Student Body (Nightmare Hall)

by Diane Hoh

  Probably not.

  But she would have if I’d warned her sooner. She would have recognized the bandaged figure immediately for what it was, and screamed for help, saved herself in some way.

  We had to find her. Before it was too late. If it wasn’t already.

  We met at the construction site. Bay and Nat were already there, sitting in the front seat of the Bus, but the engine wasn’t running. Bay’s head was bent over the wheel, the driver’s window was open and his arm was resting on the door. “Damn!” I heard him say, and I knew right away that something was wrong with his car. Most of the time, it ran okay for an old car, but every once in a while it got stubborn and refused to budge.

  Oh, not now! I thought in disgust. There’s no time …

  “Won’t it start?” Eli asked, going over to the door and leaning in Bay’s window.

  And that was when I saw It. Just a blur of white, really, darting around the corner of a construction trailer off to my right. It caught my eye because it shouldn’t have been there. The site was deserted, all the workers had gone home, and there were no other cars parked there.

  Keeping my eyes on the trailer, I moved toward it, away from the car. Eli was still talking to Bay and didn’t notice that I was no longer beside him.

  The white thing moved again. I thought I saw a white leg, a white arm …

  I don’t know why I didn’t just stand there and shout Mindy’s name. I don’t know why I didn’t call out to Eli and the others. Maybe I didn’t want to scare the figure away. Maybe I wasn’t sure of what I was seeing and wanted to check it out first. Whatever the reason, I just kept walking toward the trailer, never taking my eyes off it for fear I’d lose sight of the white thing.

  It moved again. In the light shining from the hospital’s windows across the street and the walkway lampposts on the grounds, I saw the figure bend, saw a flicker of light … a match, a lighter? touching something on the ground. Then the figure straightened up and darted behind a tall stack of bricks.

  I’d seen enough to know it was him … the one who was so angry with us, who had locked me in that tanning capsule, pushed Eli and I into the burrow, and tried to electrocute Mindy.

  It had seen me. It knew we were all there.

  So I turned around to shout to Eli and Bay and Nat to come.

  And saw the long, long, trail of rags tied together in a dark rope almost invisible against the dirt of the site. It led from the ground near the trailer straight to Bay’s car.

  The ragged trail was on fire, flames licking along the rope at a breakneck gallop.

  I knew then why the figure in white had been bending, touching the ground, I knew what the flicker of light had been. He had been setting the long rope on fire. The smell of lighter fluid reached my nostrils. The rags must have been doused with it before he flicked that lighter.

  My eyes moved from the rope stretching across the ground, to Bay’s gas tank.

  Even from where I stood, some distance from the car, I could see that the rope led directly to the tank, dipped inside and disappeared, a treacherous snake whose poisonous bite would be fatal.

  And the flames were racing, racing, straight toward the car where Bay and Nat sat in the front seat, their heads turned away from the gas tank side of the car to face Eli, who was still leaning into the window, talking earnestly. Nat and Bay were blocking his view of the flaming trail.

  Fire … again … another burning. This time, there would be an explosion of rags and gasoline and metal and window glass and headlights and windshield wipers and doors and trunk and hood, all flying into the air in a shower of flames. And bodies … mustn’t forget the bodies, three of them, charred beyond recognition this time. There could be no hope for any of them.

  I opened my mouth to scream, Get out of the car, get out of the car! but horror had stolen my voice.

  The flames galloped along, swallowing the rags greedily, a foot, another foot.

  Never mind warning them. It was more important to stop the fire.

  There was really only one hope. I couldn’t stop the flames from devouring the rope of rags, but if I could race ahead of the fire, yank on the section of rags that hadn’t yet burned, rip it out of the gas tank, they’d all be safe. The rope would then burn itself out harmlessly on the hard, bare ground.

  That was what I meant to do.

  And I would have. I might even have made it in time.

  If something hadn’t come up behind me just then and clamped a thickly bandaged hand over my mouth, an arm around my neck, and begun dragging me backward, away from the deadly rope of flames.

  Chapter 20

  THE THICKLY BANDAGED HAND over my mouth allowed no sound to escape. I bit down, hard, but got only a mouthful of gauze. And when I kicked out frantically, my feet thumped uselessly against another thick layer of bandage. He might as well have been wearing protective football gear.

  I struggled wildly as he began to propel me away from the construction site. I couldn’t leave Eli and Bay and Nat there to die! If they didn’t see that flaming rope in time …

  But it was no use. The grip around my neck was ironclad, the hand over my mouth clamped like a vise. I couldn’t get away, and although I was screaming in terror, no sound escaped from behind that thick, white hand.

  He dragged me across the site and into a construction elevator, nothing more than a metal platform on steel cables, its sides and top open. When he pushed a button, we began ascending. Not far. Two or three floors, I thought, although there were no real floors yet, only steel beams crisscrossing each other to create the frame of a tall, narrow building.

  My ears strained for an explosion below us. Please, Eli, I prayed, please see that rope in time!

  But even if he did, could Nat and Bay jump out of the car in time? And then all three would have to race away from the car to reach a safe enough distance before The Bus was blown to kingdom come.

  Was that even possible? I’d seen how fast those flames were gobbling up that rag-rope.

  Still, if Eli realized that I wasn’t standing near the car and lifted his head to look for me, he’d see the light of the flames. Maybe he could yank the rag free fast enough …

  The explosion, when it came, rocked our elevator, rocked the entire steel structure surrounding us. It slammed into the night air with the force of a dozen cannons all going off at once. I screamed, began fighting wildly again, clawing, kicking, screaming the whole time, even though my mouth was still thoroughly covered with white gauze.

  A giant ball of flame shot up into the sky.

  I fought to look down, but even if the grip against my mouth hadn’t held my head immobile, we were too far above Bay’s car by then to see much.

  Beneath the hand that covered my mouth, I screamed and screamed for my lost friends. Using my hands and my feet, I fought wildly to get away, to go to them, but it was hopeless. My attacker was much stronger than I.

  Even if I had been able to get free, where would I have gone? Jumping from the elevator at this height, with the hard ground below me, would have meant certain death.

  “Don’t be so impatient,” my attacker whispered in my ear. “You’ll join your friends in a second.” He pushed my head down, my eyes aiming at the ground: Bay’s car was a ball of flame. I couldn’t tell if anyone had jumped free. We were too far up.

  “See that Dumpster down there?” he whispered, not letting go of my neck.

  I saw it then. Another fire, this one set in a huge old Dumpster directly below us.

  “They’re burning trash,” he said. “They do it every night. It’s against the law, of course, but no one does anything about it. The crew dumps their trash into the old Dumpster, lights it, and then they leave for the day. Sometimes the fire burns for hours and hours.” He gave the back of my head a cruel shove. “You’re going to dive into that Dumpster. Like one of those stuntmen you see sometimes in the movies? You’ll be burned to a crisp.”

  He lifted my head and pushed me against the elevator
cables on one side. “Now stay there and don’t move. I want to show you something before you die.”

  A siren sounded then. If I couldn’t help my friends, others could, and were on their way. The front door to the hospital opened and feet pounded across the parking lot toward what was left of Bay’s car. Maybe there was hope. Maybe …

  But even if Eli had managed to jump free of the car, could Nat and Bay possibly have had time to escape?

  I didn’t see how.

  Was I fighting this battle totally alone now? Was I the only one left from that night in the park? God, that night seemed so long ago! It wasn’t. Only two nights ago. But a lifetime ago.

  How much of my lifetime was left?

  The glow from the burning car and the Dumpster below us lit up the rafters. I could see better up here than I’d been able to below.

  I clung with both hands to the steel cables, watching as he began taking off his bandages, talking the whole time. “You thought I was punishing you, didn’t you? That’s what I wanted you to think.” First the feet and legs were free, revealing sneakers and jeans. “Your guilt led you to think that. It never occurred to any of you that there might be a different reason.” The torso and arms appeared, clothed in a navy blue sweatshirt. Then the chest and shoulders. The figure wasn’t as large as it had seemed when wrapped in bulky bandages.

  “A different reason?” I asked, clutching the cables. I glanced around wildly, looking for a way out. The only escape was crossing those narrow steel beams, two floors up. Even if I could slip out of the elevator, I’d probably fall to my death. But maybe that would be better than burning to death in that Dumpster.

  Unwrapping the neck now. “Yes, a different reason.”

  The chin, the lips, full and pink, the cheekbones, high and slightly angled, and then, the dead giveaway, the beautiful, clear blue eyes. When she unwound the bandages from the top of her head, her hair wasn’t even flat.

  The Sweetheart of Sigma Chi looked as beautiful as ever.

  Chapter 21

  “YOU HAVE TO UNDERSTAND,” Mindy said as I stared at her, openmouthed. “At first, I was only worried about you and Eli. I knew Nat and Bay wouldn’t talk. So it was you and Eli I had to silence.”

  “You shut me in that tanning capsule? You were on that porch swing at Nightmare Hall? My radiator, the burrow, that was all you? To silence us?”

  Mindy smiled at my question. “I decided that whatever I did should look like someone was trying to punish you for what happened to Hoop. A painful sunburn, even if it was a fake one, seemed appropriate. It’s funny how your guilt fed right into what I wanted. Even though what happened to Hoop wasn’t your fault.” Her smile disappeared. “It was mine. I can tell you that now, because you’re not going to leave here alive.”

  I allowed myself a quick look downward. The scene below us was alive with activity. People racing back and forth, some with stretchers, a police car with its blue light whirling on the roof, an ambulance parked a safe distance from the still-burning car, and here came a fire truck, its siren shrieking. I could so easily scream for help. But even if they heard me over the uproar down there, one swift push from Mindy and any help for me would come too late.

  “Yours? How was it your fault? We weren’t exactly falling over each other to go back and look for Hoop, Mindy.”

  She shook her head. “I don’t mean then. I mean, before that. When we were running from the fire. He wasn’t behind me, at first. I was behind him. But I was so terrified that my face would be burned, maybe my hair. It wasn’t even knowing that I’d never win any beauty pageants. It was the thought of being scarred for life, and knowing that people wouldn’t be able to stand looking at me.” She touched a hand to one cheek. “I didn’t know until then how fast I could run. My mother never let me do sports, she was so afraid I’d get bruised or something. But when I panicked, I put on this sudden burst of speed, and I passed Hoop. Only, the thing was, when I passed him I sort of bumped into him and knocked him sideways. That path was so slippery. If I hadn’t pushed him and he hadn’t fallen, he would have been able to jump out of the way before that big, tree limb fell down on top of him.”

  I pictured Hoop trapped beneath that tree limb in the middle of a roaring inferno, while the rest of us raced to safety. I felt sick.

  “I wanted to stop and help him,” she said defensively. “I wanted to call the rest of you to come back and help me lift the tree limb. I couldn’t have lifted it by myself. But,” she spread her hands helplessly, “I could feel that awful heat on my face, like my skin was already burning, and the fire was racing along so fast. I imagined myself with horrible, ugly scars all over my face, and I couldn’t stand it. I knew no one would ever want to look at me again. People would turn away from me and they’d, shudder. I wouldn’t have any friends, and I’d never have a boyfriend again, never win another pageant, never get married and live in a nice house. I wouldn’t have any life at all.”

  You mean like Hoop? I almost said.

  “You were going to burn Eli and me alive. That’s a lot worse than panicking in the middle of a blazing forest fire and leaving someone who is trapped, Mindy. That’s cold-blooded, deliberate murder.”

  Her cheeks reddened. “Well, I couldn’t help it, Tory! You were going to tell. Nat said so. Anyway, even though we all agreed, I knew from the beginning that either you or Eli would tell. How could I let that happen? How could I let the whole, horrible truth come out? My life would have been over. And that wouldn’t have been fair, because I didn’t die in that fire. I saved myself.” She actually sounded proud. Her eyes narrowed. “You can’t blame me, Tory. You should admire me. Everyone thinks I’m so dumb, that I almost wish I could tell them all how clever I’ve been.” She shook her head. “But, of course, I can’t. And you can’t, either.”

  I had to keep her talking. “You staged the scene in the bathroom at Sigma house?” I asked. “You were never shocked at all?”

  She paused. “Of course not, Tory. That’s why I couldn’t let the doctor finish her examination. She would have realized I hadn’t had any kind of electrical shock. So I split.” She grinned. “But I stole half a dozen boxes of gauze on my way out. I was running low. Takes a lot of gauze to completely cover someone my height.”

  “She saw you leaving. But she thought you were with someone else, someone who was bandaged. So we thought you’d been kidnapped.”

  She looked smug, pleased with her own cleverness.

  “If you were worried about Eli and me,” I pressed,” why did you set fire to Bay’s car? He and Nat wouldn’t have told.”

  “Well, that’s what I thought at first,” she said, pausing. “But then I decided it would be better to be really safe. You never know about people, do you? If anyone had told me I would abandon Hoop in the middle of a fire, I’d have told them they were crazy, that I would never do something so horrible. But they’d have been right, wouldn’t they? So, if I couldn’t even be sure what I’d do, how could I ever be sure what Nat and Bay might do? It just seemed safer, that’s all.” She made a move toward me, no expression whatsoever on her beautiful, un-scarred face. “I saw that rag-rope trick in a late movie. I was watching it with Hoop. I’ll bet he never in a million years thought I was paying that much attention, but I was.”

  Her face changed then, from something beautiful and as close to perfection as most people ever want to be, into something cold and blank. Looking into that empty, icy mask was worse than confronting a face twisted with fury. You could maybe snap someone out of a rage by slapping them or screaming at them or grabbing hold and shaking them. But Mindy wasn’t lost. She knew exactly what she was doing. She no longer cared about anything except saving herself, and was willing to do anything to accomplish that. Even kill.

  My back was pressed against the cables. Behind them, I knew, was nothing but empty space and some girders. Nothing to save me if I fell.

  I had maybe half a second left to live.

  “If Hoop hadn’t died all by himself,
” she said softly, “I’d have had to suffocate him. Because he would have told exactly what happened. I’m so glad I didn’t have to kill him. I didn’t want to.” Speaking like a mechanical robot, with no feeling or emotion, she said, “I didn’t want to kill anyone. I had no choice. You can see that, can’t you, Tory?”

  “No,” I said clearly, “I can’t.”

  Her face changed, then. Her mouth twisted in anger as she uttered an oath, her eyes narrowed, and she threw herself at me, her hands reaching for my throat. “You would have told! she screamed, “all of you! You would have ruined everything! I’ve spent my whole life getting people to like me, and they would have hated me when they found out what I’d done. You would have told!”

  I knew then, as I struggled against those amazingly strong hands, that Mindy was right. We would have told. We would have confessed. Because the lie was so much heavier than the truth, and we couldn’t have continued to carry if around with us. It would have dragged us down, and sooner or later, we would have had to unload it.

  She knew us better than we did.

  We began a wild, frantic dance around that steel platform high above the police and the ambulance and the fire truck and the burning car and the hospital personnel trying to save lives, unaware that I was up there trying desperately to save my own life.

  She was so strong. Maybe it was her rage that gave her almost superhuman strength, or her desperation.

  But I was desperate, too. I did not want to die.

  Directly below us, the fire in the Dumpster burned steadily. Her hands on my throat, her face a mask of fury, she dragged me closer, closer to the elevator edge. My fingers were still clutching the steel cables, but the skin had broken on my fingertips, they were bleeding, and the pain was intense. I couldn’t hold on much longer.

  I was sobbing from pain and terror as my feet were dragged closer to the platform edge. Mindy had to bend at the waist to keep her hands around my throat as I slid to a sitting position, still barely clinging to the cables.