by John Everson
With the latter, the only option was to bury Argento and hope that the body was never found. And who was going to look in an existing old grave for a new body? So that was a good solution.
After he searched Argento’s pockets and found a set of keys, he looked at Emery.
“Let’s go,” he said, and the two of them picked up the body by its arms and legs and walked it across the basement and up the stairs outside. They laid it on the ground near the grave, and then Mike retrieved two shovels. In a half hour, the two of them were dripping with sweat, but the pile of earth on the side of the grave was high. When they’d gone down about as far as they’d dug originally, Mike stopped and put up his hand. “That’s enough.”
They lifted Argento’s body once again, and held it over the center of the hole. “One, two, three,” Mike counted aloud. They both let go, and the body dropped with a thud to the clay base below. Part of him wanted to straighten the arms and legs, which twisted at odd angles. But instead, Mike just took a deep breath, and started shoveling earth back into the hole. He moved fast, anxious to stop seeing the empty face of the haunted house decorator.
When they were finished, Mike patted the earth down firm, and got down on his hands and knees to push the piles of brown and red leaves around, hiding the evidence that the ground here had been disturbed.
They walked back to the house in silence, and Emery didn’t slow when they stepped inside. She walked down the hallway and a moment later he heard her feet on the stairs going up to the attic. Apparently, she was going to bed.
Mike went downstairs and walked down to the hidden room behind the sets. It was empty. Katie was gone. Part of him had thought maybe she’d be waiting here for him. He was disappointed, but also relieved. Part of him didn’t want to see her now. All he wanted was beer. Many beers.
There were splatters of dark on the floor, but other than that, you couldn’t tell that a man had been murdered here just an hour before. Mike shook his head and backed out of the room, closing the door behind him.
He quickly made the rounds of the rest of the house, turning out lights. He fumbled with the keys to lock the front door, and swore. When he finally got the lock to click shut, he looked over through the forest to the faint silhouettes of the tombstones nearby.
Then he pulled the keys from his pocket and got into Argento’s car. There was a road a quarter mile down the turnpike that led back into the heart of the forest preserve. He could drive the car back there and off the road into the trees. It should stay undiscovered for a while if he went back far enough.
Mike started it up and eased the car across the gravel road and onto the asphalt. A few minutes later he was maneuvering through brush and trees until he was well off the small access road that led into the forest preserve. At this time of year, nobody came back here.
When he was satisfied that it was well secreted behind a thick wall of scrub and branches, he turned it off, but left the keys in the ignition. It would be a favor if someone found it and stole it. Mike looked at the car for a minute under the light of the stars and shrugged. Then he began the long walk back to the turnpike and the haunted house.
When he finally got back to Bachelor’s Grove, he was sweating. And exhausted. He looked at the dark, silent house across the clearing and considered going back inside to look for Katie. Then he shook his head in denial and walked quickly to his truck. He needed to be away from here. When the truck started and he pulled on to Midlothian Turnpike, Mike reached up to scratch his cheek. His fingers came back wet, and angrily he wiped the back of his hand across his face.
When he walked in to The Edge, he went straight to the restroom and washed his face and hands clear of tears and dirt. And any blood that he might have touched. Then he took a seat at the bar and ordered a PBR.
“Last call in a few minutes,” the bartender said.
Mike nodded and shotgunned the beer. The bartender looked at him with concern.
“Been a long day,” Mike said. “Hit me again.”
Chapter Thirty-One
“You good?” Jeanie asked.
Lenny shrugged. “This hood is sweaty, but I’m all right. I don’t know how Argento’s been wearing this every damn night though. He better show up tomorrow, because I’m not doing this all weekend.”
Jeanie grinned. “I thought being the masked killer was a step up from being just another zombie.”
Lenny shook his head. “Black guys don’t wear masks and gloves. We don’t need to hide – we put it out there.”
“So, you’re breaking typecast now,” she said. “You’re always saying black guys get all the shit roles…now you’ve got a lead shot.”
Lenny shook his head. “The masked killer always gets killed in the end. He’s not the hero.”
“Maybe,” Jeanie said. “But I think some people think Jason is the hero. And he never seems to die.”
“Oh, he died,” Lenny said. “He just keeps coming back from the dead.”
She grinned. “Whatever. I’ll be back later. People on the floor.”
She quickly exited the room before the footsteps of the next group reached them. She turned to face them before they entered Lenny’s room and let out a horrible moan as she massaged her bloody guts. One of the girls in the group turned her head away and complained, “Oh my God, that’s so gross.”
Then they disappeared inside, and Jeanie headed upstairs to check on Bong and June.
* * *
“This is driving me insane,” June said.
“What’s the matter?” Bong asked. He crept out of his hiding spot. A group had just exited the room and they should have a minute or two before the next.
“I got like five mosquito bites on my back last night. There must have been a swarm of them in my bedroom.”
June twisted and turned, pushing on her elbow with her hand to try to guide her arm to an untouchable spot on her back.
“Fuck,” she complained. “I can’t reach it.” She backed against the wall and started to rub her back against it.
Bong laughed and stood up.
“Here, let me,” he said.
He reached around her back and began to scratch. “Tell me where,” he said, watching her eyes. He knew that he’d be able to see it when he found the spot.
“A little to the left,” she said. “And up.”
He moved his fingernails up and over, and then he smiled as her face suddenly took on the look of an orgasm.
“Holy shit,” she moaned and arched her back against his hand, expanding the radius of his scratching.
“God yes,” she said. “That’s it, right there. Dig in. Rip my fucking back open, I can’t stand it anymore.”
“I don’t want real blood on my hands,” Bong said. He kept scratching for a few more seconds, and then began to slow. “We probably need to stop. I think I heard someone on the stairs.”
June nodded, but her eyes looked up at him in pure adulation. “Thank you so much. I can’t tell you how good that felt. It’s been driving me crazy for hours.”
She tilted her face up and went to kiss him on the cheek. But Bong moved. He couldn’t have told if he did it on purpose, or instinct, but his lips connected with hers and instead of jumping back, he only pressed forward.
He loved Jeanie, but there was something about June that drew him so much. Talking with her every night for the past month…he felt close to her. Closer to her than Jeanie lately. He welcomed the intimate touch of her lips on his.
“We shouldn’t,” June whispered, but didn’t pull her lips away.
“No,” he agreed, and kissed her harder, wrapping his arm around her back and digging his nails in where the mosquito bites were.
“We should get in position,” he said, his lips still touching hers. He could taste her breath in his mouth.
“Yeah,” she said, not moving. “We should.”
Bong’s eyes met hers, and saw the desire and anxiousness there. This was wrong, and they both knew it. Might never act on it again. But it had happened.
He pressed his mouth to hers one last quick time and then pulled away.
“Showtime,” he reminded her, and moved away from her to hide again.
* * *
Jeanie walked down the long attic floor to the back room that June and Bong ‘haunted’. As she reached the threshold and opened her mouth to ask how they were doing, she suddenly bit her tongue.
Bong’s hands were all over June, and then their mouths were touching. They kissed again and again, and Jeanie felt an icy stab in her heart.
She wanted to run into the room and punch them. She wanted to kick Bong in the nuts and pound June in the face with her fist.
But instead, she stood there rooted to the floor as her boyfriend kissed her monster makeup mentor.
The dream of this haunted house was now a nightmare.
Jeanie wanted to scream, but instead she backed quietly away. She couldn’t face them now. Maybe not ever.
On the far side of the room, a group of people were just stepping into the attic from the stairs, and Jeanie ran toward them. The group split, one of the women screaming at her aggressive approach, as one of the other couples moved quickly to one side.
Jeanie didn’t slow until she was down the stairs. Then she ran out the front door, surprising the group in line outside. She ran around the house and into the trees, stopping only when she came to Bachelor’s Grove Cemetery. There, she sank down on the toppled stone of a grave and finally let out one long, plaintive howl.
The tears came hard and ruined her makeup.
And for the first time, Jeanie didn’t care.
Part Three
Closing Night
Chapter Thirty-Two
“Looks like you were celebrating a little early,” Lon said.
Mike moaned, and then held a hand to his forehead. It hurt to moan. “Yeah, I might have crushed one too many cans last night.”
“You know tonight’s closing night, right? Post-party at The Edge?”
Mike nodded, and moaned again at the ache. He had to stop doing that. “Oh yeah, right.”
Lon tilted his head slightly and stared at him. “You gonna even make it through tonight?”
“Yeah, I’ll be fine in a couple hours,” Mike said.
“Good, because I think things are going to get a little crazy later.”
“What do you mean?”
“It’s Halloween, man,” Lon said. “The big night. People are going to be lined up down the turnpike to get in here. And the gang is psyched. I know they’re going to be working overtime on the scream factor tonight. Wait until you see Lucio. I think he’s been working on his makeup since three o’clock.”
“How gory can a zombie get?”
“You’ll see.”
“I guess I will,” Mike agreed. “I’m going to go set up downstairs.”
“Don’t go to sleep down there,” Lon warned. “We open in a half hour.”
“The basement is the last place I want to fall asleep,” Mike said. Lon could have no idea why the basement was any different for Mike than the main floor or the attic, but in his head, he had visions of the bloody meat-covered bones that lay pulsating in the coffin behind the door of the hidden room. Lon just looked at him and shrugged.
“I dunno. It’s cool and dark down there. If I was you, that’s where I’d head for a nap. But…don’t do it!”
“All right, all right!” Mike said shaking his head. And then he put his hand to his forehead and mumbled, “Ow,” as he walked away.
Lon grinned and turned his attention back to the room of bloody, creepy, excited people and held up a hand to get their attention.
* * *
In the back of the room, Lenny pulled on the black leather giallo killer hood.
“I did not want to still be doing this,” Lenny said. “Where the hell did Argento disappear to this week? I can’t believe he’s missing closing night.”
The man with the hanging eyeball and gory cheeks next to him shook his head. “I wish I knew. I’m pretty worried.”
Lenny nodded. “Yeah, I know man. I’m sorry. I’m sure he’s okay, just got called away on a family emergency or something.”
“Argento doesn’t have any family,” Lucio said.
Lenny didn’t have an answer for that.
“Hey,” Lucio said. “I know you hate the outfit but…make ’em feel like you’re really gonna kill them tonight, okay? For him?”
Lenny suddenly felt his throat closing up. He opened his mouth to speak but instead, just nodded.
* * *
“All right!” Lon yelled from the front of the room. “This is it. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but…it’s fucking Halloween!”
The room erupted in cheers.
“I can’t believe it’s all come down to this. Hell night. Hallowmas. All Hallow’s Eve. Night of the demons. We have been scaring people almost every night for a month, and tonight’s the final night. This is our last hurrah. Last time to make one of those girls from Tinley Park High pee her panties. Last time to make one of those jocks from South Suburban College run like a baby out of your room. So, let’s make it happen. Let’s scare the hell out of them!”
As the motley, blood-soaked crew exploded in whistles and claps, Lucio walked up to stand next to Lon. The house manager nodded and took a step back, ceding the floor.
Lucio didn’t talk much, and so the room quieted when he stepped up to speak. His voice was quiet and a little shaky as he began.
“You all know that this place looks like it does because of Argento. He designed most of these sets and this lighting. I don’t want to bring anyone down, but I know that he’d be here tonight if he could. This should have been his crowning night, and I know he would have been challenging me for the scream title big time tonight. I don’t know what’s happened to him this week. I know….” His voice broke and Lucio hung his zombie head for a moment before continuing. “I know he’d want us all to scare the shit out of people tonight, so….” Lucio raised one blood-streaked hand. “Do it for him.”
Lenny raised a black-gloved fist in the air and yelled, “Hell yeah!”
Jeanie raised a hand next to his and grabbed on to his hand as she yelled out, “For Argento.”
Everyone around the room joined suit, and raised their fists as they yelled in unison, “For Argento.”
* * *
Lon retook the floor and closed the ‘rally’ down after a couple chants. “I know that there’s one thing for sure that Argento would say if he was here: Quit jerking around and get the fuck out there and scare people.”
People laughed and clapped and Lon pointed toward the door. “Go out there and get it done. Let’s have a good time tonight!”
* * *
Lucio walked out of the makeup room and down the hall to his station. Part of him wished that the night was over now. And part of him wished it would never end. He was here because of Argento. And his friend hadn’t answered a call, email or text in a week. From what he could tell, he hadn’t been home either. His car was missing, so the police suggested that maybe he’d left town.
Lucio didn’t believe that.
He believed something horrible had happened, though he hoped it wasn’t the case. Still, his friend had always been a strange one. Anything was possible. In his heart though, he knew better. If Argento was alive, he would not have missed the chance to wear the leather mask and gloves on the final night of the haunted house.
And while part of him wanted to just walk away, the part of him that had been friends with Argento heard the same words in his head that Lon had suggested just a couple minutes before. “Go out there and get it done.”
Chapter Thirty-Thr
ee
“You don’t look so good,” Katie said.
Mike looked up from the spotlight he was adjusting and smiled. Thinly.
“I don’t feel so good,” he admitted.
“Why don’t you come upstairs?” she said. “I might be able to help.”
“I don’t see how,” Mike said. “I can’t even feel you anymore.”
Katie nodded. “I know,” she said. “But that’s all going to change soon.”
“You keep saying that,” Mike said. “But we’re kind of out of time. After tonight, this place is closed.”
“Tonight is the last night I need,” Katie said. “And I want you to be ready when it’s all over.”
“I’ll be fine,” he said. “I’ve had a hangover before.”
Katie raised her eyebrows. “Yeah, I’m sure. Come upstairs, okay?”
He nodded, and once again cursed himself. Then he finished resetting the light and turned to follow her.
“Shouldn’t you be staying here to haunt the basement?” he asked.
Katie nodded. “Yeah, I’ll be back. But let’s get you set first. They haven’t opened the front door yet.”
She led him up the back stairs, and a moment later they were in the attic. After ensuring that nobody was in the vicinity to see, Mike opened the door in the floor and let Katie step through. He followed and pulled the door down behind him.
In the hidden room, Emery stood in the corner.
But Mike was used to that by now. He ignored her and only looked at Katie.
“Why are we down here?” he said. “I can’t even touch you anymore. Coming here is pointless.”
Katie shook her head and held a finger to his lips. He couldn’t feel it.
She looked at Emery and motioned with her other hand. The surly girl moved from her spot across the room. Katie leaned toward her and whispered something in her ear. Then she leaned back, and Emery reached into the pocket of her jeans.
When her hand came out, she held the locket that Mike had once found lying on the floor of the old house, before ever meeting Katie.