by Sophia Sharp
“Tracy, there you are!” she exclaimed happily. “I thought I heard your voice out here. I wasn’t sure you were coming!”
The burly girl stepped away from me, looking absolutely speechless. “You… know her?” she asked Madison in the barest whisper.
“Of course I do! You didn’t give her any trouble out here, did you?”
“I… well, I, uh…”
“No trouble at all,” I spoke up, flashing the big girl a knowing grin as I stepped around her. “She was just telling me about all the wonderful people inside.”
“Uh… yeah, right,” the girl nodded, and quickly bent down to pick up my crumpled invitation. She smoothed it hastily against her thigh, and gave it to me. “I was just helping her with her invite. It, uh, got a little bit disheveled in her pocket on the way over, and—”
“Thanks,” I said, taking it from her hand. Folding the invitation with as much dignity as I could muster, I placed it in my back pocket.
“Come on, then!” Madison said eagerly, taking my hand and pulling me in. She was bouncing up and down with excitement. “You’re missing an epic party!”
“So what is this place?” I asked once we were inside the doors. The first level of the building was cloaked in darkness, but the central staircase that wound up to the higher floors was faintly illuminated. All the sounds of the party were coming from the highest level.
“Oh, Liz didn’t tell you?” Madison asked in surprise as she led me up the stairs. “This is the only building on campus not owned by the school. Every once in a while, the secr—err, the student council, I mean—hosts some awesome parties in here.”
“No, Liz never told me,” I answered. I looked at Madison suspiciously. What was that she was going to say before she changed it to student council? “Who owns it?” I asked.
“Not important,” Madison said, brushing my question away. “What is important is that this is one of the most exclusive parties of the year, and you’ve been invited!”
“I’m thrilled,” I told her genuinely. “But, why all the secrecy? And what was up with the invitation?”
“Invitation?” Madison looked at me, not understanding. “What do you mean?”
“The letter in the envelope I found outside my door,” I told her. “That was from you, right?”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Madison said, frowning. “I tried texting you a dozen times, but you never replied. That’s why I thought you weren’t coming.”
“What? I never got any messages from you.”
“Really? That’s weird.”
“Are you sure you had the right number?”
“Yeah. You texted me at the beach. Remember?”
“Right,” I replied. Then I shrugged. “Well, at least I’m here now.”
“That’s right,” Madison said, smiling broadly. “And now, you’re going to see what a party at Oliver Academy is really like.”
Chapter Nine – A Blue Light
Madison opened a pair of doors on the third level. Instantly, a blast of noise and lights overwhelmed my senses. She pulled me in, and closed the doors.
We were inside what looked like a former ballroom – except that it had been totally transformed for the party. Hanging from the sides of the room were strobe lights, each a different color. They flashed in time to the music, which was pumping from a sound system that consisted of enormous speakers placed at the sides of the room. Every now and then, a stream of laser lights showered down across the room, illuminating all the people inside.
While it wasn’t packed, the party was busy. In the middle of the room, a type of dance floor had been carved out. A bunch of girls and guys were having fun to the music. Along the sides stood a series of couches and sofas, half of which were already taken – mostly by lip-locked couples. As soon as I stepped into the room, I immediately noticed the stifling heat. For some reason, none of the windows were open. It made for a stuffy, murky type of environment. I asked Madison about that.
“Oh, that’s so that the neighbors don’t complain about the noise,” she explained quickly.
“Neighbors?”
“Professors, staff members… basically all the adults who work here. They live in many of the buildings close by.”
“Oh. I didn’t know that.”
“Yeah, so as long as we don’t make too much noise at one of these parties, they turn a blind eye to the alcohol.” She flashed a grin. “Speaking of which, you want a drink?” Then, before I had a chance to answer, she handed me an empty solo cup. “Of course you do. Our bar’s over there.” She pointed across the room. “Go get yourself something, and I’ll be right there.”
“Where are you going?” I asked.
“Oh, I have to just check in on something,” she replied quickly. “Don’t worry. Everyone’s going to be excited to meet you. I’ll introduce you to a bunch of people in a second.”
“Okay. But where—” I stopped. She had already disappeared into the crowd. What I wanted to ask her was where the other girls were, so I could go say hi and see what they were doing. It wasn’t that I was uncomfortable by myself at a party. It’s just that I preferred, obviously, to be with people I knew.
I looked around to see if I could spot them. Seeing none of the girls, I started making my way across the floor to the bar that Madison mentioned. While I didn’t usually like to drink liquor, the unbearable heat of the room made me extremely thirsty. Besides, it’s not like one drink could hurt. Everybody around me already had their red plastic cups full.
As I got closer to the other side, I had to edge my way around people more forcefully. The crowd seemed to get denser closer to the bar. Ten feet away, my progress ground to a halt. I tried more forcefully pushing myself around people, and to my surprise the technique worked. Before long, I was standing in front of a long wooden table covered with empty bottles and half-finished drinks.
A guy with brown curly hair flashed me a friendly smile from the other side. He nodded toward my empty cup, spreading an arm grandly over the table.
“What’ll it be?” he shouted over the noise.
“Whatever you have left,” I told him, eying the empty bottles. “But don’t make it that strong!”
He laughed, and bent down under the table to scoop some ice into my cup. Standing back up, he took a nondescript bottle and poured something vibrantly red into my cup. As he handed it back to me, he winked.
“What is it?” I asked.
“A very girly drink,” he replied. “Not that strong, just as you asked.”
I took a sip, and nearly gagged. The drink was sweet – very sweet. So sweet it was almost like drinking pure syrup mix. And it had only the barest hint of alcohol although I supposed something so sweet could mask a lot of liquor. I made a face at the guy.
“You might have to wait for the ice to melt a bit,” he laughed. I started to say something back – the guy was friendly, and good looking. But, he already turned his attention to the next person in line.
“Hey, keep moving!” somebody called out from behind. “Don’t keep the whole line waiting!”
I glanced back, and realized that I was in line. Or rather, I was at the start of the line, and I was keeping everybody else back. Bringing the cup to my lips for another sip – it was so hot! – I moved forward, away from the table.
I decided to see if I could find Madison or any of the others. I started looking through the crowd, but the ebb and flow of people kept pushing me off my feet. Near the middle of the room, the music was loud. It was dark, and nearly everybody was sweaty. I decided I had a better chance of finding the other girls if I were at the side of the room, instead of square in the middle.
I veered off toward the side wall, where it was noticeably less crowded. And I was more than halfway there when, suddenly, through the cacophony of the crowd, I heard my name.
“Tracy!”
My heart froze. The voice was low and strong. It was powerful. I gulped. There was only one person who had a v
oice like that. Rob.
Ever so slowly, I turned around, desperately trying to think of what to do. I had wanted to see Rob before, yes, and had even planned on what I was going to say to him. But, I wasn’t ready to do it now! Liz and the others could be anywhere among the people around me. If they saw me talking to him without their permission… it would end terribly for me.
My eyes found Rob instantly. Even in the dark, he stood out. In fact, he did more than stand out. He dominated. As he walked toward me, the people in front of him seemed to flow out of the way. He towered over nearly everyone, and even if someone was taller, they could not match his sheer presence. Quickly, I scanned the room again, to see if I could spot Liz, or Madison, or any of the others anywhere. Thankfully, they were nowhere to be seen. And, even better, nobody that I could see was paying any attention.
Rob smiled as he walked toward me. All I could do was stare dumbly at him. I knew I should move, or say something, or do anything. But neither my body nor my mind wanted to respond.
“I’m happy you’re here,” Rob said in a way that almost made me feel he had been waiting for my arrival. But that couldn’t possibly be the case. Surely he had other, prettier girls he was interested in – and were interested in him. Liz came to mind, for one. Before I knew it, he bent down to pull me in for a hug.
I wanted to resist, at first, lest any of the other girls see. But, that resolve quickly melted. His arms wrapped around me made me feel safe; sheltered, even. It was as if his presence could erase all my simple worries, and shield me from the evil and dangers of the outside world. Nothing could touch me. There was nothing to fear. The moment lasted a precious second, though. I instantly felt the loss as he straightened.
“I…” I started to say, wanting to tell him that he shouldn’t be talking to me, that Liz was the one he should be around, but couldn’t find the words. Not with those eyes staring down at me. In the low light, he looked as good as ever. He had the same dark sweater on as when I’d met him earlier. Made of that paper-thin fabric, it clung to his body like a second skin. He felt good, too, as I knew from that split second when he embraced me.
“Yes?” he asked, the corner of his mouth curving up in a knowing smirk. It’s like he knew of his effect on me, and knew of the trouble it had caused me, but did not care. I almost felt like he was daring me to tell him to go away, just so he could rebuff me by saying he wouldn’t do that. I knew that was ridiculous, of course – just a made-up fantasy created by my over-active imagination. I was just so struck by him, popping up completely out of the blue, that I couldn’t think straight.
And his eyes were back on me. Even in the dark of the party, they seemed to soak up and reflect what little light there was. The effect of his strong gaze was strengthened by the fact that he hadn’t looked away once since calling out my name. He was looking at me expectantly now, waiting for an answer, but I couldn’t even begin to think of the proper thing to say. I could feel the heat rushing to my cheeks, and was glad that in the low light he wouldn’t be able to see me blush. I opened my mouth… and closed it again. I was completely frozen. This always happened when I was around a guy I liked, but with Rob the effect was magnified a hundredfold. I couldn’t look away. Those beautiful eyes had me mesmerized.
Suddenly, Rob laughed, breaking my trance. He had a rich, deep laugh that echoed throughout the room. I only hoped Liz wouldn’t recognize it from wherever she was and come to investigate.
“A ‘hello’ would be nice,” he said, eyes shining with mischief. “Aren’t you glad to see me?”
“Yes,” I answered without thinking. Then, realizing what a horrible blunder I’d made, tried to correct myself. “I mean, it’s quite a surprise to see you here.” I looked away.
“Is it?” He reached over to gently turn my head back toward him. I nearly died. The feel of his fingers on my chin made me even woozier than before. Whatever advantage I had recovered by tearing my head away from him was now lost. I was back at square one.
He looked at me, and didn’t say anything. I could feel the seconds ticking by, but couldn’t figure out what to tell him. This was not a normal reaction I was having. There was no way a single guy could have such a strong effect on me. Nobody should ever be so helpless around a member of the opposite sex. And yet, no matter how hard I tried to rationalize, my emotions held me at their whim.
“I mean no,” I said after the long pause. “I would have thought you’d be with Liz tonight, not by yourself. She is here, right?”
“She’s off somewhere in the crowd,” he said dismissively, waving a hand toward the middle of the room.
“But, uh… why aren’t you with her?”
He chuckled, and took my free hand in his. Bringing it up so it was chest-high between us, he locked his fingers between mine. As much as I knew I shouldn’t let him do that, I was completely enthralled. “Listen,” he began strongly, “I don’t know what Liz told you, but there is nothing between us. Nothing.” He looked at me with brows furrowed, as if asking me if I understand. I nodded shyly. “Besides…” he said, taking a step toward me so that our hands were pressed against our bodies, “…I have my eye on somebody else.”
I couldn’t look away. My heart was beating wildly in my chest, and I knew my palms were already sweaty. What was I to do? The warning Liz had given me seemed insignificant compared to the moment right now.
“And,” he continued elegantly, “I was hoping that maybe she—”
In the middle of his sentence, everything just stopped. Like a paused video. All the noise of the party was vanished. An eerie blue light showered the entire room.
The moment lingered… and then fluttered back to normal. I was jolted into myself again. It felt as if… as if reality was catching up. The light was gone.
Rob blinked and looked at me. “What’s the matter?” he asked.
“Did you see that?”
“See what?”
“The light!”
“What light?” He looked around uncertainly. The strobe lights were flashing over the dance floor, but the effects of them weren’t strong enough to reach us. “What are you talking about?”
I frowned. Maybe I had imagined it? “Never mi…” I started to say, but then it happened again. More strongly this time.
The sounds of the party cut off as if I had turned deaf. The contrast left a strange ringing in my ears. But that wasn’t the scariest part. The neon light was back. I could see everybody coated in it. And, at the same time, I realized that everything simply stopped. Rob was in front of me, his mouth open in mid-sentence. He looked like a statue covered in the blue light.
My eyes darted to the left.
There, a girl who had jumped up at the moment the light came on was suspended in the air. Both her feet were frozen in space, her hair in wild disarray above her head.
My eyes moved to the right.
There, a group of guys stood in a circle. The one in the middle was holding a funnel above his mouth, and somebody else was pouring a beer into it. I could see the foamy pale liquid stream out of the can, except that it wasn’t moving. The beer had stopped in mid-air.
I looked back at Rob standing in front of me. He hadn’t moved. That blue light had him completely enveloped. He was frozen. Everything was frozen. Time had stopped. The blue light covered everything.
Behind Rob, at the far wall, I noticed a single door. It was closed, but through the cracks around the edges that blue light streamed out with more intensity than anywhere else. The room was the source of the light.
I tried to move toward it, but found that my legs wouldn’t respond. That’s strange, I thought vaguely. Except I couldn’t say why it was strange. My thoughts were vague, fuzzy even. They felt like somebody else’s thoughts. I tried to move my head, to crane my neck around Rob, but it wouldn’t respond, either. I felt a very distant sort of panic bubble up inside. It wasn’t my panic. It was someone else’s. I tried moving my arms. But, they wouldn’t go anywhere, either. Focusing all my ene
rgy on the hand with the solo cup, I willed it to come up. It wouldn’t respond. Time had stopped, for everyone and everything – except my mind.
Chapter Ten – Behind the Door
As suddenly as the blue light had come on, it disappeared. Instantly, all the sounds of the party came roaring back.
The hand I had been trying to move jerked up so strongly that it smashed into Rob’s elbow. The drink in the solo cup flew out, and spilled over the entire front of Rob’s sweater. Somehow, none of it got on me.
“Hey!” Rob exclaimed, staring down at his shirt in shock. “What the hell is wrong with you?”
“Sorry,” I muttered quickly, not really knowing or caring what he thought. All I knew at that moment was that I had to find out what was behind that door. I pushed past Rob. I had eyes only for the mysterious doorway.
“This was my favorite shirt you ruined, you bitch!” Rob cursed behind me. Vaguely, I heard him yelling some other obscenities, but none of it registered. The only thing that mattered was reaching the door.
I had to push my way through a throng of kids. This time I had no problems doing so. My mind was singularly focused on getting to that door. I didn’t know what was behind it, but I felt an unconditional… pull toward it. I felt no fear, although I knew that something inexplicable had just happened.
It was even darker by the door than anywhere else. I fumbled blindly for the handle. When my hand finally caught it, I twisted it to one side, and pushed the door in.
What I found inside was not at all what I expected.
A single light bulb flickered off and on, giving off a pale yellow hue – not the blue light that I had seen before. And, illuminated by that flickering light, I found all the girls I had met that morning standing in a tight circle.
None of them noticed me when I came in. I shut the door behind me.
“What happened in here?” I asked. At once, five faces turned toward me. There was Madison and Zoe, Eve and Ann, and Jo. All the girls but Eve wore a look of pure terror on their faces, but even the tattooed girl looked quite distraught.
