(It is a cold night, and rain is beating against the attic roof. The attic is a small, cramped, and dusty, with barely enough room to stand. There is a bed off to one side and shelves stuffed with books and old trinkets. Inside are four children, shivering under the bedsheets, lying in a circle on the floor. They are huddled around a flashlight, reading an old diary)

BROOKE: Hey, this is pretty cool, right? I mean your great-great-grandmothers old diaries? Thunder rumbles. See? Her spirit is cursing us.
AMBER: Worriedly, she looks around the room, wrapping the blanket tighter around herself. She is scared of thunderstorms, as well as ghosts. Spirits? My grandmother’s ghost is in the attic?
DUSTIN: (Wrapping an arm around his younger cousin) It’s fine, Amber. There’s no ghosts. He hands her back her teddy bear, which had fallen from her hands. Just hold onto Snuggles. He’ll protect you.
BROOKE: (whispering to Cassandra) Why did you even invite them in here? This was supposed to be our thing. she points to Cass’s grandmother’s diary. We don’t your bratty little sister ruining it. Dustin shouldn’t be here either.
CASS: Oh, please, Brooke. You’re practically in love with Dustin. He’s my cousin, Amber’s my sister. Don’t you think they deserve the right to know about our crazy great-great-grandma? If anyone shouldn’t be here, it’s you. Cass gives a lopsided smile to Brooke, who crosses her arms and pouts her lips, defeated.
(Thunder rumbles again, and the faint crack of lightning is heard in the distance. Amber whimpers and clutches snuggles tighter to her chest, wrapping her hands around her knees and pulling her nightgown closer to her body. Dustin and Cass involuntary shudder. Brooke glances at Cass and rolls her eyes)
BROOKE: You wuss. She waves her hand as if to dismiss her best friend, and then continues flipping through the pages of the diary. The papers are old and the writing is hardly legible.
BROOKE: January  24, 16--162---she struggles to read the letters because they are smeared and ink-blotted.
DUSTIN: (Grabbing the diary from Brooke) 1628. Can you not read?
BROOKE: Embarrassed, but hiding her embarrassment with snark. Yes, I can read! I’m first in our class in reading, don’t you know that?
CASS: Under her breath. Yeah, he knows. You won’t shut up about it, that’s why.
(Brooke, hearing Cass, throws her hands up in the air in exasperation. Beside her, Amber jumps at Brooke’s sudden movement. Brooke glares at Amber.)
AMBER: Cass, Brooke’s being mean to me!
CASS: Brooke, stop being mean to my little sister. She pulls Amber to her chest and pats her affectionately. 
(The flashlight flickers, and Dustin picks it up and smacks it with his hand until it is restored to it’s brightness. He has been reading throughout the banter between the girls, and looks up to make eye contact with all three of them.)
DUSTIN: Hey, this is actually pretty interesting. Our super old grandmother was a witch or something. In Salem.
CASS: looking up from Amber, who is still clutching Cass’s chest. No way! Like the witch trials? That’s so cool.
AMBER: Wailing. That’s scary! She’s a ghost!
(The rain is falling at a drizzle now, and the thunder has momentarily subsided. Amber’s voice resonates throughout the room.)
CASS: Amber, be quiet. Uncle Al and Aunt Marge and Mom and Dad are going to hear us. They think we’re asleep. She looks around anxiously, not wanting her parents to know Amber was out of bed past bedtime. She is starting to regret letting her little sister come along.
Amber nods, silenced by a piercing glare from Brooke.
DUSTIN: scrutinizing the book, confused but slightly in awe. Here’s some chants. They’re in like, Latin or something. Are they our grandma’s witch spells? He holds the diary up to his face, squinting at the writing as if trying to decipher it. Cool!
(Suddenly, Brooke’s face lights up, haloed in the light of the flashlight. Her eyes twinkle and she glances knowingly at Cass. Cass groans.)
CASS: Brooke, don’t tell me--
BROOKE: Shh. We’re doing it. Let’s do some witchcraft! Brooke snatches the book from Dustin’s hands. Dustin, confused at the altercation, looks from Brooke to the diary and back, wondering how it got in her hands so quickly.
CASS: This isn’t a good idea, Brooke, and you know it. This isn’t even going to work. I don’t want to scare Amber into thinking we can actually pull off summoning G-H-O-S-T-S.
AMBER: Defiant, Amber knows her sister is saying something she doesn’t want her to hear. I know how to spell, dummy! She spells out the word in her head. A look of fear comes across her face and tears well in her eyes.
AMBER: Ghosts!
(Brooke slaps her palm to her face, frustrated. Cass, noticing Brooke’s face, shrugs her shoulders in a sort of apology.)
DUSTIN: Amber, stop. Or I’m taking you downstairs back to your room.
CASS: Defensive that her cousin was patronizing her sister. Don’t tell her what to do.
DUSTIN: If we get caught up here, I’m getting in trouble, too. I’m not supposed to be in your room when Brooke’s around.
Brooke is slightly red-faced.
BROOKE: Why is that?
DUSTIN: You’re a girl.
CASS: I’m a girl!
DUSTIN: You’re my cousin so it’s not--
CASS: Reddening slightly as realization strikes across her face. She gives a lopsided grin to Brooke, who looks down, silent for once. Oh! I get it.
BROOKE: Looking to avert the conversation elsewhere. So, are we going to do this or not?
AMBER: NO!
BROOKE, CASS, AND DUSTIN: Shut up!
CASS: looking around distractedly. Alright, alright--let’s just...try. I mean obviously, witchcraft doesn’t exist, so what’s the harm in it?
DUSTIN: People got killed for doing witchcraft, Cass. He flips a few pages around in the book. See, this is what our old lady said, ‘Dear Diary, I am about to get hanged today for conspiring against the church and summoning the Devil. I am writing goodbye to you, Diary, and hope to absolve my sins and return to Heaven with the Holy Father.’
CASS: Okay, there’s a logical explanation for that. People were scared, and they didn’t know what to do, so they hung a bunch of people who they thought were witches. But witches don’t exist.
BROOKE: You don’t know that. Maybe you’re a witch, and you just don’t realize it.
AMBER: Is my sister a witch? She pulls away from Cass’s grasp and snatches Snuggles from her lap, staring accusingly at Cass.
CASS: No, no--Amber, I’m not a witch.
BROOKE: Matter-of-factly. That’s what she wants you to think.
CASS: Brooke, was that really necessary?
BROOKE: No. But the look on her face was worth it.
(Cass scoffs, disgusted at Brooke’s usual antics.)
DUSTIN: Oh...okay. This passage right here, well, our great-great grandmother says it’s a spell to bring eternal punishment to anyone we wish. He points to a faded verse on one of the last few pages of the book.
BROOKE: Sweet. Maybe I can bring eternal punishment to stupid Becky Williams so I can be first in the class in math. A wicked grin flashes across her face. The gears are turning in her head, a plan formulating.
CASS: Oh, come on, Brooke, you and I both know Becky Williams is thousands of times better at math than you. You’re terrible at math. I think I’m even ranked higher than you.
BROOKE: That’s not true! She crosses her arms defiantly, although she knows that Cass is probably right.
DUSTIN: No, it’s true. You’re eleventh in math right now.
BROOKE: Am not!
(Cass and Dustin exchange looks. Brooke notices and jabs a finger down onto the book.)
BROOKE: Stop staring at me like that. I want to bring eternal punishment to Becky Williams. And you two morons.
DUSTIN: Oh, no. Not us morons. Dustin dramatically falls back, pretending to faint. Cass giggles at his antics. Brooke smiles a little to herself, and then giggles with her best friend.
AMBER: Quietly, jutting into the light laughter of the older kids. I want to etern-eternal punish Chester Davidson. This is the first thing she has said without crying, and the look on her face is serene but slightly crazed. She is yearning for vengeance. The three older children glance at her,appalled.
CASS: Wait--Joshua Davison’s little brother? Why would you want Chester to be eternally punished?
AMBER: He stole Snuggles from me and called me a baby! (Tears are starting to well in her eyes now, and Brooke breathes a sigh of relief, scared of the previous state Amber was in.)
BROOKE: Alright, then I guess Chester Davison goes on the list of eternal punishment, too.
DUSTIN: Should we be writing this down?
CASS: No. It’s not even going to work anyway. This is just to humor crazy Brooke over here.
BROOKE: Hey!
CASS: And to make Amber feel better. Amber is shaking less. She clings so tightly to Snuggles that the bear looks as if it was about to burst at the seams.
BROOKE: Who cares about Amber? I just want to be ranked first in math. She laughs maniacally.
CASS: Just read the stupid thing, Brooke. Then we can get Amber to bed and finish reading the rest of the journal.
The rain is starting to pour down harder again, and the four children look up as they notice the slam of the raindrops against the thin roof.
BROOKE: Ego omnia videt, ego video omnia mortem, mortem es amicus mihi, ego vitupero… Am I doing this right? I don’t even know how to pronounce this.
CASS: No, you’re doing it right. The last part means “I curse” in English. So now just put in the names of the people you want to punish. Sarcastically. And then cut off your left arm and sacrifice it to the Devil.
BROOKE: Cass! This is your dead ancestors voodoo spell. Slightly offended at Cass’s callousness. Show some respect for her magic.
BROOKE: Going back to the diary. So, where were we? Um...ego vitupero Becky Williams! And Chester Davidson.
(Thunder cracks outside, as if to bring the spell to it’s climax. Brooke, sitting cross-legged, triumphantly raises the book to the sky.)

DUSTIN: Sweet. That was awesome! He high-fives Brooke.

BROOKE: Growing shy. Thanks.

CASS: That lightning was just good timing. You guys are idiots. (She stands up and throws out a hand to Amber, who is huddled underneath the bedsheet, trembling.)
AMBER: D-d-id you curse him? Chester won’t stop calling me a baby. I’m not a baby.
BROOKE: Under her breath. You kind of are.
CASS: Shooting Brooke a dirty look and squatting down to Amber. No, no. Amber, you aren’t a baby. You’re a big girl, and maybe if you’re brave then the Chester problem will go away.
BROOKE: Actually, it will go away. We just eternally punished him
CASS: Shut it, Brooke, that wasn’t witchcraft. That was you saying a bunch of stuff in Latin to make you feel better about the fact that you suck at math.
BROOKE: Not true!
DUSTIN: It kind of is.
CASS: Pulling Amber up out of the blankets. Let’s get to bed. She takes her sister by the hands and leaves the room down the attic stairs.
The silence is tense and awkward. There is tension between Brooke and Dustin, tension that is both sexual and platonic. Brooke is nervous. Dustin is oblivious of Brooke’s feelings, and is instead annoyed by her abrasiveness.
BROOKE: So...pretty awesome, right. Do you think I’ll be first in math?
DUSTIN: He takes the flashlight and fidgets with it, flicking it on and off. He shines the light directly in Brooke’s face, who flinches and covers her eyes. Do you want my honest opinion?
BROOKE: Sure.
Rain is beating very hard now, dangerous, disastrous, rain.
DUSTIN: I think that this witchcraft has a less than one percent chance of working. Also, even if it does work, you still are so terrible at math that it isn’t going to make a difference.
Brooke gasps.
DUSTIN: (Exiting down the attic stairs) Goodnight.
Brooke puts her head in her hands and sighs heavily.
BROOKE: Goodnight.
He is already gone.