by L. L Hunter
“Wanna go? Nah. Maybe later. I mean, I kind of wanna dance out here with you.”
I took another sip of my drink and nodded. “Okay.”
One Strikes’ set had begun not long after that, and everyone formed a mosh pit in front of the stage. I joined Stacey at the front, jumping up and down and dancing with her. But partway through, Dane tapped me on the shoulder and held out his hand. Confused, I took it, and he led me out of the school hall.
It was quiet in the corridors of Summervale High.
“Where are we going?”
“Where do you think?” he replied, looking over his shoulder at me with a wink and a smirk.
The Rendezvous Club.
“Oh. Okay.”
Didn’t he say he wasn’t interested? But it didn’t really matter. I went with him willingly to the private speakeasy within the confines of the school.
Strands of fairy lights were hung from the ceiling, and little tealight candles were set on each table throughout the room. Each table was covered in black tablecloths, and the windows were also covered to create an underground, secretive club-like feel.
“Welcome to the Rendezvous Club.”
“Wow. It’s gorgeous.”
“And it’s ours… for the moment. So, let’s make the most of it.”
There was a red velvet love seat on the far side set up under one of the windows, and we made our way over to it. Dane pulled me down onto it and moved in close. I reached for him, and we kissed for the first time that night.
We moved to a laying position, and Dane moved on top of me and kissed my neck, like a vampire feeding on its prey.
I was meant to be the vampire tonight, but I was now the prey, and Dane, my killer.
I arched my back and moaned.
“Mm. Dane…”
“This is nice. We can finally be together. Alone. it’s like an illicit affair we’re having.”
I paused and sat up, pushing him away a little.
“What’s wrong?” he hesitated, searching my face.
“I don’t know about this. What if someone walks in?”
What if the rumors are true?
What if this is where he takes all his girls?
“No one will walk in. they’re all out there enjoying One Strike. Why did you think I picked now as the time to bring you here?”
I sighed and slid my arms around his waist, then moved into his lap. He groaned, and his hands found the ties to my corset. He began loosening it, tugging and pulling, freeing me from the barrier between us. I stopped kissing him and slid back a bit so my groin wasn’t pushing against his.
“What’s wrong?” he asked.
“Nothing. I want to be with you, I do. It’s just… I think we should be out there with the others dancing.”
“I know, but this is what this place is for. Come on, baby.”
He moved to kiss me. But I’d had enough. The rumors were finally digging their claws into my brain. I got off him and readjusted my dress.
“Darcie?”
“I… I can’t. I’m going back out there.” And I turned and fled back into the darkness of the empty school.
Chapter Fourteen
Secrets in the Dark
I found Stacey still in the last place I saw her, on the dancefloor beside the stage. I tapped her on the shoulder and turned, pulling my long brown hair over my shoulder. She said nothing and began to lace me back up. I mouthed, ‘thanks.’ And turned toward the stage.
I stole a glance at her, and she winked and smiled. She seemed happy, at least. Nothing had happened while I was away. That was good.
Ashton stepped up to the microphone.
“This next song is for my girl, Stacey. Love you, babe.”
Stacey squealed and jumped happily beside me. She blew him a kiss and mouthed ‘love you’ to her rockstar boyfriend.
At least she was happy.
While I felt like another notch on Dane’s bedpost.
The beat of Stacey’s song was sultry, with a slow indie-rock vibe. The guitarist and bassist, Dylan Storm, picked up a saxophone, which made most of the girls in the gymnasium scream like teens at the concert of their favorite boy band.
One Strike was it for these teens.
“It’s my song!” screamed Stacey, tugging my arm. I nodded my head and swayed with her.
I would do this for her. She needed this. It would help me take my mind off Dane and his reputation for at least a little while.
Stacey and I walked arm in arm, singing the words to her song when the dance was over. We followed the rest of the students out into the parking lot, where people were hopping into their parents’ cars or carpooling with other students.
We made our way over to a red truck where Ashton, Bobby, and Dylan were loading their band equipment into the back. Their girlfriends, the two blondes I had seen earlier with Stacey and Ashton, were standing beside the truck laughing and smoking.
Dane was also there.
He looked up when we approached, leaning against the bed of the truck. He swept a hand through his dark tousled hair.
In the light of the floodlights covering the parking lot and the light from cars around us, he looked incredibly sexy, waiting for me. His hair also looked like he’d recently rolled out of bed after sex too.
I pushed thoughts aside for the moment, even though my jealously was rearing its ugly head again.
Stacey chose that moment to leave me and join her boyfriend. I took a deep breath and walked toward Dane.
“Hey,” he said, with a slightly husky voice.
“Hey,” I said. My heart pounded hard.
“Look, Darce, about before… at the Rendezvous Club…”
“Don’t worry about it,” I said, cutting him off. I shook my head. I didn’t want to talk about it.
“Oh good. I was stressing the fuck out when you left. I thought you might think I was trying to take advantage of you or something.”
“No. I didn’t think that.”
But you see, there’s this rumor…
“I just want to let you know I would never do that to you. I… I’m in love with you, Darce.”
I froze. The world stopped, and it was only Dane and me.
“I’m in love with you too.”
And it was the truth.
He smiled his crazy sexy smile and hugged me into his chest. I wrapped my arms around him, and we kissed under the light of the moon and the stars and the headlights of someone’s car.
We were rudely interrupted by what sounded like a barrage of thunder, when in reality, it was Bobby, standing in the bed of the truck, hitting his drumsticks on the roof of the car.
“Sorry to break up this little lover’s fest here, but we’ve got an after-party to get to. The booze won’t drink itself. Plus, a little birdy told me the insane asylum is locked up for the night, and the staff has gone home. So, who’s with me?”
Everyone around me threw up their arms and cheered, Dane and I included.
Then I took Dane’s hand and followed him to his car. Stacey went with Ashton, and the other girls jumped in their cars.
And then we made our way toward Summervale Cove.
Chapter Fifteen
Just a Little Bit Crazy
The road to the lighthouse was long, winding, and dark. We drove in procession, following one another. Dane and I tailed Ashton’s red truck, and the other girls followed us.
“So, are we the only ones going to the after-party?” I asked, breaking up the silence as we drove.
“I don’t know. Ashton usually organizes a whole thing. Most of the kids in our year group go. Sometimes juniors sneak in. Word spreads pretty quickly in this town.”
I nodded.
“So, I’m curious, why the old psych hospital? I mean, it’s still a working hospital. There are still patients there.”
Dane turned toward me and gave me his wicked smile.
“Are you kidding? It’s the scariest and best place to throw an illegal party. We’ve don
e it before. Plus, the residents don’t mind. You’ll see. It’s like they’re not even there.”
I nodded again. I didn’t need to see. I knew what it was like.
I used to live there.
The only thing that was making me hesitant to go was if someone recognized me.
Still, I needed to get rid of the evidence before the place was redeveloped later when my dad took the contract.
This might be my last chance.
When we were approaching the lighthouse, Stacey texted to tell us to turn off our headlights. When the road was in complete darkness, we moved slowly into the tourist parking lot a little bit down the lighthouse road. Trees and shrubs surrounded it, so it provided the perfect camouflage for our little clandestine party.
When we got out of the car, Dane made his way to the trunk of his car and popped it open. When I joined him there, I saw it was filled with beer kegs and bottles of wine and spirits.
My eyes widened.
“Where’d you get those?”
He winked at me and touched his nose. Ashton ran over and high fived and hugged him.
“It’s who you know. Nah, Ashton’s older brother got them for us, and we paid him back.”
“Let’s rock this joint!” hollered Ashton, taking a keg out of the trunk and hoisting it onto his shoulder. I wasn’t surprised he could carry that thing. He was used to carrying band equipment and speakers around to gigs.
The other guys grabbed the other kegs, and we girls stashed the wine and spirit bottles in shopping bags one of the blonde girls provided. Kelsey and Ashlea if I remember correctly.
Just as I remembered also, there was a chain-link fence with barbed wire on the top, surrounding the facility. But the guys found the gap in the fence someone had created before and snuck through.
It was surprisingly easy to sneak into the psych hospital.
Where was all the security that used to be around when I was there? We crossed the courtyard and opened a window at the side of the building, climbing in and hoisting our booze stash through, taking turns to drop our load through, and climbing in after it.
“Why isn’t there any security?” I had to ask.
“No one cares about a couple of little old crazy ladies.” Ashlea laughed.
“Due to cost-cutting by the government, they got rid of the security guards and night staff years ago,” explained Dane. “My mom told me it’s recently been sold to a developer from the city. It’s soon going to be turned into luxury condos, a resort, and a golf course.”
“Ah. I see.” I nodded, pretending I knew nothing about it. “So what about the residents?”
“What do you mean? They’re fine. You’ll see,” said Kelsey.
We made our way down a long corridor past many locked doorways and abandoned rooms when we came across our first resident of Summervale Cove Psych hospital.
A record player was on in one of the rooms, and through the open doorway, we saw an elderly lady turning in slow circles in her wheelchair to the beat of the music. It was jazz and probably from the era the older woman grew up in.
She didn’t notice us as we walked past. She just kept spinning around and around in lazy circles to the music, in her own little world.
Further down the hall, there was a tiny little old lady dressed in a floral sundress and a wide brim sun hat and lace gloves, like she just came from the Queen of England’s garden party or something. She was slumped in a chair and wasn’t moving. I wanted to check if she was breathing, but Dane took my hand, and the guys picked up their pace. I looked back at the lady in the sundress, and a thought formed in my mind. But it didn’t have time to percolate.
In the large recreation room, an open plan room at the back of the facility, Ashton and the other band members had already set up their wireless speakers and were in the process of pushing the chairs and tables out of the middle over to the walls.
There were two residents currently occupying the space, a lady with a long hooked nose and short, purplish-gray hair staring into space, and a young-looking plump woman with sandy colored hair.
Chills ran through my veins, and my feet suddenly felt like they were buried in concrete.
I knew this woman.
“Darce? What’s wrong?” asked Dane, confused as to why I had suddenly stopped walking.
“It’s her,” I whispered.
Dane glanced at the woman and nodded once, not speaking. He then walked over to the woman who still haunted my nightmares and attempted to wheel her out of the room so I didn’t have to see her and so we could party.
But when he placed his hand on the woman’s shoulder to move her into an upright sitting position, as she was currently slumped forward, the woman’s eyes snapped open, and she began cackling loudly.
Her cackle sounded wicked, like a witch, and was the same one that haunted me to this day. It made the acid in my stomach curdle, and it was threatening to rise.
Her laugh wasn’t loud enough to be heard over the music they had playing from the speaker, though. It was something techno with lots of bass.
Only Dane and I were close enough to hear her.
Well, I didn’t have to be close enough to know what her laugh was like.
I would never forget that laugh.
Dane moved quickly and wheeled the woman who had abused me all those years ago out of the room.
When she was in a vacant room safely away from the party and me, we closed the door. I stared at the closed white door with the small square window, frozen to the spot.
“Are you okay?” Dane asked, coming to stand beside me.
“I never thought I’d see her again. I knew she was here, but not being in the community, she was out of sight, out of mind, you know?”
He nodded and slipped his hand into mine.
“Come on. Let’s get a drink and forget about this. About her.”
I looked up at him and smiled. I stood up on my tippy toes and kissed him before taking his hand and jogging into the rec room to join the others.
Kelsey handed me a wine cooler, and I cracked it open and took a huge drink.
Then I began to move my hips to the beat of the music, swaying my hands about, waving them in the air. I had to forget about the fact my tormenter was here, only a few feet from me.
I had to block her out.
I wanted to forget about killers, secrets, and lies, and the fact my father was dating Dane’s mom, and our relationship was kind of forbidden or the fact that he brought me to the one place he brought all his other girlfriends.
I wanted to forget about it all and just dance.
I lost myself in the music, in Dane, as he sidled up to me, drink in hand, and ground his body against mine. The wine slowly warmed me and gave me that much-wanted buzz.
I was well on the way.
Chapter Sixteen
The Body Double
After three wine coolers, I was well and truly loose and buzzed. Dane was on his third or fourth, I think. Everyone was on the way to being wasted. Ashton and Stacey were now lying on the floor. Someone had found blankets in a closet somewhere and were lying together on the floor of the rec room in each other’s arms.
Dane was chatting with Dylan about something, his hands miming the act of catching a football. I rolled my eyes.
Boys. Typical.
I saw Kelsey dancing in one corner with Bobby. Their lips were locked, and there was tongue action happening. Gross. I looked away and searched the room for the other girl, Ashlea.
But she was nowhere to be seen.
I took another wine cooler out of the portable drink cooler Ashton had brought and walked out of the room.
When I made it to the closed door of the room that Dane had put my abuser in, I hesitated before moving to look through the small window.
But the woman who had been my nightmare was no longer inside the room.
It was empty.
I opened the door to double-check, but there was no one in there. I set down my mostly full wi
ne cooler and hurried down the corridor to check the other rooms.
When I passed the woman in the sundress and hat, I noticed something different about the way she was sitting, and her skin, in particular.
But I put it down to me being too drunk and my eyes and mind playing tricks on me.
I walked past her, but my shoe struck something on the ground near the woman’s feet. I accidentally kicked it, and the glass bottle skittered further down the hall. I stumbled and practically fell on top of the older woman in the sundress.
We fell to the ground together, me pulling her limp body on top of me.
I rolled over to push her off, but that was when I caught sight of the woman’s face.
It wasn’t an old lady, after all.
It was Ashlea.
And she was dead.
Chapter Seventeen
Perfect Murder
I screamed.
Her lifeless blue eyes stared back at me, unblinking.
Someone had dressed Ashlea in the older woman’s sundress, hat, and gloves and swapped the older woman’s body for hers, practically hiding her death in plain sight.
But where was the older woman?
Dane came running, followed by Ashton, Stacey, Kelsey, and Bobby, and was tailed by Dylan.
I had pushed Ashlea’s body off me, so she now lay on the floor staring up at the ceiling frozen with her hands in front of her in a demure pose. Her legs were bent as if she was still sitting in the chair.
“Oh, my fucking God!” exclaimed Kelsey.
“Oh shit. Ashlea!” cried Dylan, running over to crouch beside her. He shook her, then pulled her into his lap. They had only recently begun to date too.
“Darcie, are you okay? What happened?” asked Dane, pulling me into him. I was on my feet now but still staring down at Ashlea’s lifeless body at my feet. He held me while stroking my back.
