It was so hard telling the girl no, but he did with a shake of his head.
“Robbie,” Bianca said, “you sure are a confusing boy.” She leaned forward and kissed his forehead. “If you can’t sleep, you know where I am.”
He smiled and left the room.
When he closed the door behind him and stepped out into the dark hall, all was silent except the muffled sound of laughter coming from within the room at his back. Robbie never considered himself someone who scared easily, and there really wasn’t much reason to be afraid, but he did feel a sudden sense of dread in the hallway.
With his back to the door, he stood in the darkness and glanced to his right, away from the staircase. He wondered where Nitsy was. She could be in the room right next to him and he would have no idea. She was probably already asleep or reading a book while listening to Mozart. She was that kind of girl. He bet she listened to classical music all the time and read all the books the English teacher tried to force on them like Pride and Prejudice, A Tale of Two Cities, and Wuthering Heights.
If teachers would include more books with sports or with… zombies—
His thoughts were interrupted by a strange sound. It was an insect’s chirp. But more like a clickety-clack. He didn’t like it. It didn’t sound natural. It was coming from his right. He peered in that direction once more and thought he saw something at the end of the hall.
Robbie froze. A man stood there watching him. If it was a teacher, he was busted. He’d stepped out of the girls’ room only moments before. The teacher would have seen that. If he made a run for it now and quietly slipped back into his room, he’d never get caught. He could get into his bed and shower tomorrow morning.
The man at the end of the hall moved forward, slowly, and Robbie waited for the overhead light to pop on. If it did, he’d be able to see which teacher was watching him. Then again, if the light came on, the teacher might get a better look at him as well.
On the count of three. One… two…
Heavy footsteps sounded off as the man moved toward him, stumbling forward.
Robbie didn’t wait for the lights. He dashed down the hall, hit the stairs and took them three at a time, and was back in his room with the door shut and locked in a matter of seconds. With his heart pounding in his chest, he slid to the floor and sat with his back against the door. He waited for the teacher to come knocking, but he never did.
Bianca stood at the door pouting. Robbie was exactly what she wanted, and she didn’t want for much. She was the kind of girl who usually got what she desired. That didn’t make her a bitch. Some of the girls at her school thought so, but it wasn’t true. In fact, she cared more about what others thought than most of her friends. She hated being hated. She loved being loved. So, boys like Robbie were confusing. He was somewhere in the middle. Of course, he didn’t hate her, but it was clear he wouldn’t be falling in love with her anytime soon.
“I can’t believe he left like that,” Misty said.
Bianca had a feeling Misty didn’t like her. Desiree seemed okay with her, but Misty had made a few comments throughout the day that got on Bianca’s nerves. Like when Bianca came to class a few seconds late, Misty said, “The girl with all the dough can’t afford a watch?”
Sure, her family had money, but that didn’t mean she flaunted it. She was a nice girl. She spent a lot of time making sure everyone knew that. She volunteered at the children’s hospital every Saturday and spent Tuesday evenings at her church’s youth choir.
“I know,” Bianca said. “I guess that’s what makes him kind of special.”
“That he’d ditch you?” Desiree asked. “Sounds like an asshole to me.”
“He’s just tired,” Bianca defended him. “I have to admit, I am too.”
Bianca was about to climb the ladder to her bed when there was a thump at the door behind her. She smiled.
“Ohhh sounds like lover boy might be back,” Trevor said. “I had a feeling he’d regret leaving.”
“Don’t open it,” Misty told her.
“What?” Bianca asked. “Why not?”
“Let him wait a bit,” Misty replied. “Being in our room is a privilege. He’s lost that privilege.”
Desiree and Steven both laughed. They would make a good match. Desiree was a tennis player who always kept her dirty blonde hair up in one of those headbands tennis players wore. Steven was obviously a jock. If she had to guess, she’d say he played one of those sports she’d never actually seen anyone play like polo or lacrosse.
Something smacked against the door.
“He’s desperate,” Misty said. “Hear that? He’s slapping the door now.”
“Oh, let’s let him in,” Bianca said.
“No, a little longer,” Desiree suggested.
“I say don’t let him in at all,” Steven added. “He’s kind of an asshole. If he wanted to go back to our room so badly, I say let him.”
Sounds like you’re the asshole.
Bianca hadn’t had any reason not to like the boy before, but now he seemed like a total jerk. What had Robbie ever done to him?
“No,” Bianca announced, “I’m going to let him in.”
She turned, threw the latch on the door, and pulled it open despite her friends’ calls to keep the door shut. As the door opened inward, she saw a shadowy figure standing in front of her.
“Robbie?” she asked.
She knew it wasn’t him. Her first thought was they were busted. A teacher had heard all the noise from the other side and was here to check on the disturbance. They would all be in trouble. She wondered if they would call her parents or handle this internally.
“Who is it?” Misty asked.
Bianca gasped when she heard the sound emanating from the man. She couldn’t describe it, and she couldn’t move to close the door even though she knew she should.
It was loud.
Angry.
Hungry.
Determined.
And it pounced on her. Like a hundred hot droplets of acid on her scalp, instant sizzling-like pain bit into her head and seemed to be quickly driving deeper and deeper into her skull. Bianca fell backward and right into the arms of Trevor who’d stood to check on her.
“What the fuck?” he asked. “Are you okay—”
His voice caught in his throat, and Bianca knew he was feeling the pain too. The way his body locked up caused them both to crash to the floor. There, on her back, Bianca rolled away from Trevor and stared up at the old man she recognized from the day before. The caretaker. He’d been working on the lawn. Now, he stood in her room, drool dripping from his mouth.
Bianca’s body spasmed and her back arched so hard she felt a muscle rip. The stinging and burning were like a thousand nails shot from a nail gun and riddling her scalp. Her hands flew to her head and her fingernails clenched at her hair, pulling so hard clumps of it came off in her hands.
And she dug. Her nails bit down into her flesh and she skewered herself, digging into her skin and pulling back, desperately trying to peel the pain away from her body.
Behind her, Trevor screamed in agony, and she realized she was screaming louder.
“Who are you?” she heard Steven yell.
Through blurred vision, she saw the big boy rush at the old man. The two went down on Misty’s twin-size bed. Then there was more thrashing around and more screaming.
Bianca fought to free herself of the miniature, squirming insects chewing their way through her skull, racing toward her brain.
The door slammed shut, locking them all inside with the deadly visitor.
Then all went black.
10