Pretty Please (Nightmare Hall) (6 page)

Annoyed with Carl for bringing up such a gloomy topic, Jo quickly changed the subject. By the time they returned to their room, her head was beginning to ache again, and she suddenly felt very tired. But she’d had fun. She’d felt almost normal again.

Nan went back to her own room to study, and Kelly disappeared into the bathroom.

Jo flopped down on her bed lengthwise and switched on her bedside lamp. She wanted to take another look at the Catwoman mask. It was so perfect….

Jo reached under her bed and pulled out the plastic bag from the costume store. Wait until Evan saw her in this outfit! She hoped Nan and Kelly hadn’t told him what she was wearing. It would be more fun if she took him by surprise.

When Jo opened the bag, something fell out and landed on the hardwood floor with a soft plop.

The mask wouldn’t make a sound like that. Besides, it was still inside the bag. She could feel it.

She hung her head over the edge of the bed to see what had fallen.

A beige, plastic tube.

Jo stared at it, frowning.

I didn’t buy anything in a tube, she thought, reaching down to pick up the container.

Tube in hand, she hoisted herself up on her elbows and read the label.

BAN-BLEM.

Ban-Blem?

Jo had never heard of it. She had certainly never
bought
it.

Where had it come from?

And what was it?

Rolling over on her back, Jo held the tube up to the light and read the label.

A FULL-COVERAGE CORRECTIVE MAKEUP SPECIALLY FORMULATED TO COVER BIRTHMARKS, SCARS, AND BLEMISHES SO SKIN APPEARS FLAWLESS. WATERPROOF. DERMATOLOGIST-TESTED.

Jo dropped the tube as if it were ablaze. It rolled off the bed and fell to the floor.

Corrective makeup…to hide scars and blemishes…to make skin look flawless…

He—or she—had done it again.

T
HE SPECIAL MAKEUP WAS
a stroke of genius. No mistaking that message. If Johanna can’t figure out that she’d better cover up that grotesque face of hers, she’s not as smart as everyone thinks she is.

My patience is running out. If she would just take the hint and hide in her room until we know if there’s any permanent damage, I could let her live until the bandages come off and we see how bad it is. But oh, no, she has to play the brave soldier and face the world. She refuses to take my hints, refuses to stay hidden. Why can’t she see that that’s the best thing?

It worked for me, didn’t it? Even when I begged to be allowed outside, cried and pleaded to join the rest of the world, They knew how disastrous it would be for me. They protected me. That was Their job, and They did it well.

That’s all I’m trying to do for Jo. But she’s ignoring me. I cannot tolerate this much longer. She is actually planning to go to that party at Nightmare Hall. How
can
she? How can anyone else have a good time if
she’s
there? It’s not fair of her to ruin the party for the rest of us.

Well, this is not the first time I’ve had to deal with someone so stubborn. They leave me no choice. Foolish of them.

I, too, am stubborn. And I know what I must do.

Soon…it must be soon….

J
O’S MIND BEGAN RACING.
When could someone have put that tube in her plastic bag? Had to be at Vinnie’s. Where had she put the bag while she was eating? At her feet, under the table?
On
the table, at her elbow? She couldn’t remember. She had left the table twice: once to go to the restroom, another time to pick out a song on the jukebox. Had she taken the bag with her? She didn’t think so.

She had thought no one was paying any attention to her. She’d been wrong about that. Someone must have been watching her every move.

Jo shuddered.

Kelly, emerging from the bathroom with her hair turbaned in a white towel, caught the shudder. “Are you cold? They’re getting pretty stingy with the heat lately, if you ask me.”

“No, I’m not cold.” Jo debated for a second, and then reached down and picked up the tube. “I found this in my bag from Oscar’s. I didn’t buy it.”

Kelly took the tube, read the label. She shrugged. “The clerk must have given it to you by mistake.” She handed the tube back to Jo.

“Kelly, this bag is from a
sporting-goods
store. They don’t carry makeup.”

Kelly sat down on her bed. “They carry sunscreen, for skiers. How do you know they don’t carry this stuff, too?”

“They don’t. Someone
else
put that tube in my bag. Probably at Vinnie’s.”

A frown creased Kelly’s smooth, unblemished skin. “Why?” Then her face cleared. “Oh. Is this…is this like the hat? Someone telling you not to go out without…without hiding your…what happened to your face?”

Jo nodded. “Looks that way. I don’t care about
that
. I’m not worried about what my face looks like.” That was
almost
true. “What I
hate
is the idea that someone is
watching
me. Did you see anyone at our booth when I went to the restroom or the jukebox?”

Kelly shook her turbaned head. “I don’t think so. I mean, there were lots of people in and around the booth. But I don’t remember noticing anyone we don’t know.” She got up and went to the dresser mirror to remove the towel and shake her dark hair free. “So, are you going to use it?”

“Use what?”

“That stuff. That Ban-Blem. When your bandages come off, I mean. It might help.”

Hurt and angry, Jo rolled over and faced the wall.

Kelly continued blithely, “You’re coming skiing with us Wednesday afternoon right? No one has classes after one o’clock, so we’re going over to the state park. You can bring Evan if you want.”

Jo, feigning sleep, didn’t answer. Okay, so Kelly had been more polite than the person who put that tube of Ban-Blem in the bag, but wasn’t her message pretty much the same one: Johanna, hide your imperfections from the public? Use the stuff in the tube, use a veil, use a mask, use whatever you have to, but please don’t offend our eyes by making us look at your scars. Kelly probably didn’t even know she had said that. But she
had
.

Wednesday proved to be a perfect day for skiing. Cold, but sunny and bright, with a brilliant blue winter sky overhead.

“Are you sure it’s okay for you to go skiing?” Nan asked when she arrived at room 428 wearing a powder-blue ski outfit and matching visored cap. “I mean, maybe you should check with the doctor first.”

“I didn’t break my leg, Nan,” Jo said crossly. “What does my face have to do with skiing?”

Nan shrugged. “I was just trying to be helpful, Jo. You don’t need to bite my head off. What if you fall? Your bandages will get all wet.”

“
So
? I’ll put new ones on.”

Nan shrugged. “I’m just trying to help. Excuse me for caring.”

Jo flushed guiltily. I am really getting paranoid, she thought, apologizing to Nan.

Later that afternoon while Jo was having a mug of cocoa, Missy Stark was kind enough to inform her that the patio door had been repaired. “And my father says we’ll pay your medical bills,” she added stiffly. “Although personally, I think whoever pushed you should have to pay them.”

“
Pushed
me?” Jo echoed. “No one pushed me. I just got swept up by the crowd.”

They were in the lodge, sitting on a bench close to a roaring fire in the huge stone fireplace. Beyond the huge picture windows on one side of the room, skiers milled about on the slopes in the bright sunshine. Upbeat music filled the big, cozy room where Jo and Missy sat among the others taking a break from the wind and sun and snow.

“Are you sure?” Missy fixed narrowed eyes on Jo’s bandaged face. “No one
else
fell. In that whole crowd, you were the only one who got knocked off your feet. It looked to me like someone rammed you into that door on purpose.” Having said that, Missy jumped up in response to her name being called out. Reminding Jo to send any medical bills to her father, Missy left the lodge.

Jo stared into the fire.
Pushed?
Missy thought someone had deliberately pushed her through that door?

That was crazy. Who would do that? No one. No one would do that.

Missy didn’t know what she was talking about. There’d been a total panic about the fire. How could Missy possibly know what had happened?

Pushed? No way.

But when Evan arrived, a cup of hot coffee in his hand, Jo told him about Missy’s disturbing theory.

“She thinks someone pushed you?” He sipped his coffee thoughtfully. “So, is that a possibility? You made someone at the party mad? Maybe a jealous boyfriend who freaked when he saw you falling into my clutches?”

Jo shook her head. “No. I didn’t start making people mad at me until
after
I went through the door.”

Evan didn’t laugh. “So you don’t think you were pushed?”

“Only by the crowd. Couldn’t be helped.”

“You’re sure?”

Was she? Jo struggled to remember. True, the crowd had been pressing in on her, forcing her feet forward. But…hadn’t she felt something in the small of her back, something that wasn’t just the vague pressure of a mass of bodies?

A…hand?

It could have been a hand reaching out for support…someone afraid they were about to fall. “Yes,” she said with as much certainty as she could manage, “I’m sure.”

Because with everything else that had happened, she simply couldn’t allow herself to believe that someone at that party, someone she
knew
, had deliberately shoved her into that glass door. That was just too scary.

Anyone who might have done such a thing would have to have known she’d be hurt. Seriously hurt. Even…killed. Dr. Trent had said in the infirmary that night, “Another quarter-inch to the left and this chunk of glass in your neck would have hit the carotid artery. You’re a very lucky girl.”

She didn’t have any enemies like that.

Did she?

Carl and Reed, Kelly and Nan joined them at the fireplace then, bringing with them harmless, casual conversation. Other students arrived, among them several people with obvious sun and wind burns. A tall, thin, dark-haired girl from Jo’s English class had cheeks as red as her parka, and her lips were already spotted with white, the beginnings of some serious blistering. Her name was Tina Downs. She was friendly, and funny. Jo had always liked her.

“Oh,” Tina moaned as she sat down on the floor, “I stayed out there too long. I left the Quad with no sunscreen. I should have come in here every time you did, Jo. Why didn’t you
drag
me out of that sun?”

“You wouldn’t have gone,” a blond-haired boy sitting beside her said. “You were too busy showing off. Although,” he added admiringly, “you
are
pretty good. Care to give me a few lessons?”

“In what?” Tina asked, although she was clearly finding it difficult to talk. She groaned again. “I know I’m blistering, I can feel it. I’m going to show up at Cath’s party Friday night looking like I was staked out in a desert!”

Looking at Tina’s blistering lips, Jo was grateful that she’d put sunscreen on the parts of her face that weren’t covered with bandages. A sunburn like that must be really painful. She didn’t need
that
right now.

Tina Downs wouldn’t be getting a lot of sleep tonight.

“You really ought to stop in the infirmary when you get back, Tina,” Jo said. “They might be able to give you something so you won’t be so miserable. Your lips are blistering fast.”

Clearly already miserable, Tina nodded. “Maybe I will.”

They all stopped at Burgers Etc. on the way home. Then the combination of fresh air and exercise hit them and they piled into their cars and headed back to campus.

As she crawled into bed that night, Jo rejoiced. She had gone skiing, and nothing terrible had happened. No nasty messages hidden in her ski jacket’s pockets, or in her shoulderbag, no packages delivered to the lodge or the ski slope, and no staring or whispering. She was old news now. Everyone was used to her bandages.

She hadn’t even fallen.

Not a bad day, she thought, letting sleep overtake her. Not a bad day at all. Maybe it’s all over now. The person who made it his mission in life to make me as miserable as possible probably got tired of the game. Or ran out of ideas.

About time.

Hoping he hadn’t picked some other innocent victim to target, Jo drifted off to sleep.

W
ELL, THIS IS JUST
great! Now I’ve got two of them to deal with! Sometimes it just gets to be too much.

Tina Downs is an idiot. Who goes skiing on a day like this without sunscreen? I could hardly stand looking at her. Those disgusting blisters. I thought she’d never leave Burgers so I could eat in peace. And I was starving.

I have decided to let her live, in spite of her stupidity. Her blisters, ugly though they are are temporary.

But Johanna’s scars will be permanent. I must forget about Downs, who will recover, and concentrate on Jo, who won’t.

I just hope I don’t run into Downs before those blisters heal. I might not be able to control myself. Sometimes I don’t seem to have total control. Probably because I take my responsibilities so seriously.

I know They would be so proud of me, if They knew.

One day, I’ll tell Them.

I can’t wait to see the looks on Their faces.

Now, about that party at Nightmare Hall….

T
HE DAY OF THE
party at Nightmare Hall arrived without incident. There were no more packages, no more “stunts” designed to intimidate Jo into hiding her face from the public.

I was right, she thought, whoever it was finally tired of the game.

She tried on the Catwoman mask more than once, adjusting the thin, lightweight latex around her tape and bandages. The real problem was her thick, curly hair. There was too much of it. But after several attempts, she managed to stuff it up under the helmet-like mask so that not a single auburn strand showed.

On the afternoon of the party, she stopped in at the infirmary to have her stitches checked. The racket from the construction outside was deafening. “Are they ever going to finish that wall?” she asked Dr. Trent as the doctor inspected her needlework.