by Jenna Lehne
THROUGH
THE
PALE DOOR
Jenna Lehne
YA Horror
The first but not the last…
The sun is still hiding behind the mountains when the girl slides the balcony door open. She bypasses empty wine bottles and walks down the tiny stone steps leading to the water. She can smell everything: the pine trees crawling up the mountain, the moss clinging to the rocks, even the crisp scent of the glassy lake. When she reaches the dock she peels her pajamas off, leaving them in a cotton puddle behind her.
The girl dives into the water, hardly causing a ripple, and swims down into the inky depths. The cool water caresses her skin, making her entire body tingle. She swims back up, breaking through the surface face first and turns onto her back, her hair floating around her like a silky halo.
“This isn’t so bad,” she says to the stars. “I don’t know why I was so afraid.”
The dock creaks with running footsteps as someone thunders down the planks and jumps into the water.
“Babe?” She swims closer to the churning water.
Cold hands slide up the inside of her legs.
“Come on, this isn’t funny. You know the water freaks me out.” She twists away from the underwater intruder.
The submerged hands lock around her ankle and yank her down. She gasps for breath, but doesn’t close her mouth fast enough. Water pours into her lungs as she kicks against the force dragging her deeper and deeper into the water. Her lungs burn. She claws at the hands pulling her down, her nails raking against her own ankles, and no one else. She coughs, desperate for a sliver of relief, but she only inhales more water. She doesn’t feel the calm, floating sensation she’s read about. All she feels is fire in her chest and the sledgehammer in her head. The lake around her fogs and grows dimmer.
The hand releases her, but the girl isn’t going anywhere. She sinks farther down, her hair tangling in the reeds, until the last bubble of air slips through her pretty blue lips.
CHAPTER ONE
The dark-eyed woman stares at me with a blank look on her face. She slowly slides the knife out of the block. She doesn’t say anything. I take a step back and ignore the sweat prickling my forehead.
This isn’t going to work. I’ve ruined everything
My best friend, Peyton, grabs my hand and squeezes. We should just leave now and save ourselves the misery of what’s to come.
“Are you sure you want to do this?” The knife-wielding gatekeeper asks.
“Of course I’m sure,” Peyton says.
I take a deep breath in and hold it.
“Well, your grandparents are going to miss you, you know?” Peyton’s mom sets the knife down next to a bag of carrots and gives us a reluctant smile. “But yes, you can go with Daisy Grace and her family to the lake this weekend.”
I let out my breath.
“Oh my God, thank you!” Peyton wraps her bronze arms around her mom’s neck and squeezes. “You’re the best, Mom. Seriously.”
Peyton’s mom pats her daughter’s back. “I know.”
Peyton lets go of her mom and we race up the stairs and into her room. I jump onto her huge bed and bury my face in the soft, feather pillows. I, Daisy Grace Murphy, the liar strikes again.
“I didn’t think she was going to say yes.” Peyton yanks a hot pink duffle bag out from underneath her bed and carries it into her walk-in closet. “Especially when she asked about Henry.”
I sit up and roll my eyes. “When have I ever let you down?”
Since the age of six, I’ve been spinning webs of lies for Peyton and all of our other friends. I can get them out of trouble, out of homework, and in times like today, out of the city. If someone rubs me the wrong way, I can flip things around so easily they’ll be grounded until they graduate.
“No, but I wish you didn’t say Henry and I were on a break, though. Now I’ll have to come up with a story about how we made-up after the weekend,” Peyton says.
Henry is one of my best friends, and Peyton’s boyfriend.
I climb off Peyton’s bed and wander into her closet. Like her room, the walls inside are light purple and plastered with posters and pictures she didn’t have space for in her room. The air is tinged with hints of cherry blossom body spray and the lilac perfume she spritzes in her hair each morning. Peyton is sitting on the white carpet with fistfuls of bikinis in her hand. “How many suits should I bring?”
“I think two is more than enough,” I say.
“You’re right.” She tosses in the left handful and fires in uber short-shorts, tank tops, and flip-flops. She wraps her long, white blonde hair into a bun and smiles up at me. “Besides, maybe I won’t even need to wear one. It’s not like there’ll be any parents around.”
I hold my finger over my lips. “Shh.”
“Oh, before I forget, Henry’s friend is visiting from out of town. He asked if he could bring him along this weekend and I said yes. Don’t worry though, he’s totally hot.”
“I already know,” I groan. “If you guys are trying to set me up, I’m cancelling the whole weekend right now.”
“Oh my god, don’t be such a baby! It’s not like we’re going to force him on you. Besides, if you actually saw Teddy you wouldn’t be complaining.” Peyton stands up. “Now, are you ready for the best weekend of our lives?”
“Sure am.”
#
Mom and Dad are packing up the car when Peyton and I pull into the driveway. Three tiny suitcases line the slate driveway, along with two bigger, LV-stamped suitcases that belong to my parents.
“There you are.” Mom descends the front steps and presses a folded wad of cash into my hand. “I wasn’t sure if we’d see you before you left.”
“I just came by to grab my stuff,” I say and tuck the money in my back pocket. “Are you guys almost ready to go?”
“Just about,” Dad says and then opens the back of their range rover and loads the suitcases. “It took us nearly an hour to get the triplets ready. You know how they are on road trips.”
I nod and stick my head through the open car window. My three little brothers: Jake, Jack, and John, are all strapped into their car seats. Their green eyes light up when they see me.
“Bye, sissy,” Jack says. He reaches out with his chubby little hand and pats my cheek. Something sticky smears across my skin, but I smile and catch his hand. I plant a kiss on his fingers and fix Jake’s chocolate brown hair.
“Bye, boys.” I reach in and tickle John, who’s already starting to doze off. “Be good.”
“So you’re sure Peyton’s parents don’t mind you crashing at their house for the weekend?” Dad asks. “You can always come with us to Palm Springs.”
Lie number two, still going strong.
“They don’t mind at all.” I grin at Dad and help him load a cooler of toddler-friendly snacks into the trunk. “You guys have fun and text me when you get there.”
“Okay, sweetie.” Mom hugs Peyton and me. “Be good.”
“We always are.” Peyton smiles at Mom.
We wave as my parents pile into the car and slowly drive down the road.
“Now can I call them?” Peyton asks.
I wait until Mom and Dad turn down the street. “Let’s get this show on the road.”
A huge, old school VW van pulls into the driveway twenty minutes later. A tall, tanned boy with a head full of black, floppy curls climbs out of the driver’s seat and stretches.
“Hey, Murph.” He holds his hand up for a high five.
“Hey, Henry.” I slap his hand. “Did everything go okay at home?”
Henry nods. “Yeah, my parents totally bought the school trip routine. You should imitate Ms. Wilson more
often.”
"It’s only going to work until they actually meet Wilson herself,” I say. I had called both Henry and Teddy’s mom the week before and lied them out of whatever they had to do that weekend. I crane my neck and look for this mystery friend I’m supposed to be meeting. “And did it work for Teddy, or whatever his name is?”
“See for yourself.” Henry slides the door open and holey, jean clad legs lazily unfold onto the pavement. Next comes a fitted red t-shirt, followed by an annoyingly perfect, smug face made out of sunshine and dimples.
“Hey, I’m Teddy.” He holds out his hand.
“I’m Daisy Grace, but you can call me Murphy. Actually, just call me Murphy. Forget about the Daisy Grace part.” I shake his hand, not letting myself ogle his shaggy, blonde hair or bright green eyes. I know, for a fact, that this is a set up and I refuse to swoon over him. I’ve made it fourteen months without so much as a wave of butterflies – that’s not going to change now.
“Cool.” Teddy holds onto my hand a second longer, but drops it the moment Peyton comes out in all her tall, thin glory.
“Hey, Teddy!” Peyton leans in and pecks Henry on the mouth but her eyes are all over Teddy. “Where are Hayley and Oliver?”
“They should be here any minute.” Henry loads our bags into the van.
On cue, two redheads sail around the corner on matching long boards.
“Sup,” Oliver drawls in his usual slow, low voice. He holds up his hand to shield his red-tinged eyes from the sun. “I brought snacks.”
“And I brought grass.” Hayley joins her skinny, pale boyfriend and wraps her freckled arm around his waist. Seven beaded necklaces hang down the front of her baggy Bob Marley tank top.
Peyton wrinkles her nose. “You guys smell like a farm.”
“It’s my vegan, organic moisturizer.” Hayley digs around a huge cloth sack she uses as a purse and pulls out a glass jar full of black sludge. “It has manure in it.”
“Fantastic.” I grab some and rub it onto the back of my hand. I love trying all Hayley’s latest and greatest home beauty products. Last year she made me a hemp shampoo that turned my mousy brown hair into a chestnut waterfall and I haven’t gone back since. “Pey, you should try this. It’s like sex in a jar.”
Peyton rolls her eyes. “I’ll pass.”
Teddy introduces himself to Hayley and Oliver while I double check that I have the keys to my parents' lake house. Now that everyone is here and their parents have all been adequately lied to, it’s time to go.
“Okay, team.” I hold up my hand to stop everyone from chattering. “Here’s the game plan. The girls and I are going to hit up the grocery store. Oliver’s going to use his fake ID and load up on beer. If there’s anything you guys want, say it now.”
“Get me some of that cinnamon whiskey.” Peyton pulls out a crisp twenty-dollar bill and passes it to Oliver. “And some of those grape wine coolers Murph likes.”
Teddy and Henry rattle of twenty different types of carbs once we get in the van and keep going until we reach the grocery store.
“Don’t forget the cool ranch Doritos and the sour cream dip,” Henry says.
“Let’s meet back here in twenty minutes. That’s….” I tap on the face of my unmoving watch. “Weird. I just put a new battery in it yesterday.”
“I think you’re the only person I’ve ever met who actually replaces watch batteries.” Teddy wraps his fingers around my wrist and holds it up to his face. “It was probably a dud. Just use your phone instead.”
“Thanks, tips,” I say. I pull my arm away and check my phone, relieved to find it telling the right time. Whenever weird things happen, I always wonder if I’m living in some alternate dimension. Peyton thinks I’m crazy. I shove my phone back in my pocket and head toward the grocery store. “See you in half an hour.”
CHAPTER TWO
Thirty minutes and one stop at the gas station later, we’re on our way to family’s lake house. In only three hours and a few shifty back roads before we start the last long weekend trip of our high school careers, and the first long weekend of the summer. It’s already hot enough that the air conditioning is on high. I’m already daydreaming about plunging into the icy mountain lake.
“Where am I going, Murph?” Henry pulls his seatbelt over his chest and clicks it into place.
I lean between the two bucket seats. “You need to take about a hundred tiny roads. I’ll tell you where and when to turn.”
“If you’re giving directions you should be sitting up here,” Peyton says as she drops her feet off the dashboard and undoes her seatbelt.
“That’s okay.” I sit back and bump Teddy with my shoulder. “Sorry.”
“I’m not.” Teddy winks at me.
“This.” I wave to the space between Teddy and me. “Is not going to happen.”
Teddy grins lazily. “Whatever you say, Murph.”
I roll my eyes so hard it hurts. I look behind our small bench seat for a space in the third and final row. Hayley and Oliver are already stretched out of the seat, both on their phones with their legs tangled around one another.
Peyton crawls through the gap between her and Henry, giving Teddy an extended look at her pink lacey bra. “Seriously, Murph. Go sit with Henry. I’ll keep Teddy busy.”
If anyone else knew where we were going, and I wasn’t sitting next to Teddy, I’d say no. All I want to do is curl up and read, but the sideway-glances Teddy keeps giving my legs keeps pulling my attention away from my e-reader. I swap seats with Peyton. She never minds extra attention.
“Looks like it’s just you and me.” Henry grins at me. “Lead the way, Captain.”
After the initial excitement, our passengers fall asleep one by one and rest their heads onto the shoulder next to them. Now it’s just Henry, the open road, and me. Before I know it, we’re an hour away from home and deep in the foothills. Every trace of the city is gone, leaving us with fresh, crisp air, towering trees, and dodgy side roads. As we drive through a mini canyon, I reach my hand out the open window and wet my fingers in a tiny waterfall shooting out of a crack in the rock wall.
“Our next turn is just a little bit up the road.” I point to a broken boulder in the rock-filled ditch. “Turn left at that big rock.”
“Onto that skinny road?” Henry nods at a small side road.
“Yeah.”
Henry turns on the blinker. The road we’re turning on cuts through a dense forest and disappears up a huge, towering mountain.
“It’ll take us up and over the mountain,” I say. “The lake house is on the other side.” I yawn and rest my head against the window.
Henry turns off the road. A blur from the surrounding woods shoots across the road ahead of us. Henry slams on the breaks and juts out an arm that pins me against my seat.
“Watch out!” I duck, even though we’re in the vehicle, as a huge owl dives for the windshield. The giant brown, grey, and white bird changes direction, pulling upward at the last second. Its talons drag across the roof of the van. The sound is worse than nails on a chalkboard and I shiver so hard my goose bumps get goose bumps.
“Holy shit.” Henry steers the van onto the shoulder.
I crane my neck, but the near miss hasn’t woken anyone up. “Are you okay?” I ask.
Henry drops his arm. “Yeah, you?”
I nod and run my fingers through my hair. “I thought owls only came out at night.”
“Guess not.” Henry pulls back onto the road. “How long do I stay on this road?”
“Forty minutes or so. It’ll start wrapping around the mountain pretty quick, so be careful, it gets a little narrow in some places.” I take a few deep breaths to settle my racing heart. “So how do you know Teddy?”
“We went to middle school together.” Henry cracks an energy drink. “He moved before high school. We’ve been looking for an excuse to hang out for a while, so when Peyton mentioned the lake house, I invited him. I hope that was okay.”
I look in the
rearview mirror at Teddy dozing behind me. Even in his sleep he looks like a freaking Abercrombie model. “Well, it’s too late to send him packing now.”
Henry’s mouth twists and his nose wrinkles. It’s the same look he uses when Peyton tries to fight with him in public. “I’m sorry, Murph. When we get to the cabin he can take the van back to town.”
I burst out laughing. “I’m just bugging you. I don’t mind as long as he doesn’t think anything is going to, uh, happen.”
“I’m surprised you’re not more into him.” Henry and I look into the rearview mirror. Peyton’s pretty blonde head is resting on Teddy’s shoulder and her pink tongue is poking out slightly. “Peyton can’t keep her eyes off him.”
I wave my hand dismissively. “That’s just how Peyton is. You know that.”
Henry’s frown morphs into a crooked smile. “Yeah, I know.”
We drive in silence. Henry’s attention is on the winding road and mine is on Teddy. No man should have eyelashes that luxuriously long.
“I’m exhausted.” I yawn a few minutes later and lean my seat back a few inches. “Mind if I close my eyes for two minutes?”
“Two minutes, right.” Henry chuckles. He reaches behind his seat and snags Teddy’s sweater off his lap. He drapes it over me.
“Wake me up in ten.” I close my eyes and pull his sweater under my chin, making sure I hide my smile in the hood.
I hear the accident before it happens. Tires screech against the pavement. Henry swears. Peyton screams. Hayley gasps.
I smell it next. Burning Rubber. Spilled Coffee. The sweet smoke of a half-burned joint. Ammonia.
The van skids sideways up the narrow road. Henry claws at the wheel, but it doesn’t matter; we’re out of control and there’s nothing he can do about it. I cling to my seatbelt as the backend of the van bursts through the guardrail. The tires swing over the three hundred foot drop, making gravel rain down on the trees below. Luckily, we keep swinging and the tires smack back on the road. The impact launches the van onto its side. It cartwheels down the mountain, once, twice, three times.
