College Weekend (10 page)

I can't run in this dress, she realized.

Tina rushed into the gloomy hallway.

I have to get it off. She unbuttoned it as she ran.

Down the hall.

“Oh!” she cried out as a sharp pain jabbed her bare foot.

A jagged shard of glass.

Bending, she yanked it free. Blood flowed onto the dirty carpet.

Her foot hurt a lot, but she knew she had to keep going.

Don't stop, she told herself. No time now. Just get out.

Gasping for breath, she hobbled to the outer door. Only a few feet.

Her hands gripped the doorknob.

Locked! The outer door was locked, too!

The keys. Where were the keys?

Back in Chris's studio.

I'll go back inside, she decided. I'll pretend this didn't happen. Chris must still be in the darkroom.

She turned back, desperate to get the keys and get out of here.

She turned toward the studio—and bumped into Chris.

His face was twisted in a furious scowl.

“Where do you think you're going, Judy?” he demanded.

“Chris—I—I …” Tina sputtered. “Really, Chris. I have to go. This modeling just isn't for me. It's not your fault, but I just feel so self-conscious. And the lights … I—I … can't take the lights …. Please, Chris … Let me go!”

“Come back, Judy,” he snarled. “Come back. I don't want to have to kill you again!”

H
uh? Kill me? Tina thought, gripped with horror.

Wasn't Judy's death an accident?

Panic seized her chest. A cold sweat drenched her body. “Let go of me!” she cried.

Chris ignored her plea. He twisted her arm.

She stared into his eyes. Hatred. More hatred than she had ever seen in anyone's face.

Chris pushed her down the hallway. Back into the studio.

“Please—” she cried. “Please, Chris!”

No one knows where I am, she thought. No one.

Chris backed her toward the prop table. He gave her a hard shove. Her back hit the sharp thorns of the cactus. She heard the dress rip. The thorns pressed into her skin. “Did I hurt you?” he cried, breathing noisily.

Tina bit down on her lip.

“That's a good expression,” he told her, his eyes wild. “I like it. Keep it. Let me get a shot.”

Good. Go for your camera, she thought. Then I can make another run for it.

But he didn't look for a camera. Instead he made a circle with his fingers and raised it to his eyes. He stared at her through the pretend lens, pretending to focus.

“We made such a good couple. Why did you have to ruin everything?” he demanded. “Why? Answer me, Judy!”

He spun her around. Then he yanked her arm behind her back. He brought his other arm around her neck.

Tina could barely breathe. What was he going to do next?

“Come on, Judy,” Chris rasped. “Don't fight it this time.”

Tina kicked him in the leg. She swung her head back, bumping him in the teeth.

He laughed.

She smashed her bare foot against his ankle.

He laughed again. Such crazy, cruel laughter.

“Let me go!” she shrieked. “I'm not Judy!”

But she knew he wasn't listening now.

He wrapped his arm tighter around her neck. She sank her teeth into his skin.

“Oww!” he cried out. He loosened his grip.

With a desperate cry she wrenched herself free.

But he tackled her and threw her down on the floor. Her cheek slammed into the carpet. Pain shot down her body.

She tried to crawl away. But he grabbed her by the ankles and started to drag her across the floor.

Tina clawed at the carpet. But she couldn't free herself.

“Chris, please,” she begged. “Let me go. Why are you doing this?”

“No more doing things your way, Judy,” he growled.

“But I'm not Judy. Please!” she sobbed. “I'm Tina.
Tina.”

“This time it's going to be the way I want it.”

Chris pulled her into the darkroom.

“Have fun!” he shouted. He slammed the door hard. She heard the lock click.

Blackness surrounded her.

The air smelled sour. A bitter taste rose in her mouth. Chemicals, she thought.

With trembling hands she ripped off the old dress and tossed it into the darkness.

Her muscles ached. Her cut foot throbbed.

I need to stay calm, she thought. I need to think clearly. It's the only way to survive against a crazy person.

Slowly her eyes adjusted to the darkness. Objects in the room took shape.

A film enlarger. A paper cutter. The sink. A long table with trays of chemicals. A metal cabinet. Above her head, film negatives hung from nylon lines.

She found some paper towels and tape and fixed up a makeshift bandage for her bleeding foot. She wanted to be ready to run.

I have to find something to defend myself with, she thought. When Chris comes back, I have to be ready.

But will Chris return? she wondered.

Maybe Josh will come here and find me.

Yes.

I'll stay here until Josh comes and finds me. He'll be back soon. When I'm not at the dorm, he'll try here.

I'll stay inside the darkroom until help arrives. The nice, safe darkroom.

She could hear Chris ranting, on the other side of the door. “Not this time, Judy. This time I'm the boss.”

The room began to spin. She felt as if she were back on the Ferris wheel, with the ground far below.

I'm thinking like a crazy person, she scolded herself. I can't stay in here. Safe? Who am I kidding?

I'll go insane, she thought. These walls will close in on me.

And any minute now Chris will come barging in. I need a weapon.

She spotted the overhead light. Standing up, she stretched her arm and clicked the light on. Red light washed over the room.

“No!” Tina shrieked. “Oh no!”

She wished she had never turned on the light.

S
quinting through the red light,

Tina's eyes swept over the walls.

Photos covered every inch.

Photos of her.

Large blowups of her eyes. Her lips.

Chris used the pictures I sent to Josh, Tina realized. Then he enlarged them and cropped them. She recognized bits and pieces of her life.

Her life. Her memories—on a crazy man's walls.

All here. Every one of them.

The photo taken at Christmas, sitting on her snowy front porch. A shot of Tina riding Buttercup,
the mare at her uncle's farm in Georgia. One that Josh took of her in a bikini at his senior picnic at Fear Lake. And the prom picture.

Tina pulled it down and turned it over. The message she wrote to Josh covered the back. But Chris had changed Josh's name to his own.

Please Josh—find me!
she thought desperately.

Shivers rolled down her body.

She hugged herself, rocking back and forth as she studied the photographs.

I can't believe this.

And then she found the creepiest one of all.

At the train station! A shot of her frightened face as she struggled with the man who tried to rob her.

Chris took her picture
before
he rescued her! Sick.

Is he taking pictures of me right now? she wondered. Maybe he has a peephole in the wall.

Is he watching me right now?

He's obsessed with me.

He was obsessed with Judy.

He killed Judy.

And I kissed him, Tina thought. He's a murderer and I kissed him. She cringed at the memory of Chris's hands gently moving down the side of her face.

If only she could disappear into one of those photos. Go back to a time when she felt safe.

“Josh—where are you?” she murmured. “Please hurry. Please!”

Her throat felt dry and scratchy. Tears collected in the corners of her eyes and then ran down her cheeks. I can't just sit in here and wait.

Wait to be murdered.

I have to pry the door open.

I have to get out of here.

Standing up, she glanced around for a sharp object. She needed something to stick in the lock.

Her eyes settled on the tall metal cabinet. Her legs trembled as she made her way across the darkroom.

Be strong, she told herself. Everything is going to be okay.

But the moment she pulled open the cabinet door, Tina knew that nothing would be okay again.

The rancid smell hit her first.

Her stomach tightened. A sour taste collected on her tongue.

“Nooo!” A low wail escaped her throat.

She forced her eyes up to the face. What remained of the face.

The sunken eyes staring blindly back at her. Solid like egg whites.

Those clothes.

She recognized the black T-shirt with the mountains on the front.

She bought that shirt. She remembered she bought it the day he got his acceptance at Patterson.

No. It's not him. It's not him. It's not.

Tina screamed.

Josh's stiff body tumbled to the floor.

T
ina choked on her tears.

She forced herself to roll the corpse onto its back.

Josh's face … his handsome face …

The skin had been eaten away, exposing his nose and cheekbones.

The skin on his forehead flapped loose. Tina saw tiny red veins along his hairline.

Most of his beautiful thick brown hair had been burned away.

Chemicals? Had Chris used chemicals to kill Josh?

No. She noticed a deep gash on the side of his head. Chris must have surprised Josh by throwing
the chemicals in his face. Then Chris smashed him over the head.

A cold shiver ran down her spine. She reached for his hand. So cold. Cold and stiff.

Tina felt the bile rise into her throat. She dropped the hand, turned her head away, and gagged.

She wondered what Josh's last thoughts had been. Did you think of me, Josh?

I love you. I love you so very much.

“Judy!” Chris's shout burst into her thoughts.

He yanked open the door.

His eyes widened in shock. His mouth dropped open as he saw Tina kneeling beside Josh.

Doesn't he know what he did? Tina wondered with a sob. Doesn't he remember?

“Judy,” he whispered, taking her hand. He pulled her to her feet. Smiling, he took her face in his hands.

His skin felt rough as he ran his fingers along her cheekbone.

He's a murderer, Tina thought. And he's touching me. So gently. I can't stand it.

“Nothing can ever keep us apart again. Nothing,” he whispered. His eyes darted around the red room and then stared into hers.

Tina shivered. He's completely insane.

“I'm almost ready,” he whispered. “We can leave in a few minutes.”

“Leave?” Tina managed to choke out. “Where … where are you taking me?”

“Don't play dumb, Judy. You know how I hate that.”

Tina knew she wasn't strong enough to fight him off. I'll try to and reason with him, she thought. It worked before. Maybe it will work again.

“We'll be fine together. You'll see, Judy.” Chris swung her hand back and forth.

He's acting as though we're standing on the street somewhere, having a friendly conversation, she thought. Not in a darkroom, with Josh's dead body lying on the floor.

“Chris,” Tina said, struggling not to burst out in loud sobs.

“Yes?” He squeezed her fingers tightly.

“You won't get away with this,” she murmured. “People will start searching for me and …” She swallowed hard. “Josh. People will wonder where I am.”

“No one will try to find you, Judy,” He dropped her hand and began staring at the photos. “They don't send out a search party for someone who's already dead.”

“They'll put you in jail, Chris. Do you want to
spend the rest of your life behind bars?” Tina demanded in a trembling voice.

“I'm spending the rest of my life with you, Judy.” His eyes traveled over her. From her head to her toes and back to her face again.

I should have realized at the train station that he was obsessed with me, she thought. Why didn't I see it?

Chris grinned at her. So pleased with himself.

Stay calm, she instructed herself. Stay calm.

It's the only way you'll get out alive.

“If you let me go now, I won't tell anyone, I promise,” she lied.

Slowly she backed away from him.

“Where are you going?” he asked sharply.

“Nowhere.”

“That's good, Judy.” He moved closer. “I'm glad you finally realize that I'm right.”

She inched back. “I do, Chris,” she murmured. “I do.”

Tina backed into the developing chemicals.

That's it, she thought. Now you're going to pay for what you did to Josh.

She grabbed the closest tray. Acid. This has to be the same acid he burned Josh with.

Chris smiled at her.

The smile was still on his face as she pulled back her arm—and heaved the acid into his face.

T
he liquid splashed over Chris's face.

He uttered a startled cry—and rubbed his eyes.

But when he lowered his hands, his face revealed only anger, not pain.

“You picked the wrong tray, Judy,” he rasped. “It was only water.”

Water! Tina felt the floor crumble away beneath her.

“You never cared about my photography, did you?” he accused. He crossed the room quickly, water dripping down his cheeks.

He reached toward the other two trays.

Tina gasped.

What is he going to do? Tina wondered.

He glanced up at the photos on the wall. “Such a pretty face,” he murmured.

With a sweep of one hand he sent the trays clattering to the floor. The liquid splashed into the air. Tina flinched.

The liquid splashed up.

Tina jumped back. But a drop of liquid spotted her arm.