Midnight House, page 22
April hopped off Daniel’s office chair and hugged him tight. “I’m glad you got home safe,” April said, her voice muffled a bit since her face was buried in his shirt.
He hugged her back. “Me, too, sis. Me, too.”
She let go of him, and as she sat on the bed next to him, she wiped tears from her eyes.
“I’m glad we talked about this,” Daniel said. “It’s much better than fighting.”
April smiled. “You think so?”
“Yeah,” Daniel said. “Why do you always pick fights with me, anyway?”
“Because it’s fun,” April said with a smile. “And it gets you to pay attention to me.”
“I pay attention to you,” Daniel said.
“Not when Kyle and Amber are around,” April said. “And those two are around a lot.”
Daniel nodded in agreement. “Well, how about you and me go see a movie next weekend. Just us. Then we’ll go to Outback and have dinner.”
“Okay!” April said, excited.
“And if you ever have any questions about what happened to me, or even about what’s going on in my counseling sessions, you can always ask. Okay?”
“Yeah,” April said. She stood up and walked to his door. Before she left, she turned back. “Thanks for being a great brother.”
Daniel smiled. “Thanks for being an awesome sister.”
April left his room and closed the door.
“Okay,” he heard April say on the other side of his door, “we made up and won’t fight anymore. No house painting this summer!”
Daniel shook his head as he picked up his iPad. “We definitely dodged that bullet,” Daniel said to himself. He flipped open the screen protector and noticed he had a missed FaceTime call from Colby.
Daniel called him back.
“Hey, Colby,” Daniel said.
“Hi,” Colby said. Even on the screen, Daniel could tell Colby still wasn’t sleeping. The circles under his eyes seemed darker than they had on Wednesday.
“Did you understand the article?” Daniel asked.
“Yeah,” Colby said. Colby looked around as if making sure no one could hear him. He said in a low voice: “I want to go back there.”
“Where?” Daniel asked.
“To the house,” Colby said.
Daniel’s throat and gut tightened. He swallowed, his mouth now dry. “Are you sure?”
“Yes,” Colby said. “I’ll ask my dad if I can get ice cream with you on Monday, and we can go there instead.”
Daniel didn’t like the idea of Colby lying to his dad about this, but if this would help Colby...
“Okay,” Daniel said. “Have him text me, and we’ll set up a time after I’m out of school.”
“Okay,” Colby said. He paused, still looking at the camera. “Do you think this will help?”
“If it doesn’t,” Daniel said, “we still have that counseling thing on Thursday.”
“I’ll tell my dad about Monday,” Colby said. “Bye.”
“Bye,” Daniel said as FaceTime disconnected. Daniel sat still staring at the screen. “Back to the house,” he said to himself. “After two years. Crap.”
Daniel reloaded the psychology article he had sent to Colby and skimmed through again until he found the paragraph that had inspired the young boy:
‘Returning to the scene where the trauma happened can also be helpful for some victims. While this can spur feelings and emotions associated with the trauma, if the victim visits the location with a friend or loved ones, it will give them the support they need to work through the past event’s pain. While not recommended for all victims, it can often help the person begin to heal emotionally and psychologically.’
I should have pushed for writing a letter, Daniel thought.
But, it was too late now. Tomorrow, he and Colby would be going back to the place he vowed never to return.
His hopes for a good night’s sleep were once again flushed down the toilet.
CHAPTER
ONE HUNDRED AND THREE
Luke was on his King-sized bed, reading Hamlet for class. Beside him was a pack of frozen peas wrapped in a dishtowel that he kept placing on his nose to help calm the swelling. He had lied and told his parents he had been elbowed in the face during the game Friday, which kept their questions to a minimum.
It wasn’t like they were at the game, anyway.
As he finished act three of the Shakespeare tragedy, he heard his door open. He looked up and saw Tyler filling the door frame.
“How’s your nose?” his older brother asked. He stepped into the room and closed the door, his shirt straining against his massive chest and arms.
“It’ll heal,” Luke said, sitting up.
“I had another idea,” Tyler said as he stood in front of him. “Something special for our pal, Kyle. But you can’t be involved. How much control do you have over your Varsity players?”
“Enough,” Luke said.
“Good,” Tyler said with a smile. “You’re calling out sick tomorrow and Tuesday from school.” Tyler picked up Luke’s phone from his desk and tossed it next to him on his bed. “Call your most loyal players and tell them exactly what I’m about to tell you.”
MONDAY
CHAPTER
ONE HUNDRED AND FOUR
Before class on Monday, Daniel sought out Steven Trout. If closure was a real possibility, he decided to start small and see what happened.
“Trout?” Daniel said as he spotted Steven in the hallway at his locker. Steven looked in his direction. He was in all black, except for a dark grey beanie.
“Hey, Robinson,” Trout said as he slammed his locker closed and placed a textbook in his backpack. “What’s up?”
“Actually,” Daniel said. “I wanted to clear the air and apologize to you.”
“About what?” Steven asked.
Daniel looked around. “Can we go someplace quieter?”
Daniel and Steven entered a vacant computer lab. “I’m just trying to find some closure with things that I’ve let go on too long,” Daniel continued as he and Steven stood face-to-face.
“You’re seeing a counselor, aren’t you?”
“Why do you think that?”
“Because you’re looking for ‘closure.’ That’s a very psychologisty word. Don’t worry. I see one too from time to time.”
“I start on Thursday,” Daniel said.
“Nice,” Trout said.
“So,” Daniel continued. “I’ve been a little jealous of your friendship with Amber, and I feel bad because I didn’t know that she was helping you through a problem.”
“She’s pretty good at that,” Steven said.
“Yes, she is,” Daniel said. “So, I just wanted to apologize and say that I’m sorry for jumping to conclusions about your relationship with Amber.”
Steven Trout smiled. “Apology accepted,” Steven Trout said. “Feel better?”
“I do,” Daniel said.
“Like a weight has been lifted?” Steven asked.
“Yeah,” Daniel said.
“Good,” Steven replied. “Well, see you around, Robinson.” Steven headed past Daniel toward the door.
“Friday night at Midnight House,” Daniel blurted out as he swiveled around to face Steven again.
Steven stopped, turned around. “That was a crazy night, wasn’t it? Especially when you showed up. Knock, knock. Who’s there? A cameo by Daniel Robinson!”
“Well, I like to keep people guessing,” Daniel said. “Speaking of guessing, I can’t figure out who the masked guy was. Do you know?”
“The big guy? No clue. He came out of a bedroom in that mask. Never seen a kid that big at school before.”
“Were you all wrestling in that kiddie pool?”
“Kyle was the only one who was forced to wrestle. I think he thought it was all a joke at first. We all did. But then when the big guy stuck Kyle’s head underwater in that kiddie pool...”
“You thought he meant to kill him?” Daniel said.
“Looked like that, yeah.”
“Is that why you had to chase after us?”
“That’s the weird thing. When you guys took off, we all froze. It was the big guy in the skull mask who yelled at Luke to go get Kyle.”
Daniel was surprised. “The guy in the skull mask told Luke to go after us?”
“Yeah. I mean, it was like he was calling the shots and not Luke.”
“Thank you, Steven. And again, sorry about the whole jealousy thing.”
“Don’t worry about it. Amber’s a cute girl.”
“I know.”
“She’s a lucky woman. See you later.” Trout left the computer room.
CHAPTER
ONE HUNDRED AND FIVE
Amber, her hair still Black Widow red, sat in her spot at the ASB tables, silently waiting for Steven Trout to arrive.
The ASB teacher, Miss Rivera, a blonde woman who loved vibrant red lipstick and designer clothes, announced before the bell that Luke was out sick. That meant they would spend the period cleaning up any remaining spirit stuff around the school and in the room instead of having their usual Monday meeting.
The ASB door opened, and Steven Trout walked in. He made eye contact with Amber, and his face lit up. “Amber!” he said in a sing-song voice.
The bell rang.
“Don’t,” Amber said.
Steven’s face fell. “What’s wrong?”
Amber wanted to work with someone else for her clean-up duty, but Steven volunteered them as a team. Now, he was following her down the hallway like a puppy, black trash bag in hand.
“I don’t understand why you’re acting like this,” Steven said.
She stopped and spun around. “I needed you on Saturday night, and you didn’t respond,” Amber said.
Steven Trout looked at her, confused. “I never got a text from you,” Steven said. “I didn’t hear from you all weekend.”
“I tried calling Saturday before work,” Amber said. “I wanted to know what happened up there.”
Steven took out his phone. “That’s weird,” he said.
“What?”
“Your text messages are gone,” he said, showing her the phone.
Steven did something else on his phone. “You’re blocked.”
“Blocked?”
“Someone blocked your number and deleted your texts to me,” Steven said.
“Well, who had access to your phone?” Amber asked.
“When we got to Midnight House,” Steven began, “Luke had us give him our phones and our passcodes. So, either he or one of the other players must’ve done it.”
Amber thought back to that night. “And I texted you while you were on the way back to the school.”
“And we didn’t get our phones back until after we got back here,” Steven said.
“Then Luke must’ve seen the message, deleted it, and blocked my number,” Amber said.
“Well, now it’s unblocked,” Steven said. “Oh, hey, Daniel apologized earlier for being jealous of you and me.”
“That was nice of him,” Amber said, still thinking about what Luke had done. “So, while we do this, why don’t you tell me everything that happened up there. And don’t leave anything out.”
CHAPTER
ONE HUNDRED AND SIX
Kyle sat on the bench during practice, his toe still throbbing and sore from the weekend. He had shown the JV Coach his toe, and he told Kyle to take it easy but still show up, which he did.
Kyle felt the tension in the air ever since he entered the gym.
It was if he were invisible. All the players, including his own JV teammates, were ignoring him. Luke wasn’t here, either. And Kyle still hadn’t heard from him since he texted Luke to apologize on Saturday.
So, here he sat. Benched thanks to his toe, and benched from his relationship with Megan. She was more than a little upset with him for lying to her about Midnight House. She told him she needed some time to think, which he interpreted as their relationship was probably over. He would try and make it up to her, but he knew it would be a long road to get there.
A very long road.
Kyle could feel himself growing agitated with the practice situation. If no one was even going to acknowledge he was there, there was really no reason to stick around.
He decided it was best to just leave. No real point in staying where he wasn’t welcome.
He stood and walked along the edge of the court, walked out the set of double-doors that led outside, then turned right toward the doors that led to the locker room.
As he entered the musty, body-odor-infused locker room, he was sure this was all just further punishment for the events of Midnight House. But Kyle knew – thanks to the bruises on his butt – he had already faced the consequences for those actions.
But maybe that was only the first part.
As he opened his locker to change, the sounds of basketballs bouncing and shoes squeaking on the court abruptly stopped. He pulled off his practice jersey and sweats, the cold of the cavernous locker room erupting goosebumps all over his exposed flesh.
He saw something out of the corner of his eye to his left and turned.
Then felt something behind him. As he turned, something was pulled over his face, his arms were grabbed, and someone grabbed his feet.
His boxer briefs were yanked off as the silence in the room was replaced by what sounded like fists and feet banging against lockers.
Kyle’s screams for help were muted by whatever was over his face, and the deafening cacophony surrounding him.
Kyle struggled to break free from whoever had a hold of him; the noise and sudden blindness left him disoriented even in a place as familiar as the Enterprise locker room.
His bare heels hit the ground. Small tiles. The showers.
He heard the shower turn on next to his covered head. The pounding and kicking of lockers hit a fever pitch.
Hands grabbed his head. Kyle struggled, but his face was shoved under the spray of the ice-cold shower. The fabric over his face now glued to his face making breathing next to impossible. Whoever was holding his head had him in a position where water was quickly draining up his nose.
He began to gag and gasp, the soaked fabric sucking in and out of his mouth, which only made the situation worse.
And made Kyle panic even more.
Kyle bent his knees in an attempt to lower himself away from the icy spray, only to realize that whoever had him had thought of that and were holding him up under his arms.
And they lifted him even closer to the spray, his feet off the ground.
Then, they dropped him.
With a wet smack, his naked body hit the cold tile floor.
And just as quickly as it had begun, the pounding on the lockers stopped.
Kyle lay on the shower floor, shivering, gasping, and coughing.
He pulled the soaked piece of clothing off his head, his vision returning to see a vacant shower and locker room.
They had used his own jersey to waterboard him.
Kyle stood, his legs shaking, his heart pounding. He pulled up his soaked boxers and ambled unevenly toward his locker, checking his surrounding for another ambush.
He opened his locker. His clothes were ripped to shreds. His favorite jacket was in tatters. His shoes mutilated.
He picked up what was left of his towel. It was wet. He sniffed it. It smelled like piss.
He was thankful he had left his backpack and phone in his school locker and hadn’t brought it with him.
Kyle had to get to his other locker but knew doing it in his semi-nude condition wouldn’t work. Then he had an idea.
If the team had turned against him, then he would turn against the team.
Kyle hurried to check all the lockers, looking for one that didn’t have a combination lock and had someone’s street clothes inside.
After ten or eleven lockers, he opened one that had jeans, a polo shirt, socks, and shoes.
He quickly put them on – all too big for him, but workable given the situation – and hurried out the back doors of the locker room.
Kyle made an arc across the soccer field and chain-link fence, then entered through an open gate that led him toward the enclosed hallway of the 50-wing.
He made it to his locker, opened it, grabbed his backpack and phone, and ran to his truck. He sped out of the parking lot, disobeying the posted speed limit.
As he slowed at the light at the intersection of Churn Creek and Hartnell, he felt himself shaking. Had Luke set this up? Was he really that upset about what had happened at Midnight House?
When the light turned green, Kyle hit the gas and wanted nothing more than to get back home.
CHAPTER
ONE HUNDRED AND SEVEN
Daniel drove the Civic to the end of Shasta View Road and looked across the street to where he had been cornered two years before. The boy in black and his friend with the sunglasses and red hair. Soon known to Daniel as Austin and James.
He looked to his left and saw the trees that housed the clearing where he was first taken. He felt his grip tighten on the steering wheel. The blinker’s rhythmic click, ticked, ticked, ticked in his head like a drumbeat on his brain.
“Daniel,” Colby said, snapping him back to reality. Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea, he thought.
“Yeah? You still good?” Daniel said.
Colby nodded. “What about you?”
“Me? Oh, I’m fine. Just fine.” Daniel turned left onto Rancho Road, drove a couple blocks, then turned left again onto the still-gravel road where it all began.
Colby could tell Daniel didn’t want to be here, but he was glad that Daniel wanted to help him. As they drove down the gravel road, none of it was familiar to Colby. He had been hidden on the floor of Austin’s truck covered in blankets after he was kidnapped from Caldwell Park, so he wasn’t as nervous as Daniel was...yet.
Daniel pulled his car to a stop and parked across the road from what looked to Colby to be a partially demolished house. “Is that it?” he asked his older friend.
