The Roxanne Effect

“The darkness was alive with menace, the room illuminated only by the coloured light of the votive candle on the carven oak table.  The fitful flickering of the flame, which sat between the gilt frame of a black mirror and the gaunt figure who sat starting at it with feverish intensity; failed to exorcise the looming shadows that inhabited the majority of the small, sparsely appointed room.   I had still not recovered from the experience of an invisible entity passing through my body like a cold mist as I had sat, head bowed in concentration, with the 12 other formerly brave souls who had  decided to attend their first séance on this illustrious night.  I saw now, the same mixture of fear and anticipation mirrored on the faces of those others seated opposite me at the table. I had only come along to keep Roxy happy, but now she sat at the head of the table, staring into that damned mirror, encouraged by a disembodied voice from the blackness outside the circle.  He who had been introdu