Fear Hall: The Beginning (12 page)

I didn't know how to reply. I
couldn't
forget about
the murders for
any
while. I couldn't think about anything else.

I'd been wandering around all night in a fog, unable to think, unable to decide what to do.

I've got to talk to my roommates, I decided. I've got to call a meeting of our own.

I want to hear what Angel, Jasmine, and Eden have to say. I need to hear how they feel now. About Darryl. About turning him in.

I can't go on like this, I knew.

I can't keep this horrible secret inside much longer.

If the others vote to call the police, I won't stop them. I'll let them turn Darryl in.

It will break my heart. But I won't stop them.

I took a deep breath. Pushed open the door to 13-B. And stepped inside.

T
he room stood dark and empty. I clicked on all the lights. Then I opened both windows to let in fresh air. I checked the fire escape outside the back window. I guess I was making sure Darryl wasn't hiding out there.

You're getting paranoid, Hope, I scolded myself.

Why would Darryl hide from
you?

Feeling tense and upset and a little frantic, I went into the bathroom and took a long shower.

The warm water felt so refreshing. I need to feel clean. To wash away the feeling of guilt I had. To wash away my dirty secret about Darryl.

After the shower, I put on a clean sweater over a clean pair of jeans. I took a long time brushing my
hair, gazing at myself in the mirror. Thinking… thinking hard about what had to be done.

My three roommates appeared a few minutes later. Angel came in with her lipstick smeared, eye makeup staining her cheeks.

“Where were
you?
” I demanded.

She shrugged. “Nowhere really. Just out.” Then she added, “I met a guy.”

“So what else is new?” Eden chimed in, rolling her eyes.

Jasmine didn't say anything. She sat on the edge of her bed and fiddled tensely with a strand of her blond hair.

“That creep Darryl followed me,” Angel said, scowling. She caught her reflection in the dresser mirror. She started to rub the eye makeup off her cheeks with a tissue.

I took a deep breath. “We have to talk about Darryl,” I said. I pulled out the desk chair and sat on it backward, facing my three friends.

“Yes. We do,” Angel agreed. “He's out of control, Hope. It has to stop.”

I gripped the back of the desk chair with both hands. “What do you think we should do?” I asked.

All three of them began talking at once.

“Right from the start, I said we have to call the police,” Eden said. “I know it's hard for you, Hope.”

“We all know how hard it is,” Angel agreed. “But he's killed two kids. And he's following us everywhere.”

“He'll kill again,” Jasmine offered in a tiny voice. “We don't want to be responsible for that.”

“She's right,” Eden said heatedly. “If someone else dies because of Darryl, it will be our fault. We will be just as guilty as he is. Because we didn't turn him in.”

I swallowed hard. They all agreed on what we should do. They all agreed that we should tell the police what we knew.

But could I do it?

Could I really go to the phone and turn in the person I cared the most about in the whole world?

“Maybe I could talk to him,” I suggested, one last desperate attempt to save him. “Maybe I could convince him to go get the help he needs.”

Eden sighed. “They don't call you Hope for nothing,” she said, shaking her head.

“He won't listen to you,” Angel said softly. “You know he won't, Hope. He never does. If you try to talk to him, he'll only get angry again.”

“You remember the last time you tried to help him,” Eden added. “He yelled at you—didn't he? He called you horrible names.”

Yes. Yes, he did.

Her words brought it back. I saw Darryl's anger again. Heard him say those ugly things to me. Saw him staring up at my dorm window with such hatred on his face. And felt the hurt all over again.

“If you try to help him,” Eden continued. “There's no telling
what
he will do.”

“He's so dangerous,” Jasmine murmured. She shuddered.

I heard a sound in the hall. With a gasp, I turned to the door, expecting Darryl to come bursting in.

But it was just someone walking past our room.

I took a deep breath. My mouth suddenly felt so dry. “Okay,” I whispered. “We can't live in fear like this. Wondering what horrible thing Darryl will do next. Who he will hurt. Who he will
kill.
”

I gripped the back of the chair tighter, so tight my hands ached. “Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay,” I chanted. “We have to call the police. We have to end this nightmare.”

I raised my eyes to the phone. It was only a few feet away on the desktop. But I realized I couldn't get over there.

I couldn't be the one to turn Darryl in.

“Eden—will you make the call?” I asked.

She nodded grimly. “Okay.” She climbed up from her chair and strode quickly to the phone. “Okay, Hope. I'll do it.”

She picked up the receiver.

And someone pounded hard on our door.

J
asmine let out a shriek. Eden gripped the receiver and spun to the door. I jumped to my feet.

“Who—who is it?” I tried to call, but my voice came out in a choked whisper.

“It isn't Darryl,” Eden said, frowning. “He never knocks. He just barges in.”

She was right. I took a deep breath and crossed to the door. I pulled it open a crack.

And stared at Ollie, the night guard.

“Is there a problem?” I asked.

“A young man left this,” Ollie replied. He held up a jacket. Angel's jacket. “Is it yours? He said a blond girl left it in his car.”

So Angel had been with some guy in a car, I
realized. Probably making out in a parking lot, knowing Angel.

“It's my roommate's jacket.” I took the jacket from Ollie. “Thanks a lot. I'll give it to her,” I said.

He nodded his bald head and started back to the elevator.

I closed the door behind me and turned back to my roommates. Eden was already talking into the phone.

I tossed the jacket to Angel. “You forgot this,” I told her.

“Sshhhh.” Eden raised a finger to her lips. “I'm talking to a police sergeant.”

I stepped up beside her, my heart suddenly pounding.

Were we doing the right thing?

Yes. Finally. We were finally doing what we should have done a long time ago.

Poor Darryl …

My poor baby …

“Yes. I'm in room 13-B,” Eden was telling the officer. “Roommates? Yes. I have three roommates.” She told him our names.

“The boy's name is Darryl Hoode,” Eden continued. She glanced up at me. “He lives downstairs in Fear Hall,” she reported. “Yes. On the boys' floor.”

I heard a rattling at the back window. The wind shaking the fire escape railings.

“Please hurry,” Eden was saying to the officer. “We—we don't know where Darryl is right now. But he's really dangerous. Please—we're very scared. All four of us—we're so scared.”

She hung up the phone and turned back to us. Her chin was trembling. Her face pale.

“I—I did it,” she uttered.

“What did he say?” I demanded breathlessly. “Did he say they were sending someone?”

Eden nodded. “He said to lock our room door,” she reported. “He said not to open it for anyone—until the officers arrive.”

“But—it doesn't lock!” Jasmine cried. “The lock is broken!”

“Don't panic. They'll be here in ten minutes,” Eden replied. “We should be okay, Jasmine. We should—”

She stopped with her mouth open as we heard more rattling at the back window.

We all turned—and saw Darryl climb in from the fire escape.

“What's up?” he asked.

“
D
arryl—what were you doing out there?” I demanded. I tried to sound calm. Normal. I didn't want to raise his suspicions.

A strange grin spread over his face. “Never mind that,” he replied. “What were
you
doing in here?”

“I—I don't know what you mean,” I stammered.

He took a few steps into the room. And turned to Eden. “Hi, Eden,” he said with exaggerated warmth. “How's it going?”

Eden shrank back as Darryl moved toward her. “What's your problem?” she demanded.

“Like to talk on the phone?” Darryl asked. His smile faded. His eyes narrowed angrily.

“Leave Eden alone, Darryl,” I warned. I tried to sound firm, but my voice trembled.

“Like to talk on the phone, Eden?” Darryl repeated, moving steadily toward her. Forcing her back. Back to the window. “Like to tell stories about me on the phone?”

“Darryl—wait!” Eden cried.

“Did you think I didn't hear you?” Darryl screamed, suddenly in a rage. “Did you think I wasn't out there the whole time? Did you think I wouldn't know what you were trying to do?”

“Darryl—get back!” I cried. “Don't touch Eden! We all decided—”

He let out a furious roar.

Eden raised her hands to shield herself.

“How
could
you?” Darryl roared. “How could you turn me in to the police?”

“Darryl—we decided we had no choice,” I choked out. “We can't let you—”

I didn't get the rest of my words out.

Instead, I opened my mouth in a scream as Darryl grabbed Eden.

“Let her go! Let her go!” Angel shrieked.

Eden opened her mouth to scream.

But Darryl clamped a hand over it.

His other arm wrapped around her waist. He held her from behind.

“Let her go! Don't do it!
Don't!
” I wailed.

His eyes were wild. His mouth opened in a roar. He lifted Eden off the floor.

Lifted her. Lifted her.

Lifted her above his head with both hands as she squirmed and thrashed her arms and legs.

“Let her go!”

“Put her down!”

He lifted her higher. Held her above his head.

And then brought her down hard against his upraised knee.

I heard a sickening
crack.

“Ohhhhh.” A moan of pain escaped Eden's throat. He cracked her back, I realized.

He cracked her. Cracked her in two.

Her eyes rolled up in her head. Her head dropped and bounced against the floor.

And then, with a loud groan, Darryl lifted her again.

This time Eden didn't squirm or struggle. This time she hung limply in his arms.

He lifted her again. Lifted her. Her arms drooping down. Her mouth open. Eyes shut.

Lifted her. Lifted her.

And heaved her out the open window.

A second later, I heard a
thud
from the pavement below. Thirteen stories below.

“Nooooooo.” A wail of horror burst from my lungs.

Jasmine was crying. Angel stared open-mouthed, frozen in place.

“Nooooooooo!”

I dove for Darryl. “You killed her! You killed Eden!” I shrieked.

I grabbed the front of his flannel shirt.

He glared at me, hunched over, panting like an animal. Like a wild animal.

Wild with fury, I tugged at his shirt with both hands. I reached up to scratch his face.

Missed.

He ducked away. Pulled free.

“You killed Eden! You killed Eden!” I cried.

Still panting, he nodded. His hair wild about his face. His eyes bulging. Sweat rolling off his forehead.

I dove for him again. I wanted to hurt him. I wanted to
kill
him.

He dodged away. Leaped onto the windowsill. Out the window.

Dropped onto the fire escape.

And vanished.

“He killed her. He killed her …” I repeated.

Jasmine cried, hands covering her face. Angel still hadn't moved.

A knock on the door.

And a voice called in, “Police!”

“O
h—!”

The officer pounded on the door.

I turned to the window. The room spun. The floor tilted up.

I saw Eden's horrified face again. And again I heard the sickening
crack
when Darryl snapped her back.

Jasmine and Angel were on their feet now, huddled together, arms around each other.

Their faces blurred in front of me. The room faded and threatened to go dark.

I'm going to faint, I realized.

“No—!”

I forced myself to remain standing.

I tried to move to the door—but something held me back.

Some kind of invisible force kept me from moving.

My fear? The horror I'd just seen?

I must have been in shock.

“Open up! Police!” the voice called in.

“Quick—” I whispered to Angel and Jasmine. “Quick—”

I started to the window.

I didn't know what I was doing. I had to be in shock. In total shock.

“Quick—” I repeated.

I lifted my knees onto the windowsill. And stared out at the night.

All a blur. The sky. The stars. The dark campus buildings all around.

A hazy blur.

I stumbled out onto the fire escape. “Hurry,” I whispered.

And my two roommates joined me on the narrow, metal stairs.

We gripped the railing. Pressed our backs against the brick wall.

And listened as the door opened.

I peeked in and saw two blue-uniformed cops. Followed by Melanie.

They raised their eyes to the open window. I pulled back before they saw me.

My heart pounding, I pressed back against the wall and struggled to hear what they said.

“We got a call from a girl named Eden,” the cop was telling Melanie.