Haunted

by Alexandra Inger

  “Alright,” she sounded offended. “Don’t take it out on me,” she added sullenly.

  “I’m not taking anything out on anybody. I just have a headache and I want to lie down and you’re trying to insist that I do something that I don’t want to do,” I sighed.

  Her face softened and she said, “Alright, sugar pie I’ll come and see how you’re feeling when we get back.”

  “Great,” I mumbled and shut the door.

  They came back about four hours later.

  “How is your head? Are you coming to the dance? I really think you should. It would be a nice way to show everybody that we’re friends again,” she smiled sweetly at me as she stood in my door.

  “I doubt it,” I mumbled. “It’s a full fledged migraine. I was throwing up earlier,” I lied.

  “Oh sweetie! You should have said! I have special pills for migraines. I’ll go and get them for you!”

  She ran down to her room and was back at mine in a flash. She handed me a little bottle of prescription medication and had a glass of water at the ready.

  “They’ll make you feel drowsy, but if you take two right now, you’ll fall asleep for a few hours and then you’ll wake up in time for the dance and your headache will be gone!” she trilled at me.

  “What are they?” I asked, trying to make sense of the label.

  “I have no idea – all I know is that they make my migraines go away! Here – take two now,” she urged me.

  I opened the bottle and tipped two of the pills into the palm of my hand. I threw them back into my mouth and then took the glass of water from Cheryl and had a little sip.

  “Yay! Now go lie down and I’ll come back in two hours and see how you are!” she said gleefully as she took her pills and her glass and tripped back down the hall to her own room.

  As soon as my door clicked shut behind her, I used my tongue to dislodge the pills from up behind my molar and spit them out.

  True to her word, exactly two hours later she came back.

  “Wow, those things really pack a punch,” I told her. “I’m still feeling a bit woozy. Although I don’t have a headache.” There – at least that last part was true.

  “So do you think you’ll come to the dance?” She clasped her hands together underneath her chin and anxiously awaited my response.

  “Oh god, Cheryl, I don’t know. Maybe,” I lied. I still had absolutely no intention of going.

  “Well what about the costume? Did you try it on? Does it fit?” she asked eagerly.

  “Yeah – it’s fine,” I answered, wishing she would just go away already.

  “Okay. Well we’re going to head over around 8:00, so me and Janice will come and pick you up then?” she persisted.

  “I might go back to sleep again, actually. Why don’t you guys just go without me and if I decide to show up, you’ll know which witch is me,” I smiled at my own little joke.

  “Oh,” Cheryl had her lips out in a pout now. “Okay. If that’s what you’d rather do,” and she affected a facial expression that was intended to make me think I’d really hurt her feelings.

  “It is,” I smiled, as if oblivious to her manipulation tactics.

  “Okay. Well, I really hope to see you there,” she said in a small voice – again, an attempt to make me think she felt hurt.

  I shut the door on her and decided that if anyone knocked on it again this whole weekend I would ignore it.

  I spent the rest of the afternoon and early evening alternating between working on some homework and reading for pleasure, but I was bored and restless and thought it would be nice to go down the hall and have a nice, long, hot shower. With pretty much everybody out at the dance there would be a good chance that I’d have the whole shower room to myself. I didn’t dare walk past Cheryl’s room though until I was sure she’d be gone, so I was stuck in my room until well past 8:00.

  I wondered what Chad was doing and if he was actually going to go through with wearing that witch costume to the dance. I was surprised I hadn’t heard from him, so I decided to send him a text.

  Hey Chad! Just wondered if you still planned

  on going to the dance as we discussed? Ha ha!

  I went back to reading for a while and then as soon as I thought the coast was clear, I slipped out down to the elevators and went down to the dining hall to get something to eat.

  When I got back to my room it was about quarter to ten. Chad had texted me back while I had been downstairs.

  Catherine, I have a bit of a problem.

  Can you come and meet me behind the

  Admin building?

  A shot of adrenaline ripped through my guts. What could possibly be wrong? Why did he want me to meet him? Outside? In the dark?

  Is everything ok? Should I call someone?

  He texted back right away:

  No, not okay. Please come right away.

  I texted that I was on my way and I pulled on my coat and fled out the building.

  What had they done to him, dressed up in my costume? I felt responsible for whatever it was and prayed that he hadn’t been hurt.

  I was running through the wet, dewy grass in the cold dark night watching my breath steam out in front of me and frantic with worrying what could be wrong with Chad. What kind of trouble could he possibly be in? And how could I possibly help him? A sense of foreboding came over me and I slowed down to a fast walk.

  I was breathing heavily as I approached the administration building. I was hyper-aware of the sound of my breaths and tried desperately to slow them.

  “Chad?” I called out cautiously and took in a great big gulp of air.

  I was walking slowly, stealthily now as I made my way around the building.

  “Chad?” I called out again, beginning to sense that I might be walking into some sort of trap.

  I was behind the building now and Chad was nowhere to be seen.

  I pulled out my phone and sent him a text.

  Chad, I’m here. Where are you?

  I hit the send button. A few seconds later I heard the arrival of my text message chime out from his phone. It was coming from around the corner.

  “Chad!” I called out assertively this time as I crept along the side of the building.

  “He’s not here,” Cheryl said as she appeared from around the corner. She was stood there in the freezing cold night looking like a heavily made up harem girl. I could see the goose bumps all over her skin, but Cheryl being Cheryl she wasn’t going to let a little thing like hypothermia stand in the way of her looking hot.

  “Oh god! Cheryl!” I cried out in relief. “What the hell’s going on? Where’s Chad?”

  “He’s in the woods. He wanted me to take you out there to him,” she said staring at me without blinking.

  “Why do you have his phone?” I was angry now. It was some kind of trap. What in god’s name was she planning?

  “He’ll explain everything. Come on, let’s go.” Cheryl was watching me closely to analyze my response, to see if I was buying any of this or not.

  I was so overcome with anger - my blood was boiling and I think I actually saw red - that I didn’t think to feel any fear.

  “Have a fun night out in the woods, Cheryl. Whatever stupid little game you’re playing.”

  I turned on my heel and stalked off angrily. I was power walking across the campus in my running shoes; in her high heeled sandals there would be no way she could catch up with me.

  What on earth was she playing at? Trying to lure me into the woods? And how had she gotten Chad’s cell phone?

  I was in a rage. I almost wish she had caught up with me: I would have pummeled her. I really would have. I was in that state where people are able to lift cars off of trapped people and I think I was actually capable of killing her and not caring right at that moment.

  By the time I had gotten back to my dorm I was still furiously angry. I couldn’t even call Chad to tell him what had happened. I had so much pent up rage that I needed to get out of
me. I decided to go and have that hot shower that I’d wanted earlier. Maybe it would wash away some of my anger. It did help a little. I stood under gorgeously hot water for a good twenty minutes and tried to imagine that it was taking all my fury down the drain with it.

  I came back to my room in my bathrobe and a towel on my head. I flopped down on my bed wondering what on earth I was going to do about this situation. I suppose nothing bad had ended up happening, but only because I had refused to let Cheryl lure me out into the woods. On second thought, what if Chad really had been out in the woods? What if Cheryl and Trevor had contrived to get him out there? What if he was hurt and needed help? I mean, she did have his cell phone – how had she gotten it?

  Should I call the police? Or should I go over to the dance and see if there was a teacher or someone I could talk to? (Not that that had worked out so well for me last time.)

  I decided to call the police.

  I must have explained the story to the desk sergeant who answered the phone at least three times. Although I spoke slowly and clearly and gave everybody’s full names and told him the names of the dormitories all the concerned parties lived in, I could tell he thought I was some crazy kid attempting some Halloween mischief, but I think I finally got through and he agreed to send a squad car to the school to have a look around.

  Well, now if something had happened to Chad, at least I wouldn’t have to feel guilty about not having tried to do something.

  But I was still worried. And I fretted. And I wondered how I was going to be able to get in touch with him when Cheryl probably still had his phone.

  This was terrible. I couldn’t concentrate. I couldn’t relax. I was a complete nervous Nellie.

  So naturally I nearly jumped out of my skin when there was a knock at the door. Remembering the vow I had made to myself earlier, I refused to answer. It would be Cheryl come to mess with my head some more. I froze and remained stock still, expecting her to call my name and demand that I answer the door, but there was nothing.

  I heard footsteps falling away from the door and I relaxed somewhat.

  This was going to be a long night.

  I decided to try to read, but I couldn’t concentrate. I was dying to know where Chad was and if he was okay.

  Some movement outside my window caught my eye. I looked up. It took a few seconds for my brain to process this strange, unbelievable sight.

  It was Trevor.

  He must have climbed the tree up the side of the building and was now working his way along the ledge to where my window opened.

  Horrified, I stepped back into the middle of the room wondering what on earth he was doing out on the ledge. It had been very cold and the window was shut tightly. I had no intention of letting him come in.

  But he must have anticipated that I wouldn’t let him in, for he had brought a tire iron with him and the next thing I knew he was smashing in the glass with it.

  I stood paralyzed with terror as he reached in through the broken glass, pulled on the handle and opened my window. He slipped in sideways and then leaped over my bed and onto me before I could react. He flew at me and knocked me to the ground with his hand over my mouth. I struggled to pull my bathrobe together around me, but he grabbed both of my wrists and pinned them over my head. I screamed and he quickly brought his hand over my mouth again, while keeping hold of my wrists with the other hand.

  “No use screaming, bitch!” he grinned malevolently at me. “Everybody’s gone out to the ball! Except you, Cinderella! What’s a pretty girl like you doing home alone?”

  He was straddling me and I thought he might break my pelvis as I struggled and his weight ground my bones into the hardwood floor. I crossed my legs and concentrated on keeping my ankles and knees glued together.

  “Not so hoity-toity now, are ya? Did you think you would write about me in the newspaper like that and I would just let it go? Will you not learn that I will not be publicly humiliated? Especially by some trashy little whore like you? I mean, you’re like, poor white trash whose parents won the lottery! And you think you get write smear pieces about me in the paper? You need to be put in your place, you little bitch!”

  I was screaming for my life behind his hand, desperate for my voice to break through it and reach somebody’s ears. But it was no use. Like Trevor had said, nobody was home tonight.

  And then Trevor took his hand off of my mouth and let go of my wrists and the look in his eyes was so terrifying that I couldn’t breathe, let alone make a sound. I was paralyzed with fear. He pulled his right arm back and slapped me so hard across the face that my head snapped with the momentum of it and my right cheekbone met the hardwood floor with a thud.

  “Did you like that? That’s what you did to me! Except in front of the whole school! Do you want another like that?”

  He punched me this time and I heard the bridge of my nose crack before I even felt it. I was stunned and dazed. Was this what it was like to see stars? I could taste blood in the back of my mouth as it trickled down my throat.

  “There, that shut you up!” he proclaimed triumphantly. “Now should we just get down to business?”

  He then set about trying to rip my robe open and prise my legs apart. I came back to my senses and began flailing and screaming when suddenly Stefano appeared behind him.

  “CATHERINE!” he screamed at me. “THE SCISSORS! GRAB THE SCISSORS!”

  I twisted my head and saw the scissors I had used in my clumsy attempt at self-harm lying between the leg of my desk and the wall. They had clattered to the floor that day out of my sight, and I had never gone back to pick them up.

  “You can do it Catherine! Reach now while he’s let go of your arms!”

  I did as Stefano commanded me to. I reached far above my head with everything that I could muster while Trevor thrashed about with my legs which I was kicking and flailing for all I was worth. With one kick I managed to propel myself just far enough back that I was able to get my fingertips on the scissors. I managed to coax them close enough to me so that I could grab them.

  “NOW DO IT!” Stefano screamed.

  I bolted upright and brought the scissors down into the top of Trevor’s shoulder with all my might.

  Now it was him who was screaming. He stopped grasping at my thighs momentarily while he registered the shock of what had just happened to him and he howled in pain. But I was no fool. I did not let go my grasp on the scissors. I yanked them out and while he was still in shock, I brought them down into his other shoulder.

  He was screaming bloody murder now and grasping at his shoulders.

  “RUN!” Stefano urged.

  I wriggled out from underneath Trevor and ran for my life down the hallway. I couldn’t take the chance of waiting for the elevator, so I fled down the stairs. I don’t think my feet even touched and when I finally burst out the front door into the sharp cold air there was a police cruiser pulling up.

  I was screaming hysterically and I didn’t even realize or care that my robe was undone until I felt the shock of the cold air on my exposed skin. I ran straight into the arms of a policeman and clung to him screaming incomprehensibly. It wasn’t until the police woman pulled me away from him that I saw his shirt stained with blood and I remembered Trevor must have broken my nose. She led me to the back of the cruiser and gently arranged my robe to cover me as she loaded me in.

  “You’re safe now, honey, you’re safe. I’ve got you,” she assured me as her partner got on the radio and called for back up and an ambulance.

  “Catherine!” I heard Chad’s voice calling out and looked up to see him as he ran towards the cruiser in the red flashing light.

  “Catherine!” he cried out again and covered his mouth with his hand as he saw the state I was in.

  “Trevor!” I managed to scream. “In my room!”

  The ambulance eventually arrived and I was bundled up into it and taken to hospital.

  From what I understood, Chad took the police up to my room, and they saw the br
oken window and began a manhunt for Trevor. With Chad’s help they had found him, bleeding and with the scissors still stuck in his shoulder. He hadn’t been able to bring himself to pull them out. He had gone back to his room to figure out what to do, so he wasn’t too difficult to track down.

  The police questioned me in the hospital after I was examined. I told them all about how Cheryl had tried to lure me into the woods earlier that night and begged them to question her, too.

  My nose was broken and my face was badly bruised. I had some other bruises elsewhere on my body – I didn’t even feel them happening, but I had struggled hard. I had been struggling for my life.

  They wouldn’t let me go back to school right away. They told me that they wanted to keep me in overnight so that I could rest in a safe place, and although I didn’t say anything, I wondered how safe it could be since Trevor was likely to be brought here with his injuries as well. It was the only hospital for miles.

  After the police left, Chad came to see me.

  I was lying in the bed holding a bag of ice on my nose, and just beginning to enjoy the effects of the painkillers they had given me.

  “Oh my god. Catherine.” He stood in the doorway just staring at me, his eyes glistening.

  I smiled weakly at him.

  “Come in,” I said, “Make yourself at home.”

  “Are you okay?” his voiced was squeezed tight with emotion. “Did he?…Did he… ?“

  Dear Chad. He couldn’t even bring himself to say it.

  “No,” I assured him. “He tried, but I put up a good fight.” I smiled again.

  “Oh my god, thank god. Thank god, thank god, thank god,” he said over and over again. “I swear I will kill him, Catherine. I will kill him. I swear to you.”

  “Shhhhh,” I said, “This place is crawling with police!”

  “Oh my god, I’m so sorry this happened to you.” He sat down in the little chair for visitors next to my bed and buried his face in his hands.