Midnight house, p.16
Midnight House, page 16
“Thanks,” Daniel said as he opened the car door. “See you in twenty.”
He closed the passenger door and heard Amber lock herself inside. Daniel zipped his jacket to the top in an attempt to protect himself from the chilly night air. He felt cold water drip on his head from the tree branches above.
He exhaled a large plume of smoky air due to the cold, then walked away from Amber’s Focus and up to the main road.
Daniel put the phone in his back pocket and walked up the slight incline toward what he hoped would be a peaceful reunion.
Amber didn’t like to feel scared, and she didn’t really feel that way at the moment. She was more concerned about Daniel and his mental state. His lack of sleep. The nightmares. His worrying about Kyle. His trust issues with her regarding her friendship with Steven Trout.
Was she helping or hurting him by driving him out here tonight? Should she have pushed harder for the late-night cuddle session at her Aunt’s house?
She looked at her phone and saw that she thankfully had one bar. That at least gave her some sense of security if something crazy did happen.
Whatever that might be.
Twenty minutes. Twenty minutes and she was to drive down and call the cops. But she had a bar on her cell, unlike Daniel, so she could call from here.
If she had to, that is.
A few minutes after Daniel left, Amber opened her car door. The sudden rush of cold air shot through her body like an icy knife.
She walked to the back of the Focus and popped the trunk. Using the flashlight on her phone, she looked at the trunk’s contents: a beach towel, some blankets, an EHS sweatshirt.
She dug underneath the items, making a note to take the blanket back with her when she returned to the car. Amber pulled up trunk’s floor to reveal the spare tire, jack...and a special item she wanted to have with her, just in case.
CHAPTER
SEVENTY
Daniel hiked up the gravel road, amazed that his phone had reception now. His location, and the location of Kyle’s phone, drew closer on the screen the further he walked. As cold as it had been in Redding, Whiskeytown’s elevation brought a stronger chill that penetrated through Daniel’s jacket despite the cloud cover above.
He stopped abruptly, his shoes skidding slightly on the loose gravel beneath him. It sounded like bass pounding nearby.
Another glance at his phone’s screen made it clear that the noise and Kyle’s phone were probably located in the same place.
But what the hell was it?
CHAPTER
SEVENTY-ONE
Kyle’s eardrums felt like they were about to explode, but he fought through the pain. As he started the third round of the first game of the evening, Kyle dropped to the tarp-covered floor, did twenty push-ups, jumped up, ran across the room – which was a challenge due to the only light source being a strobe light – took a shot of some horrible-tasting alcohol, did ten jumping jacks, spun in a circle five times, then back across the room for another ten push-ups.
With each round, Kyle could feel himself getting – what he could only guess it was, since he had never been before – drunker. He and his fellow teammates were bumping into each other with each pass.
The older boys’ screams and yells over the pounding music, along with being pelted by ice-water filled balloons left Kyle disoriented, dizzy, and nauseous.
But he had to keep going. He wanted that Varsity Captain position. And if this is what it took, he was okay with it.
On his fifth cycle through, he slammed hard into one of his teammates, which caused Kyle to lose his balance and fall backward onto the slick, wet tarp below him. Kyle had to move his body around on the wet tarp with only the aid of the strobe light to avoid his other teammates’ incoming legs as they ran past.
Kyle hurried to his feet, his body dripping with cold water, spilled alcohol, sweat, and who knew what else, and felt as if he was about to throw up. Determined not to fail, he started the next round.
The strobe shut off. The music stopped.
Kyle’s ears rang, and he could still see the remnants of the strobe light flashing in his vision.
The house lights came back on.
Kyle looked around at the mess of water, spilled alcohol, and out of breath teammates that surrounded him. The older, masked Varsity players and Luke stood across the room.
“Nicely done, ladies,” Luke said.
“I feel like I’m gonna puke!” Seth Kline said, kneeling on the floor beside Kyle.
“Puke, and you’re walking home!” Luke yelled.
Silence, except for the heavy breathing of the five naked JV players.
Luke walked to the table where empty shot glasses and red Solo cups were tipped over or littered the floor beneath. Most of the liquor bottles were near empty.
“Impressive,” Luke said. “Next game. You guys like to swim?”
Kyle and the other JV guys looked at each other and nodded.
“You like to wrestle?”
Again, nods from the JV team.
“Good. Hanson, you’re up first!”
Kyle wasn’t sure what that meant, or even if he could take a step without falling over. His vision was becoming increasingly blurred, and his stomach was on the verge of a revolt as his body became uncomfortably warm.
The Varsity players moved the table out from the center of the room, and Luke dragged the kiddie pool Kyle saw earlier into the center of the room. Even from where he was, Kyle could see that there was ice floating in the shallow water.
Kyle staggered forward toward the kiddie pool, arriving at the edge, and looked down. His equilibrium began to shift.
Don’t throw up. Don’t throw up! Kyle repeated to himself on a loop.
“Let’s bring out his opponent,” Luke said with a smirk.
A door opened. A mountain of a man in a black and grey skull mask, no shirt, and flower-covered board shorts entered the living room.
Kyle could feel his eyes widen, his mouth went dry, and his heart-rate increased even more than it already had from the alcohol-fueled games he and his fellow JV players had just completed.
You can throw up now, Kyle’s brain said to him.
The hulking man arrived on the opposite side of the pool.
“I...” Kyle began. “I don’t member seeing him before.”
“Transfer student,” Luke said. “First person to pin the other one underwater for ten seconds wins, then on to the next round. Winner wrestles the next JV player until we have a winner.”
Luke picked up an air horn and blasted it, which brought Kyle back to the reality of the situation. He stared into the cold, dead eyes that peered back at him from the shirtless giant in the skull mask.
Kyle knew he was in big trouble!
CHAPTER
SEVENTY-TWO
Daniel stood at the edge of the driveway, his anxiety gripping his heart, his lungs, and his mind. A house in the middle of nowhere. Unknown horrors inside. A best friend to be saved.
Now he knew how Kyle must have felt two years ago when he came across Austin’s house in the field.
The music had stopped, and the lights had come back on a few minutes ago. He had no clue how to approach the situation. Should he sneak in? Did they have guys patrolling the area? He hadn’t seen any.
This is stupid, Daniel said to himself. These are guys from school, not international terrorists or a drug cartel.
Reassured, he knew what he should do.
He heard an air horn blast from inside the cabin.
“Guess that’s my cue,” Daniel said to himself as he walked past the blue van and toward the cabin’s front door.
CHAPTER
SEVENTY-THREE
Kyle wrestled his masked opponent the best he could, amid the screams, cheers, and hollers from both the JV and Varsity players. His feet were freezing and going numb in the icy water of the kiddie pool, and the headlock he found himself in wasn’t helping matters.
His limbs felt rubbery from all the alcohol he had ingested, and most of his will-power was being spent on not puking instead of fighting back.
And the stench of body odor from Skull Mask’s armpit wasn’t helping Kyle keep his stomach contents at bay, either.
Skull Mask released him, and Kyle fell backward into the icy water of the kiddie pool. The ice water sloshed all around him. Kyle felt chunks of ice bob against his bare skin, which made him suddenly aware that he was buck naked in a pool of ice water.
Kyle and Skull Mask made eye contact. Kyle clamored to his feet and slammed into the giant with as much force as he could muster in the short distance. Skull Mask didn’t budge, and Kyle felt himself losing power and energy at a fast pace.
Kyle felt his legs crumple beneath him, his body once again submerged in the icy water as he splashed back down, Skull Mask on top of him.
Cold! It’s so cold! Kyle’s mind screamed.
Skull Mask grabbed Kyle’s hair and one of his shoulders and flipped him on his stomach, his face now submerged in the icy pool.
“Ten seconds! Ten seconds! Ten seconds!” the Varsity players chanted.
One-thousand-one, Kyle’s brain counted. One-thousand-two.
He felt his face being pressed into the bottom of the kiddie pool. One ear still above the waterline, he could hear the cheers of the Varsity team.
Something wasn’t right.
Kyle tried to flail his arms, move his legs. But he was pinned, Skull Mask’s knee driving deep into Kyle’s lower back.
Weakened by the alcohol, Kyle felt himself growing colder, more tired with each passing second.
He heard a loud pounding.
What the hell was that?
Luke looked at the other Varsity players, then at Tyler – Kyle’s giant, skull-masked opponent - who motioned with his head for Luke to get the door.
Luke opened the door.
It was Kyle’s best friend, Daniel.
“Hi,” Daniel said with a smile and quick wave. “I’m looking for Kyle Hanson?”
“Hey, Daniel!” Luke heard Kyle say behind him from the kiddie pool. “What the hell are you doing here?”
Why had his brother stopped what he was doing? Luke wondered. Luke realized that this would have been the perfect scenario: Daniel witnessing his best friend’s accidental death. A hazing accident gone wrong. Oops.
Daniel looked down at the pool. “There you are, silly! You were supposed to meet us for bowling night tonight.”
“I was? I’m sorry,” Kyle said, followed by a belch.
“Look, Daniel,” Luke said, blocking as much of the doorway with his body as he could. “Kyle’s fine. Why don’t you run along and you can see your friend tomorrow?”
Daniel took a step inside, closer to the kiddie pool.
Luke held on to the door, blocking his way.
Could we take them both out? Luke thought. But a quick glance around the room proved there were too many witnesses.
And Luke didn’t feel like going with Tyler’s plan of taking everyone out.
Luke looked Daniel square in the eye and smiled. “Kyle?” Luke began. “Tell your little friend that you’re fine and tell him to get lost,” Luke said.
“Hey, Daniel!” Kyle said again. “What the hell are you doing here? Remember when we were naked in that pond, and I got the frog in my pubes?”
Luke shrugged. “Have a good night,” Luke said as he attempted to move Daniel out the door by getting in his personal space.
Daniel was in the thick of it now. From his perspective, none of this looked good. The room reeked of liquor and sweat, and Kyle was naked and pinned in a kiddie pool by a giant guy in a black and grey skull mask. The other JV players were also naked, and all the other guys in the room were in horror movie masks, except for Luke.
Daniel stopped the closing door with his hand and foot. “I think I’ll just take my friend and leave.” He looked at the large masked man pinning Kyle in the kiddie pool. “Get off him.”
Silence. Daniel stared directly into the eyes of the giant in the skull mask. Daniel felt his jaw and lips tighten. “That wasn’t a suggestion, asshole,” Daniel said. “Get off him!”
The giant rose up, stepped out of the pool.
“Come on, Kyle,” Daniel said. He extended his arm toward his naked, soaked friend.
Luke grabbed Daniel’s wrist.
Daniel’s mind flashed back to the shoulder of Rancho Road two years prior when Austin grabbed his wrist.
Like a reflex of what he should have done two years ago, Daniel sucker-punched Luke in the nose.
Chaos erupted in the room as Luke reeled backward, holding his nose. The Varsity players rushing to his aid.
“God dammit! My nose!” Luke screamed.
Daniel’s fist immediately began to throb. Daniel used the chaos to his advantage. With his other hand, Daniel yanked Kyle out of the pool, out the front door, and onto the porch.
Daniel slammed the door behind them and instantly realized that Kyle was a wet, naked, shivering, drunk mess. But they both had to get back to Amber’s car, even under the circumstances.
And he knew exactly which way to go.
“Hope you’re ready to run, Kyle,” Daniel said as he dragged Kyle across the gravel driveway and down a slick, ivy-covered embankment.
CHAPTER
SEVENTY-FOUR
Tyler knew he had screwed up. He should never have told Luke to get the door. He was so close to getting the job done. So close to ending the life of Daniel’s best friend, the way Daniel had ended the life of Tyler’s.
But he couldn’t take the chance of it being a park ranger or one his parents on the other side of the door.
He wasn’t surprised to see Daniel standing there, but based on the look in the kid’s eyes when he told Tyler to get off his friend, drowning Kyle at that point would look premeditated.
And it was supposed to look like an accident.
At least to the other guys in the room, even if it wasn’t.
With the new chaos in the room and his brother’s nose looking more like a strawberry Gusher, he knew that they had to act fast. What if Daniel had the intention to call the cops? What if he wasn’t alone?
Tyler’s face was baking underneath his latex skull mask. The smells of latex, sweat, body odor and liquor were trapped inside the mask as well. He wanted to rip the mask off, but knew he couldn’t with the current crowd.
“What the hell are you waiting for?” Tyler yelled at his brother in a booming voice with no concern for his bloodied nose. “Go after them!”
“You heard him!” Luke said, his hand over his nose. “Get ‘em!”
The Varsity and naked JV players stormed from the cabin.
Luke looked at his brother. Tyler tossed him a roll of paper towels and pulled off the skull mask.
“Clean up,” Tyler said. “Then catch up with them.”
“I didn’t know he would show up!” Luke said, blood spreading across the wad of paper towels he held to his nose.
Tyler told Luke what he wanted him to do. Luke’s eyes widened. The bloody paper towels masked the rest of his face.
“Now, hurry up,” Tyler said, yanking the paper towels away from his brother’s face. “You’ve got a problem to fix.”
CHAPTER
SEVENTY-FIVE
As Kyle ran down the steep embankment, he could see a white building in the distance up ahead, thanks to the emerging moonlight. His bare feet were numb from the cold but still killing him thanks to the wide variety of pinecones, sharp rocks, and pine needles he had stepped on. He was definitely ready to stop running.
What a night! One minute he’s wrestling some big masked guy in a kiddie pool of ice water, and the next he’s out in the cold, running down a hillside with Daniel.
His head was pounding, and he could see his breath rise in smoky plumes with each exhale. He was naked, freezing, and nauseous.
“Slow down a minute,” he heard Daniel say close by.
He and Daniel slowed their running for a moment and listened. All Kyle could hear were forest sounds and the excess rainwater falling from the trees all around them.
“We have to get to Amber’s car before Luke and the others find us,” Daniel said.
“You’re the boss,” Kyle said with a chuckle.
Kyle hoped Luke and the other basketball players would find him. It was warm inside Midnight House, even if he had been in a pool of icy water. And, hell, he was having a good time with his teammates and friends. They were bonding and laughing and having a great time. Sure, he probably would have lost that round of wrestling, but he would make sure he had another shot. After all, he was destined to be Varsity Captain next season, and his pride was on the line.
Kyle was sure that the other players were out looking for him. The lucky ones with their shoes, and their pants, and their jackets.
He envied them.
Which meant now he had a more challenging task: convincing Daniel to let him go back with his teammates.
Daniel looked around in the darkness, afraid to turn on his phone’s flashlight. He didn’t want to give their pursuers any hint as to where he and Kyle were located.
“What’s that building?” Kyle said. He pointed down toward a clearing in the trees. The large building seemed to glow in the now-increasing moonlight. Daniel could tell even more now that Kyle was drunk, and now he was drunk, out-of-breath, and shivering. Not a great combination.
“It’s the main building at NEED Camp,” Daniel said. “Bet they have clothes in there. Lost and found stuff.”
“NEED Camp!” Kyle yelled. “I love NEED Camp! I’ll race you, then we can square dance!”
“Sh!” Daniel said as he looked around. Cold water dripped down on him from the tree branches above. “Are you crazy?”
“You’re right,” Kyle said as he moved unsteadily toward Daniel. Daniel could smell the alcohol on his breath. “We can’t square dance without music.”
