by Joey Comeau
It was a good plan. It would work, and nobody would have to go walking off into the woods to get chainsawed to death in the dark. It was a daylight plan, too. Daylight was good. Daylight was safe. Martin wondered what his mother was doing. What time was it there? How long would it be before she checked her email? Martin realized that everyone was still looking at him. Courtney was shaking her head, but Melissa and Joan seemed to be considering it.
“You can’t be seriously considering this,” Courtney said to them. “Are you insane?”
But nobody was listening to her.
“Okay, what kind of makeup do you need?” Melissa said. “Maybe we can steal it from Cindy.”
Courtney sighed. “We’re going to get murdered out in those woods,” she said. “Aren’t we?”
CHAPTER ELEVEN
“It just looks like lines,” Courtney said. She was looking over her shoulder, trying to see her bare back, where Martin was applying makeup. “Is it just me? I can’t see them very well. They just look like pink lines. It doesn’t look real. I thought you knew what you were doing.”
“It doesn’t look real, Martin,” Melissa said. “She’s right.”
They were on the beach, down from the bonfire, where nobody could see them.
“Nobody’s going to send her to the hospital because she’s got some makeup on her back. It looks stupid,” Melissa said.
Courtney started crying, and Melissa spat on the piece of paper towel in her hand and started wiping the pink lines off her friend’s back.
“We’re going to die,” Courtney said.
“We aren’t going to die,” Melissa said. “We just need a new plan.”
Martin watched Melissa wipe away his work. In his head it had been such a good idea. But when he sat down to actually draw the jellyfish stings, he realized that he had no idea what they looked like. He knew that they hand long stingers, like pieces of string, so he just figured the stings would look the same. But the makeup pencils that Melissa had stolen didn’t seem to be the right colours. It looked fake. His mom would have been able to do this. She would have made them gross and half-bloodied and oozing.
But Martin couldn’t do it. They were right. It looked stupid.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “I thought it would work.”
“It’s okay,” Melissa told Courtney. She moved right in front of Courtney and held her shoulders firmly. “Hey,” she said. “We’ll think of something. We aren’t going to let you die.” Martin climbed to his feet and started looking around on the beach. It was hard to see in the dark. This was his fault. He’d promised Courtney a way home, an escape, and then he hadn’t been able to deliver. He walked down closer to the water, scanning the ground. There had to be jellyfish here somewhere. He’d seen one this morning. And Chip had been complaining that the water was full of them today.
Courtney was still crying when Martin came back up the beach with a big jellyfish in each of his hands. He held them by the top jelly shell, keeping his fingers away from the dangerous threads that hung from their bottoms. They were difficult to hold, though, slippery and soft. He had to squeeze them so tight that his fingers broke through the thick skin of their tops. He tried not to think about what soft organs he was touching now, inside the things. Courtney still had her back to him, clean and pale, except where it was pink from Melissa’s scrubbing. It was easier to ask forgiveness than permission. He took a deep breath.
Then Martin slapped the jellyfish down on her back, tendrils first, and he held them there. Courtney screamed, and then she screamed again. Martin pushed harder, rubbing the stingers all over her back. He had to save her. Melissa and Joan were moving now, but Martin wasn’t paying attention. Courtney tried to lunge forward to get away, but Martin stayed with her, holding the slimy creatures in place until suddenly he was being lifted into the air and away. Chip held him roughly under the arms and dragged him down the beach.
“What the hell are you doing?” Chip said. “You think that’s funny? Do you know how much those things hurt?”
Martin ignored him and looked back toward his friends.
Sherri-Lynn was there too. She knelt down beside Courtney, who was still sobbing.
Melissa and Joan were just looking at Martin in silence. Neither of them looked surprised or angry. Melissa met his eyes and nodded once in his direction.
“Jesus,” Sherri-Lynn said to Chip. “I think she needs to go to the doctor. This looks bad. Look at this. Her whole back is swelling up. I’ve never seen a sting this bad.”
Chip dragged Martin roughly by the arm up the stairs in the main building, toward Father Tony’s office.
“Camp is supposed to be fun,” Chip said. “I didn’t volunteer for this so I could punish kids. I just wanted to come down to the woods and swim and laugh with my friends, and help some kids find Jesus. Camp is about fun, not about hurting people, Martin.”
Martin tried to slow them down. They were moving too fast. He didn’t know what would be waiting in Father Tony’s office. He remembered the way that dead boy had looked, with his eyes still open, but dry. He had to get away. He couldn’t end up like that. His mother needed him. What would she do without him?
Martin grabbed onto the handrail when they reached the top of the stairs, and held tight. “Just let me go,” he said.
“You hurt that girl,” Chip said. “You ruined her summer vacation, and sent her to the hospital. And I’m supposed to feel sorry for you now?”
He yanked on Martin’s shoulder, and then yanked harder, pulling Martin stumbling into the dark upstairs hallway. Chip found the light-switch on the wall, and the hallway to Father Tony’s office lit up.
It was just a hallway, bright and normal. Chip’s fingers were digging hard into Martin’s shoulder, and the more Martin tried to pull away, the harder he squeezed.
“I can walk,” Martin said. “I can walk by myself.”
“Thought it would be funny to just throw a jellyfish on a girl?” Chip said. “Do you have a crush on her? Is that it? Because I’ll give you some advice here. Throwing live jellyfish on a girl is not going to win you any hearts.”
They reached Father Tony’s office, and Chip knocked on the door. Martin thought about his knife, hidden in his cabin under the mattress. It wasn’t doing him any good back there. He should have brought it. At least then he would be able to defend himself. Chip knocked again, but there was no answer. The light inside the office was on. They could see the line of lights along the bottom of the door. So Chip turned the knob, and they went in.
No Father Tony. The office was empty. Martin looked behind the door as Chip pulled him in, but Tony wasn’t there either. The office looked the same as it had earlier. Innocent and bright. The phone still sat on top of the garbage can, its cord cut.
“Sit,” Chip said. “I’m going to go find Tony, and then you and he are going to have a little talk about this. If I had my way, you’d be packing your bags right now, Martin. Let me just say that. You can’t behave that way. Especially not to girls.”
Martin didn’t say anything. He sat on the wooden chair and looked down at the floor. Chip stood there waiting for some kind of response, but Martin just kept looking at the floor. Sherri-Lynn was going to drive Courtney to the hospital. He had heard that much before Chip dragged him away. It was faster if she drove Courtney herself, she said. And one of the counsellors would have to stay with her in any case.
Martin wondered if Sherri-Lynn was going to let Melissa and Joan come to the hospital, too. They would all be safe if they could get away now. But if not, if Courtney went by herself, then she would still get help. She would wait until they actually reached a doctor before she told them what was happening. That was the plan. To make sure she was safe before she sent help.
Martin hoped that Joan had gone, too. He hoped she was sitting in the backseat of a car right now, turning onto the road at the entrance to the camp, leaving the sign behi
nd. Maybe this was almost over.
Chip was still waiting for some kind of response, even though he hadn’t asked a question. Finally he sighed. “It’s always the quiet ones.” He went back out into the hall and closed the door, leaving Martin alone in the office to wait for Father Tony.
Martin stayed in his chair and listened as Chip walked away down the hall. Then he went to Tony’s computer and turned the monitor on. He loaded up his email. All the unread messages his mother had sent were still there, but there was a new message, too. There was a new message from his mother.
Martin,
I called the camp again, and there is still no answer.
I know that you are probably scared right now, and I wish I were there with you. Your email didn’t say what happened. Did a camper drown? Was there an accident?
I’m beside myself, thinking of you having to deal with this without me. I called your grandparents. They’re going to keep trying to reach the camp by phone.
You know that I love you, and everything is going to be okay, don’t you? If you say the word, I’ll be on a plane home first thing in the morning.
I love you, Martin. You can handle this, I know you can. You’re strong.
Mom.
Martin tried to swallow down the tears that he felt welling up. He had said the word. Velociraptor. It was their panic word, and he’d said it. Never once did he use it as a joke. He’d always treated it very seriously, and she knew that. But now he had said it and she didn’t understand. He thought she would understand.
He closed his eyes for a second and counted to five slowly. He hadn’t been clear enough. She was worried about him, and she had offered to come get him. She had taken the word seriously, but he hadn’t explained the situation well enough. She wasn’t letting him down. He should have said murdered. He should have said Father Tony was murdering campers. But he hadn’t.
Still, she had contacted his grandparents. They would help. Maybe they would call the police. Or an ambulance. They would contact somebody. Isn’t that what grandparents do? They worry too much. They overreact. Martin didn’t know if that’s what they were like, or not. He didn’t know his grandparents very well.
Tony was going to be back soon. Martin hit reply and then wrote his mother another email.
Mom,
I miss you.
Please call the police. The phones don’t work and the priest is killing people. Murdering them. I saw the dead bodies in the basement. It is real. Velociraptor. I am scared but I am trying to be brave.
I have friends here, and I helped one of them escape. She is going to get help for the rest of us. Even if I don’t get away Mom I don’t want you to worry. I won’t leave you alone. I will haunt you!
Love,
Martin.
Martin sent the email, and then he went back to the first email his mother had sent, and he started reading them. She’d sent so many. He opened the first one, and by the time he was finished, he was smiling. He’d forgotten where he was, and the danger he was in, for just a moment. He was lost in the long haunted hallways of his mother’s Toronto. He imagined walking under the blood spire, holding her hand and laughing.
He went back and started reading the first one again. He could hear her voice in the words as he reread each letter. He could see her smile, and he smiled, too. Every letter she’d sent made him smile, and a couple even made him laugh. She was there with him in the room, and Father Tony couldn’t touch him.
Sherri-Lynn was trying to cheer Courtney up as they drove slowly along the dark, winding driveway out of the Bible camp. Courtney was ignoring her, trying to see out into the woods all around them. The car’s headlights lit the gravel and trees in front of them, but that just made the darkness on all sides of them seem even darker.
“You’re gonna be just fine,” Sherri-Lynn said. “I have a chessboard in the trunk, and I’ll bring it into your hospital room. We can play so you don’t get bored. I get so bored sitting in hospital rooms.”
Courtney wondered what her family was doing right now. They were probably sitting in front of the television. Her brother would be in his room on the computer, playing games. Or watching movies.
She was still crying, leaning forward in the seat so that her jellyfish-stung back didn’t touch the rough fabric. Every time it scraped against the material, she winced. It felt like her skin was just gone, all up her back. Her nerves were just exposed and red, and the slightest touch hurt.
Bible camp. She had only agreed to come because Melissa and Joan were coming. This was supposed to be the perfect chance to watch the sky. She squeezed her eyes against the pain and wiped her face with the back of her hand again. It was okay. She was going to be safe soon. So soon. It was worth the pain. She would be safe, and then she could save Melissa and Joan, too.
“Oh, thank god,” Sherri-Lynn said.
Courtney wiped her eyes again and stiffened against the pain when her lower back scraped the car seat. The car was going so slowly that she didn’t notice as it rolled to a stop. She didn’t notice the sound of the window being rolled down. Her eyes were closed. She was imagining the bright lights of the hospital. The security guards and nurses and doctors. It was helping. She felt calmer, picturing the safety of the hospital. Picturing her mother and father. Even picturing her brother helped her feel safer. She might have kept her eyes closed the whole drive, but then Sherri-Lynn spoke again.
“Hey Tony,” she said.
Courtney sat bolt upright, and her back slammed into the seat, sending pain shooting through her body. There was Father Tony, smiling and leaning in the open driver’s window of the car.
“Evening, ladies,” he said. “Just out for a night-time drive?” He laughed. “You kids aren’t in one of those night-time illegal street racing gangs, are you? I saw those on the news. Are you sneaking off to race for money?”
Sherri-Lynn smiled, but didn’t laugh.
“Courtney here got stung pretty badly by a jellyfish,” she told the priest. “I’m going to take her over to the hospital and get her checked out. An ambulance would have to come all the way from town anyway, so I figured driving her myself would be faster. She’s in a lot of pain.”
“Did you call her parents?” Tony asked. He smiled across at Courtney, who was just staring at him in silence.
Could he tell how scared she was? Did he know that she’d seen the bodies? Oh god. Oh god, she’d puked in the basement. He would know that someone had been down there. He had to know that someone had seen the bodies.
His shirt seemed like a part of the darkness out the window, but his collar was white in the light from the car’s interior. There was a spot of brown on the collar, just peeking out from under the shirt. Dried blood.
“We can call them from the hospital,” Sherri-Lynn said. “We tried to find you, but obviously we couldn’t.” She looked at the darkness all around them, and then smiled at the priest. “What are you doing out here in the dark, is the real question,” she said. “Is everything okay?”
“Just trying to clear my head,” Father Tony said. “These summer nights are so beautiful. It makes you glad to be alive, doesn’t it?” He looked over at Courtney, and smiled at her.
Courtney knew that she looked terrified. But maybe he would think it was just pain. She had been stung. He didn’t know that she was the one who knew. He couldn’t tell just by looking at her, could he? Could he see it in her face?
“Hi Father Tony,” she managed to say.
“I’m sorry to hear you got stung,” he said to her. “And I know that time is probably of the essence here. You must be in terrible pain, and desperate to get back on the road, so I will try not to keep you long. But before you go, I wanted to ask a question.” He reached into his pocket, where he had his utility knife. “Do you girls like jokes?” he said.
“What?” Sherri-Lynn said.
“Stop me if you’ve heard this o
ne,” Father Tony said. He reached into the car window and stuck his knife into the side of Sherri-Lynn’s neck. He gave it a little twist, one way and then the other, like turning a key.
Sherri-Lynn reached her hand out for the gear shift and tried to change the gears.
Tony pulled the knife out, and blood sprayed everywhere. It went on his face and collar. It went in his hair and mouth.
Sherri-Lynn pulled on the shift weakly, but the gear stick wouldn’t move. Tony stuck her in the neck again and he laughed. He laughed and laughed while Sherri-Lynn died.
Courtney pulled open the passenger side door and ran into the dark.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Father Tony sat down behind his desk and smiled at Martin. His hair was wet, like he’d just showered, and Martin tried not to meet his eyes. He was scared, and he didn’t want Tony to see. Courtney would call the police soon. She would send help. That wouldn’t do Martin any good if Tony killed him right now, but maybe Melissa and Joan would be safe. If Martin could keep the priest busy long enough, maybe the police would come before Tony got to anyone else.
“Relax,” Tony said. “You aren’t in any trouble. Your counsellor, Chip, told me what you did, throwing the jellyfish on that girl’s back. He seemed pretty agitated about it, and he wanted me to send you home. I told him that he was overreacting. He doesn’t understand, Martin. He’s got a good heart, that kid, but he’s not the brightest tool in the shed, unfortunately.”
Tony leaned back in his seat and put his hands behind his head, fingers interlocked. He smiled even wider. “This is so funny,” he said. “It’s so easy for a person to feel like they’re the only one who gets crazy impulses. But everyone does, don’t they? They just hide it. There’s so much pressure to do the right thing. And now I’m supposed to punish you because you thought it would be funny to toss a jellyfish on a girl’s back. Well you know what, Martin? I think it’s funny, too.”
