"Hey guys, what's goin' on." She walks down the upstairs hall then pauses. "I forgot what I was doing this video about."

Sunshine looks confused, then recognition flickers in her eyes. "The medium. So, I found a local medium, who.. I think will be awesome and I have his number." She tramples down the stairs, breathing out. "But I'm gonna talk to mom about it right now. So, yeah."

She walks in to the living room, looking around and then halting in her tracks. Her mother is sitting on the couch, hands outstretched on the Ouija board planchette, face blank but serious.

"What are you doing?" Sunshine's voice is stern and harsh as she marches up to Kat, green eyes narrowed.

Kat looks up, curling her fingers up. "What?"

"Mom!"

She sighs. "I — I just wanna try it. It seems — I don't know." Her mother pushes the board away and crosses her arms. "It was kind of calling to me."

"Mom, that's like, BS."

Kat rolls her eyes. Who's the mom here, again? Sunshine grunts and positions her camera, sitting down next to her mother.

"I can see that the red light is on, why are you filming? Anything here?"

Sunshine looks dumbfounded then pats her mother's leg. "I knew you had to be smart to do what you do." She sticks her tongue out.

"What? Why are we taping?"

"Because! Me and everyone else deserve an explanation." Duh?

"I, can talk to you about it, I don't have to tell.. your people.."

"They already saw it, so just, go ahead and explain it."

Kat sits back and sighs as Sunshine makes a face. "What, what do you wanna know?"

She points to the table. "Why the heck are you using a Ouija board?!"

"Why — we have it, why — if we can talk to the ghosts, if this is... real, which it's probably not, it's a game, you bought it at a toy store — why shouldn't we use it?" Kat shrugs. "If it will actually let us talk to the ghosts, find out why they're here, find out, why — what do they want? Then why wouldn't we?"

"Because everyone on YouTube says not to use it!" Sunshine uses that 'obviously' tone of voice.

"Ohhh, if people on YouTube say —"

"Okay, I read—"

"They also say all kinds of things about you." Her mother inclines her head forward.

"I'm aware." Sunshine rolls her eyes. "They also say that it's just not good, to use a Ouija board!"

"Then why do we have it?"

"Because I was gonna use it and now I'm not, and I just decided, no."

"I don't — understand, why we can't try it. Let's try it together! Let's—"

"No."

Kat groans.

"We will agree to disagree." Sunshine waves her hands.

"Okay, well, I'm the mom —"

"End of conversation."
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Sunshine feels like she's being followed again. She just pulled back up to the driveway and — and just, she has this feeling. Like she's being watched again. It greatly unnerves her.

Maybe it's a creepy YouTube stalker or something. She's not sure.

(If it's one of her followers she's gonna kick their ass.)

It's really weird and she's kind of freaking out about it. Add being followed to the list of things Sunshine doesn't like.

She grumbles and fiddles with the door, finding it unlocked. Oh. "Hey mom," she greets as she walks in to the house. "When did you get home?"

Sunshine looks around and finds her mother standing in the living room, staring at the wall, completely still and unmoving. She almost walks right past her. "Mom..?"

"Mom." Sunshine quickly moves over to Kat, who is muttering something under her breath. She steps in front of her mother's face, which looks pale and shadowed. Her eyes are dim and there are black rings around her eyes, like she hasn't been getting any sleep.

What the hell. "Oh my god. Mom." This — this is reminding her of when her mother cut herself, so many months ago, just standing over the sink as if she wasn't even breathing.

She doesn't get a response.
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The follow-up to her mother's weird trance: she's doing better, she's doing okay. It's relieving. And considering that Kat had a really high fever, Sunshine figures it's just something to do with sickness.

It's been pretty quiet, though. That's good. That's always good.
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A few hours later, Sunshine is outside, standing on the trampoline and looking uneasy. "So I found.. what I'm pretty sure is my dad's number in my mom's.. phone." She bites her lip as she looks at the camera. "And I think — I mean, I don't know, I'm thinking about calling him."

Is that a good idea?

"What do you guys think? I don't know. I've just been thinking about it, with mom being sick and everything, and.. if she.. did — you know." There's a long hesitation, and Sunshine winces. "Die. I'd be alone. I don't have anyone. I don't have like a — everyone else is gone."

It crumples her heart in to pieces. "So it's just got me to thinking and stuff, so, I don't know. I'm thinking about calling him. Maybe not. I might. I don't know."
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The next day, Sunshine is back facing the camera. "Okay, so I found this address in my mom's stuff, like an address or something. So I tried to call the number — cause I think it belongs to my dad. So I called but.. he didn't pick up, and I don't think it was my dad, so, so yeah, I'm just gonna go, I'm, takin' the car and, driving there to... the house. So, yeah."

She turns the screen around. "I'm bringing along my lockety thingy that my dad gave to my mom when they were first married, so, it's a little way of proving that I'm who I say I am. I'm really excited about it." She laughs. "Really excited. I'll film everything guys, don't worry. But it's gonna be awesome."

Sunshine smiles. "So, yeah. I'll keep you posted."
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The light beats down on her as she stumbles around the backyard. Sunshine's eyes are rimmed dark and red, and her hair is bushing up, as if she hasn't even bothered to keep it under control.

"So," she begins, crying out, "I'm back from the house." She whimpers. "Worst day ever. I — I don't know what that had to do with my dad at all. It was weird."

Her lip quivers and she continues muttering, "I can't, I can't, I can't, I can't.." Sunshine wants to fall to her knees and cry, just scream at the world until her voice is raw and her throat burns. She doesn't want to think about it anymore.

"I drove all the way home and — who was that man? Why was he there, why did he chase me?" She sobs and clutches her eyes, wiping the wetness away from her cheeks.

"It was horrible. It was so bad. It was terrible. I hated it. It was bad. It was bad." She shakes her head. "And, and it was the worst day ever, I can't show you guys, it was so bad, it — I cant."

"I can't."

Sunshine eventually cuts the camera and falls in to bed, hugging her mattress and sobbing until she falls asleep. She doesn't tell her mom. Her mom doesn't need to know. No one needs to know.

Her followers all want to see it, of course. But — she can't show them. There's too much there. She doesn't know if she should call the cops. Maybe she should.

She doesn't know.

She really doesn't.
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The next day, after the flood of comments she receives, Sunshine decides she's going to post the footage. She thinks she's ready, and maybe her subscribers can help her figure out what happened.

God, she's gonna to it.

Here goes nothing.

angst