Fear Hall: The Beginning (5 page)

“Okay,” I told her, jumping up. “I'll get a sweat-shirt. Let's go out.”

That brought a smile to her face.

I crossed the room to my dresser and pulled out a blue-and-gold Ivy State sweatshirt. “Hope—what do you want to do?” I asked.

Her eyes flashed. “Get into trouble,” she replied.

W
e walked a couple of blocks to the Blue Tavern. It's not really a tavern. It's more like a pizza joint that serves beer. It's one of the few places in town that stays open later than ten o'clock.

Just about every table was filled with kids from the college. The room smelled of cigarette smoke, pizza sauce, and beer. Blue ceiling lights cast a dark glow over everyone.

The restaurant has only blue lights. It's always dark and kind of gloomy inside. No matter what time of day you visit the Blue Tavern, it always seems like midnight.

Which, I guess, is why we like it.

Hope and I stood at the bar for a while, waiting for
a table to open up. We gazed around, peering through the smoky blue light, and didn't say much.

The waitresses, all dressed in short blue skirts and white blouses, scurried around. They carried pizzas and pitchers of beer on big metal trays, and struggled to squeeze through the crowded tables.

After about twenty minutes or so, a table against the back wall opened up. Hope and I grabbed it. We ordered a pizza as soon as the waitress came around.

“Hey—how's it going?”

Two guys at the next table grinned at us. I recognized one of them from my sociology class. He was kind of cute. He had very short, auburn hair and a little beard on his chin. And he had a nice smile.

His friend looked a little like a pirate. He had a red bandanna tied around his forehead, under a pile of curly, black hair.

“Hi,” I called back.

Hope lowered her eyes to the table.

“What's up?” the cute one asked me.

I shrugged. “Just the usual.”

I turned back to Hope. She had hunched down low, a fretful expression on her face. She kept her eyes down.

“What's your problem?” I asked. “Your posture gets worse every day.”

She didn't smile at my joke. I suddenly realized that she
never
laughed or smiled at my jokes.

I crack jokes all the time. I mean, all the time. It's just the way I am. I think of myself as sort of sarcastic, sort of funny.

You
need
a sense of humor—right? It's my way of dealing with things. And people.

But until that moment, I'd never realized that I could
never
get even a smile from Hope.

What does she think of me? I suddenly wondered. Does she wish I'd stop making dumb jokes all the time?

“Hey—what's your name?” the bandanna guy called. He had to shout over the booming jukebox.

“Eden,” I called back. “What's yours?”

“Gideon,” came the reply.

He didn't look like a Gideon. I suddenly wondered what a good nickname for Gideon would be. Gid? Giddy?

Hope frowned and shook her head. “We'd better go,” she murmured.

“Huh? Did you say go?” I leaned over the little table to hear her better.

A few tables away, some guy spilled a glass of beer. The glass shattered loudly on the floor. The guys all around burst out in applause and wild laughter.

So many grinning blue faces. That eerie blue glow washing over everyone.

“What's wrong, Hope?” I asked. “We just sat down. Our pizza isn't ready yet. Why do you want to leave?”

She raised her eyes to the front of the restaurant, but didn't reply.

I felt a sudden chill.

“Darryl?” I asked.

She nodded.

“Darryl is watching?” I asked. I turned and
squinted through the smoky blue haze. I didn't see him.

“He's watching,” Hope said softly. I saw her chin quiver. “I don't want trouble, Eden.”

“Hi.” I heard a voice. Close by. And felt a hand on my shoulder.

I spun around to see the cute guy with the little beard grinning down at me. “You're in my sociology class,” he said. “I'm Dave. He's Gideon.” Gideon was also on his feet. Also grinning.

“Can we join you?” Dave asked.

“Well …” I hesitated. “I'm sorry, but my friend—”

Dave's smile faded. “What friend?” he asked.

“Huh?” I turned back to the table.

Hope had disappeared.

W
ith a startled gasp, I jumped ta my feet, nearly knocking the table over.

My eyes swept the restaurant. Squinting through the blue glare, I quickly searched for Hope.

Had Darryl appeared and dragged her off?

No. No way.

I would have heard him. I would have seen him.

Besides, Darryl would have no reason to be jealous. Unless …

Unless he saw us and thought we were here with Dave and Gideon.

Whoa. Slow down, I warned myself.

Hope saw Darryl across the tavern, and she ran over to say hi to him. That's all. That's all there is to it.

She isn't in trouble. She isn't in any danger.

Then why didn't she tell me she was leaving?

My heart pounded. I suddenly had a bad feeling about this.

I realized that the two guys were staring at me. “Are you okay?” Dave asked.

“Yeah. Fine,” I replied. “My friend left, and I didn't realize …” My voice trailed off.

“Half plain, half pepperoni,” a voice announced.

A blue-skirted waitress lowered a steaming-hot pizza to my table.

“I—I've got to go,” I stammered.

The waitress didn't hear me. She was already on her way back to the kitchen.

“Aren't you going to eat?” Gideon asked. He eyed the pizza hungrily.

“Well …”

Hope is fine, I told myself.

I really liked Dave's smile.

I needed a guy in my life. A nice guy. Not a guy like Darryl. A guy with a little red beard and a nice smile. And a friend who looks like a dark-haired pirate.

I motioned for them to sit down. “My treat,” I said, smiling at Dave. “If you'll buy a pitcher of Diet Coke.”

“Oooh, Diet Coke! You sure you can handle it?” Dave teased. He and Gideon clicked glasses.

The three of us dove into the pizza. I was suddenly a lot hungrier than I thought.

We talked and laughed and had a good time.

I shoved Hope to the back of my mind. I kept
telling myself that she was probably back in the room safe and sound by now. Or off somewhere making out with Darryl.

Hope can take care of herself, I decided.

I tugged on Dave's beard. I just couldn't resist. “I had to see if it's a fake,” I told him.

“The beard is real,” he said. “The rest of my head is a fake!”

We laughed like lunatics at that. It wasn't that funny. But it was the way he said it.

I tugged his beard again, and we laughed some more.

Gideon said that his bandanna was holding his head together. We laughed at that too.

And finished off a second pizza.

The restaurant started to empty out. It was actually quiet enough now to talk without shouting. The blue light appeared to deepen. Dark purple shadows stretched over our table.

“Do you live on campus?” Dave asked me, finishing off our second pitcher of Diet Coke.

“Yeah. If you can call it living!” I joked. I swallowed a pepperoni, then shoved my plate away. I felt stuffed. And suddenly sleepy.

“I live in Fear Hall,” I told them.

Both boys uttered exaggerated gasps. “Whoa! That's awesome!” Gideon cried.

“Have you ever seen any ghosts floating around in there?” Dave asked.

I squinted hard at him, trying to decide if he was serious or not. “Do you believe in ghosts?” I asked.

He shrugged. “I believe the stories about that dorm,” he said seriously.

“Were you there the other night when that guy was murdered?” Gideon asked.

The question sent a chill down the back of my neck.

Hope. Hope and Darryl.

I was having such a good time, I'd forgotten all about my roommate.

I jumped up. “I've got to get back,” I said. “I—I forgot something.”

It took a few more minutes to say good-bye. Dave offered to study with me some evening soon. That made me happy. I really liked him. I was glad he wanted to see me again.

Both guys lived in an apartment west of campus. But they offered to walk me home.

I said no thanks. Fear Hall was only two blocks away. Besides, I felt like jogging back.

I was in a hurry now. I really wanted to make sure Hope was okay.

The cold night air shocked me. My skin felt hot and wet.

I knew I reeked of cigarette smoke. I had been so interested in Dave and Gideon, I hadn't realized how stuffy the restaurant was.

Leaning into the wind, I crossed the street and then started to jog. The cold air felt so refreshing against my face.

A car horn honked beside me, but I didn't turn. I kept jogging straight ahead, along the closed campus shops and restaurants.

I saw a couple leaning against a dark doorway, their arms around each other, kissing, not moving, still as statues. At first I thought it might be Hope and Darryl.

But as I trotted by, I didn't recognize them.

I wondered if Dave and I would ever kiss like that.

Back in the restaurant, when I tugged his beard, I'd had a strong impulse to pull his face to mine and give him a passionate kiss. Thinking about it made me smile.

A few seconds later, the high, dark brick walls of Fear Hall came into view. Gazing up, I saw that most of the rooms were dark. I had stayed at the Blue Tavern a lot longer than I'd realized.

I stepped into the building. Waved to Ollie, the old night guard, half asleep behind the front desk. And made my way to the elevators.

As the elevator rumbled up to thirteen, I crossed my fingers.
Please, Hope, be okay,
I thought.

I stepped out and gazed down the long hall. Two girls in pajamas were chatting at the far end. They leaned against the wall, talking quietly, both of them gesturing with their hands as they spoke.

One of the ceiling lights was out, leaving a pool of darkness in front of my room. Across the hall, I could hear music from the three M's room. Classical music.

I took a deep breath and turned the knob on my door. The door creaked open, and I peered inside.

A desk lamp against the far wall cast a triangle of yellow light on the floor. The other lights were all out.

I glimpsed Angel asleep in her lower bunk and heard Jasmine snore in the top bunk.

Then I saw Hope, huddled against her bed. Her eyes opened wide when she saw me. “Eden—” she whispered.

Before I could reply, Darryl stepped around the desk, into the triangle of light. He moved quickly, and I saw the scowl of anger on his face.

“I've been waiting for you, Eden,” he growled.

“Darryl—what are you doing in here?” I demanded. “You know boys aren't allowed on this floor.”

“Eden—don't get him angry,” Hope warned in a trembling voice. She raised her hands and tugged at the sides of her blond hair.

I took a few steps toward him. I didn't feel afraid of him. I felt only anger. What right did he have to barge into our room and try to frighten everyone?

Wasn't he grateful that we were protecting him? That we were keeping his horrible crime a secret?

“What's your problem, Darryl?” I asked through clenched teeth.

He picked up a sheet of paper from the desk. His face was in shadow, but his pale blue eyes glowed. “Did you write this?” he demanded.

I stared at it. “What is that? The letter I started?”

He nodded.

“Give it to me!” I screamed. “You have no right to read my letters. You have no right—”

I rushed forward and tried to swipe it from his hand.

But he reached out with his other hand and grabbed my wrist.

“Oww! Let go!” I tried to squirm free.

But he bent my arm behind my back. Jerked it hard. And kept bending it until I screamed again.

“What else were you going to write, Eden?” Darryl whispered in my ear. His hot breath swept over my face. Made my skin prickle.

“Nothing—” I choked out. “Let go. You're
hurting
me!”

“Let go of her!” Hope shouted.

“What else were you going to write in your letter?” Darryl repeated. “Were you going to tell your mom about me? Were you going to tell her who did that terrible thing in front of the dorm?”

He twisted my arm back until I shrieked in pain.

“No. No—of course not!” I whispered.

He let out an angry snarl—and shoved me hard against the wall.

I spun around, breathing hard. My shoulder throbbed with pain.

He balled up the letter and tossed it at me. It hit my forehead and bounced to the floor.

A grin spread over his face. A grin of triumph.

And that's when I decided to kill him.

W
ell … no.

I didn't want to kill him. I just wanted to get rid of him.

I wanted to get him out of our lives. I wanted to call the police and tell them what he had done.

I wanted Darryl away. Far away, where I'd never have to be afraid of him again.

A hard knock on the door made us all jump.

Darryl dove for the bathroom. Hope followed. He slammed the door behind them.

Angel sleepily raised her head from her pillow. “Who's here?” she asked, blinking. Then she turned her face to the wall. Jasmine remained sound asleep in the top bunk.

I had left the door open a crack. As I took a step
toward it, it swung open. Melanie and Mary poked their heads in.

“Is everything okay?” Mary asked.

I picked up my balled-up letter from the floor. “Yeah. What's wrong?” I replied.