I apologize, friends, for not updating sooner after my run in with the mysterious man, but I wasn’t aware that yesterday was an official holiday for the residents of Oceanview. They call it the Festival of Spirits and rightfully so, since apparently, spirits are also drawn here to Oceanview. It’s taken me until now to come to terms with that experience, and another that followed.
Oceanview is a peculiar place, full of peculiar but mostly nice people. I’m learning more about it by the day, but their celebration of this particular day has so far overshadowed all of my experiences here thus far.
It started with Cecily bringing me a single white candle. I noticed she carried one herself. The moment I tried to ask her what the candle was for, she held a finger up to her lips and silenced me. I learned quickly there were a lot of rituals to follow on this day, among them were abstaining from talking, technology, eating, drinking and sleeping.
I felt uneasy as Cecily and I walked to her shop. Along the way, we passed others also carrying similar white candles. There were no greetings in passing, just a whole lot of grim expressions. It certainly didn’t ease my anxiety. We entered her shop and I was surprised to see a handful of people had already gathered there. I only recognized Roj.
Still being in the metaphorical dark, I followed everything Cecily did. She set her candle amongst a row of other candles already laid out upon a scarlet hued velvet tablecloth. Then she sat.
What transpired over the next several hours is easily surmised as nothing. As a one, we all sat in silence until the light of day was stolen by nightfall. When the light outside the windows grew dark, the energy in the room shifted immensely, causing the hair on the back of my neck to stand. It sounds so cliche, but it really did. Within moments, the lights began to flicker rapidly and gave off an ominous buzzing noise that grew louder with each passing second.
Cecily stood and walked calmly to the table and picked up her candle. One by one the others followed suit, and so too did I. As they moved to form a circle, I slid into place across from Cecily. An older lady in red stood next to me. Roj had just stepped into place when Cecily’s candle lit of its own accord. She tipped it toward her neighbor, who used the flame to light his own. Then he turned to his neighbor who did the same. So on and so forth until we all had lit candles held before us.
The buzzing noise was no longer irritating. It was straight out painful. The lights continued flickering off and on while alternatingly growing brighter and duller. The effect was dizzying and unpleasant, but nothing compared to what happened when the lights finally went out and didn’t come back on.
Loud bangs filled the shop moments before the door flew open and a strong gust of wind blew into the shop. It should have extinguished the flames of our candles, but they all stayed strong and bright. I still had my gaze locked on Cecily’s and were it not for that, I’d likely have bolted the moment the first ghost flew into the room. Dozens more followed. They were faded, transparent versions of their former physical bodies but each was a different color. It was equal parts beautiful and terrifying. I knew better than try to make reason out of it and instead used every last ounce of my will to keep my eyes fixed on Cecily’s. She maintained her calm the whole while, meeting my gaze and bolstering my efforts. I trusted her, strangely more than I think I’d ever trusted anyone in my whole life.
Time passed slowly, as if we were caught in a vortex where every second felt as if it were an hour. After several of those passed, I became aware of a presence. I wanted to turn around, but Cecily’s gaze advised against that. I felt prickles run up and down my spine, felt a cold breath on my neck and then the most unpleasant of all: I felt a hand slide into my chest from behind and squeeze my heart. It stopped. Pain flared through my body and my knees buckled. I held back a cry as my vision swam.
I wasn’t the only one. We all had a ghost with us by that point. I could see Cecily’s, a brilliant orange specter with a menacing expression. He leered at me from over her shoulder but the pain gripping me held the better part of my concern. When I thought I’d reached my limit and could take no more, Cecily suddenly blew her her candle out. The specter behind her went with it, morphing into a wisp of smoke that was inexplicably drawn into her candle. I quickly followed suit, forcing out a puff of breath to extinguish my own flame. I watched as a trail of smoke was drawn into it. The pain in my chest lessened though my heart still fluttered uneasily.
The lights stopped flickering and returned to normal. The circle broke into a single file as each person set their candle back on the table atop the crimson tablecloth. They did so with the utmost respect and care, and though my hands trembled fiercely, I managed the same. At the end, Cecily was the one to shape the tablecloth around the candlesticks into a neatly packaged bundle. She rested a hand upon it, bowed her head and spent a few seconds before straightening. When she finished, the energy of the room shifted once more.
“We pay our respects,” Cecily said.
I belatedly echoed her words as the others did. With that, the ritual was complete. People quietly spoke to one another, offering quiet words of encouragement or solemn greetings. I stood alone, off to the side, trembling.
Cecily drew me into a hug when she approached, and when she drew back to hold me at an arms length she said, “You did well.”
“Why didn’t you say anything?” I asked, not liking the pitiful whine in my voice. This was the second time I felt as though I’d purposefully been left in the dark.
Cecily’s expression softened before she said, “I did.”
“You didn’t. I would’ve remembered something like this! Whatever this was!”
She gripped my hand and tilted her head to look at me. “Jane, I told you about this yesterday when we had lunch.”
“We didn’t – I didn’t –” I trailed off, straining to remember.
Yesterday wasn’t so far removed that I’d have trouble recalling the events thereof, and while I easily recalled the morning and meeting with Cecily, everything after that turned fuzzy. My head began to spin and I wavered unsteadily. Cecily called out to Roj as my legs lost their strength and I fell to the floor. He was the one who lifted me and set me into a chair while Cecily ushered everyone out. It was while she was gone and I was staring at Roj that a memory came back to me.
It had been from days ago, when I’d been attacked in my bedroom by the strange man and the imps he employed.
“I want very much to kill you, but he won’t let me.”
My vision continued to waver as I stared at Roj. His lips were moving - he was asking me something - but I couldn’t hear what he was saying. In my mind, I was hanging upside down again, only this time, my attackers face wasn’t hidden. In reality, Roj’s features twisted and morphed until they matched the attackers. His eyes went from blue to red and his voice all at once came out in a dark growl.
“Are you alright?”
Hiding my fear was impossible. Roj gripped my arms and leaned in close. The bell jingled behind him as Cecily closed the door hurried toward us.
“Don’t tell her,” He warned with a threatening squeeze.
I mutely nodded.
“Is she alright?” Cecily asked, looking to Roj.
“Too much excitement for one night,” Roj said as he eased back but kept a cautious eye on me.
“I’m just tired. That was… that was a lot.” I feigned.
Cecily didn’t look convinced. She looked worried. “Maybe you should stay here for the night. Especially since we still haven’t figured out who attacked you.”
Roj’s expression tightened as I delayed my response. I finally realized Cecily wasn’t seeing him the same way I was. Reeling all the more, I shook my head and slowly worked my way to my feet.
“I’m fine, really. It’s alright. I’d rather go home anyways. Thank you, both, really – thank you.” I couldn’t leave fast enough. I’m sure it wasn’t at all inconspicuous but I wasn’t about to spend another second in that room.
Roj paid me a visit much later that same night and I now find myself struggling with the secret I’ve been forced to hide from my only friend. If she knew what I knew - if anyone knew what I knew - things would be vastly different in Oceanview. I asked my cards if I was safe with this knowledge. I’d resolved to only ever use my deck for personal reasons in the most dire of situations, which this definitely counted as. But my deck didn’t provide an answer and I didn’t dare ask a second time.
Come morning, however, a new card lay on my bedside table.