A Dark Lesson pt. 3

Once inside they were able to calm the girl down, but even when she stopped screaming she continued to shake violently. 

Marie had wandered off to the lost and found to find some clothes for the girl while Amanda had led her to the locker room just off the small gymnasium.  Once inside Amanda had the young woman sit on one of the bare wooden benches. 

“Do you have a name?”  Amanda sat next to her, making sure to give the girl enough personal space. 

She pulled the blanket around her tighter, clinging to it so tightly her knucles turned white. 

“I need to call you something.”  Amanda kept her voice soft.  This poor girl looked like a terrified rabbit, ready to spring at any moment.  “Hey girl probably isn’t the best way to address someone.” 

“Debbie.”  The girl’s voice was a whisper.  She sounded weak, worn out and it looked like speaking caused her pain.  “My name is… Debbie.”

“Debbie.  A very pretty name.”  Amanda smiled, inching closer.  “Debbie, I’m going to start the shower for you, and then leave you be.  You need to clean up.  You’ve got some pretty nasty cuts on you, and we don’t want them to get infected.  Joanna, she works her with me, she’ll be here in a little while.  She’s a nurse.  She’ll look you over, and make sure there isn’t any serious damage.  Okay?” 

Debbie just nodded. 

Amanda stood up and headed towards one of the shower stalls.  She leaned in, turning on the water and running her hands under the weak stream.  The gymnasium and the locker room both needed a lot of work, but work cost money, and money was in short supply. 

It drove Amanda nuts that her and Matt had to beg and plead for funds to keep the Youth Center open, even though it was the only place that seemed to be helping any of the kids in Wheaton.  Especially after… after Felicia died, and Wheaton Prep was bought by that damn church. 

Amanda froze when she heard the sound of shuffling feet approaching her from behind.  She turned her head slowly to see Debbie standing at the edge of the tiled floor that led into the shower room.  She was naked, and the sight of her body made Amanda choke back a scream. 

On her stomach, etched into the very flesh, were strange patterns.  Twisting and turning vines, the cuts old and scarred, crisscrossed up her ribs, and over her belly, down the front of her body, vanishing into the thatch of pubic hair nestled between her legs.  

Debbie was watching Amanda, and then glanced down, seeming to see the markings for the first time herself. 

“What did they do to me?” Her hands gently touched the scarred tissue.  “What did those bastards do to me?” 

Debbie’s knees buckled, and Amanda had to move quickly to scoop her up, holding the poor girl close as she broke into a fit of sobs.

Where had she come from?  Who would do something like that? 

Tentacle University pt. 2

When Devon Walker woke up he expected it to be just another quiet Sunday on campus.  He expected to hear the sounds of hung over shuffling down the hallway, the chatter of his roommates as they recounted the night before.  What he hadn’t expected was to hear the sound of sirens blazing past his dorm. 

Devon stumbled out of his room, into the small, cluttered living room that he shared with his two roommates.  “What the hell is going on?”

Peter stood at a window, looking down at the road that ran outside the dorm.  He glanced back at Devon, barely registering his roommate’s presence. 

“Cops are flooding the old campus.” Peter leaned forward.

The old campus? Usually police found their way over to Greek Row, not the abandoned school buildings.  Most of them were under lock and key, anyways.  Sure a few kids wandered over there every once in a while, mostly to get high and hook up out of the prying eyes of the small campus. 

“You hear what happened?” Devon shuffled closer to the window.  “Seems like a little bit of over kill.” 

“Sounds like they found two bodies.” Peter’s eyes were still glued on the road, following an ambulance that flew past.  “Cherry texted me.  Her dorm is right on the edge of the old campus.  Said one of the construction guys wandered in there around seven, then came running out, screaming like a psycho.”  Finally Peter looked at Devon.  “Want to go check it out?”

“That’s kind of morbid.” Devon shook his head.  It was in pretty bad taste to go rushing to the site of a murder.  Still… he was curious. 

“You sure?” He nudged Devon in the ribs. 

“I guess checking it out would be okay.” He shrugged.  “Just to see what was going on.” 

-*-

There was already a crowd outside of Warner Hall was already pretty large, and as Devon watched, he could see it growing. 

Hartmore was a pretty small campus, and very quiet.  The students were there because they wanted to get a degree, and eventually a well paying job.  The university prided itself on it’s high graduation numbers, and its number of successful alumni.  Other than the occasional drunk and disorderly the students of Hartmore were extremely focused.  Throw a few cop cars in and a few morbid rumors, and suddenly that focus was broken. 

Devon made his way through the crowd slowly, inching towards the chain link fence that blocked access to the rotting building.  He watched as a stretcher was wheeled out of the building, a white sheet over what appeared to be a body. 

“Dude, looks like Cherry wasn’t lying.” Peter let out a surprised laugh.  “Wonder what happened.” 

Devon couldn’t speak.  His eyes were locked on the body, on that draped form.  It looked… off somehow.  It looked so thin, like there was almost nothing underneath it.  When the stretcher hit a bump on one of the cracked steps the sheet shifted, and Devon could see clearly why the body looked so strange.  An arm fell from the covering.  It was thin and boney, the once peach skin a pale grey.  The skin clung to the bones like tissue paper.  It looked… drained.

“Oh God.” Devon felt his stomach lurch. 

“Holy shit.” Peter’s hand went to his mouth.  “Look at the wrist.”

Devon shook his head. 

“Dude, look.”  Peter elbowed him in the ribs.  “You recognize that bracelet?” 

Devon looked up, his eyes glancing back at the corpse. 

There, dangling from the boney wrist was a bright, silver bracelet.  It was a health alert bracelet, brand new, and Peter was right, it was familiar.  His roommate Tim had gotten one just like that a few weeks ago. 

“No way.” Devon shook his head violently, doing his best to choke back the vomit that seemed to be crawling up his throat.  “That body looks mummified.  There’s no way it could be…” 

“Devon Walker? Peter Thomas?” A low voice made Devon jump.  They both turned, and there, standing behind them was a tall, thin man.  He had olive skin, dark black hair, and his eyes were hidden behind a pair of dark, black shades. 

Devon nodded.  Peter was frozen. 

“We need to talk.”

Eye See You: Randy Connects pt. 18

“What text?”

The question was out before the door even closed.

Lying to him wouldn’t help my situation, so I showed him.

He read it, his brow furrowed, the muscles between his eyebrows creating two tight L’s.  I saw his eyes scan the short message multiple times.

“It’s a hoax.  Has to be.”

He handed my phone back.

I couldn’t believe that.  Who would even know to send me a message using Janelle’s number?  Who would know we were even connected?

Something in the way his eyes narrowed and his lips tightened told me not to press the issue. 

The text bugged him.  That much was obvious. 

A few minutes later he vanished into the bathroom, and I could hear him talking to himself.

What the fuck was going on with him? Where was the Luke I knew? Where was the Luke who had helped me through all of this? 

I glanced down at my cellphone.

Something else was wrong.

Where was the video and new list?

Ruins pt. 34

When we continued our trek I made my way up to the front of the party, next to Alana. 

She smiled at me, that beautiful smile. 

I watched, as the sunlight breaking through the tree cover danced across her rich, brown skin.

I watch her muscles work as she walks, strong and solid, but each movement sleek and feline.

“Are you going to speak to me, or just stare?”

Alana poked me.

“Remember what Nora said. It isn’t polite to stare.”

I stammer about, apologizing. 

I couldn’t remember the last time I had seen beauty.

Yep, I said that out loud.

I could feel my cheeks growing hot.

It was like high school all over again, but this time the world really was ending.

Or had ended.

“Listen, I know you and your friends have been through a lot, so I’ll let the social awkwardness slide. Just don’t get any ideas.”

She cocked an eyebrow, her lips curling into a sly smile.

“These muscles aren’t just for show.”

I laugh.

I believe her, one hundred percent. 

The sly smile turns into a grin, and she gently claps my shoulder.

Eye See You: Randy Connects pt. 17

It only took twenty minutes at Luke’s place for Dave to excuse himself. 

He said he would stay with his sister.

As he was leaving I stopped him in the doorway. 

My mind had been so traumatized by what we had seen that I nearly forgot about the task I had asked him to complete earlier.

Did he know where that text came from?

“I was able to use some geo location program.  I got an idea.”

His voice was flat.  His mind didn’t seem to want to be working at that moment.

“Give me some time to play with it, and I might be able to give you an exact address.”

I thanked him, and then let him go. 

The whole time I could feel Luke’s eyes on me.