes

fi(ed on the board.

&ello- 7re you a spirit- Barb asked.

!he glass slid half an inch, then right back into place. YESagain.

/ho are you- Barb asked. I mean, to whom do we ha#e the pleasure of speaking-

!he wineglass lay still for a moment, then #ibrated and hummed as if someone had plinked it with a

fingernail. !he glass slid o#er the alphabet.

Cassidy felt her heart racing. %he hadn"t e(pected it to work at all, and it was starting to freak her out.

%he wished they hadn"t turned off the lights.

!he wine glass smeared its way across the board, its entire rim glowing green now. It stopped at the

letter N, and didn"t mo#e again until Barb said the letter aloud. It stopped again on the I.

:...I... Barb said.

:ipple- 4eese suggested.

!he glass continued on to the B, then H...A...and then it stopped on Z.

:+I+B+&+7+?, Barb said.

It"s ust nonsense, Cassidy said.

!he wineglass erked under their fingers, then flew to the word NO, dragging their fingers with it.

/ho"s doing that- 4eese asked. Is it you, Cassidy- Barb- It"s you, isn"t it, Barb- You big 2othgirl.

%h, Barb said. :ib...ha*- Is that right-

!he wineglass *ipped o#er to YES.

/hat does that mean- Cassidy asked.

!he wineglass spelled out N...A...M...E.

Your name is :ibha*-

YES.

%ounds like a demon"s name to me, !amila said in a soft #oice.

;fft, shut up, 4eese told her. Like you would know.


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1o you ha#e a message for someone here, :ibha*- Barb asked.

YES.


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&e"s telling her to die8 7re you people blind- !amila snapped. %he took her fingers off the glass and

stood. I"m gone.

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