by Claire Adams
“Those look sick, man. Set me up for those as well.” Craig said.
“Yeah, I got you. What's your max weight?”
“More than yours.”
I laughed, and set him up with 110. “Don't get too carried away.”
He jacked up his arms, and as he did his sets of 10, I lowered the weight for him. I kept pushing him to work harder when he was close to giving up. “Come on man, one more set, let’s go.” I set the last one to 20 and he killed it.
We continued on with biceps and triceps and then moved on to shoulders. We did shoulder presses, chin-ups, and push-ups. I was exhausted by the time we were done, and we went to the water cooler to grab some Gatorade. Craig and I sat on the bench, lost in our own thoughts as we chugged our drinks.
“So, Jet, why didn't you come to that dinner with Dad? I invited you and your little girlfriend and you didn't show up. We were expecting you.”
“She's not my girlfriend. And maybe all of you guys should just stop expecting me.”
“Oh believe me; no one's expecting anything, Jet.”
“Craig, just drop it, okay?”
“I have been inviting you to dinner for months now, Jet. When are you going to show up to one? Don't you think this is upsetting for everyone? What about Mom, don't you even care?”
“Oh come on, man. You know exactly why I don't come. If he wanted me there bad enough he would call me. Stop being his errand boy.”
“I'm not his errand boy, Jet. I just think you should be at dinner just like the rest of us.”
“It's not the rest of us. You don't get hounded the way I do.”
“He just wants the best for you, Jet. Taking over the company isn't such a terrible thing.”
“Then you do it.”
“Seriously, don't be an asshole.”
“I don't want that life. I am building the life I want, or don't you see that?”
“What are you going to do when you retire from MMA? Don't you want something to fall back on?”
“I don't need anything to fall back on. I'm making it to the big leagues, man. I am going all the way. I will have all the money I need.”
“I'm going to see Dad in a few days. Why don't you come along?”
I laughed. “You don't stop, do you?”
“No, and I'm not going to.”
I looked around the gym. In mid-afternoon the place was really busy, and I felt weird about having that conversation with Craig there.
“When are you going to forgive him?”
I groaned. “Craig, do we have to do this right now?”
“Yeah, man, I think we do, because you won't deal with it any other time.”
I sighed. “I don't want to forgive him.”
“I have.”
“Yeah, I'm aware of that.”
“Shit happens, man.”
“He cheated on our mother with his secretary. He wasn't even original about it. If that wasn't bad enough, he left that great woman we call Mom, and shacked up with that girl. He broke your mother’s heart, and you want to forgive? You want me to have dinner with him and his new girlfriend? You must be kidding me.”
“He's my father too, and I don't agree with what he did. But I love him, too, and what happened is between Mom and him. I don't like being angry all the time, and you shouldn't be either, Jet. At least talk to him about it.”
“I don't know.”
“Just come with me this time, please. Just come. Do it for me.”
“Okay, I promise I will go this time. Just get off my back.”
Craig laughed. “Thank God. I have to get out of here, but I will message you the details later. Don't blow me off.”
I waved him off and got the hell out of the gym.
Chapter Three
Natalie
Halloween was right around the corner, and festivities were being held all over campus. Decorations were up and people were out looking for costumes. Guys always bought the ridiculous ones, and of course, girls found a reason to dress completely slutty for one day of the year. I had never been one for dress-up, so I wasn't sure what I was going to do. Julie and Brenda had been talking about finding a party or going to the club, and I wasn't sure if I wanted to partake. I had done so much drinking over the past few months that I felt I was accruing brain damage. Look at the decisions I had been making lately―all bad news. Jet alone was the result of all my drinking, I didn't think I would have done half those things with him had I not been half out of my mind.
Searching for costumes wasn't the only thing students were doing these days. For the whole month of October, the haunted house was set up as well. It was a scare house set up for kids to go in and have the wits scared out of them for fun. For as many years as it had been in town, I had only ever gone once. That was enough for me. I had been scared so badly I had no desire to ever return. Call me a scaredy-cat or not, I wasn't going back.
That night I had agreed to go to the school for an extracurricular activity for my art class. We had been asked to decorate pumpkins and put them all over the campus for Halloween. I had gone to class, and the professor asked me to be in charge of determining how the pumpkins should be decorated. So I walked up to the front of the class, feeling nerves tittering in my stomach. I was honored that my professor thought I was talented enough to do this; I wanted to make her proud.
I faced my classmates. “Hey, guys, I was thinking about what we could all do with the pumpkins, and I don't want there to be any carving tonight. Let's use the skills that we have learned so far this semester and create pumpkin art. We can use any type of medium that we like, such as, let's see, how about ink? Paint? We have lots of oils and acrylics that we can use up. Let's have abstract pumpkins, floral design, moody ink work, whatever we want to create, and we'll have the most unique pumpkins on campus this year.”
The class clapped in excitement, and students got up right away to choose what medium they were going to use. I helped the professor pass out pumpkins. We had enough for each student to do three of them, and I was so excited to see what they were going to come up with. Once the pumpkins were passed out, and students found their way back to their seats, I started walking around to see what I could find.
I went up to Crystal, who was an art student often inspired by other artists, and mimicked them in her art. I watched as she poured out various colors of paint and tested them. She was what one would call a free artist, in that when she painted, she never needed to draw pictures first; she painted by freehand. I wished that I had that sort of talent, but art itself never came easily to me. I always had to pencil in items first, and then paint in the colors. I watched as she started in on her pumpkin; I was interested to see who she would emulate this time.
As the paint stroke molded in droopy lines, I realized she was painting the eyes of the pumpkin, using drooping clocks for the eyes. The same sort of clocks that were often depicted in Salvador Dali's famous paintings.
“Wow, Crystal. I love it; great idea.”
She turned to face me. “Thanks.”
“It's a unique idea. I love Dali, he's one of my favorite artists, as well. Very tortured.”
“Aren't we all?”
I laughed. “True enough.”
I left Crystal and continued walking around the room. I saw pumpkins that looked like water lilies, and one that had so many floral designs it appeared to be a pumpkin garden. I couldn't for the life of me understand why anyone wouldn't want to be an artist, or at least take an art class for fun. The individual ideas that sprung up from nothing were incredible, and often awe-inspiring.
I approached a guy who was painting The Scream on the side of a pumpkin, and I laughed.
“Hey, great idea. Fits in with a Halloween theme for sure. I like your lines; everything flows into the colors perfectly.”
“Thanks, Natalie.” He looked up at me adoringly and his look gave me a cause for concern.
“No problem.”
“Hey, would you like to grab a coffee wit
h me sometime?”
I smiled and laughed a bit nervously. “I’m not dating these days, sorry. Maybe you should focus on your work.”
He looked away sheepishly, and I made note not to step over to his desk again for the rest of the night. I had no idea that anyone in the class had been crushing on me; maybe I was in my own world all the time. I would need to start branching out and talking to people more. And of course, I would need to start considering dating again. Tom had thrown me for quite some loop and before I even had time to heal, there was Jet. What a handle that boy was. I hadn't heard from him since the night of wine and seduction, and I was pretty comfortable with that. I genuinely felt that I just wasn't ready to be with anyone, not even Jet. I was a mess. I kept running out on him, and I knew that it was fear-driven, for the most part. Definitely not fair to anyone. What surprised me more was that he kept coming back. He hadn't given up on me yet; why, I couldn't imagine. There were far prettier and saner girls out there than I. I still didn't know what he saw in me, but I believed truly that he wasn't right for me, and I hoped that we could maintain some level of friendship, and just leave it at that. Maybe in the future when my wounds weren't so raw―maybe then we could have something meaningful, but right now all I could see was some guy who liked to chase tail. I felt that the only reason he kept chasing me was because I was a challenge to him. Had I bowed at his feet a long time ago he probably would have left me the moment we slept together. No, the only reason why he was still around was because I made his life more difficult, and he wanted to break me of that habit.
I found a girl named Jessie doing The Starry Night on a pumpkin, and her friend beside her was managing quite well depicting irises.
“I love these; it's so nice to see beautiful color on the pumpkins. The dean is going to be thrilled with these.”
“Thanks, Natalie.”
I went around the room and saw a Twilight-themed pumpkin, as well as a sunset on a beach. What a great idea this had been; every pumpkin was more unique than the last one. I sat down at a desk and did a quick sketch of an MMA fighter silhouetted with his hands up in the air in victory. When I finished drawing it, I took a bottle of ink and dipped a brush into it. I slid the brush over the lines until the picture came to life in black. It was a powerful pose, and I smiled when it was completed. I signed the bottom of it and picked the pumpkin up. I left my seat and put it on the desk of the professor for all to see. Clapping rang out all over the room, and I smiled. Everyone had done such a great job. As pumpkins were finished, they were put on carts so that students could distribute them all over campus. I couldn't wait to hear feedback from the public, as well as the dean, on the impact they had on students.
I helped the professor clean up the room, and started packing my own bag. I was tired from class and looked forward to going home to relax.
I was heading across campus when I saw Jet coming out of one of the buildings. He saw me right away, and I sighed as I watched him walk up to me.
“Hey, what are you doing here so late?”
“I was helping the art students create pumpkins for Halloween. You will see them all over campus.”
“That's cool.”
“I didn't know you had some night classes.”
He shrugged. “Well, it makes it easier to train during the day this way.”
I just nodded, feeling awkward around him.
“Can I give you a ride home, Natalie? It's really late.”
“Nope, I'm okay, but thank you. I had a good time the other night, by the way.”
“Oh yeah, sure you did. Is that why you disappeared the next morning?”
I laughed nervously. “Well, I'm not very good in those situations, but I still had fun.”
“Me too; I had fun too. Sorry I haven't called or anything. I've been busy.”
I shrugged nonchalantly. He didn't owe me anything, so there was no need to make a big deal out of it.
“Hey, if you're not doing anything, some buddies and I are heading to that haunted house for a good scare. Why don't you come with us?”
“Oh really? Wow, no, you assume I enjoy having the shit scared out of me, but I don't.”
He laughed. “It'll be fun. You're not the only one who will get scared.” He winked at me, and I found it charming.
“I'm tired, Jet. I just want to go chill out.”
“No, that's a terrible idea. You can sleep when you're dead. Come on, it will be fun. Trust me.”
“Oh, I definitely don't trust you, Jet,” I whispered.
He chuckled. “Please? Don't make me beg. I will get you home promptly after that, I promise.”
I paused, thinking about it. I couldn't seem to shake this guy, no matter what I did. It wasn't like it was a date; in fact, his buddies were going to be there, so what was the big deal if I went? It's not like I was encouraging advances from Jet. We were just friends, and I was no different than the buddies he was going with ... okay, maybe a little different.
I hoped Kyle wouldn't be there, though. I got the idea that he didn't like me much. Considering he had been around on more than one occasion when Jet and I had slept together and seen me naked, I think we’d met our quota on how much time we should be around each other.
“Okay, I guess it won't hurt. But if I pee my pants, you are in big trouble.”
“Right back at you.”
I giggled as I followed him off campus.
We walked to Jet's car on the other side of the lot, where Kyle was already waiting. I groaned inwardly, as I had hoped I would not run in to him anytime in the near future. By the look on his face, he didn't seem too impressed to see me.
“Hey, Jet, what's going on?”
“Natalie here decided to join us at the haunted house.”
“Ahh, cool. Hi,” he said to me.
“Hi, Kyle, nice seeing you again.”
He nodded while he looked down at his shoes.
“So, are we meeting everyone else there?”
Kyle looked up. “Yeah, they are meeting us.”
I looked at Jet. “Am I the only girl going, because I don't want to intrude.”
Jet laughed. “Don't be silly. It's a haunted house; you aren't intruding. But to answer your question, no, you aren't the only girl. I think one of the guys is bringing his girlfriend, and there are a few girls from the gym going. So, no big deal, right?”
I nodded, and we all piled into the car, Kyle allowing me to have shotgun privileges. I sat in the seat and put my purse at my feet. I started fiddling with the radio station until I was able to find some tunes we all liked. It wasn't a very long drive, as the haunted house was downtown, which was close to school.
When we arrived, Jet found parking, but it was evident the area was very busy. We climbed out of the car and saw his friends in a large group. There were some surprised looks on some of his friends’ faces, especially the girls, when Jet walked up to them with me in tow. Kyle circled us and went to talk to one of the gym girls.
“Hey guys, this is Natalie; she decided to join us tonight.”
Everyone said hi to me, and Jet introduced everyone by name so I would know who was who. There were so many of them that I was sure I would lose all the names anyway.
We all headed to the ticket stand and bought tickets for the scare house. Jet offered to pay for mine, and I allowed him to. We then headed to the haunted house.
It was an imposing structure, much larger than you would anticipate a mobile unit to be. Although it was imposing from the outside, it looked smaller outside than it did on the inside. The front of the structure was decorated in blacks, whites, and reds. The red depicted blood and slaughter, and the drawings were that of madmen, skulls, witches, and spiders. Although they were harmless drawings, the whole scene completely creeped me out, but I guess that was the purpose of it.
“Hey, beautiful, are you okay?” he said it lightly, with humor in his tone.
I looked over at him and smiled. “Don't start with me, Jet.”
&nbs
p; He chuckled. “You don't need to worry. I will protect you from all the ghouls and goblins.”
“Yeah, well I should probably be more afraid of you than any ghoul or goblin.”
He winked at me. “Maybe.”
I looked back at the scare house as we waited for everyone to get tickets and meet us over there. The haunted house didn't have the best history, which was probably why people found it so creepy, and wanted to take the walk for themselves. I didn't like the history; in fact, it was the reason why I didn't want to go in. Twenty years ago when the haunted house first opened to scare unsuspecting teens and adults, a 20-year-old-girl had been raped and murdered inside the house.
No one had heard her, because the place had been filled with people running and screaming. It wasn't until the haunted house closed for the night and they turned on the lights that they had found her. She had been a young college student with a bright future, and she was found covered in blood, having been stabbed repeatedly. The weapon was never found, and forensics had showed that she had been raped right before she was murdered. The killer had never been found, either, and that was the most disturbing part of all. They had interviewed everyone who was there that night, including staff, and they were not able to determine if it was someone who had gone into the funhouse with her, or whether she had been murdered by a staff member whose job it was to jump up and scare people.
I shivered at the thought. How terrible to have been raped and to be screaming, and no one comes to your aid. It was the perfect place to murder someone, because you couldn't tell one scream from another. Surprisingly, the haunted house didn't close down after that as was expected; it just grew in popularity. There were rumors and legends going around that the killer probably still worked there and was in search of his next victim. Whether the killer had been a staff member or not; that person had gotten away with it and was still out there in the world, possibly killing more.
Since the murder, the rules had changed so that no one was to go into the house alone, and all staff members had to wear a GoPro camera, so whatever they did was recorded in the main office. The owners were determined not to have another murder happen in their place.