Dearest Clementine: Dark and Romantic Monstrous Tales (Letters Book 1)

by Candace Robinson

  Derek let out a groan. “Just ignore Lisa’s superstition.” He turned to his wife. “And you can’t just go around pinching everyone’s cheeks.”

  “I swear, Derek, you try to ruin all my fun.” She grinned. “Now back to the strobe light subject.”

  Polli laughed and let the married couple banter back and forth as she made her way to the basement door. It was located on the other side of the building.

  Up ahead, at the end of the hallway, thin strips of white fabric hung from the ceiling to the floor, creating a death gate to what would be the entrance to the haunted house. The fabric looked as if it had been stripped away from a mummy. As she walked by, most of the room was already finished. Exorcist girl in a bed, skeletons dangling from the ceiling, fake blood splattered on walls, and globs of clay that were shaped and molded to look like oozing blobs. There were too many chains and too many zombies. She would’ve liked a little more vampires and werewolves.

  Polli pushed away a thick fabric resembling spiderwebs, and to her left was the basement door, already open. Candescent yellow lighting flooded the room and stairs. The sound of boxes being moved caused her heart to flutter a bit. She ignored that piece of shit heart of hers as she walked down the wooden steps.

  At the end of the staircase, opening taped boxes with a razor blade, was Evan. His shaggy blond hair framed his face, and he glanced up when Polli strolled across the room. Hazel eyes met hers and he gave her a smile. She didn’t return it.

  Inside the room, it smelled like an old library combined with an antique shop. The only décor in the large area was a water heater, an old chair in the corner, and rows and rows of metal shelves. Cans of paint rested on top of one shelf and the rest held boxes.

  “There she is,” Evan said, softly kicking a box to the side.

  “Here I am,” Polli replied in a sarcastic tone.

  As he bent down and counted out loud, his Dickies shorts started to sag a bit, exposing those checkered boxers of his. This time, they were blue and white. He’d taken off his t-shirt and only had on a white wifebeater. Two black stripes circled around the top of his tube socks, and his Adidas sneakers looked good on him. Even though she hated those shoes with a passion. She couldn’t deny the lust-filled thing that happened to her every time she saw him, though.

  Brushing past him, Polli picked up a box cutter from the floor and tugged a package toward her.

  They worked in silence, pulling costumes out with holes that reeked of dust. It did, however, give off that much more of a Halloween vibe to the clothing.

  Hours went by, and still, neither one of them talked to each other. She spent most of the time putting electronic things together and dressing up dummies. At times, she could feel Evan’s eyes on her, and she tried her damned hardest to keep hers off of him.

  When Polli looked down at her watch, it was already 9:15 PM. Without so much as a goodbye, she walked up the stairs to leave. She stopped in place when she stared at her only way to exit. The door was shut—she could’ve sworn she’d left it open when she reached for the knob. It was locked.

  Annoyed, Polli yelled down toward Evan, “Did you shut the door and lock it?”

  “Did you see me leave this spot?” he said, coming up the stairs to where she stood. “Or are you talking about my spirit floating up there and doing it?”

  “I’m not lying,” she said, not liking the whiny tone of her voice. “It won’t open.”

  As if he didn’t believe her, Evan shook the knob. “Hmm.” Backing up a bit, he shot forward and rammed his shoulder against the door.

  Polli shot him a look with her eyebrow raised because he’d probably hurt himself. Then there would be nothing he could do about it if they were stuck in the room.

  Evan rubbed his shoulder. “It works in the movies.”

  “Right.” She rolled her eyes. “Well, this isn’t the movies.”

  Grabbing at his hair, he headed back down the stairs. Polli tried rattling the knob one more time and then tossed a lingering stare at the metal door before following him.

  “What now?” she asked, searching around the room for an ax, for something.

  “It looks like we’re going to be working overtime tonight.” Evan took a seat on the floor and crossed his legs in front of him. She did the same, facing him and not saying a word.

  “Why are you like that?” Evan finally asked, his tone implying she wasn’t normal.

  She was becoming more and more irritated by the second. “Like what?”

  “Acting like I’m an abomination or something.”

  “I do not.” She did. Even though she’d wanted him, there had been the fact that he’d been interested in other girls. Girls that weren’t her, that wore tight clothes, and giggled over every word that came out of his mouth, including her friends.

  “Yeah, right.” The tip of his tongue swiped at his lower lip before he softly bit it. “At least twice a day you would give me a dirty look in school.”

  “That’s just my face!” To shut him up, she added, “And you’ve fucked all my friends.”

  His eyebrows furrowed as if he was trying to recollect who and what she was talking about. “Are you talking about Angela? That was in the ninth grade, and that hardly qualifies as going past first base.” Evan paused and cocked a brow. “What about Aaron?”

  Polli tried to keep a poker face. “Aaron doesn’t count.” He totally counted as her fucking him, and she wasn’t going to lie, she’d liked it.

  Neither one said anything else, so she stood up and walked to one of the large boxes. She pretended to inspect it, hoping to be left alone, but Evan slithered up behind her.

  “I’m serious. I don’t get it,” he said, his voice soft right beside her. “If you only really knew…” Something in his eyes made it look as though he wanted to tell her more. And, for a moment, something in her made it seem as though she wanted to hear it.

  An intoxicating scent of cologne caressed her nostrils, not like the Blue Water shit that Aaron always wore. The fact that she liked the smell of Evan, and how close he was standing, only irritated her more. If anything, she was more annoyed that he’d never chosen her when they were in school. Her stomach dipped when he shifted even closer—she turned around and pushed him up against the wall, caging him in. Evan was taller than her, but all control was hers in that moment. “I don’t know, okay? Do you want to just fuck and find out?”

  Evan’s eyebrows flew up and his jaw dropped. “What?”

  “I’m not going to repeat myself.” She took a small step back.

  He snatched her wrist before she moved farther away, his thumb gently rubbing her skin. “I don’t have a condom.”

  Polli raised a brow and motioned to her purse on the floor. “I have one in my bag.”

  As if contemplating what choice to make, he chewed on his lip, but then his mouth unexpectedly crashed into hers. His lips were soft and moved hungrily against hers, and Polli’s hands automatically went to his face as he drew her closer.

  The space between them was growing non-existent, but even the sliver of clothing between them felt like being a mile apart. She pulled on Evan’s shirt and while he lifted the rest over his head, her hands were already reaching for the zipper of his shorts. She continued to kiss his perfect lips, all while guiding him to a dusty cloth chair in the corner. One by one, the remainder of their clothing got discarded to the floor.

  Despite not wanting to leave for a single moment, Polli snatched a condom from her purse. Wanting to stay in control, she tore it open as she kissed him and rolled the condom on for him, their mouths not once unlocking.

  She lowered herself on him, and let the worry of future careers and finding another job fade away with this distraction of a moment. But at the forefront of her mind stayed the boy beneath her. The one she’d wanted to hate so bad. By giving into the lust she’d held for him for years, it all felt better than she could’ve imagined.

  For some reason she wanted to stay watching him and not miss a
thing—the curve of his jaw, the slant of his brows, the way he kept swiping his front teeth against his lower lip, the way his eyes stayed closed the entire time she moved.

  He came before she did, but that was okay because she felt relaxed. His eyes opened then, and something akin to shame crossed his face. “I’m sorry.”

  She shook her head because it wasn’t a big deal at all. “No, it’s all right.” If anything, she couldn’t believe that this had happened, or how good it had felt.

  Evan picked her up out of his lap, as if she was a doll, and placed her on the chair. He went to the wastebasket, discarded the condom, and pulled up his boxers and shorts that were still around his ankles.

  “I knew I was going to fuck that up,” he said, his voice filled with frustration and maybe a bit of sadness.

  “Was I that bad?” Her anger with him was coming back. She wished that she could just not care at times, but she found coating things with anger helped prevent her from falling to pieces.

  “No,” Evan started. “I was… I haven’t… Shit. You know what I’m trying to say.”

  What the hell is he trying to say? she thought. Then her hand flew to her mouth when she realized his meaning. “You’re a virgin?” she shouted. “You didn’t think to tell me beforehand? And you just lost it in some dusty chair, in a haunted house, with someone you don’t even like?”

  “Polli, if I didn’t like you, I wouldn’t have.” Evan’s tone sounded agitated, but his expression softened.

  She couldn’t focus right now—she’d been so awful to him, and he just... Her heart picked up as she studied him. Taking a deep breath, she scooted closer to him. “Evan, I’m so—”

  A loud bang came from upstairs, causing them both to jump. As quickly as she could, she threw on her clothes and dashed to the stairs. Up above, Polli could see the door had flown open.

  “Hello?” she asked, grabbing the handrail and walking up.

  When no one answered, Evan brushed past her and stopped at the top. “Who’s there?”

  Polli slid next to him, seeing only darkness outside the door. Above them, the light bulb flickered, and a shiver crawled up her spine. It almost seemed like a cliché scene in a movie, but something about it felt incredibly wrong.

  “It’s probably just Derek and Lisa messing around. I bet they came back,” she finally said, not sure if she believed it herself.

  Evan scrunched up his nose at the same time a horrible stench, like fresh manure and rotten eggs, struck her nostrils. “It’s possible, but what is that smell?”

  She took another deep inhale and covered her nose. “Don’t look at me. I don’t know what that is.”

  “It’s definitely not you.” Evan smiled. “I know how you smell.”

  Polli didn’t have time to wonder about how she smelled to him because he stepped into the darkened hall.

  “I think we need to go home,” she said, following him out. “It’s late anyway.”

  Neither one had a flashlight as they felt around the building to get to the front. She held onto his wrist, moved the spiderweb-like curtain out of the way, and pulled him along.

  “Derek?” Polli called. “Lisa?” There wasn’t an answer, only the reeking of death growing stronger and stronger.

  “Shit,” Evan muttered.

  “Are you all right?” She couldn’t see anything at all, and the hair on her arms stood on end.

  “Yeah, I just hit my leg on something.”

  She tugged him along because she knew her way out a little better, but she still felt clumsy until, up ahead, lights pierced through the strips of fabric.

  When they entered the main hallway, the lights ahead were still on, but flickering like the one in the basement. A crackling sound echoed up and down the hall as if boomeranging back and forth—loud, soft, loud, soft. Her heart increased, drumming, drumming, drumming. No one was sitting at the desk up front. Polli strode with fast steps to the door, only to find it locked.

  Something wasn’t right, and she wanted to get home. She unlocked the door, opening it to the night sky. A sigh of relief escaped her when she stepped outside into the fresh air. But it wasn’t fresh air, the mysterious odor had only increased in strength.

  “It’s not coming from inside,” Evan said, holding a hand over his nose and mouth.

  With a shaky hand, she locked the haunted house up as quickly as she could.

  “Maybe the urban legend is true?” he suggested.

  “Right, just like when I hop in the front of my car, a mysterious person is going to pop up from the back seat and chop off my head.” Polli didn’t believe in any of that. What she did believe in was that something smelled awful, but it could be coming from one of the chemical plants.

  “Morbid. Morbid.” Evan took the tip of his finger and tapped it twice against her nose.

  “I hate you.” The words didn’t come out as strongly as she wished them to.

  Evan scratched his temple and cocked his head, a smile crossing his lips.

  “More than anyone I know,” she added for good measure.

  “Uh huh.”

  “Fuck off.” He was grating on her nerves, but as she dug in her purse for her keys, she tried to cover up her small smile.

  “Why’s the gate closed?”

  Her head jerked up in the direction straight ahead where he was looking. Derek and Lisa had probably shut it after they left. They both took off on a jog, Evan making it there before her. The latch was closed.

  She looked up at the deadly points of the row of singular triangle spikes. “We can climb up and over, just make sure you don’t stab yourself at the top.”

  Polli reached forward, but before she touched the gate, a musical sound came from behind her. A fast and high-pitched melody. She whirled to the side, finding the carousel lit up and moving in a circular fashion. That wasn’t the part that startled her. No, it was how the broken horses lying on their sides had started to slowly float upward from the ground, arranging themselves in their proper position.

  Eyes growing wider second by second, Polli backed up until she hit the iron fence, keys clacking to the ground. An electric current pulsed throughout her body from skin all the way to the marrow buried in her bones. The electricity held her in place as her body shook. It wasn’t painful, more like a tingling sensation, but she couldn’t move. She wanted to scream, but nothing would pour out from her mouth.

  “Polli!” Evan’s hand grabbed hers and yanked her away. She expected his body to feel the electricity, but it must’ve been something ethereal. Her body continued to tremble, whether from aftershock or fright. “Polli!” His hand lightly tapped her cheek, and she took a deep breath.

  “Evan, what’s going on?” Her tongue felt thick and her body wonky, but she held up her hands and shook them out.

  “It’s the urban legend,” he answered, his voice on edge. “It has to be.”

  She knew there was an urban legend about a man and woman who’d died, and it was said that every year the couple would find one person each, to take to keep their existence going.

  From behind the metal building, bubbly laughter surrounded the field. She froze. Quickly, Evan patted the fence, and Polli expected the same thing to happen to him with the electricity, but it didn’t. He climbed up but didn’t get far. When he jumped off the top, he appeared back inside the gate.

  Polli gasped and Evan’s eyes grew incredibly wide. Around the building a heavy thud started—the sound of footsteps.

  “Survive the night, and we should be fine,” Evan said.

  “We’re getting out of here.” Polli had stopped shaking because she wasn’t going to put up with this bullshit from whatever was out there.

  The steps drew closer and louder, until out from the side of the building came a woman wearing a billowy black gown, her feet bare. The woman’s dark hair was wild and spiked as if she’d run a balloon over it to make the locks stand on end. She appeared hollow, eyes sunken, except there were no eyeballs in her sockets. A laugh came
from the woman, her white teeth practically glowing.

  Polli’s instincts told her to run, but instead, she spotted the keys on the ground and plucked them up—her only line of defense. The woman held out a bony hand.

  In between her fingers, Polli felt a slight movement and chalked it up to her imagination. But the feeling came again, a gentle slither across her hand. She peered down and found a long and thick black caterpillar in her hand where her keys should’ve been. She shook it off, finding her one line of defense gone.

  She glanced at Evan, who had an almost entranced look on his face. “Run!” she shouted, tugging him along with her as they sprinted in the opposite direction.

  Up ahead, a man already stood there, similar to the woman in the way his eyes were missing. He wore slacks and a button-up, long-sleeved shirt, his hair side-swept, and his feet bare. From behind him came another man and another and another, all laughing and gazing at them with eyes missing. That painful laugh sent tingles throughout Polli’s body.

  “The other way.” Evan yanked Polli to where they had just come from. But she agreed that it would be better to try and pass one of … whatever these people were.

  Next to the building, the strange woman had vanished, but in front of the door to the haunted house stood four other laughing women, barefoot and filthy, with their heads bowed. Something latched onto Polli’s arm and jerked her to a stop. The woman’s bony hand gripped her wrist, and coldness filled Polli, so incredibly cold.

  “Let go!” Polli was growing frantic because she couldn’t get out of the woman’s release. But all the woman did was laugh with those glowing white teeth of hers. Evan must’ve somehow noticed because he appeared and tried to tug her away. Finally, she broke free. The woman didn’t move an inch, only remained there gazing from those pitiless black holes in her head.

  Polli didn’t look back as they hurried past the building. Evan’s hand took hold of hers, and they increased their pace. Her lungs burned and her thighs ached as they fled.

  The cornfield came closer and closer until they reached their destination and came to an abrupt stop. Evan leaned over with his hands above his knees, breathing hard. Polli breathed just as hard as she looked all around for anything that might’ve followed them. They seemed to be in the clear.