They didn’t leave all at once. The first to go was a dark-haired girl who walked like she was on her way to a death match. She was followed a short time later by the other four, all of whom seemed intent on being as quiet as possible while keeping their eyes on the first one who’d taken off.
Denny carefully concealed his binoculars inside his sweatshirt and followed after them. Whatever they were getting themselves into had to be more fun than wandering around the grounds in the hopes of seeing a girl heading for the showers.
They moved like kids, which was almost a shame. They were quiet enough, but he’d almost expected them to move like, well, like women. Instead they were goofing around and getting themselves psyched up for something. They had plans for the brunette, but he couldn’t have guessed what those plans were, save that the girl they were targeting probably wouldn’t like them much.
He was half tempted to warn her. There was a part of him that felt that would be the decent thing to do. Unfortunately for her, he wasn’t feeling very decent. Denny figured if he played his cards right, he might get to see a little skin. That would be lovely.
It took almost thirty minutes before the first girl got to the Witch’s Hollow. Denny hated the Hollow and always had. When he was little his brother had taken him to the spot and told him all about how the men in town had dragged an old lady down there and chopped her into pieces because she was Jewish. They said she was a witch, but everyone with a brain knew that had to be a lie.
Witches weren’t real, except the new agers who thought they were witches.
Ghosts on the other hand, he wasn’t so sure about.
Still, there were girls to be watched and he figured if a ghost was going for anyone it would be one of them.
Denny crouched low and settled in to see what would happen. He pulled out the binoculars, too, because he wanted to have a good view of everything.
XI
Erika waited for ten minutes, trying her best to be calm. She heard them before she saw them, of course. They were trying to be quiet, but she didn’t think Shannon and her friends could manage quiet if their lives depended on it.
One of the girls was giggling. If she had to guess, she thought it was probably Karen Natchez. The girl was pretty and about as dumb as a stump. Mostly she was harmless, but really not very bright at all. She also tended to go with the flow when it came to who was popular and who wasn't. Erika had already decided she could take or leave the girl.
She’d been here since early September when the school year started, and so far the only person she could truly say made her feel at home was Beth Chambers. The pity there was that Beth was a local girl. She attended classes, but she also lived with her family. It was rather depressing when she let herself think about it. Also, Beth hadn’t been in school the last couple of days. She’d been in on Monday, and when Erika asked her how her date went with the boy she’d been hoping would ask her out, her friend broke into tears. So while Beth would normally have had her back, her friend currently had other things to deal with. Erika didn’t know for sure, but she had suspicions that Barry Foster had lived up to his reputation of taking what he wanted from the girls who didn’t want to make him happy.
She didn’t even know Barry, but she hated him for that.
The Hollow was dark, save for a little starlight that managed to shine down. Erika had walked the entire course, never once worrying about making a wrong step.
Erika had a secret, one that she hadn’t told anyone about, not even Beth. Erika was almost certain she had a guardian angel, and if she was right, that angel would help her tonight.
She really, really hoped she was right, or with as many voices as she heard coming, it might be a very bad night.
They came from four different directions, but she heard them all. There was Shannon, there was Monica—the red-haired bitch that was practically Shannon’s shadow, coming in from the left. On the right was Tracy, curly hair and a jockette’s body—she could potentially be trouble—and lastly was Karen. Erika felt her heart thump a little harder in her chest. This would not be pretty.
They didn’t understand. It wasn’t that Erika was afraid to eat one of the mushrooms so much as she didn’t want them to see her do it. The mushrooms were something special, something no one was supposed to know about, and her angel had told her that much when she came to the Hollow during her first week at the school.
In the dream she followed the old woman’s voice, listening to promises that her life would get better if she just followed a few simple rules and did as she was asked. The ancient voice was confident, certain of what it said, but the dream-voice was also weak and failing with age.
That had been a full month ago now, and the time for her to have a little faith was upon her.
The four girls moved closer, each looking at Erika, each willing to do whatever it took to make sure she knew her place.
Shannon got there first, a smirk on her face. She was feeling good about herself, and probably felt she had every reason to be satisfied.
Erika crossed her arms and looked daggers at the girl. “So how are we settling this, Shannon?” Her voice didn’t shake enough for anyone to notice. That made her very happy.
Shannon looked back at her and smiled. “I figure we should just do this the easy way. You eat a mushroom and everything is cool. You don’t want to eat one, we work out something else.”
“Yeah? Like what?” She was doing her best to stay calm, but it wasn't easy. The rest of the girls had shown up now, and they were all looking ready to have a lot of fun at her expense.
“Well, either you eat the mushroom and prove yourself or we take your clothes and you have to get back to school that way.”
“Or I could just kick your ass, and then we can start all over like nothing ever happened.” Of the three choices, Erika liked her own option best.
Shannon shook her head. “No, I don’t think that last one counts.”
Tracy was nodding her head in agreement. If it had been anyone other than Tracy it might have worked. She was pretty sure the girl could beat her into putty without working up a sweat.
“What’s it gonna be? You can eat the mushroom or give over your clothes.”
“You’re a dyke, aren’t you, Shannon? Just can’t stand the idea of not seeing a few naked bodies.” She was trying hard to figure a way out of this, but it wasn’t looking good.
“Please, I want to see a naked girl I can just look in the mirror. I want to see a naked cow, I can go look at the ones in Dover’s field, I don’t need to see you strip down.”
Erika took two steps forward and jacked Shannon’s jaw with a vicious right hook. She didn’t even think about it, she just took a swing. Shannon let out a yelp and hit the ground.
Erika looked down at her and shook her head. “Yeah, see, I thought about it. I’m going for door number three.”
Shannon was just standing up when the other three girls moved in and tackled Erika.
XII
Erika was right. Tracy was a problem. The other two she could have managed to hold off, because neither of them were fighters. Tracy didn’t bother with the feinting or trying to psyche her out like the others were doing; she just bulldozed her way forward and grabbed Erika by the hair, yanking her off her feet and slamming her face into the mud and filth of the Witch’s Hollow.
Erika fought back for all she was worth, cursing and spitting while the other girl used sheer body strength to pin her in place. Then to her complete surprise, she felt her shoes being pulled from her feet. Her left shoe came off first, followed by the right.
Erika fought harder, reaching with her hands to claw at Tracy, but the girl kept up the pressure, pushing her face into the muck and hissing angrily when Erika took off a few layers of her skin.
“Stupid bitch!” Tracy’s voice was strained, but she was still winning the argument.
Erika tried to turn her body and almost managed to slip sideways where she could get decent leverage before Shannon ca
ught her left leg and hoisted it into the air.
“Got her leg! Unh...! Stop squirming! I got her leg, now you guys get her pants!”
Erika went crazy, bucking as best she could, but her head was still pinned and now her leg was captured and despite her every attempt she couldn’t stop Monica and Karen from pulling her pants down from her hips and then off of her completely. It was degrading and enraging.
Erika whipped her free leg back and caught Karen in the face with her heel, just as the girl started waving her blue jeans around like a victory banner. Karen slipped, dropping her prize and fell back into the mud, squealing and clutching at her jaw and mouth.
Shannon used her own foot to kick Erika in the stomach. She’d never understood the term “knocked the wind out of her” until that very moment. She couldn’t breathe, couldn’t fight, but instead fell back weakly trying to draw in a gasp of air.
Tracy had to be a wrestler in a past life or something. She wrapped her body around Erika’s, locking arms around Erika’s shoulders and clasping her hands behind her neck in a full nelson. Then, just to make sure she got her point across, the girl scissored her legs around Erika’s waist and squeezed hard, guaranteeing that getting a breath was physically impossible.
When Erika was completely incapacitated, Monica pulled off her shirt and bra, leaving her in nothing but mud-stained panties.
Erika felt the tears coming from her eyes and could do nothing to stop them. She was humiliated. She hated the girls in front of her, all of them, and wished they were dead.
Then Shannon made it worse. The girl reached down and grabbed one of the black, blood-stained mushrooms and smeared the red over Erika’s face.
When Erika tried to sputter and spit the vile substance away from her lips, Shannon shoved the oversized fungus into her mouth, crumbling the fibrous mass in and then covering Erika’s mouth.
Half a second later, a man’s voice called out, “HEY! You kids stop that right now!”
Tracy let go in a flash and was backing up, looking for her escape route. Shannon didn’t bother to stay around either, but bolted like a deer from a loud noise. Karen, still sitting on her ass, started crying, and Monica, perhaps the coolest of the four culprits, headed in the direction of the man’s voice, a calm expression on her face.
Erika fell face first into the mud, her muscles quivering but otherwise unresponsive. Her mind shattering into fragments as the powerful toxins inside the Witch’s Tongue began to have their effect on her.
She was in the woods and crying, naked and lost, more frightened and confused than she could ever remember being. There was a horrid sense of Déjà vu, and a stronger sense of imminent danger. Erika hadn’t felt this miserable since the day they put her mother to rest in the cold October ground.
“There you are, child, I thought I’d lost you.” The voice belonged to an old woman, frail and weak, but still filled with confidence and resolve.
“I’m here! Help me please!” She was frantic, the voice, she knew, was there to help her, but she couldn’t locate the source of it.
“Relax now, you just calm yourself down.” There was no one to see, but she felt a cool, soft touch across her forehead.
“I’m lost and those girls.”
“Shhhh...I know, child. I know. Would you like to make sure it never happens again?” The strength was there, and comfort too, but there was some other quality to the voice that left her wondering if she should trust it. Something dark and menacing in the tones.
“Yes, I want it to stop. I don’t want to be a stranger anymore.”
“Is that all you want, child? Friends to call your own? Don’t you want to get back at them?”
It was wrong to hate, but yes, she did want to make them suffer. She wanted revenge, not just satisfaction.
“Yes. I want them to suffer.” The thought brought greater pleasure than she would have expected. “I want them to feel like I feel.”
“Well, do you trust me?” There was that tone again, dark and threatening, yes, but also comforting in its honesty.
Erika thought for a moment and finally nodded her head.
“Will you let me into your heart, Erika?”
“Yes. I’ll let you in.”
“Then you shall have your wishes, but you must be patient. Some things take time.” The woman’s voice was fading, drifting away like a feather caught in the wind. “Others are easier to handle.”
Erika’s face sank deeper into the mud as she lost consciousness, barely able to breathe, her eyes open but seeing nothing.
XIII
Lacey squealed with excitement! Her little sister was getting married! She’d been so worried that there would be bad news, but it turned out that Teresa was just waiting for the right moment to let them know.
Her future husband was a doctor, and he was supposed to have the night off, but it was always business before pleasure in the medical field and they were understaffed at the hospital.
She wrapped her arms around her sister’s neck and held her tightly, happy, so very happy for the fact that Teresa had finally found her Mr. Right. She’d been looking for so long, trying to find the perfect man.
Burt was speechless! He was sitting and looking at the two of them with a shocked look on his face. Oh, to have a camera, because she didn’t think she’d ever seen her husband looking so stunned.
Teresa was talking a mile a minute, asking if she would be the matron of honor—as if there was any way she could say no to that request—and trying to explain that Daniel was a good man, a strong man, and as gentle as a baby in his own way.
Lacey could see the love for Daniel in her sister’s eyes and it warmed her soul. Of course they had to meet him, and Teresa was still upset that he couldn’t be there, but he was a doctor, and you had to expect them to be called away at all hours sometimes.
Did she have a picture of the man? Of course she did! Teresa fairly flew from the den and moved toward her bedroom to grab one.
Lacey looked around, wanting more than anything to share this moment of happiness with Burt, who had always put up with so much from her and who had said on a hundred occasions that Teresa needed a man in her life or she would never be happy. He was right, too. Burt was almost always right.
Burt was not in the room. She didn’t let it bother her. He’d probably slipped off to answer the call of nature. He’d never had a very big bladder.
When five minutes had passed without seeing Teresa or Burt, the euphoria of her sister’s announcement began to wear a little thin. How long could it take to find a picture? Surely she had to have dozens by now.
Lacey stepped from the den and headed for her sister’s bedroom, walking with the same careful tread she had acquired over the years of her marriage. A soft step does not add to existing headaches.
So she heard the grunting noises very clearly.
Lacey forced the sound out of her head, refused to accept that it was anything but her imagination. If she let herself think too much about it, she would turn around and not check on Teresa. And she had to check on her sister, just to make sure that
Christ are you BLIND? How many trips to Utica has he made in the last eighteen months? How many times did you try to call Teresa and get her answering machine when he was out of town on business calls? What better way for her to get her revenge for stealing her man all those years ago? She’s always been a petty little bitch and now she’s fucking your husband in the next room over.
Everything was okay. It wasn't like Teresa to take so long, and there was the chance with those noises that she was hurt.
She opened the door to her sister’s bedroom and saw her husband on top of Teresa. Was there passion involved? Oh, yes indeed there was.
Teresa lay on her back, gasping for air, her legs thrown apart and her hands clawing at Burt’s thick arms. He was between her legs, his teeth bared in a snarl, grunting with effort. At first she thought her worst hidden fears had come true. That nasty little voice she tried to ignore had b
een putting two and two together and getting four for a while now, and much as she hated to even think it, she thought they were banging away on Teresa’s bed.
It was only when she noticed his hands that she understood. At first glance she thought his hands were resting on the bed, the better to support himself as he rutted like a pig. But there was more to it. His hands were just above her shoulders, holding a thick wooden handle on either side of Teresa’s neck. She was red in the face not from passion, but because he was choking her to death.
“Burt! What are you doing?” She asked, already knowing, and charged into the room, sliding on the photos of a man she’d never met as she went to stop her husband’s madness once and for all.
Teresa’s eyes were watering and they rolled in her skull as she looked toward Lacey. Burt’s eyes were focused only on Teresa, and the scream that Lacey had let loose fell on ears that refused to hear her.
She tried to tackle him, tried to push him away from her little sister, but she failed. Burt was just too big, an ogre, not a prince, and he continued to ignore her until she raked her clawed fingernails across his face.
That got his attention better than she ever meant for it to. Burt let out a scream and took his hands off the wooden handle to hit her across the jaw with a right hook.
Lacey staggered, not at all prepared for the sudden attack, but she didn’t fall back. For the first time in years, she retaliated. Her hands flew out, lashing at his face, his arms, his chest.
“You bitch! This is all your fault!” Burt warded off her first few blows, scowling angrily and then he reached down and grabbed the wooden handle he’d been using in an effort to strangle Teresa.
The handle came complete with an ax blade.
xiv
Up the hill from where Erika lay and Karen sat crying, Monica met up with a man she’d seen in passing a few times. He delivered milk at the school. Not far away, Karen was gathering Erika’s clothes, still crying to herself as she finished her collection with a pile of shoes and a bra.
This is Halloween Page 13
