‘You have noticed!’
Maureen shrugged. Her eyes met Allan’s. ‘You don’t have to say anything. It’s none of our business.’
‘Of course it’s our business. We’re his buddies. Right, Allan?’
He smiled. ‘My buds. Right. I do appreciate your concern, really. Thanks. But it’s nothing. I’m just a little bit nervous about this gal I’ll be seeing tonight.’
‘Ah-ha!’ Shelly’s eyes gleamed. ‘A gal! Go for it, Romeo!’
‘That’s wonderful,’ Maureen said.
‘Anybody we know?’ Shelly asked.
‘I don’t even know her. Not exactly. She’s just somebody I met last weekend. At the movies. She sat across the aisle from me. We didn’t even talk. But if she’s there tonight..
‘Whoa!’ Shelly held up her hand. ‘Hold on. One second. She was at that midnight creepshow thing you go to on Saturday nights? And you don’t know her? So where do you think you’ll find her tonight?’ Allan felt heat wash over his face. This is what comes of lying, he thought. He shook his head and forced himself to laugh. ‘Geez, I don’t know. Guess I won’t be seeing her tonight. You’re right.’
‘Boy, you must have it bad. You don’t even know what day it is.’ She nudged Maureen with her elbow. ‘Looks like we’ve got a case of love at first sight.’
‘I don’t even know her,’ Allan protested.
‘She must be quite a fox.’
‘Quit teasing him,’ Maureen said. ‘Let him eat his lunch.’
Shelly laughed. ‘So what’s she got that we ain’t got?’
No face, Allan thought.
But he only shrugged. Then Jake Hanson came to their table and the conversation turned to obnoxious students, as it often did. When the bell rang and Allan got up from the table, Shelly said, ‘Hey, good luck with the fox. Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.’
Allan headed for his fifth-period class, wishing he’d kept his mouth shut.
Finally, the school day ended. On the way home, he stopped off at Blockbuster Video and picked up six tapes. Horror movies. Two of which he hadn’t already seen. They would help pass the time.
He ran one during supper, but his mind was on the masked woman. He hardly noticed the movie. Then he tried to work on his vampire novel, but gave up after an hour. As he sat in his recliner to watch the next movie, he thought, What’s the use? I might as well stare at the wall.
And then he had a very welcome thought.
It came in the form of Shelly’s voice saying, ‘So where do you think you’ll find her tonight?’
Shelly was right.
Why get all worked up when I probably won’t find her tonight, anyway? We ran into each other on Saturday night. Why not wait for then?
Yes!
I’ll stay home tonight, enjoy my movies, go to bed at a reasonable hour…
The feeling of relief was immense.
Then Saturday arrived. The hours crept by. He told himself that he didn’t have to approach the masked woman. He could take a different route home from the theater, and avoid her. For that matter, he could stay home.
And miss the midnight showing of The Cabinet of Dr Cahgari? He’d already seen the film six or seven times. A shame not to watch it again, though. He could always drive his car.
No. I’ll walk. I’ll take my usual route. If I see her, I’ll apologize. And that will be the end of it.
After supper that night, he sat in his recliner and watched The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, then I Spit on Your Grave. For minutes at a time, he was able to forget about the masked woman. When the movies were over, he took a shower. He shaved. He combed his hair and splashed some Chaps on his cheeks. Instead of wearing his favorite outfit for the midnight show - old blue jeans and his Bates Motel T-shirt - he put on a good pair of Dockers and a plaid sports shirt.
In the bedroom mirror, he shook his head at himself.
What the hell am I doing? You’d think I really did have a date.
Hey, maybe she won’t recognize me dressed up like this. She couldn’t have gotten a very good look at my face.
At a quarter past eleven, he left his apartment. He gave his parked car a long look as he walked by it.
So much easier if I just drive.
He couldn’t.
He had to make an attempt to find her.
Tense and shaky, he walked to the Palace. He usually bought nachos and a Pepsi at the refreshment counter. But tonight he had no appetite. He took his seat. He glanced about at the familiar crowd, fearing that she might’ve come to watch the movie. Then the lights dimmed. He rubbed his sweaty hands on the legs of his trousers, and faced the screen.
The Cabinet of Dr Caligari began.
He stared at it. But in his mind, he saw the masked woman. Saw himself approaching her. What if she’s bonkers? What if she’s dangerous? What if she lifts the mask to show me her face and it’s horrible? Worse than anything ever created by Tom Savini or Stan Winston? Worse than the ugliest fantasies of Clive Barker?
He tried to calm himself.
Maybe she won’t show up.
He had never run into her before. Last Saturday night could have been a fluke. She might’ve been out on a special errand, or something.
Maybe I’ll never see her again.
As much as he dreaded the encounter, however, he found himself troubled by the idea of never seeing her again. It was more than a need to set matters right. He’d known that all along, he supposed.
She frightened him, but he longed to learn her secrets.
All the mysteries of the night, so eerie and tantalizing, seemed banal compared to the woman in the mask. She was the ultimate mystery.
Mad or sane? What lurks beneath the mask? What possesses her to walk the empty streets? Does she have a tortured soul? What stories might she tell of children shrieking at the sight of her, of heartless abuse, of solitary years locked away from daylight? How does it feel to be shunned?
He could learn the answers.
Tonight.
The lights came up.
Allan walked into the night. By the time he’d walked a block, he was alone.
His mouth was dry. His heart thudded. His legs trembled.
He gave no thought to the windows above the street, barely glanced through the accordion gates of the closed shops, paid no attention to passing cars, looked into dark entryways and the gaps between buildings and the alleys for no reason other than to search for her. As he hurried along, he noticed a few derelicts. He saw them, felt neither fear nor disgust, and turned his eyes away to look for the masked woman.
Finally, he came to the block where he’d encountered her. The sidewalk stretched ahead of him, deserted. He slowed his pace. He gazed at the corner.
Where are you?
Maybe I’m early. No. If anything, Cabinet was five or six minutes longer than Nosferatu. Maybe I’m too late, then.
But if she’d come this way, we should’ve run into each other already.
Maybe she stayed home tonight. Or chose a different route.
He stopped. It was just about here that he’d been halted by the sight of her. She’d appeared from the right, walked to the corner and turned her back to him as if intending to cross the street. It was here that he’d been standing when she turned around.