Oski gives me a curious look. “Well, not much to be honest because there isn’t much to tell. The land and school both seem to be fine. Why do you ask?”
“Just curious,” I comment quietly.
Oski is silent for a moment before speaking. “Forgive me Penn for not believing you.” I raise my head and meet his eyes. “You never truly believed in ghosts and magic, even as a kid. That was Olivette’s role, the believer. You were the thinker, you always had to figure out the logical explanation for the legend, so I can’t figure out why you would be asking about your school.”
I consider telling him about the incident in the bathroom but decide against it. Oski’s right, I have always been the one to put the logical explanation to the legend and I need to do that with what happened today. “I was just curious.”
“Although, the entire state of New Hampshire has reports of magic centuries ago, it was a very common accusation during the settlement days. Hampton was especially superstitious. However, unlike the Salem Witch Trials, New Hampshire never found a witch guilty, or at least that I know of. The citizens just believed in them and their powers,” Oski explains.
I’m stunned by this. I never knew about witchcraft in New Hampshire, but it makes sense. Many of the people that fled from England to come to America were superstitious or practiced “illegal” acts deemed witchcraft back in those days. I’m sure all of the original thirteen colonies have histories like this. I’ve just never looked them up. Oski remains quiet while my mind runs through everything I just learned. I make a side note to make sure and check out the land and school myself. It never hurts to do a little research of your own.
“How is Olivette?” Oski asks.
His questions startle me speechless at first. Oski has never brought Olivette up to me. He understood what happened between us because I explained it to him. It’s almost as if he had written her off the way I did. Then again, she never came to his shop anymore so really hadn’t she written us off? The oddest thing about Oski’s question was the timing. Today had been very odd. I had more run ins with Olivette that normal and she refused to leave my mind. I had punched her boyfriend when really, I had no right to. Olivette means nothing to me now so why had I punched Trivitt? Then, us colliding in the hallway before the pep rally and that scared look in her eyes had bothered me ever since. It bothered me enough to consider going to her house and talking to her; something I would have never thought of before today. I only went to her house when my parents made me. So, Oski’s question is a bit of a shock to me. Not once in two years had he even uttered her name and suddenly, on a day like today, he decides to ask how she is? “Why do you ask?”
Oski collects our now empty tea cups and moves to the sink. He stares out the window when he answers, “No reason, you just haven’t mentioned her in a while and I was curious how she was.”
“I haven’t mentioned her in two years and neither have you so why now?” I ask him.
Oski sighs. “I was curious, Penn. That is all. I’ve often wanted to ask but I didn’t want to bring up hurt feelings for you. She was a special girl.”
“She is,” I mumble under my breath but when I realize I said that out loud I pray he didn’t hear me.
He places the cups on the dish drainer next to the sink before drying his hands on the towel. He studies the sky above us just as the thunder starts to roar again. “You should stay for a while. A strong storm is brewing, and it won’t be safe on the highway right now.” I nod because that makes sense, besides it’s not like I mind staying here. This place is like a second home to me. I love this place. Oski takes his seat. “I’m sorry if asking about her upset you.”
I shake my head quickly. “It didn’t. Just shocked me. To answer your question, Olivette is miss popularity. She’s a great cheerleader with the town’s golden boy on her arm. They’re the “it” couple. She has everything she wants.”
Oski tilts his head to the side. “How can you be so sure? I mean how do you know what she really wants? I’m a firm believer that only the person knows what they truly want. Although wants and needs are different. Olivette will be back soon you should prepare yourself.”
I laugh. “You’re funny, Oski.”
“I do not joke with you on this subject,” he replies and sounds serious.
My laughter dries up instantly. “Why do you say that then?”
“Because she may want Trivitt but she needs you,” he answers. His words hang heavy in the air between us just as the sky begins to rain.
Chapter 7
Olivette
The game was canceled due to the weather, so I left my car in the school’s parking lot and rode with Triv to get something to eat before heading to his house for the party. Triv’s mood was sullen since he didn’t get to finish the game, but they already had it won anyways. We were four touchdowns ahead, so I was pretty sure they would have won the game anyway. Triv pulled into the local pizza shop and we jogged inside.
Triv had barely talked all during our meal. He often did this after a game, but I found it really annoying. I didn’t get why he was making such a huge deal out of it? He still had his god like reputation. Basically, Triv was acting like a two-year-old. It was so frustrating, and I almost told him to take me back to my car, so I could go home but I didn’t. Instead, I got into his car and rode to his house in silence.
As soon as we pulled onto his street I could see the cars lined up along the street, waiting for Triv to arrive. When he got out of the car Danny come running over, excitement evident on his face. Danny was a likeable guy. His large, goofy smile was endearing, and his eyes were warm and welcoming. He prided himself on bench pressing the most out of the team and it showed. His black hair was cut so close to his head he was almost bald. Danny was the class clown without being annoying. You couldn’t help but like the guy.
Trivitt’s house is obscene really. The brick circle driveway is lined on either side by beds of perfect flowers and well-groomed trees. In the middle of the circle drive is a round water fountain. It has three tiers and its gold surrounded by blood red roses. The house is large, two stories, bricked in the front with a sand color. A dark gray roof makes the chimney’s stand out even more. As you walk up to the front door you notice it is shaded by a large circular patio off of the master bedroom. The house is lined with flowers and trees that have been planted here and there. It seems like too much for just four people, now just three with Triv’s older brother off at college.
The house smelled of apple, pumpkin, and cinnamon just like it did every fall. That was one of my favorite things about fall. The smells that filed the air. Watching the leaves on the trees change colors. Fall brought on change and reminded us that everything in life was temporary. Maybe, I liked that reminder more than anything. It reminded me that I wouldn’t always be stuck playing the role of the prefect daughter. Someday, I would go through my own autumn transformation and become my own person.
Once I was inside, I excused myself to go to the restroom. Triv’s house was huge and had multiple bathrooms but there was only one downstairs. It was well hidden, under the grand staircase. It was a small room with a toilet, sink, and mirror; but like the rest of the house it was pristine.
Since the weather wasn’t cooperating there wouldn’t be a party after all or at least that’s what Triv said when I joined him in the kitchen. However, the majority of the football team and their girlfriends showed up to hang out. There wasn’t any loud music just a scary movie on the flat screen in the theater room of the house. Everyone was sitting around, eating junk food and talking when the storm made its return.
It only stopped raining for about twenty minutes, but the thunder could be heard through the walls. I jumped from the unexpected boom causing Triv to wrap his arm around me. As if he could protect me when I knew if it came down to it, he wouldn’t. Triv was too self-centered.
The movie was forgotten as the guys started telling scary stories that to be honest weren’t that scary at all. I had heard
scarier ones from Oski when I was still a child. These stories didn’t hold a candle to his stories or his ability to tell them. I rolled my eyes as the girls jumped as if they were scared. It was so ridiculous. My phone vibrated in my jacket pocket. I pulled it out and saw my father’s name on the screen. I made my way out of the theater room.
As I talked to my father I wondered around the house, watching the lightning dancing around in the sky light up the house. Absentmindedly, I made my way upstairs as I told my father where I was and promised that I wouldn’t let Triv drive me home until the weather calmed down. My father told me he had already picked up my car from the school’s lot. I promised to check in with him throughout the night.
Just as I was hanging up the phone with him, a boom of thunder filled the air. It was so loud that I covered my ears, dropping my phone in the process. Every wall and window shook from the force of it. Lightning followed after the thunder then everything with pitch dark.
The house was so dark I could barely see my hand in front of my face. I had no flashlight since I had dropped my phone. Reaching down I began to search for the phone, but I came up empty handed. I moved a little, trying to be careful and not step on the phone when I felt it connect with my shoe. I ended up kicking the phone into the room in front of me.
I get down to my hands and knees and crawl forward in search of the phone. “Olive!” I hear Triv call out and I cringe at the nickname he knows I hate. My hand lands on the phone at the same time Triv appears behind me with a flashlight in his hand. “There you are. I got worried,” he tells me, as he places the flashlight down on his nightstand the comes over to me to help me off of the floor. I study his face. It’s swollen from football practice or, so he says. Supposedly, one of the other guys caught him and bruised his cheekbone. I don’t know why but I don’t believe his story.
“Sorry, I dropped my phone and I couldn’t find it.”
He shrugs while brushing a curl off my face. “That’s okay it was getting boring down there anyways.” Triv leans forward and presses a kiss to my lips. He laces his fingers through my hair in an attempt to deepen the kiss but I’m resistant as always. I try to let myself loosen up. I try reminding myself that he’s my boyfriend and I’m being ridiculous for not wanting to kiss him.
I kiss him back to reassure, not him but myself as well that I am in fact his girlfriend. Triv has never made it a secret that he wanted me but me on the other hand, I’m indifferent the majority of the time. To be honest I feel a huge disconnect to most of the world for whatever reason. I thought being part of the in crowd would help but it doesn’t. It only makes the disconnect more noticeable.
Triv misreads my attempt at kissing him back as wanting more. He begins to move us backwards, toward the bed until the back of my knees hit the mattress. He pushes me down onto it. I didn’t mean to give him mixed signals. I pull away from him. “Triv, I didn’t mean— “but words are cut off has he brings his mouth back down on mine with more force than necessary. One of his hands runs up my thigh and the other is still laced in my hair. I try to push him off but he’s twice my size. My panic begins to rise. I knew Triv had been pressuring me about sex, but I had no idea he would go so far. I can see every mistake I’ve made that has led me to this moment.
Finally, in my last attempt to get him off I bite down on his lip, hard enough to draw blood. I taste the bitter, copper taste. He pulls back abruptly giving me enough room to jump up. “What the hell Olive?” he asks, fury in his voice.
“I could ask you the same thing! Why would you do that?”
“Because you’re my girlfriend and that’s what couples do. You kissed me back! I thought that’s what you wanted!”
I make a disgusted sound at the back of my throat. “What I wanted? I was just trying to kiss you back, not get it on while half of the junior class is downstairs!” I exclaim, and my anger grows.
Triv gets up from the bed and attempts to close the distance between us but I step back into the hallway. “Olive…” he pleads.
I shake my head. “You know I hate that name. You know I’m not ready. You know all of this, yet you ignore it and just do whatever the hell suits you! Why?”
Even in the dark I can see Triv’s eyes lower into a glare. “Because I can! Because it’s my world Olive and I can do whatever I damn well please. Do you know how many girls want to be you? How many girls would kill to be with me? Yet, here you are, all high and mighty, rejecting me time and time again. I’ll tell you one thing I’ll replace you like that,” he tells me while he snaps his fingers.
That was the last straw for me. I take one step toward him and lower my voice. It comes out sounding more threatening that I had planned on. “Then replace me because I’m over this. I’m over us. I’m over you.” With those final words I turn and jog down the stairs. I need fresh air and a place to collect myself. Tears prick at the back of my eyes and I don’t even know why? Relief, maybe because the moment that Triv told me I was replaceable I felt relief. I wasn’t sad. I wasn’t hurt. I was relieved.
When I hit the bottom of the stairs I slipped on the wet floor. As I get up I shake my head at how stupid they are. It’s dark and stormy and they are running around the house spilling stuff on floors. Someone could seriously get hurt. I get up and shake myself off, but I can still feel my skin wet, the moisture running down from my legs from my knees. I wipe my hands on my cheer skirt and continue to the front door.
I’m just about to descend the steps when the sky lights up red. I stop and stare in shock. Red lightning dances in the night sky. The rain follows right after that, but it seems different. It sounds heavier than normal. I hold my hand and the lightning comes again. The rain looks like blood, but it could be from the lightning being red, but it causes my heart to pound in my chest.
As I turn around to go back into the house, the electricity comes back on. The light illuminates the foyer. I can’t help the scream that falls from my mouth because I didn’t slip in water. I look down at my skirt and see the smears. I see it running down my legs. Blood.
Chapter 8
Penn
I had stayed with Oski for hours, talking and reading. The radio announcer told us when the game had been canceled due to the unexpected storm. I waited out the storm before leaving Conjurer’s Apothecary. When the rain turned into a drizzle, I told Oski good night and headed for my car. As I made my way back to Newport I noticed that no city light could be seen. Not a single light aside from the hospital was on. Clearly, Newport was having a power outage due to this raging storm.
The darkness that blanketed the area only made the lightning dancing in the sky brighter. The lightning was bright and deadly. I couldn’t help but be mesmerized by it. I always had been. I slowed my speed since the town was dark. I inched my way through town with only the lightning to guide me. Luckily, I knew this town like the back of my hand. As I came to the main intersection downtown the lightning changed.
Red. My entire car lit up red. I pressed my brake down to the floorboard because red lightning just didn’t seem possible. When the lightning came again, I saw it clearly because I was watching the sky for it. Red lightning moved around in the sky.
The sky opened up and rain began to fall. Before I turned on my windshield wipers I noticed something different about the rain. It wasn’t normal rain. It wasn’t water. It was red tinted. Blood.
It splattered on my windshield and windows. I watched as the red liquid slid down the glass until the blood turned into normal rain and began to wash away the signs of blood. I didn’t move from the intersection. My heart was pounding in my chest. My breathing was labored. It didn’t make sense, but I had seen it with my own two eyes. I knew what I had witnessed, and I couldn’t find a logical explanation no matter how hard I tried.
It was crazy. It was unrealistic. Stuff like that didn’t happen in the real world. That type of stuff was make-believe. It only happened in movies and TV shows, books, and urban legends. I didn’t believe in the urban legends I had grown up
with but what just happened was straight out of one. Olivette’s favorite urban legend if I remember correctly. Bloody Mary’s curse.
A cold shiver coated my skin just as the electricity in town kicked back in. I squinted against the bright lights that now flooded the town. I sat at the intersection giving my eyes time to adjust as I attempted to remember everything from Bloody Mary’s legend.
There were so many variations of the damn thing it was hard to keep what I had researched over the years different from the story that Oski had told us as kids. Olivette would know I’m sure. I remember her obsession when the legend scared me to an extent. When I had asked her about it she had simply shrugged and said she felt connected to the story. She felt sorry for Mary and Jane. I didn’t understand where she was coming from, but I didn’t push it either.
It dawns on me. I still have the book Oski gave us on the legend somewhere in my room or at least I thought I did. It was possible that Olivette had it. This was ridiculous. I was being ridiculous. There was no way I saw what I thought I saw. It was just my imagination. It had been really over active today. First the incident in the bathroom and now this.
Shaking off my silliness I move through town until I come to the street I can take to get home. I’m taking the long way home just to prove how ridiculous I’m being. Maybe, I should get more sleep or do less research on random legends. As I make my way around I see a lot of flashing lights ahead. Glancing around I realize I’m on Trivitt’s street. Cop cars and an ambulance have the street blocked off.
I pull over to the side of the road, parking between two cars. If I’m correct, then the cops and ambulance are all around Trivitt’s house. An eerie feeling washes over me. Something has happened, something bad. I spot a head full of blonde curls talking to two cops by a police car. Her cheerleading jacket can be seen even from my spot. She nods her head and when she turns around I see the smears of red on her cheer skirt and red on her legs; the headlights from the cop cars and the street lights make it easy to see from here.
Breaking Bloody Mary Page 4
