Deadly Attraction (Nightmare Hall)

by Diane Hoh

  “Later.” Bennett Stark, on crutches, took Jenny by the arm. “I’m coming back here after we eat to ask for two new knees so I can play in Saturday’s game against State.”

  “Get real, Bennett,” Gabe said as they all aimed for an empty booth. “Those knees of yours are pure marshmallow by now. Too much football, too many tackles. You’ll be lucky if you’re not in a wheelchair by the time you’re thirty. Coach was right to bench you.”

  They piled into the booth.

  “This is the age of modern medical miracles,” Bennett said, placing his crutches under the table. “I expect to be playing again in no time. Can’t keep a good man down, that’s what I always say.”

  “That’s not what Coach says.” But, sensing a lost cause, Gabe gave up and buried his curly red head in the menu.

  Alex, squeezed between Marty and Kyle Leavitt, tried to concentrate on ordering. But she kept seeing the cold blue eyes of The Wizard. What was it about him that set her teeth on edge?

  And then she remembered….

  She had been nine years old when her parents divorced. The day they went to court to finalize something that Alex definitely didn’t want to happen, her grandfather, to console her, had taken her to a nearby amusement park. She had been there many times before, and had always loved it.

  But this time, her attention was drawn to the plaster figure of a woman jutting out from the front of one of the larger booths. The animated figure was fat and pink-cheeked, with a broad grin on her face, revealing slightly yellowed teeth. The plaster face was frightening by itself, with its too-pink cheeks and its too-wide grin, but it was the sound that came out of the mouth that terrified Alex. As the plaster torso bowed toward passersby below, and then retreated, bowed and retreated, the grinning mouth uttered a deep, wicked ha-ha-ha, over and over and over again, until Alex’s eardrums felt as if they might shatter from the evil sound.

  And yet she stood there, frozen in a frightened, morbid fascination, unable to turn and run. She had never seen or heard anything so ugly, and she knew, even at nine, that she would see and hear it again many, many times in her nightmares.

  And she had.

  Until, one day when she was fifteen, she had decided that the ugly figure, probably seen many times before, must have seemed so frightening that day only because of what the day itself represented…the end of her life as she knew it. The divorce.

  Her parents had both married again by then, and the nightmares had faded.

  But she had never forgotten the pink-cheeked woman and the ugly laughter.

  And it was that image The Wizard reminded her of.

  No wonder her palms got sweaty.

  Well, she wasn’t nine years old now, and this animated figure in his wish-granting booth wasn’t going to give her nightmares.

  A tall, broad-shouldered girl with dark hair approached their booth. “Mind if I join you?” she asked and, without waiting for an answer, pushed her way into the seat.

  “Yes, we mind,” Kyle said. “This booth is reserved for football players and football fans. You, Kiki, are a soccer player. You definitely do not belong here.”

  “I’m one of your biggest fans, Kyle, you know that,” Kiki said in a sugary sweet voice. “I haven’t missed one of your games.”

  Gag, Alex thought. She’s so obvious.

  Kiki Duff wasn’t one of her favorite people. A big girl, with short, dark hair, she was a superb athlete, and well-known on campus. Which was not the same as well-liked. As far as Alex was concerned, Kiki had never heard the expression, “Put your brain in gear before you put your mouth in motion.” Kiki said whatever she pleased. Sometimes it stung. But she never seemed to be sorry when she hurt someone’s feelings.

  “I shouldn’t even eat anything,” Kiki said as she grabbed a menu out of Marty’s hands. “I have to drop at least five pounds.” She patted her hip. “We soccer players have to stay in shape as much as you football guys do.”

  Hearing a distant rumble, Gabe said, “Was that thunder I just heard?”

  “Can’t be,” Marty said. “Too cold for thunder.” But he listened for a minute, and then said, “Sure sounded like it.”

  The rumble sounded again, louder this time. And when it came a third time, there was no mistaking the sound. It was followed quickly by the pounding of heavy rain on the roof of Vinnie’s, and, a moment later, by the sharp rat-a-tat-tat of hailstones.

  Everyone listened. Hailstones could cause a lot of damage to cars in the uncovered parking lot.

  “That’s hail, all right,” Vinnie said as he passed them with a pizza pan in hand. “Fella just came in, says it was pouring cats and dogs out there. Now it’s turned to hail. All kinds of weather warnings on the radio. Wind’s picking up, too. You kids should have headed back to campus sooner. Not a good night to be out. I just hope it clears up—I was planning on going fishing tomorrow.” The kids all knew how much Vinnie loved to fish.

  “Vinnie,” Alex felt compelled to ask, “where’d you get that funky guy in the pointed hat? He looks ancient.”

  “Flea market. Thought you kids might get a kick out of it.” Vinnie inclined his balding head toward the steel booth.

  “Why are you hiding it back in the alcove?” Jenny wanted to know.

  Vinnie shrugged. “No place else to put it.” He smiled. “You found it, didn’t you?”

  “Think you’ll make any money with it?” Marty asked.

  “Yep. Everyone’s dying to know their future.” The proprietor walked away.

  Not me, Alex thought firmly. I don’t want to know my future. The present is going by too quickly as it is. She loved college. So many things to learn, so many new people to meet.

  They ate quickly. Julie and Kyle were driving everyone back to campus, and Julie was nervous about driving in bad weather.

  Still, before they left, Marty and Gabe insisted they make one last stop at The Wizard. Alex hung back, watching from a distance.

  But before anyone could insert a coin, there was a sharp crack of thunder, so loud everyone in the restaurant gasped and jumped. Simultaneously, the room went white with a visible streak of lightning that came out of nowhere and sped straight across the room to the red metal booth. Those standing closest to it shrieked and flung themselves out of the way, yelping in fear as the arrow of white-hot lightning honed in on The Wizard.

  To Alex, watching, the scene seemed surreal: bodies tumbling every which way, the booth radiating white light, startled shouts and cries, a sizzling sound, and then an unmistakable burning smell.

  And then, as she cringed in fear against the wall, The Wizard went dark and every light in the restaurant went out.

  There were shouts of dismay and cries of fear. A sudden, eerie silence descended upon the room.

  And although his image had completely disappeared into the veil of darkness, Alex could still feel the icy blue eyes of The Wizard, watching, watching…

  Chapter 2

  IN THE BLACK SILENCE that had overtaken the restaurant, a voice said in a near-whisper, “What was that?”

  Marty, picking himself up from the floor, answered, “I think it was lightning.”

  “Anyone hurt?” Vinnie called out.

  No one seemed to be. But they were all severely shaken.

  “Everybody stay cool,” Vinnie called. “Don’t try moving around until the lights come back on.”

  An air of nervous excitement filled the room. No one seemed anxious to leave, in spite of the darkness surrounding them. The sharp rat-a-tat-tat sound had ended, but heavy rain continued to pound down upon the roof.

  “Bennett,” Marty called, “the four of us were closest to where it struck. You and Kyle okay? What about Gabe?”

  “Not a scratch. Never better.”

  Alex stood against the wall, watching, listening. They all seemed to be enjoying the excitement. All she wanted to do was get out of there. Fast. It wasn’t the darkness that bothered her as much as what was in it. She couldn’t see The Wizard, but she could f
eel those eyes. Her earlier resolution about not letting him bother her disappeared.

  “Why don’t we just go?” she asked. “The electricity might not come back on tonight, and stumbling around this place in the dark isn’t my idea of a good time. If the lightning only struck here, there’ll be lights on campus.”

  She had just finished speaking when the restaurant was flooded with light. A chorus of cheers rang out.

  Alex’s eyes were drawn, involuntarily, to the fortune-telling booth. Except for a faint scorch mark on his hat, The Wizard seemed undamaged. No one else close to the booth had been injured, either. The lightning hadn’t been as dangerous as it had looked.

  After a moment or two, everyone resumed what they’d been doing when the storm hit.

  “Let’s go,” Alex repeated. “Before the lights go out again.”

  “Wait!” Kiki cried, “I want to try The Wizard. I’m going to wish I were five pounds thinner.”

  But no one had any quarters left, and Alex was already on her way out the door.

  Disgruntled, Kiki followed along.

  The minute Alex stepped outside, she felt an enormous sense of relief.

  The rain had tapered off to a light drizzle, and the night sky overhead was beginning to clear.

  Marty, Alex, and Jenny climbed into the backseat of Julie’s car, while Gabe, after failing to persuade Julie to let him drive, climbed in beside her. Bennett and Kiki rode with Kyle in his pickup truck.

  Alex was acutely conscious of Marty sitting beside her in the backseat. He was nice, and had a great sense of humor, but she hardly knew him. There hadn’t been time to get to know anyone really well, except her roommates, the twins. They’d been a big help. They were a lot more outgoing than she was, and she was learning from them.

  Maybe, if she asked them, they could tell her if Marty was interested in her. Maybe they were better at figuring out things like that than she was. She didn’t have a clue.

  Evidence of the brutal storm littered the parking lot. The globes of many of the pole lights had been shattered by hailstones, leaving the area in a dismal semidarkness. Shopping receipts and paper bags clung to windshields, blown there by an angry wind.

  “Looks like a war zone,” Marty commented as they drove out of the parking lot. Tree limbs and broken branches and road signs dotted the highway like body parts.

  Halfway to campus, they passed Nightingale Hall, an off-campus dorm sitting high on a hillside. An old brick house nearly hidden in shadows cast by huge old oak trees, it had been nicknamed “Nightmare Hall” following the tragic death of a female student who lived there. Rumors circulated of strange things happening there. People said it was haunted.

  “Now there’s a place I wouldn’t want to spend a stormy night,” Marty said as they passed.

  “Well, at least the lights are on,” Alex said. “That should mean we’ll have electricity on campus, too.”

  They could see as they passed that at least two of the windows had been blown out of Nightingale Hall, leaving gaping wounds in the structure.

  “Wow,” Julie breathed as she steered around debris, “Mother Nature really went on a rampage tonight. I’m glad we were inside, and safe.”

  Alex’s immediate, unspoken response was, How safe were we, really? And then she wondered why she’d thought it.

  Probably because of the electricity going out. She hated darkness. She didn’t find it romantic or comforting, the way some people did. She had brought a night light with her to college, a pretty, softly glowing crystal hummingbird that plugged into an electrical outlet. The twins had never mentioned it, for which Alex was grateful.

  No, she didn’t like being in the dark, not at all. Darkness didn’t seem…kind.

  Now, Alex watched the road carefully, peering out over the front seat through the mist-moistened windshield, watching for objects in the road. Julie was talking to Gabe about the new fortune-telling booth, and she occasionally glanced in his direction. Alex didn’t think that was such a hot idea. With all that stuff on the road, Julie should be watching every single second.

  “Well,” Julie said, steering carefully around a broken tree limb lying in the highway, “The Wizard didn’t promise to make me beautiful this time, but there’s always a next time. If at first you don’t succeed….”

  “I think he’s creepy,” Alex said, not taking her eyes off the highway for a second. “Those eyes give me the chills.”

  “Everything gives you the chills,” Jenny said. “You still sleep with a nightlight.”

  Alex was caught completely off guard. She couldn’t believe Jenny had revealed to everyone in the car, including Marty, that she was afraid of the dark. Well…not afraid of…not really. Uncomfortable with, was a better way of putting it. She wasn’t comfortable in total darkness, that was all.

  So what? Julie was terrified of spiders, and Kyle was afraid of heights. It was all the same thing. Still, it wasn’t the kind of thing a college freshman wanted to advertise.

  Shrugging, Alex returned her attention to the highway stretched out like a long gray ribbon in front of Julie’s headlights. They were closer to campus now, and there seemed to be less debris.

  She couldn’t wait to get back to the safety and comfort of their dorm room. Thanks to Jenny’s creativity, Julie’s efficiency, and Alex’s generous stepfather, it was one of the prettiest and nicest rooms in Lester. Alex’s favorite thing in the room was the huge rainbow they’d painted on one of the walls one Saturday, each girl painting a different color: salmon-pink, turquoise, and yellow.

  That rainbow was beckoning to her now, calling her back to safety and comfort.

  “Almost there,” Julie said cheerfully, turning her head slightly toward the passengers in the backseat. Her attention was away from the road for only a second, but that was a second too long.

  Alex saw the tree before anyone else did.

  Too late, she screamed a warning.

  Julie gasped and slammed on the brakes. In vain.

  The car plowed into the upper half of a mammoth old tree lying across the road, a thick black barrier. Its fat, leafless branches reached up and out like grasping hands. Just before impact, one of the branches punched its way through the windshield, showering the car’s interior with glass.

  Julie cried out, her hands flying to her face.

  Then they hit, hard.

  The impact flung the upper part of Julie’s body forward. Her head slammed into the steering wheel, bounced back against the seat, and ricocheted forward a second time. Then she lay still, her arms hanging limply at her sides, her bloodied face resting against the steering wheel.

  At the same moment, the front of the car crumpled inward like an accordion, driving twisted metal backward, straight into Gabe’s legs. He screamed just once before passing out, his head flopping loosely against the back of the seat.

  The passengers in the backseat were flung forward, too, in spite of their seat belts. Their faces slammed into the back of the front seat and then bounced backward, as Julie’s had.

  The car, pinioned by the tree branch in the windshield, skidded sideways just once, and then came to a rest, sideways in the road.

  Behind it, Kyle’s truck shrieked to a halt.

  Buy The Wish Now!

  A Biography of Diane Hoh

  Diane Hoh (b. 1937) is a bestselling author of young-adult fiction. Born in Warren, Pennsylvania, Hoh grew up with eight siblings and parents who encouraged her love of reading from an early age. After high school, she spent a year at St. Bonaventure University before marrying and raising three children. She and her family moved often, finally settling in Austin, Texas.

  Hoh sold two stories to Young Miss magazine, but did not attempt anything longer until her children were fully grown. She began her first novel, Loving That O’Connor Boy (1985), after seeing an ad in a publishing trade magazine requesting submissions for a line of young-adult fiction. Although the manuscript was initially rejected, Hoh kept writing, and she soon completed he
r second full-length novel, Brian’s Girl (1985). One year later, her publisher reversed course, buying both novels and launching Hoh’s career as a young-adult author.

  After contributing novels to two popular series, Cheerleaders and the Girls of Canby Hall, Hoh found great success writing thrillers, beginning with Funhouse (1990), a Point Horror novel that became a national bestseller. Following its success, Hoh created the Nightmare Hall series, whose twenty-nine novels chronicle a university plagued by dark secrets. After concluding Nightmare Hall with 1995’s The Voice in the Mirror, Hoh wrote Virus (1996), which introduced the seven-volume Med Center series, which charts the challenges and mysteries of a hospital in Massachusetts.

  In 1998, Hoh had a runaway hit with Titanic: The Long Night, a story of two couples—one rich, one poor—and their escape from the doomed ocean liner. That same year, Hoh released Remembering the Titanic, which picked up the story one year later. Together, the two were among Hoh’s most popular titles. She continues to live and write in Austin.

  An eleven-year-old Hoh with her best friend, Margy Smith. Hoh’s favorite book that year was Lad: A Dog by Albert Payson Terhune.

  A card from Hoh’s mother written upon the publication of her daughter’s first book. Says Hoh, “This meant everything to me. My mother was a passionate reader, as was my dad.”

  Hoh and her mother in Ireland in 1985. Hoh recalls, “I kissed the Blarney Stone, which she said was redundant because I already had the ‘gift of gab.’ Later, I would use some of what we saw there in Titanic: The Long Night as Paddy, Brian, and Katie deported from Ireland.”

  An unused publicity photo of Hoh.

  Hoh with her daughter Jenny in Portland, Oregon, in 2008. Says Hoh, “While there, I received a call from a young filmmaker in Los Angeles who wanted to make The Train into a film. They ran out of money before the project got off the ground. Such is life.”