About the Contest

This story is an entry to @tristancarax’s 31Sentence Contest. The contest is exclusively on Hive.

If you fancy participating, you can find the contest here.

Prompt

Here is the expected sentence order:

28, 7, 27, 4, 26, 10, 16, 30, 8, 11, 3, 19, 14, 21, 23, 5, 25, 17, 20, 31, 22, 2, 15, 1, 13, 9, 6, 24, 18, 29, 12

Inviting the Uninvited

Shaz and Waz, the popular ghost watchers, were inside an old, dilapidated prison dating back to the 19th century, abandoned since 1921, and completely engulfed by the forest.

“That’s abandoned for a century,” Shaz opined.

Even without Shaz’s thoughts, the visible cracks, the greenery pierced concrete structure, the damp wall everywhere, and the suffocating moulds were testimony to human absence for long.

“Creepy,” Waz turned around.

Many ghost hunters had visited the prison, some as early as 1935, and each of them were consistent in their conclusion that the place was haunted. However, the last visitor was viciously attacked by an entity.

“All those Ouija board users,” Shaz bellowed, “f**kers hardly know that they are messing the place.” Ghost hunter circles knew that haunted did not necessarily mean evil spirits, but the use of Ouija board and similar tools at haunted locations could allow a demon to manifest.

“It’s not the ghost hunter fraternity,” Waz said.

“I am referring to those recluse a**holes who mess things up.”

“Shaz, watch out.”

A wooden plank resting on the wall tipped over and fell a few feet from Waz almost hitting him. “I am not afraid no matter how much you try to intimidate,” Waz yelled.

The place though haunted, was hardly a threat to humans who would witness creaking doors, moving chairs and likes but safe. In early 2000, however, a group of teenagers played the Ouija board summoning a demon and ending up releasing it in the building. Since then, physical attacks happened.

“I think we need to be careful,” Shaz was aware that the spirits fed on their fear and hence Waz’s yelling to fend them off.

The dilapidated structure was not as menacing as the evil vibe they were experiencing within the prison.

Waz put his bag on the floor and sifted through it to find a rectangular packet, “I have an idea.”

“This is the kind of thing which manifested the demon in the first place,” Shaz noticed that it was a pack of tarot cards with Waz, “you want to worsen it?”

“We are not the dumb kids,” Waz zipped his bag, “we need to find out if there is indeed a demon here.”

“Find… why?”

“So that we can warn others,” Waz put on his bag, “that it is dangerous.”

“Demon.”

The duo heard a devilish voice boom in the background, “any more proof?”

“That’s EVP,” Waz removed three cards, “gotta be sure.” He put the three cards down.

“Pick one,” Waz told Shaz who followed instructions but was dumbfounded to find the death card which indicated the presence of an evil entity.

“We know there is an entity,” Shaz picked up the remaining cards and ran, “let’s get outta here.”

“Dude, I messed up,” Waz was panting at Shaz’s door, “that entity had attached itself to the card and followed me home, and now it is wreaking havoc everywhere.”

“Mann,” Shaz instantly laughed, “at least, the prison is clear of evil.”

Image Courtesy:: Tarot Deck