"help me..."

Lori sat bolt upright in her bed, shivering not only from the sudden chill, but from the realization that she was not alone in her bedroom. The *thing* was back. The thing from the Ouija board. The thing that had identified itself as the spirit of Franklin Waid.

Earlier it had been content to communicate though the Ouija board, but now... now it was TALKING!

"...help me..."

"Wha- what are you!" Lori screamed. "What do you want!"

"...please..."

"This isn't happening! MOM!!!"

"You shut up in there!" replied a slurred voice. "I gotta go ta wirk ina mornin'!"

It was worse that Lori thought. Not only was Lori HEARING things, but her mother was well beyond the point of any usefulness whatsoever. Rosalyn Zaslow hadn't had a job in six months.

"MOM, something's happening to me!"

"Summins gonna be happnin to you if you don' shut the HELL up!"

"Lori, please..."

Lori threw the covers back and leapt out of bed. That last whisper... it was almost IN HER EAR. No... it WAS... the whispering was inside her head!

She stood shivering in the center of her dark bedroom, trying to swallow her fear and figure out what to do next.

"...are you listening," said the voice. "...you can hear me, can't you?"

"Y-yes." said Lori through clenched teeth. She looked around the room for perhaps the fifth time. She was still alone as far as her EYES could tell... "Yes, I can hear you."

"Thank God."

Lori sensed the desperation in the voice.

"Who are you? Are... are you dead? Are you a ghost?"

"Please help me. I... I died..."

"You're from the Ouija board aren't you... Oh God, I'm possessed!"

"No... don't be afrai-" the voice trailed off for a moment. Lori thought for a moment that she was finally free of the spirit, but the voice returned as quickly as it had vanished. "Don't be afraid. I won't hurt you."

"Why are you here? Why me?"

"You're the only one...the only one who can hear me. I don't know why."

"What do you want from me?"

There was silence again.

"Hello?"

"I... I don't know. I've been trying for so long... but I don't know what happens next."

"How long have you been...dead?"

"I can't tell. Days. Weeks."

"Days? Days... what's your name? Frank, right?

"It's... it WAS Waid. Doctor F-"

"Franklin Waid! I saw you on the news! You died last two weeks ago in a car accident. You and your wife."

"My wife! Have you seen her? Has she tried to contact you?"

"Why? Isn't she... with you?"

"No. Can you help me find her?"

A sudden wave of sorrow and loneliness washed over Lori. The emotions weren't her own... it was as if they were caught up in someone else's turmoil...

"Please help me find her," insisted Frank.

"Look, I'm just... I can't help you. I mean... what can I..." the sorrow deepened, almost to the point that Lori wanted to burst into tears. " Please stop doing that!"

"Doing what?"

"You're in my head! Stoppit!"

"No... you're in MY head..."

"You're dead. You don't HAVE a head, so get out of mine!"

The wave of sorrow receded, leaving an uncomfortable void in its place. Lori felt tiny twinge of curiosity, but she couldn't tell if it was HERS or HIS?

"I saw that," said Frank.

"What?"

Without warning, Lori was deluged with a raging river of... SOMETHING. Information... data... things she couldn't begin to comprehend. Her mind reeled and her own fear welled up within her. She was about to scream when the onslaught ceased.

"I saw that." Frank repeated.

"Don't DO that!"

"Your light changed. You were afraid... and your light changed."

"You're not making any sense... WHAT lights?"

"When you're dead... you can't see like you could when you were alive. Everything is a haze of color, people most of all. But your colors are different."

Lori looked down at herself. She couldn't see any colors at all, other than her night-clothes.

"How... how long have you been watching me?"

"I can't tell... a few days? But you couldn't hear me unless you were asleep. And when you woke up-"

"The whispering? That was YOU?"

"Yes. I followed you... and when you used the Ouija board, I got... closer."

"Yeah, but now what? Are you going to, like, haunt me until I go crazy?"

"No."

"What, then?"

"My wife... She's looking for me; I know it."

Lori felt the sorrow and desperation building up again.

"Wait... hold on. Just back off a minute, okay? Oh God, I can't believe I'm talking to a real live ghost."

"Please help me find her!"

"OKAY!"

"Please..."

"Okay, how do you know she's a ghost?"

"She died. I... I saw her. The accident... she died first... so much blood. And then... and then..."

"But how do you know she's a GHOST?"

"Because she died."

"But that doesn't mean she's a ghost! Didn't you see that movie... just because you die doesn't mean you stick around and haunt people. Most people just move on or something..."

"Move on where?"

"Heaven or whatever. You know..."

"You mean... is that true?"

"You'd know better than me! Didn't you, like, see Heaven or something when you died? A tunnel with a lot of light?"

"I saw my wife. I watched her die. And I wanted to die, too."

"Then what?"

"A fire. And then... I was somewhere else. Everything was colors and shadows. It was hard to move... I had to learn how to do everything again. Then I started looking for her. I saw you... I saw you and your colors were different from everyone else's. I thought you were her at first.... I tried to talk. I screamed. You almost heard me... you turned and looked around-"

"I remember that! You've been following me for two weeks! You... you've been making it cold and you've been screwing up all the clocks!"

"I don't know. I don't feel the cold. I don't feel anything... not when I'm like this."

"But the clocks and the stereo..."

"Sometimes I can touch things if I try hard enough. It hurts... and there's this... energy. It affects things."

"So you CAN touch things! Do it now... move something."

"I can't. It's too soon since the last time."

"When was that."

"Tonight, when I moved the board from the closet. I thought I could use it to talk to you... but you were afraid."

"Well wouldn't YOU be? I mean... here you are following me around and trying to FREEZE me half to death. You destroy all the electronics in the house and now you want me to do you a FAVOR?"

"I'm... sorry. I can't help it."

"Where are you, anyway?"

"You can't see me."

"Where!"

"To the right. Your right. Between you and the bed, about three feet in front of you."

Lori looked at the spot the ghost had indicated, but she saw nothing. She stepped forward and thrust her hand through the empty space... it was like sticking her arm in a bucket of ice water. She jerked her arm back.

"That was you?"

"Yes."

"Did... did you feel my arm?"

"No. I can't feel anything. Please help me... I have to find my wife."

"What if she isn't here anymore?"

"She wouldn't go without me... would she?"

"Who are you asking? Me? Maybe she didn't have a choice..."

"But why am I still here?"

"It's supposed to be like... unfinished business, you know? Did you leave anyone behind? Another girlfriend?"

"NO!"

"Family?"

"They're all dead."

"What about work? What did you do? A doctor, right? Any patients-"

"Not that kind of doctor."

"What kind?"

"Computers. I worked with machines."

"Like at school? Those PC things the nerds talk about ?"

"Better than those."

"But there was nothing that would keep you here, right?"

"I don't' know. I don't know WHY I'm here."

"Well I can't help you. I haven't seen your wife, and I don't know where to look. Hey wait! What about the cemetery? Did you go to your funeral?"

"No."

"Maybe she's there, waiting for you. That's what I'd do... I guess. Wait for you at your grave. Maybe."

There was no response... and after a few minutes, Lori felt the room temperature begin to rise.

"Frank?" she said.

Nothing. She realized she was alone. Just to be sure, she toured the room feeling for a cold spot. She found none.

"Hmph." she said. "At least he could have said 'thank-you."

[To Be Continued]