Authors: Cheryl McIntyre
The drive to Pandora is too short. After pulling into a spot and putting the car in park, Nick turns to Keely. One last look, just in case. She is so beautiful. Her hair is its natural color, fully blond, thick and a mess of waves. Her pale face is free of make-up, just her own beauty showing. She licks her lips ne
rvously. They are nice lips. Closing his eyes, he
kisses them one last time, just in case. Runs his fingers across the smooth skin of her cheeks
and
down to her neck. He feels tears forming under his closed eyelids. Blinks them away. It’s his job to protect her. He needs to be strong now. He hugs her to his chest tightly. Probably too tightly by the way her breath
rushes out of her. He loosens his grip
, but doesn’
t let go. “No matter what happens, you stay with me.” She nods her head against his shoulder. “Keely, I mean it. It’s really important that you stay by my side. Hold on to my shirt or belt loop, but do not leave my side. Not even for a second. I need to see y
ou at all times.” He pulls
away from her
and grips her shoulders. He s
tares at her intently. “Do you understand?”
“I got it.”
He opens the door then shuts it. Turns back
to Keely. “I love you.
”
“Nick, I
… I
love you too.” There’s
desperation
to her voice that makes his stomach tighten.
He wishes he could enjoy this mome
nt. This is not the way it’
s supposed to go. Confessions of love should be followed up with smiles and kisses. Not preparation for battle. He clenches his jaw and clears his throat.
“You have your dagger?”
She n
ods, touching her back pocket.
“The mace?”
Again, Keely nods
. “Are you sure mace works on D
emons?”
“This mace does. You’ve heard of pepper spray, right?”
“Yes.”
“This is more like salt spray. But just added to mace. So it works on anybody.”
Keely smo
othes her fingers over the
bottle in her pocket. “
Cool
.”
Dustin moves impatiently outside the car. Lila touches his arm. She knows her brother needs a minute. In response, Dustin bends and brushes his lips across hers softly. “I love you,” he breaths in her ear.
“Mmm, I love you too, B
aby. So much.”
He wraps his arms around her waist. “When this is over, let’s just do it.”
“Do what?” Lila gazes up at him. Adjusts his thick black frames as they slip down his nose.
“Get married.”
She smiles
. “Married, huh. Are you proposing?”
“Not officially. After, when this job is done, I am going to go buy you the biggest ring I can afford—which won’t be very big at all, but I will buy it with love. Then I will get down on one knee
and
that’s when I will propose.”
“I might say yes.”
“God willing.”
L
ila pulls on Dustin’s neck. H
e leans in and kisses her again.
Nick clears his throat as he shuts the car door. “You guys ready?”
“Not really,” Dustin says. He takes Lila’s hand. Nick takes Keely’s and they head to the door of the ominous looking building towering in front of them.
It’s old. A large mass of
brick
that was once, a very long time ago, an archives building for Hunt, Ohio. Underneath the building, however, lays
a profusion of tunnels. Most have railways running throughout that are no longer in use. Others have steam pipes. Some intertwine with the sewage tunnels. And some are empty, just leads to other
,
once more important tunnels.
This is Pandora.
The first floor is where the bands play, where the bathrooms are housed, and where the security keeps watch. Below is another story.
Anything
and
everything goes down in the tu
nnels. Hook ups. Drug
deals. Underage drinking. It’
s often home to runaways. It’s a labyrinth where anything goes. As long as you stay on the upper floor
s
and don’t stray down below, it is a
fairly
safe pla
ce for under twenty-ones to watch live bands
.
They all know it isn’t safe tonight.
The door pulses with sound. Bass beating loudly. Dustin pulls it open. A young woman stands behind a large podium. Her golden hair is spike
d
out around her head. “Ten bucks,” she yells over the music. Her teeth hit against the double hoops in her lip. Nick hands her a fifty and motions to all of
them. She hands him back a ten dollar bill and stamps his hand with a fluoresc
ent green star. She seems tired or
maybe just bored while she stamps the others as
they move past her.
The room is large and open, yet Keely instantly feels claustrophobic with so many bodies smashed together. The place is packed. She reaches for Nick. Hooks her finger around the empty belt loop of his jeans. “Now what?”
Nick looks over her head at Dustin and nods. Lila goes with Dustin
, moving along the wall. Their eyes searching. Nick guides Keely in the opposite direction doing the same thing.
“Do you see him?” Keely has to shout and can barely hear her own voice. Somehow Nick hears her. Shakes his head.
“Keep your eyes open.” His hand grasps her finger on his jeans. “Hold tight.”
She does, hooking another finger into the loop and her other hand grips his shirt. Guys and girls dance below the small stage. They move frantically to the beat of the music. Some wave glow sticks and in some parts of the room
,
it is the only light. The bulbs of the overhead
lamps are all blue and some are burnt out
. It’s eerie t
he way everyone illuminates
a
bluish glow
.
They all look so pale. Most are as young
as
or younger than Keely.
She and Nick make their way around the room to where they began. Meet up with Dustin and Lila.
“Did you see anything?” Nick and Dustin stand very close to one another as they yell back and forth. Keely releases her fingers from Nick. They throb. He reaches back instantly and takes her hand.
Keely looks around the room again. She knows he’s here. Probably just waiting for the perfect moment. She checks the time on her cell phone. It is just now eight o’clock. The phone vibrates in her hand causing her to jump. Nick pulls her closer.
“What is it?”
“A text.” She positions her phone so he can see. “It’s just Dana. She’s here. I forgot I originally agreed to come here with her.
One of her friend’s boyfriend
is in the band.”
Nick nods. He remembers. A s
econd later, Dana is beside him
.
“Hey, you made it. This band is pretty good, right?”
Keely nods. Now that she allows herself to actually pay attention, she realizes they are good. Nick seems annoyed with Dana’s presence as she moves closer to him. “Where’s Bryon?”
Nick tells her he doesn’t know. She moves closer as if she can’t hear him and that’s when all hell breaks loose.
There is a moment when everything moves so fast, Keely can’t keep up. The music is too loud suddenly. The room is too dark. People push into each other, pushing into Keely. She loses Nick’s hand as she is thrown to the floor. Everyone is screaming,
but the music goes on
.
Plays louder.
Her ears
hurt.
The guitar screeches louder. Someone trips over her. Another someone steps on her leg. She tries to scream in pain, but she isn’t sure if anything comes out.
It’s all too fast. Where is Nick? Dustin? Lila? Dana?
Hands pull at her. At first she fights against them. Hitting, kicking. “Keely!” Dana blocks a hit. “Get up,” she yells.
Keely takes her hand and they are smashing their way through screaming kids. Keely finds an opening and tugs Dana through behind her. People are pushing her again. She doesn’t resist this time. Moves with it. She is in a hall. Everyone is going right. Dana pulls her left.
“Come on, we can get out this way.”
Keely hesitates. Looks at the crowd of panicked people. Dana pulls her hand.
They move left and run.
“What happened in there? What caused all that panic?” Keely asks breathlessly. They come to another hallway and Dana pauses. “What’s wrong?”
“I don’t remember which way.” Dana’s eyes are huge, frightened. “I think it’s this way, but I’m not sure.” She takes a step to the right. Behind her a shadow moves along the wall. Keely grabs Dana’s hand and they run left.
“Go, faster.” Keely looks back, a man, a very large and very dead looking man moves down the hall behind them. He is bloated and
gray. His eyes are lifeless, p
ale and creamy. He
’s in
dirty jean overalls like her gramps use
d
to wear when he worked in the garden. He’s balding like her gramps too, but he isn’t her gramps. There is a cruel expression on his face, one her grandfather never wore. His feet do not touch the ground, do not move, yet he is just a pace behind them.
At the next hall they do not hesitate. They turn right and at the end of this hall is a door. Keely pushes Dana forward. “Go, go.”
Dana slams into the door sending it flying ope
n. She turns back to Keely,
sees the man following them and freezes. Screams rip from her throat. Keely pulls
her through the door and they’
re running again. They have to make it to the front of the building now where the parking lot is. They should have stayed with the crowd. Safety in numbers.
As they run, Keely pulls the mace from her pocket. Flips the cap back. Readies her fingers.
“There’s my car,” Dana pants as they round the corner. She is already searching her pocket for her keys. Keely risks a look behind her now. The man is too close. They aren’t going to make
it
into the car.
“Is it locked?”
“Yes.”
They slide across the gravel, coming to a stop beside Dana’s car. Keely turns quickly and starts spraying. The mist hits its target before her eyes even find him. He shrinks back. She sprays again and he retreats, moving backwards toward the building.
Dana gets the door open and Keely dives across the seat. “Come on, hur
ry.” Once they are both inside
with doors locked, Dana turns to Keely.
“What the hell is going on?”
“I will explain as much as I can. Just go. We need to get to Nick. Do you have your phone? I lost mine.”
Dana feels her pockets. “No,” she cries.
Keely looks out the window trying to spot Nick
in the dark lot
.
It’s empty, no one in sight
.
She doesn’t even see the freaky old guy.
“Where are all the people?”
“What?”
“There are no people. Nobody’s trying to leave. I don’t see anybody.” Keely puts her hand on the dashboard, pulls herself forward for a better look. Her hand slips on something. Without thinking, she picks it up and keeps looking. “That’s weird. Should we go back? They might be trapped or something.”
“I am not going back in there. We can drive to the gas station down the road and get help.”
Keely nods. “O.K. That sounds like a good idea.”
Dana starts the car. Keely sits back and looks down at the item in her hand. A gray beanie. Her mouths opens, her brow crinkles. She lifts it to her nose and smells it.
“You said you didn’
t see him
. You said Bryon never showed
,
”
Keely murmurs. She
tries to remember the last time she saw Bryon. Yes, he was wearing his stupid gray beanie even though it was much too hot for it. He wore it as he begged her for a second chance.
She remembers looking down at it as he ki
ssed her shoe, then again when they pushed their desks together in Giordano’s class
.
“What?”
Keely holds the hat out accusingly. “Why did you lie?”
Dana bites her lip. “Wel
l, hell. You were not supposed to find that
.”
Sixteen
:
For a heartbeat, Keely stares at Dana. Watches her face pass from confusion to annoyance to anger in less than a second.