The Shadow Box: Paranormal Suspense and Dark Fantasy Thriller Novels

by Travis Luedke

  Cleo was toasted, dancing her scrawny little ass off. She straddled my leg, grinding in time to the fast-paced rhythm. She was so trashed, she’d hit that threshold of pure abandon, descending into hedonism. I had to pull her hands off my ass and crotch more than once. As we danced I couldn’t help but notice that Rachelle was still standing there in the same place, alone and unhappy. It was basically what I had seen in my vision. And then I understood.

  I decided to make it my personal mission to see this vision come true. It was time Rachelle knew what it felt like to stand on the sidelines of life and watch everyone else getting what they want. It was time she understood how it felt when your life sucks donkey schlongs.

  As the music slowed down, I pulled Cleo off the dance floor. I didn’t want to find out where her hands would end up in the middle of a slow dance. I swapped dance partners for Anita, depositing a very drunken Cleo in Taylor’s lap. Anita seemed to be of the same mind, and acting just like Cleo. Dancing loose and sultry, the alcohol had stripped away her inhibitions. When we kissed to the slow dance it was hot, steamy, and her hands were filled with my ass.

  I kept wondering when some school official was gonna come along and stop her from molesting me in public. But I loved every minute of it. This was definitely my night for being groped. Between Cleo and Anita, I was so ramped up I wanted to bag the dance and drag Anita to a hotel room right now.

  Everything was so perfect, I decided to be patient, let things take their course. The fact that Rachelle stood alone on the sidelines, only added to my fun. What poetic justice, that she would experience how it feels to be shunned, left out, like I had felt for the last two years.

  We sat back down for a rest, Anita glued to me. Taylor still had Cleo on his lap, making out as if they were the only two people in the place.

  I caught a glimpse of Rachelle walking out the exit, only to return a few minutes later, still angry. Homecoming was pure couples, no singles to mingle with singles. Rachelle was dead in the water without her date. She didn’t even have the company of Justin and April who were out on the dance floor doing their own thing.

  The announcement blared over the music, this was the last song. The DJ mixed in a fast hip hop jam by Pit Bull, and I snagged both Cleo and Anita, pulling them out onto the dance floor together. Anita was game for it, she attached to my front side while Cleo squeezed up on my back. Anita got down and dirty, rubbing her curvy rump all up on me, and Cleo spooned from behind, her hands roving freely.

  This is what they call going out with a bang.

  I chose this pivotal moment to take another glance in Rachelle’s direction. Karma came full circle as our eyes met in the exact sequence that had taken place in my vision. The pink flash of Cleo’s dress floated in my peripherals while her hands took full advantage, and Anita was bent over shoving her ass up on me, a booty shake. The déjà vu washed over me as Rachelle’s face morphed into that unmistakable mask of hatred. We stared long and hard as I swayed in the middle of my sex sandwich, two girls having their way with me.

  I grinned with delight.

  I read Rachelle’s lips as she cursed, “Fuck!” It was picture perfect.

  The music died down, the song finished and the lights came up. Homecoming was over. We met up with Taylor and entered into the crush of students bottlenecked at the exit.

  Taylor leaned into me, talking low in my ear, “Are you gonna hit that tonight?” I looked at him puzzled.

  He jerked his head towards Anita who was wrapped securely around my arm. I finally caught on and winked. Taylor winked back. “Put it in her butt, dude, keeps em’ in line!”

  Cleo overheard and elbowed him in the ribs. She pulled his ear down to her level with a scathing retort, “Put it where?”

  I snickered watching Taylor wince in pain. “Yeah sure, I can see you got it all lined up.” He wisely kept his mouth shut.

  Outside the gym, heading for the parking lot, we ran straight into Rachelle. She walked right up to us, alone. The malicious scowl she’d had only moments before was gone. Now she looked kinda pathetic. Still a knockout as always, but pathetic.

  “Tommy left me here. I don’t have a ride home. Can I catch a ride with you guys?” She was appropriately contrite, needy, dejected. I looked to Anita, then back at Rachelle, then back to Anita.

  This was one of those trick question moments. I put it on Anita. “It’s up to you.”

  Anita put her hands up in a W. “Whatever!” Rachelle rubbed up and down her bare arms covered in goose bumps, still looking dejected, but even more so as she shivered.

  “I left my coat in Tommy’s car. It’s freezing out here.” The October night was pretty chilly, and Rachelle’s form-fitting shimmery blue dress looked paper thin.

  Anita finally caved in. “Fine! Let’s go!”

  “Thank you so much!” Rachelle was appropriately appreciative while rubbing her arms quickly to warm up. Seemed almost genuine, but still had that taint of being scripted, like watching a daytime soap opera. I had begun to see Rachelle for who she really was, and I didn’t like this person at all.

  On the ride to her house, as she shivered in the back seat, Rachelle leaned forward to speak over my shoulder, “Remember that day we walked across the lake and fell through the ice? Oh gaaaad it was so cold! I’ve never been so cold in all my life!”

  She had become very friendly, my old pal reminiscing of days gone by. But I hadn’t been her pal for over two years. I didn’t quite understand why Rachelle was flirting with me, leaning over into the middle of us as she spoke, but Anita went into instant rage. She glared daggers of malice at Rachelle, undisguised hatred. Anita smoldered, sparked, and inevitably grew to a fully ignited fury. By the time I dropped Rachelle off, with her thanking us over and over, Anita had become a raging bull ready to charge, but nowhere to go in the confined space of my car.

  Girlfriend + alcohol + exgirlfriend = flaming pissed off girlfriend. It was a simple equation I had to learn the hard way. Though I faced an insanely furious drunken Anita, I wished I was sitting next to the affectionate touchy-feely Anita who’d been all over me on the dance floor.

  “What a bitch! OOOOHH I hate that bitch! And You! Can I catch a ride with you guys?” Anita crooned in imitation of Rachelle and then punched my dashboard leaving a nice Anita-fist sized dent in the plastic.

  “What did you want me to do? Leave her there? I let you decide, you’re the one who agreed to give her a ride home!” I knew it was pointless. There is no defense in an exgirlfriend situation like this.

  “Oh right! So I can be the heartless bitch who’s so jealous she left poor widdle Rachelle to freeze to death in the parking lot?” As she pushed me, causing the car to swerve with my erratic steering, I began to understand this was a no-win situation. Anita couldn’t be reasoned with when she got this angry (and drunk).

  I steadied the vehicle and spoke calmly, hoping to impart some peace to the situation. “Look, I don’t want to talk about Rachelle anymore. I want to talk about us. I hoped we could go someplace and spend a little more time together, alone. I was thinking we should get a hotel room. Wouldn’t that be cool, just you and me … no distractions?”

  “I don’t give a shit what you’re thinking! You weren’t thinking! I hate her sooo much! Can’t you see the games she plays? Can’t you see how she manipulates you? Are you that blind?” She was virtually screaming by then.

  “I guess so.” I snapped back at her, my cool had fled. The night was officially ruined. Anita had no other focus but to rage on and on about Rachelle. It had been going so well, so perfect, and then it all turned to shit in an instant.

  “So, what do you want to do now?” I already knew the answer, but I foolishly hoped that maybe, somehow, I could salvage the situation.

  Anita crushed my hopes into a million little pieces and kicked them to the curb along with me. “Take me HOME! NOW!” She yelled in my face, blasting me with the stench of 151 rum.

  She wouldn’t even kiss me goodbye as she slamme
d my car door, stomping her way down the driveway to her house. It must have been the liquor, she wasn’t in her right mind. All the more reason not to drink.

  At home, Nadia was there, sitting in my room, waiting. I was so glad I had someone I could count on. She was wide awake and there for me. She rubbed my shoulders, twirled her fingers through my hair, and wrapped her arms and legs around me like there was no other person on the planet earth that mattered more than I did. She listened to my tale of the perfect evening gone to hell and cuddled up close to help ease the hurt. She was fast becoming my new best friend, the only one I could rely on without fail.

  * * * *

  Chapter 13

  Monday, October 25th

  I stewed over the weekend, angry at myself, Anita, Rachelle, and even Tommy (for leaving Rachelle behind, therefore helping to create the problem). I didn’t call or text Anita once, and neither did she. Total digital silence.

  I figured that if she wanted to be a witch over something so meaningless, then I’d let her. I had nothing to apologize for. And I’d already apologized, more than once. Now it was her turn.

  A large part of my anger was nothing more than sexual frustration. Anita had worked me up good, but there was no happy ending, no release for this pressure. Nadia didn’t exactly help the situation; she was always touching me, her arms around me in the night. Then the dreams made it worse. Nadia’s lithe body snaking here and there, rubbing all over me. It’s a wonder I wasn’t walking around 24/7 with a permanent hard-on.

  By Monday morning I had a real attitude going. I spotted Anita sitting in the library just before school started. She was talking low and hushed with a group of kids. She glanced at me, then looked away and kept on whispering. That didn’t help my mood at all. I stomped out of the library, pissed off at being ignored. A few minutes later I broke the digital silence, cursing at myself for being so weak-willed. I sent a text while sitting at my desk waiting for first period to start.

  Mike: WTF? (What The fuck)

  Anita: R U mad?

  Mike: What should I be mad about? Friday night? The weekend? Today? My entire life?

  Anita: We need 2 talk F2F (Face to Face)

  The Teacher arrived and started taking roll call. I sent one last text and then shut my phone off.

  Mike: TTYL. (Talk To You Later) TAW (Teachers Are Watching)

  We found each other in the cafeteria, where we usually met to decide what to do for lunch. The choices were to stay and eat the delectable MLHS lunch fare (pizza, burgers, etc.) or go out to a nearby eatery, which had to be accomplished within the forty-five minutes given for lunch break. Without saying a word, Anita grabbed my hand and dragged me to the parking lot.

  Guess we were going out for lunch.

  She seemed to be in a hurry, nervous, her eyes darting back and forth as we weaved through the parking lot to my car.

  “So what the hell?”

  “In the car!” She snapped.

  Driving down the road towards Dairy Queen, she twisted around to sit sideways, her back to the car door, facing me. She watched me for a moment, trying to determine something. I knew she was gonna dump something on me. I could feel it. I wondered if maybe her father was angry with me, or she was still torqued about giving Rachelle a ride home.

  She finally came out with it, “So, is it true?”

  I waited for her to elaborate, when she didn’t I snapped, “What?”

  She just stared at me expectantly. I couldn’t get a read on her. “What the hell are you talking about? Obama was really born in Kenya? There really were aliens at Area 51? What’s the big fucking deal?”

  “You know what I’m talking about. Is what Tommy said true?”

  “I have no idea what Tommy said and I don’t give a shit. Care to tell me what’s going on?”

  “I can’t believe you don’t know. He’s been telling everyone that you jumped him in the parking lot during homecoming and locked him in the trunk of his parent’s Lexus!” She had her arms crossed surveying me with a dirty look.

  “You can’t be serious. Please tell me you’re not serious.”

  “Way serious. He said you did it so you could get Rachelle alone, that’s why you gave her a ride home.”

  “And how exactly could I do anything to Tommy when I was with you all night long? You know I never left the dance. We left together. Cleo and Taylor were there with us. Tommy’s lost his mind. He was so drunk, he probably doesn’t even know what happened to him. Or he’s just making up lies because he’s pissed we gave Rachelle a ride home.”

  Anita couldn’t look me in the eyes. “I don’t remember everything from homecoming … I was a little too drunk. I’m not sure what you did. You were out there dancing without me.”

  “I danced with Cleo. One time. You sat there and watched! How could you believe this shit? You know I’d never do something so stupid. I was having fun, we were both having fun. And as far as Rachelle goes, I don’t want anything to do with her, she’s a bitch. I was planning to rent a hotel room for us after the dance. For you and me, alone, no one else. Everything was perfect before you threw your fit!”

  Anita didn’t care for that last comment, she blew up. “Then why did you ask Rachelle to homecoming first? Tommy turned his back for five minutes and you were all over her like a dog in heat!”

  “That was weeks ago. That was before. Before I knew you wanted to go with me. It’s all different now, everything has changed. I’m not interested in her anymore. You don’t believe me, or what?”

  I waited for something, an indication, but all I got was her fierce stare of accusation. I continued in a calmer tone. “I’m telling you the truth Anita, I never went anywhere near Tommy. And I do not like Rachelle. I’m with you. I’m happy to be with you. When have I ever lied to you?”

  I saw it in her face. Her insecurities warred with her common sense. She wanted to trust me, needed to trust me, but didn’t.

  “I don’t know what to think. I mean …. you gave her a ride home. You’ve always had a thing for her. You’ve told me about it, a lot.”

  I shook my head. “I told you that was BEFORE! Before you and I.”

  It was like a lifetime ago to me. Everything had changed in these past weeks. I couldn’t think of anything else to say, her distrust had rendered me speechless. A stabbing pain dug in my chest, that Anita would ever think me capable of doing something so foul.

  We ordered food at the Dairy Queen drive through, pulled off into the parking lot, and ate in silence. The longer I thought about it, the angrier I got. My best friend, my girlfriend would accuse me of these ridiculous things. She was supposed to be with me, standing behind me, supporting me.

  I decided I’d had just about enough of Anita’s childish crap. If she wasn’t gonna trust me now, then she never would. I threw it in her face with a mouthful of spite. “You must think I’m a real piece of shit if you believe I’d do that. Why would you want to date me? Why would you want to be friends with a piece of shit like that?”

  “No, that’s not it! It’s just that I know how much you like Rachelle, you always have!”

  “Liked. Past tense. As in over, finished, done, NOT ANY MORE. You get it yet?”

  She wasn’t willing to concede, and it hurt. It hurt a lot. I had hoped she would see reason, but that wasn’t happening right now. We drove back to school in silence.

  Walking from the parking lot onto the campus, we ran straight into Tommy and Rachelle surrounded by wrestlers, and of course Justin. I veered off to the side, walking around the crowd. I had no intention of getting into it with anyone right now, definitely not in the mood. Tommy refused to be avoided, he moved fast to head me off, the whole gang a step behind him.

  “Mikey! Wait a minute Mikey!” Tommy grabbed my arm to hold me in place. “I warned you what would happen if you messed with Rachelle!”

  I jerked my arm out of his grip with a downward tug and spat back in his face, “What! You spread a bunch of lies? Don’t talk to me you lying piece of
shit!” I turned to go, but Tommy grabbed me and spun me back around.

  “You gonna pretend you didn’t jump me the other night? I know it was you who came up from behind, you’re too much of a bitch to face me!”

  “You were so drunk you probably puked all over yourself and passed out. Get off me, I’m done talking!”

  “So am I, bitch!” Tommy swung a right-handed wild haymaker. I had been watching, expecting him to make a move. I leaned back out of the way, as it passed an inch from my nose.

  The crowd was into it, yelling encouragements to their star wrestler, “Kick his ass!”, “Beat his face in!” and, “Take him down, Tommy! Choke him off!” Though it was against the rules to use wrestling moves anywhere outside of the sanctioned practices and tournaments, that never stopped anyone from doing it.

  If he got his hands on me, I was toast. My only chance was to stay on my feet, keep some distance. I kept backpedaling out of his reach. Tommy swung twice more, missing each time. He was a damn good wrestler, but not much of a boxer. With his fourth attempt I made my move. I stepped into his swing, ducking under to come back up with a right fist across his face. I connected with a glancing blow.

  His eyes flashed with surprise and he backed away as I kept moving forward. The crowd grew larger, collecting passing students faster than scavengers to a rotting corpse. Tommy stopped retreating and came at me swinging. I backed up, but someone pushed me from behind, right into Tommy’s wild swing. He cracked me in the side of the head with a solid left hook. The hit jarred, but it wasn’t all that.

  What took me down to the ground was the vertigo of the vivid vision I experienced.

  I jump-flashed to another time and place at a most inopportune moment. It was nighttime, almost pitch black, very little moonlight by which to see. It was totally disorienting to be in the middle of a noisy adrenaline spiked confrontation and then find myself dumped in the silent, dark, rolling hills of the sand dunes out at the south end of Moses Lake. Directly to my right the ground dropped away into a deep pit. It was one of those large pits that were used as a playground for quads and dirt bikes. Some of the pits actually had miniature race tracks, complete with berms and jumps, where people would challenge each other to see who could run the track and scale the walls fastest. Across the pit, about a mile away there was a single headlamp accompanied by the whining noise of an accelerating motorbike. The bike headed straight for the edge of the pit, way too fast to properly negotiate the steep drop. I thought I saw someone in the path of the oncoming light, a brief silhouette, and then it happened.