Divine Vices

by Parkin, Melissa

  “Oh, come on,” I said. “Trish and some of the more normal girls in our class are gonna be there too. It could be fun.”

  “It will be,” assured Gwen, walking over to a CD rack of bestsellers.

  “You actually believe that?” asked Ian, turning toward me with an uneasy smile.

  “As if I actually have a choice?” I chuckled. “As far as I’m concerned, it’s not a lock-in. It’s a lockdown. I’d rather be safe inside the confines of my bedroom, but you know how insistent Meyer can be. For all I know, it really could be fun, but I’ve got to say that I’m not the fondest of participating in a massive sleepover with Stacy and her minion of flying monkeys.”

  Chapter 5

  The Point of No Return

  “I can’t believe you actually convinced me to do this,” I groaned, heaving Gwen’s duffle out of the back seat.

  “It’s another rite of passage around here. It’ll be fun,” she assured.

  “Did you pack a body in here?” I asked, lugging her bag over to her. “This thing weighs a ton.”

  “Best not to be unprepared. Rather have things I don’t need than to be left without things that I do.”

  “Gwen, we’re sleeping at the school for the night, not joining Lewis and Clark’s expedition,” I said, effortlessly yanking my gym bag out as well with a sleeping bag tucked under my arm. “What’s even less believable is the fact that you agreed to be locked up here with Stacy.”

  “This isn’t about our rivalry tonight. It’s about tradition. Even she won’t want to stir up trouble. The very fact that we’ll be stuck around one another the whole night is reason enough,” said Gwen.

  We locked up the car and headed toward the front of the building where Trish and about a dozen other girls were already standing with their supplies in hand.

  “So how many people actually come to this?” I inquired.

  “Probably an upwards of thirty girls or so,” said Trish.

  “That’s it? There are at least ninety girls in our class.”

  “Yeah, well, a lot of them think the same way you do,” Gwen chirped in.

  “And you gave me grief for agreeing with two thirds of the majority? Thanks,” I said, elbowing Gwen lightly. “You know, I could be sleeping in a perfectly good bed tonight. One that actually has lumbar support. Instead, I’m sleeping on what? The gym floor?”

  “Yeah, instead of lumbar, you get lumber,” joked Trish.

  I looked at her crossly.

  “You know, because the gym floor’s made of wood...”

  “I get it,” I said, hiking up the stone steps to the main doors as Miss Tipton passed by us with a set of keys in hand. “You girls ready to have a good time?”

  “Yes, we are,” said Stacy, coming up behind us with a pink rucksack and matching sleeping bag.

  “See, even she packs lighter than you,” I joked to Gwen.

  “You got the stuff?” Stacy whispered.

  Gwen nodded.

  “All right,” she smiled. “Two o’clock. Let Trish and the others know.”

  Stacy proceeded to her clique as I gawked in awe at the strange sight to Gwen and her not only managing to keep things from igniting into a brawl, but actually being civilized and happy around one another.

  “Dare I ask?”

  Gwen smiled delightfully. “Oh, you’ll find out later.”

  “This isn’t some weird sorority hazing ritual, is it?” I asked lightly, though I wasn’t real sure if I had something to worry about or not.

  “Nope, but it is a ritual in some sorts. Let’s just say we’re gonna pay respects to our local legends.”

  I looked at her worryingly. “Meyer?”

  She didn’t reply.

  As Miss Tipton fiddled with the locks at the front entrance, I took a moment to look up at New Haven High’s stone brick façade. I had fallen in love with its Romanesque architecture and Gothic arched entryways the very moment I saw it my first day of school, but this was also the first time I had seen it in its grandeur at nighttime. The diminishing light of day only illuminated the bell tower that rested at the top of the third story. The rest of its shadowed structure exuded a peculiarly ominous air whose history seemed to leave the same chilling nature that one might find at a cemetery.

  “Not scared, are ya’?” said Trish, startling me from behind by pinching her fingertips into my shoulders.

  “Terrified.”

  Miss Tipton waved us inside and we marched single file through the entrance to the gym as she did a headcount.

  There were twenty-eight girls in all, each of us loading our belongings up onto the bleachers as Miss Tipton ran through her list of procedurals.

  “The gym doors will remain unlocked so that you all can use the facilities, but that doesn’t give you free rein over the school. Each door at the end of the wing will stay locked. Is that clear?” finished Miss Tipton.

  We all nodded.

  “All right, time for some fun,” she said, motioning to Gwen. “Meyer, care to commence our activities?”

  “Certainly,” Gwen replied. “As we requested, I see you all are wearing some of your most vibrant active wear, so I say we begin by playing some Color Tag.”

  As if we were all eight years old again, our entire group bounced up from the first bench of the bleachers and headed over to the north side of the gym. Stacy picked out two people at random to be “It”, and at the signal we all ran like maniacs across to the other side of the court. Laughing in hysterics, we played three full games. Then we moved onto Charades, Pictionary, HORSE, and then some high stakes poker, where bite size Reese’s and Milky Ways were our currency.

  Of course, the evening would not be complete without pizza, not to mention the adorable twentysomething-year-old delivery guy, Mike, who probably earned more tips with his boyish good looks at the local pizza joint than all of the bellhops at Manhattan’s Carlyle Hotel combined.

  After indulging our sights, we indulged our appetites by tearing our teeth into cheesy slices as phones began to buzz across the gymnasium.

  “Oh my God! Have you seen this?” bellowed Trish, running up to Gwen, Stacy, and me like she had found definitive proof of unicorns. “Some girl down in Lancaster was killed, and there’s suspected cult activity behind it!”

  “You might want to dial it down a few notches,” I said. “Best to have people thinking you don’t actually get excited by dead bodies.”

  “Sorry,” said Trish, still a little too buoyantly, “but this is front-page news.”

  I gave Gwen a sideways glance, and to my surprise, she looked just as taken aback. Once everyone in the gym began to natter over the hot topic, I pulled Gwen away from the pack for a little chitchat.

  “Before you even start, let me just say that I had nothing to do with this leak,” she whispered.

  “Yeah, I had a pretty good idea of that,” I said. “How do you think it got out? The police wouldn’t have released it. What about your source?”

  “No way. My source is for my eyes, and my eyes only.”

  “Who is this mysterious benefactor?” I asked. “A guy, who perhaps has certain intentions towards you?”

  “Again, confidential.”

  “So who do you think leaked it? Reporter? Bribed cop?”

  “No clue, but at least now you can rest assured that I won’t be hauled away in handcuffs,” she chuckled as we walked back to the pack.

  “Well, we may not be able to do anything in concerns to releasing something for the press tonight, but I do have a new game in mind,” said Stacy who cast a fiendish grin at Gwen.

  “Uh-oh, I can just hear the wheels turning in your head. What do you have in mind?” she replied.

  “Good, old-fashioned Bloody Mary,” said Stacy.

  “What? Are we in the first grade?”

  “No, I like that idea,” Trish chimed in. “Let’s set the rules. Anyone have a candle?”

  Gwen raised her hand.

  “Why on earth would you bring that with you?�
�� I asked, looking at her suspiciously.

  “Again, later.”

  “Fine, so how are we doing this? Each of us takes a turn going into the locker-room bathroom?”

  “No,” said Trish, smiling sinisterly. “We’ll go in groups of three to the Malik bathroom down the hall.”

  “Malik?”

  “Mary Malik. She’s supposedly a girl who committed suicide in there back in the ’30s,” said Gwen, “but there’s no record of someone by that name even attending the school. I already looked into it years ago. It’s just an urban legend.”

  “Then why don’t you go first?” said Trish.

  “Why don’t you?” Stacy countered. “Since you’re the one raising the stakes here.”

  “Fine,” said Trish. “Courtney, Chloe, and I will be the first takers.”

  “Since when is this game played in groups?” I asked.

  “For verification. Anyone can go wandering down the hall and hang out in the bathroom for a minute. The others are there to witness you doing it.”

  “Go run along then,” said Stacy as Gwen handed her a candle.

  “Got a light?”

  Gwen also tossed her a lighter.

  “You get that duffle bag from Mary Poppins?” I cracked. “What else do you have in there, Gwen? A camping tent? Jimmy Hoffa’s remains, perhaps?”

  “Ha-ha,” said Gwen. “Let’s see if you’re still laughing in a few minutes when you head out there with me after Trish returns.”

  “I will be. You know why? Because I’m gonna be bearing witness and partaking in a silly ritual where three goofballs are gonna be twirling around like idiots in front of the bathroom mirror.”

  Five minutes later, Courtney and Chloe reentered the gym.

  “Where’s Trish?” asked Gwen.

  “Don’t know. She did her turn, and then said she heard something in the hallway. She went outside to investigate, but she didn’t come back.”

  “Oh, how cute,” said Stacy. “Good luck out there. Can’t wait to hear about what she conjured up to scare you two with.”

  “Us two? No, you’re coming with us,” said Gwen.

  “Like hell I am.”

  “What? Are you chicken?”

  Stacy rolled her eyes and looked out at the hallway. “Fine, but I’m taking a flashlight with me.”

  Courtney tossed her a small, pocket-sized flashlight before going over to the iPod dock, blasting the song "The Point of No Return" from the Phantom of the Opera for effect. “Good luck, ladies.”

  Stacy turned on the flashlight as we headed out into the hallway and moaned at its itsy beam that barely illuminated the length of three lockers. “Perfect.”

  We slowly crept down the corridor, huddling together in the middle as we passed by closed doors in anticipation for Trish to come jumping out in a frenzy.

  “Alright, whatever she’s got up her sleeve here, we have to make sure not to scream. We can’t give her the satisfaction of scaring us,” said Gwen upon reaching the entrance to the bathroom. “So, who wants to go in first?”

  Stacy and I both exchanged agreeable looks. “You.”

  We took hold of her arms and tossed her down the short stretch that curved around to the mouth of the bathroom.

  She immediately shrieked as she plunged into the darkness.

  “Everything okay in there?” I called out, my voice echoing across the bathroom walls.

  “You guys suck!” she shouted back.

  We laughingly headed in as well.

  “Any encounters with Casper yet?” I said, watching Stacy kick all the stall doors open.

  “We’re clear,” she said, switching off the flashlight. “Go ahead, Meyer.”

  We all took our turns, and to our surprise, nothing happened. Of course, we weren’t expecting a red eyed, demonic ghost to come popping up in the mirror, but we were more than certain that Trish would have tried to pull off something.

  “Satisfied?” I asked.

  “Let’s just get out of here,” said Stacy. “This place is still creepy.”

  The sounds of the theatrically sinister music from the gym still echoed down the hallway as we exited the bathroom. A low grumble resonated behind us and we immediately whipped around, Stacy aiming the flashlight out into the empty corridor.

  “I’m gonna kill Trish,” murmured Gwen. “This is ridiculous.”

  I pulled out my cell and flipped the cover open to help illuminate the hall a little more as we all turned and slinked forward. I held the phone out behind us to keep a lookout in back as Stacy shone the way ahead. Another low growl rumbled, and it proved to be the last straw for us all. We bolted down the corridor, but Stacy and I both crashed into Gwen as she came to a sudden halt.

  “Meyer! What the hell?!” said Stacy, fixing herself from the collision.

  “Gwen, what’s with you?” I asked, pulling myself off the ground as well.

  We both came to her side, our lights shining across the occupied floor in front of us.

  “Oh my God!” screamed Stacy, taking sight to Trish who was sitting slumped up against a locker.

  Thick red liquid seeped down her cheeks from under her motionless open eyes, dripping down her neck and chin onto the front of her shirt. Gwen slowly knelt down and Stacy and I both hesitantly stepped away. She tremblingly brought her hand to the side of Trish’s neck, hoping to find a pulse. Just as she pressed her fingers onto her flesh, Trish’s arm shot up and quickly snatched hold of Gwen.

  We all screamed, and Stacy and I almost fell as we both leapt back in a panic, only to feel a firm leather-bound gloved hand take hold of each of our shoulders from behind. We spun around and aimed our lights up, irradiating a pair of burning blue eyes hidden behind a stark white burlap sack mask.

  The three of us cried out in sheer terror, and that’s when we heard it. Trish suddenly burst out into laughter, releasing her grip on Gwen. The looming stranger in front of Stacy and me gave into the amusement as well, pulling off the mask to reveal to us that it was just Chloe.

  “You jerks!” snapped Gwen, shoving Trish over as the two climbed off the floor.

  “Oh, you should have seen your guys’ faces,” cried Trish, still recovering from her hysterics. “That was priceless!”

  I couldn’t help but at least chuckle. “Gotta give it to you on that one. You play dead well.”

  “Why, thank you,” she said, wrapping an arm around Gwen and me lightly.

  “That wasn’t funny!” declared Stacy, pushing through us as she irately headed back to the gym.

  “Don’t listen to her,” I said. “That deserves proper kudos. Very well done, ladies.”

  Chloe pulled the gloves off her polished hands and tossed them and the sack over to Trish. “Too bad Stacy’s not gonna let this one go.”

  “Yeah, she will, at least by tomorrow. It’s customary for there to be some Homecoming shenanigans,” assured Gwen. “Just be leery of what she might do at the ceremony later.”

  “Ceremony?” I queried, already knowing no one would clue me in on the details. “Yeah, yeah. Later. I get it.”

  I watched the minute hand circle around the steel wire guarded clock with a crimson red glow from the EXIT sign that hung just a few feet away. The rest of the gym was dark and still, only the sounds of some other restless sleepers tossing and turning notifying me that I was not left alone. Eventually, my eyelids grew heavy, and 1:17 was the last thing I saw before my lethargy slipped me into a slumber.

  A gentle nudge to my shoulder shook me from my sleep though, and I awoke to find Gwen’s hand draped over my mouth to ensure that I wouldn’t scream from her rousing.

  “It’s time,” she whispered.

  I pulled myself out of my sleeping bag as Gwen and Stacy continued to awaken everyone else. Trish was lurking around Miss Tipton, trying delicately to reach over her to grab the keys without waking her up. At last, she pulled them out with one hand and grasped them firmly with the other to prevent them from jingling. Gwen removed a large satche
l she had tucked away in her duffle and gave Stacy a thumbs up.

  Tiptoeing over to the gym doors, we all filed out into the hallway. Gwen unlatched the satchel and distributed several flashlights, along with a couple of electric lanterns, despite the fact that there were still a few lights on overhead in the corridors.

  We slinked passed the main office and headed for the central staircase, taking us to the second floor. Since no one intended on having us up there, and we didn’t want to make our presence known, all the lights in the higher floors were switched off. Everyone equipped turned on their light sources and we continued our trek to the third story.

  “God, this place is creepy,” muttered one girl.

  I peered inside the classrooms as we passed, seeing an eerie glimmer from the streetlights cast through the slatted blinds that highlighted all the empty desks.

  “You gonna clue me in yet?” I asked Gwen.

  “In about sixty seconds, you’ll see for yourself,” she said merrily.

  On the third floor of the west wing, we reached the library and Stacy instructed us through the back door.

  “Dun, dun, dun...” Trish echoed sinisterly, her flashlight beaming up from beneath her chin to cascade the light forebodingly over her features. “Still scared?”

  “With that face, it’s hard not to be,” I chuckled before she gave me a friendly shove.

  Stacy wedged a wooden block in between the door and the frame to prevent us from getting locked inside. Everyone assisted in moving the couches and tables out of the reading circle stationed at the front of the library, and we all took a seat on the perimeter of the spherical rug.

  “We are here tonight to pay tribute to the anniversary of our town. Most of you have heard the tale, but for those of you who have not, allow me to educate you,” said Trish, clearing her throat.

  “When European settlers first arrived on the coast of Maine, they came to find that the lands were already occupied by several Native American tribes, none of which greeted them with open arms. As the Indian Wars ravaged the whole of the country, this particular area was met with a massacre that wiped out both the indigenous population and its foreign colonizers. The lands laid barren of all inhabitation, until years later when an English group of settlers tried to build township just south of here, a providence called Haven. These travelers were prepared to fight for their newly obtained land, arriving with every last piece of modern weaponry known to man.