Jenny Pox (The Paranormals, Book 1) (15 page)

“
Amen,” the other kids said.  Ashleigh signaled to Darcy, who nodded and unlocked the basement doors.  She and Larry, the only male chaperone, led the horde of excited young people downstairs, nearly getting trampled in the process.  Cassie hung back with Ashleigh, as did the freshman bug-boy, who still hadn’t released her hand.

“
Everything okay down there?” Ashleigh asked him.

The boy moved closer, his eyes big and glistening behind his yellow bug-goggles. “I like you,” he whispered.

“Well, aren’t you sweet?” Ashleigh tried to pull her hand free.  She’d pumped a lot of Ashleigh-power out through this one, probably overloading him.  He’d have a crush on Ashleigh for years. “Go on down with the others.  You don’t want to miss the fun.”

“
I’d rather stay with you,” he whined.  Cassie snickered.

“
I’m too busy chaperoning,” Ashleigh said. “Go on down with the others, I promise you’ll have fun!” When he didn’t let go, she added, “Maybe I’ll hang out with you later.  But only if you leave me alone right now.”

The boy pouted, but he finally released her and trudged to the stairs.

“New boyfriend?” Cassie asked.

“
Shut up,” Ashleigh said. “He might be an improvement.  At least he showed up.”

“
No big deal, about Seth,” Cassie said. “Everett never comes.”

“
Seth does.  Ever since I invited him freshman year.”

“
And now it’s senior year.” Cassie took Ashleigh’s hand and smiled.  Cassie was always touching Ashleigh, unconsciously sipping energy out of her.  It got annoying.  Now Cassie was pulling her to the stairs. “Come on.  Let’s go supervise.”

They descended to the basement hallway, where there was a snack table with bowls of candy corn, orange cupcakes topped with plastic spiders and ghosts, and Ashleigh’s huge bowl of red punch, to which she’d added ginger ale to make it fizz.  Some party-goers were already dipping out cups of punch, while others were in a hurry to see the attractions.

Activity Room A had become “The Monster Maze” built of room dividers, large cardboard panels, and bed sheets.  People had to find their way in the dark, through twists and turns among glowing spiderwebs and skeletons, and spooky music and sound effects, ending at the “Devil’s Throne Room.”  Here, a sophomore boy dressed in a devil mask sat on an elevated chair under red light, welcoming the lock-in guests to an eternity in Hell.  Then they escaped through a very narrow passage (two mattresses on their sides, in wooden frames, pushed close together) and out of the room.  Cassie stood at the entrance door, daring the teenagers to take their “abstinence buddies” into the scary maze.

Activity Room B was the “Nightmare Nightclub,” which Ashleigh had neglected to clear with her dad, or mention to him.  A junior girl named Brenda Purcell, in a Bride of Frankenstein costume, played club music mixed with Halloween sound effects—groaning ghosts, clanking chains, howling wind.  People could dance in there, and rest on cushions scattered along the walls if they got tired.  Room B was Ashleigh’s responsibility.

Larry DuShoun supervised Activity Room C, “Ghoulish Games,” which included the games like bobbing for apples, and a series of boxes into which you’d reach your hand to feel things.  Larry, in his scarecrow costume, would intone that you were now touching brains, eyeballs, intestines.  Last year, Ashleigh had stuck Seth with that room.

Room D was split by a room divider: girls’ sleeping bags on the left, boys’ on the right.  Darcy would sleep among the girls, and Larry among the guys, to deter any funny business in the early hours of the morning.

It didn’t take long for Ashleigh’s magic punch to cast its spell.  Within an hour, there were kids coming out of the maze holding hands, their masks askew and makeup smeared.  Many ended up in the dance room, either dancing much closer than Dr. Goodling would have approved, or openly making out on the cushions along the walls.  Darcy complained about this outbreak of inappropriate, sinful behavior, until Ashleigh held her hand for a couple of minutes to dope her up.

“
Wow, they didn’t even wait for the chaperones to go to sleep,” Cassie whispered, just after they checked on the maze, where the devil was locking lips with an elf girl.  They stepped into the hall, and Cassie looked at the punch bowl.  “What did you put in there?  Ecstasy?”
“Just love, Cassie.”

“
Can I try some?” Cassie grabbed a cup, but Ashleigh took it away.

“
No punch for us,” she said. “But we need these cups.  Let’s go upstairs and open that wine.”  Ashleigh looked down the hall and motioned for Darcy Metcalf to join them.

“
Do we have to bring her?” Cassie whispered.

“
Don’t worry,” Ashleigh whispered back. “I’m pretty sure she’s a lightweight.”

Cassie sighed. “Okay.  What about Larry Douche Long?”

Ashleigh looked into the games room.  Larry DuShoun was kissing a junior girl in a cat costume.  Kissing was doubly against the rules if you were a chaperone.

“
Larry’s doing fine,” Ashleigh whispered.

“
Hey, what’s going on, my ladies?” Darcy asked.

“
We’re taking a break,” Cassie said. “Come with us.”

“
Now?  But, but—” Darcy sputtered as she looked around. “We can’t leave now!  The kids are out of control.” Her voice dropped to a whisper. “Some of them are kissing with their tongues!”

Ashleigh put a hand on Darcy’s arm and squeezed.  Darcy’s pupils dilated and she melted against Ashleigh, leaning her head on Ashleigh’s shoulder.  Ashleigh cast a look of disgust at her, and Cassie laughed.

“Come on, dear,” Ashleigh said, nudging Darcy off her. “Let’s go have a cup of wine.  It’ll be fun.”

“
Okay,” Darcy whispered.

They went upstairs to the Sunday school classroom where Ashleigh and Cassie had laid their sleeping bags.  Cassie unzipped her small suitcase, grimaced at Darcy, and picked the cheaper of her two bottles.  She uncorked it and poured generous drinks into the plastic Jack-O’-Lantern cups.

“Wait,” Darcy said. “We’re not allowed…”

Ashleigh soothed her with another touch on the arm. The girl was turning into a real drain. “Do it for me, Darcy.”

Darcy accepted the cup.

“
To the most successful lock-in ever,” Ashleigh said, and all three touched cups and drank.

Soon, Ashleigh and Cassie were giggling, while Darcy lay on her back, eyes closed, and moaned about being dizzy.  Eventually, she was snoring.

Ashleigh popped open the second bottle and poured.

“
To best friends,” Cassie said.

“
You said it.” Ashleigh tapped her cup to Cassie’s, and they drank.

Later, Ashleigh and Cassie slipped out into the hallway, wearing jackets, carrying their cups with them.  Ashleigh unlocked the door to the narrow, winding staircase that led to the belfry under the church’s steeple, where the bells rang on Sundays and holidays.  They giggled more as they climbed, unsteady on their feet.

Ashleigh unlocked the trap door at the top and they emerged into a very cool early morning.  They looked over the edge at the town.  At three stories, the church bell tower overlooked everything.

“
To Fallen Oak!” Cassie raised her cup, and Ashleigh repeated the toast, adding, “May it rot in Hell!”  They broke down into laughter, falling on each other and sloshing wine.

When they recovered, Cassie looked out again at the rooftops.

“You know,” she said, “We really rule this town.  I mean, people do say that, but also it’s true.”

“
I know,” Ashleigh said.

“
I mean, everybody looks ups to ush.  Up to us.  Everybody wants to be us.”  Cassie dropped to a conspiratorial whisper. “And they’re scared of us.”

“
Yeah,” Ashleigh said. “But who cares about this stupid little place?  There are cities out there.  Whole countries.  We have to think bigger, Cassie.  This is just the beginning.”

“
Just practice,” Cassie whispered. “For when we do it for real.”

“
You know, I have a secret power,” Ashleigh said.  She took a deep breath.  Her drunken mind, out of some stupid feeling of camaraderie with Cassie, and maybe tired of keeping it all secret, was about to make her spill.

Then Ashleigh’s cell phone rang somewhere in her jacket.  She fumbled around the pockets until she found it.

“It’s Neesha,” she told Cassie.

“
Neesha, Neesha.  Why does Neesha get to party with the boys on Halloween?”
“Duh,” Ashleigh said. “My dad doesn’t like black people in his church.” Ashleigh clicked the green button. “Hey, girl, what’s up?”

“
Ashleigh,” Neesha said.  “Are you sitting down?”

“
Sure.” Ashleigh was actually leaning over the railing, looking down at the church roof.

“
You are not going to believe what I just saw,” Neesha said.

Jenny and Seth put together their costumes at her house.  Seth dressed in a natty old-fashioned tailcoat from the thrift store, looking very gentlemanly until Jenny used putty, latex and dye to sculpt his face into something green and rotting, with open bloody sores and cuts.  She thought to herself that she could have done that without make-up—all she had to do was remove her rubber gloves and touch his face.

Seth admired his horrible face in the mirror, then popped in his fangs.

“
I vant to zuk your blood.” He waved his black-gloved hands above his head as he tried out his awful Transylvanian accent.

“
You vish,” she replied.  She wore a lacy dress gone very yellow, with gauzy sleeves she’d made herself to cover her upper arms, black mesh stockings inside high black boots, and the cape and wig from the costume store.  She would have virtually no skin exposed tonight, and that relaxed her a little.

She sculpted her own zombie-vampire face in the mirror, while Seth watched with admiration, until he got bored and started rolling a joint from her stash.

When Jenny finished her make-up, she peeled away her rubber gloves and put on the white lacy gloves from the Five and Dime.  She unrolled them to her elbow.  Ms. Sutland, delighted to see Jenny with a boy, had given her the gloves for free.  She’d also had more pottery money for Jenny.  Since Seth had insisted on paying at the mall, Jenny paid for everything at the Five and Dime.  She didn’t mention that a lot of the money actually came from Seth’s mom.

Now the two of them stood in front of Jenny’s mirror, with rotten faces and prominent fangs.  Jenny had even covered her neck with make-up and latex, so there was nothing left exposed to the touch but her black-shaded eyelids and lips.  If nobody touched her there, she would be fine.

“We really look like we just climbed out of our graves,” Seth said.  He took her white-gloved hand in his black one.

“
And we’ve been in there a long time,” Jenny said.

He chuckled around his fangs.  Jenny drew the black hood over her green wig.

“Ve should drive a hearse,” Jenny said.

“
Ve haff only my car.  Ve shall listen only to dead musicians.”

“
Vonderful,” Jenny said. “Ze best kind.  Ze night is ours, my love.”  Their eyes met in the mirror, and he squeezed her hand a little tighter.

They kept the top on Seth’s convertible to protect their makeup.  At the end of October, it was getting a little chilly, anyway.

They hadn’t planned to stop at the “House of Hell” put on by the Presbyterians in Apple Creek, or even known about it.  Seth saw the sign by the side of the road and insisted on checking it out. 

They were admitted in groups into an old barn, which had been divided into rooms with small raised stages.  Groups walked together from room to room, and were told to stay behind the ropes.  Jenny and Seth were admitted in alongside a family with four children.

The door closed behind them, and they stood in darkness for a minute while voices whispered hurriedly somewhere to their side.  Then a single spotlight fell on a two-foot-high stage, which was separated from the audience by a length of rope.  A teenage girl reclined in a hospital bed onstage.  She had something the size of a basketball under her hospital gown, making her bulge as if pregnant.  Her bare legs had been taken from some department store mannequin—her real lower half was somewhere under the curtained hospital bed.

“
Oh, I’m tired of being pregnant!” she said. “I want an abortion!”

“
Did somebody say ‘abortion’?” The spotlight was replaced with lurid red lights mounted on the far wall.  Three people in devil masks and doctor’s coats ran towards the girl waving pitchforks and hacksaws at the girl’s swollen belly.  She screamed and pressed down on it, and blood spurted out between her legs. 

“
Gross!” Jenny said.

The two parents shushed her.  Their kids were gaping, and one of the boys looked ready to cry.