She ran. She ran as fast as she could, looking for refuge. Every door was locked. This time there was no escape.
The dogs gained ground on her, despite struggling to negotiate the tile floor of the school. On her right was a girls’ bathroom. Sally ducked in to hide.
But the door swung inward, and the dogs knocked it open with ease. Unsure what else to do, she went into a stall and pushed the door shut just before the lead dog could leap at her. Its enormous body crashed into the steel, causing the whole thing to shake.
Sally reached down to lock it, only to discover she was no longer in the bathroom. She found herself once again in the red-curtained room. She blinked, confused, trying to determine what she should do. Each wall was adorned with the same red, velvet drapes.
She stepped forward and parted the curtain in front of her. It led to another room similar to the first. In the middle, sat a small table with three chairs, behind which was hung an enormous oval mirror. The glass had a magnificent gilded frame of gold-painted wood and hung magically in the air. Sally stared into it for a moment, but it did not seem to cast any reflection.
Sally looked back at the table and saw Zelda sitting in one of its chairs.
“The key is in the mirror,” Zelda said.
Then she vanished. Sally jumped, startled.
She returned her attention to the mirror. Soft, white light emanated from it, as though it were a window, and sunlight were pouring in. With a strong mixture of fear and curiosity, Sally crossed the strange room and stood in front of the glass.
Inside, she saw a room full of mirrors of every size and shape. The walls, floor, and ceiling were white, and the mirrors hung suspended in midair just as the one she was looking through did. The chant started up again behind her.
“Shakir! Shakir! Shakir!”
She turned to look, fearful the dogs had somehow found her here. As soon as she did, though, she found herself within the hall of mirrors. They hung all around her, but they did not reflect her. Rather, they showed scenes from other places, as though they were TV’s or computers showing her movies.
The key is in the mirror, Zelda had said. But which? And were these really mirrors?
She examined one of them. Tommy lay in his bed at home. His eyes were clenched shut, and he tossed under the covers.
“You shut up,” he whimpered in his sleep. “You shut up, or you’ll be sorry!”
She was suddenly overcome by a strong scent of urine. She felt sick. She thought she might throw up. She turned away and knelt to the floor. The sensation passed.
Horrified and disgusted, she went to another glass. Sheila the Social Worker was speaking to her father.
“I’m sorry, Mr. Prescott,” Sheila said. “You’re just not fit to care for these children.”
“But they’re all I have,” he protested.
“And that makes you pathetic,” Sheila replied. “Look at you – drunk, no job, no wife, no prospects. What made you think you could ever be a real father? How could you expect them to love you, when this is all you are?”
“Daddy, no,” Sally whispered.
The scene changed, and he was now talking to her mother. Tommy and she stood crying behind her.
“Mom?” Sally said.
“Damn it, Arthur!” her mother said. “Can’t you understand I left because I didn’t want to deal with this? I left you the children for a reason, Arthur! And you’re such a failure, you couldn’t even do that right. Now, I’m stuck with them!”
“No,” Sally said, backing away from the glass.
That couldn’t be true. It couldn’t!
She turned away and came face to face with another mirror. In it, Molly and The Set stood over an unconscious Alison in the boiler room at school.
“All right,” Molly said. “Time to teach her a lesson!”
“No!” Sally said again.
She had to stop them. She put a hand on the mirror and suddenly found herself back at Roosevelt Middle School standing in front of the boiler room. Everything was quiet. She tried to open the door, but it was locked. She shook the handle furiously; she pounded on the heavy wood. But it would not yield to her.
She turned to her left to call for help and saw Mr. Pipich standing next to her. He leered at her with an oversized mouth. Behind his glasses were only two spots of white light.
“But, soft!” he quoted. “What light through yonder window breaks? / It is the east, and Juliet is the sun!” He leaned in closely to her now, and his voice became a growl. “Oh, blessed, blessed night! I am afeared, / Being in night, all this is but a dream, / Too flattering-sweet to be substantial.”
He stood up then and put his fists on his hips. Then he threw back his head and laughed a sinister, mocking laugh. He guffawed loudly for several seconds and then disappeared.
Sally was truly terrified now. She didn’t know where to turn or which way to go. Everything she encountered horrified her. She simply wished to be out of this nightmare. She wanted no more of this suffering.
She ran. She wasn’t certain where she was going. She simply fled. Door after door flew by. The doors became trees, and she ran through a foggy forest. Dark shapes swirled in the mist but refused to reveal themselves.
Sally ran without ceasing. Sweat dripped from her head, and her clothes stuck to her body. She panted, her lungs burning.
The fog suddenly parted. Just ahead in the distance was Grandma’s house. Desperate and relieved, she stumbled for the door.
But as she reached for the doorknob, Mr. Pipich stood between her and sanctuary. He held out his right hand.
“Token, please,” he said.
The awful chant started up again.
“Shakir! Shakir! Shakir!”
Sally turned around and saw the demonic dogs emerging from the mist, charging out of the forest towards her. She turned back. Mr. Pipich was gone. Sheila stood in his place, also holding out her hand.
“Token, please,” she said.
Sally was taken aback by the abrupt change. She staggered away a few paces. Behind her, the chant grew louder.
“Shakir! Shakir! Shakir!”
She risked another look back and saw the dogs were much closer. If she didn’t do something soon, she was dead.
Sally turned around again and was startled to see it was now Alison in front of Grandma’s door. Like Mr. Pipich and Sheila, she extended her right arm with her hand open. She smiled reassuringly.
“Token, please,” she said.
Understanding at last, Sally reached into her pocket. She pulled out the coin and dropped it in Alison’s hand. Alison winked at her and then vanished.
The dogs growled behind Sally. The thundering of their paws on the ground grew deafening. She turned the knob and burst into Grandma’s house.
But she found herself back in the red-curtained room. The gargantuan, gilded mirror hung suspended in midair. The table and chairs were gone, replaced by Sally’s bed. She was astonished to see herself sleeping in it. Her face was screwed up in worry and fear – as though she were having a bad dream.
“Last innocent sleep,” a voice said.
She turned back to the mirror and saw Shakir’s image in the glass. Angry and frightened, Sally stormed to the mirror.
“What does that mean?” she said. Shakir only grinned fiendishly at her. “I said, ‘What does that mean!’”
She pounded on the glass, hammering at it and demanding Shakir answer her. But the demonic wolf-woman only leered back.
“Who are you!” Sally screamed.
Shakir reached up and grabbed her snout. Then she pulled it back over her head as though it were a mask she was removing. When she was finished, Sally stood looking at a reflection of herself. The reflected Sally grinned evilly.
Sally was momentarily horrified. Then, she was furious.
“What does that mean?” she shouted. She came forward, preparing to grab the glass and smash it on the ground. “What does that mean?”
Just as she got her hands
on the frame, she noticed something. Her reflection was wearing a chain on her neck. A key was suspended from it.
Sally stopped. She took a step back and felt her own throat. There was a key there, dangling from a silver chain. She looked down and saw it between her fingers.
When she looked back in the glass, her reflection was no longer wearing it. She looked down again. She still had it. She looked back up at the glass, and it went dark.
Sally took a step back and turned around. Her sleeping form still lay in her bed. She was wearing a necklace with an ancient-looking key as a pendant.
Her eyes grew wide. She’d found it! She’d found the key! She’d somehow managed to get it out of the mirror.
She was suddenly overcome with exhaustion. She felt faint. Weak, Sally stumbled over to the bed, and collapsed into her body.
***
Sally smiled in her sleep and rolled over. Happy thoughts lingered at the edges of her consciousness. She heard the baying of dogs echoing in the distance, but they did not rouse her from her slumber. Absently, she reached up and played with the key hanging on the chain around her neck.
Sixteen
Sally awoke with a start. Daylight streamed in through her window. How long had she been asleep? She checked her clock and saw she’d overslept the alarm by only ten minutes. She breathed a sigh of relief and got out of bed.
She walked into the bathroom, examined herself in the mirror, and stopped cold. Hanging from her neck was a fancy, old key. It had three rings at the top and a single tooth at the bottom. It was made of grey metal, and it looked like the kind of key that would open a padlock on a pirate’s treasure chest.
Suddenly, last night’s dreams came crashing back into her brain. It was the key! She’d somehow pulled it out of her dreams! Everything was going to be better now.
She showered and dressed quickly, threw some breakfast down her throat, and got ready to go. Her father was up and looking worse than yesterday. She was somewhat relieved to see he hadn’t started drinking yet. She kissed him on the cheek as she left.
“Don’t worry, Daddy!” she said. “I’ll fix everything today!”
She dashed out the door with a happy smile on her face, got on her bike and zoomed off down Jordan Avenue.
***
She met Alison at the door as she was walking in. She grabbed her by the arm and drew her aside.
“Guess what!” she said.
“What?” Alison said.
“I got the key!” Sally replied in a conspiratorial whisper.
“What!” Alison shrieked.
“Shhh!”
When they arrived at Alison’s locker. Sally drew the key out of the neckline of her hoodie, dangling it in front of her friend. Alison’s eyes opened wide.
“Where did you get it,” Alison asked.
“In my dreams,” Sally said. “I pulled it out of my dreams, Alison! They were very, very strange, and pretty scary. But you were there. You helped.”
“I did?”
“Yes,” Sally said. “Three people asked me for the coin. You were the third, and I gave it to you.”
“Why me? Why didn’t you give it to one of the others?”
Sally wasn’t sure about that. She’d hardly had time to think about the events of the dream.
“I don’t know,” she confessed. “I think it was because you smiled at me. I knew I could trust you.”
Alison’s eyes misted over. She turned away from Sally and shoved some books in her locker.
“So,” she said, still not looking at Sally. “Now what?”
“I’m not sure,” Sally said. She was as lost now that she had the key as she had been when she had the coin. “Madame Zelda didn’t really say how to use it. Only that it could change my destiny.”
“Well,” Alison said, shutting her locker, “you’ll figure it out. You’ve figured out the rest of it so far. You’re really smart.”
Sally blushed. She didn’t know why, but it was still hard hearing compliments. Despite everything she’d accomplished in the last two weeks, she didn’t believe good things could really happen to her.
They walked over to Sally’s locker. Brian was waiting for her. Alison gave her a sidelong look.
“Great,” Sally said.
She hadn’t had even a second to think about Brian’s invitation to the football game, and she knew he would be asking.
“Hey, are you going to the football game today?” Sally said.
“Huh?” Alison replied.
Brian sauntered over before Sally could repeat her question.
“Mornin’, ladies,” he said.
“Morning,” Alison said.
Her eyes darted back and forth between Sally and Brian, trying to figure out what was up. Sally wished she knew how to tell her.
“Hey, Sal,” Brian said.
“Hi, Brian,” she replied.
“So did you get a chance to think about my proposal?” he said.
“Um . . .”
“What proposal?” Alison said.
“Oh, I asked Sally if she wanted to go to the game this afternoon,” Brian said.
Alison shot Sally a knowing glance. Sally wanted to flash her a help-me look, but Brian was watching her.
“Oh, really?” Alison said.
“Yeah,” Brian said. “You can come too if you want. I’m sure Brad’ll be tagging along. We don’t have rehearsal, so I thought it would be fun to hang out in the stands and root the Wildcats on to victory.”
“Whip ’em, Wildcats!” Alison said, punching air.
“That’s the spirit!” Brian said. “So what d’y’all say?”
“I don’t see how we could miss it, do you, Sally?”
“Uh, no,” Sally said, disappointed. Alison had read this all wrong. “I guess not.”
“Cool!” Brian said. “Pick you guys up at Sally’s locker after the pep rally.”
He strolled off. Sally hunched her shoulders and headed over to her locker. Alison followed.
“That’s promising,” she commented.
“No, it’s not,” Sally said.
“What do you mean?”
“He keeps including you in stuff. It’s never just about him and me.”
“Oh,” Alison said. She looked regretful. “Sorry. I handled that all wrong.”
“It’s okay,” Sally said. “I know you and Brad think he likes me, but I’m pretty sure you’re wrong. Every time he has an opportunity to make a move, he doesn’t.”
They trudged off to homeroom. Brian had successfully obliterated Sally’s hopeful mood.
***
They continued the conversation in homeroom, talking quietly so Coach Braddock wouldn’t complain. The coach sat at his desk with his feet up and his head buried in the sports section. They knew he wouldn’t say anything as long as they didn’t make too much noise.
“Maybe he doesn’t know how,” Alison said.
“How to what?”
“Make a move,” Alison said.
“How can he not?” Sally said, raising her voice.
Coach Braddock’s paper dropped down, and he gazed sternly at Sally. She made a show of opening a book and pretending to examine it. After a moment, the coach went back to reading the paper.
“How can he not?” Sally said again, this time more quietly. “He makes such a big show of being a playa.”
“Maybe that’s all it is,” Alison said. “Maybe he doesn’t know what he’s doing, so he pretends to be a ladies man, so no one will know.”
“Why would he do that,” Sally asked.
Alison shrugged. Her expression suggested she couldn’t fathom it either.
“Maybe he’s going to ask you out at the football game,” she suggested.
“How? You and Brad will be there.”
Alison said nothing for half a minute. She chewed her bottom lip and thought.
“Maybe he just needs to be encouraged,” she said at last.
“No, don’t,” Sally said.
&n
bsp; “Don’t what?” Alison said, looking innocent.
“Don’t do anything to make him ask me,” Sally said sternly.
“Keep it down, girls,” Coach Braddock said. Sally and Alison both turned their heads. He wasn’t looking at them. He remained consumed in the paper. They weren’t in much trouble.
“I’m just saying, Sally,” Alison said, talking more quietly, “that maybe he doesn’t know what to do. If he got some gentle advice from your best friend, it might go very well.”
“No!” Sally hissed.
“Why not?”
“Because,” Sally explained, “I want him to ask me on his own. If you talk to him, I’ll never know if he asked me out because he wanted to or because you told him to.”
Alison nodded. She sat back in her seat and took up a pencil. She began doodling in her notebook.
“Okay, I can see that,” Alison said. “I just hope you don’t have to wait forever.”
“Me too,” Sally said.
She looked up at Coach Braddock. He had put his feet down, spread the newspaper out on the desk, and was making notes.
“Ah, well,” Alison said. “At least we’ll be at the center of the Roosevelt Universe.”
“What do you mean?” Sally said.
“Everyone’s going to the football game,” Alison said as though it should be obvious. Then she adopted a snooty tone. “It’s the social event of the season.”
Sally chuckled. The two girls grinned at one another.
“How sad is that?” Sally asked.
“What do you want?” Alison answered. “It’s Spirit Week.”
They laughed again, drawing a reproachful look from Coach Braddock. Sally put her arms behind her head and stretched. Then she thought about the football game. She had never been much of a sports fan. Her dad liked sports, and, when she was little, she would get up on the couch and watch the games with him. He used to explain the finer points of baseball to her.
But after her mother left, he stopped watching with any enthusiasm. He would just sit on the couch with a drink and stare dully at the television, saying little at all. After awhile, she stopped sitting with him altogether.
She shook the unhappy thoughts from her head. She needed to think clearly if she was going to save everyone.
Little Red Riding Hoodie: A Modern Fairy Tale Page 19
