The Childe (36 page)

“They had no choice, three girls went missing and one of them turned up…not alive,” Cat commented.

“There just has to be a way we can go,” Amanda said ignoring Cat’s comment.

“I think we should wait and go the next afternoon. What’s a few hours more, really?” Julie interjected in her motherly tone. Matt threw a pillow at her missing by inches.

“Julie lighten up! What could happen, especially with me protecting you guys?”

“For once, Matt’s right! Not about the protecting part of course, but about lightening up. Let’s think about how we can pull this off!” Amanda said mischievously. The three looked at each other trying to think of a way around the dire situation as Cat and Julie just shrugged their shoulders, knowing their input was useless.

“How about we sneak out? I have to see this movie!” Elle blurted out at the lunch table the following day.

“Sshhh!” Amanda hushed her. “Do you want everyone to hear you?”

“Sneak out?” Cat whispered, giving Elle a shocked look. “Our parents will kill us if we sneak out of the house! Can we say grounded for life! Besides it is rated R, how will we get in to see it? Not to mention the whole it’s-dangerous-out-there thing,” Cat continued furiously whispering.

“Calm down Cat, we’ll be fine. My sister’s working that night at the theater, she’ll get us in,” Matt commented while petting Cat on her head.

“I’m not a puppy Matthew, and thanks for your concern,” she replied giving him a withering stare.

“So, it’s settled! We’ll sneak out next Friday and meet at the end of the street,” Amanda whispered cautiously.

“Un problemo! How are we going to get there? We can’t take Matt’s car or any of our cars for that matter since it will give us away,” Cat explained.

“I got it! We can take our bikes,” Matt whispered excitedly.

“That’s a great idea. We’ll make less noise that way,” Elle said nodding to Matt.

“Are Julie and I the only ones that think this is a bad idea?” Cat asked.

“Oh Cat, why are you so worried. You’re usually the one that is all gung ho about things like this!” Amanda stated looking at her.

Well you’re not the one having weird things happening to her, now are you!
Cat thought. “All right, well, if we get in trouble, I just want to go on record to say that I told you so,” she murmured while folding her arms and slouching back.

Standing at their lockers two weeks later, the group could barely contain their excitement. “I can’t wait for tonight,” Matt’s voice echoed loudly in the hallway.

“Great Matt! Just tell the whole world what our plans are, why don’t you?” Amanda angrily murmured while punching him in the arm.

“You know that hurts Amanda! Not physically but my ego. How am I going to impress the ladies when I’ve got a girl beating up on me? Could you cool the physical barrages in public and save them for private please?” Amanda punched him in the arm again and continued looking through her locker for her books while he rubbed his arm ruefully.

“So what are you planning on doing tonight?” a voice asked from behind them. Cat turned to see Ryan grinning at her.

“We’re going out tonight to see…oww-” Matt stopped in mid-sentence as he was elbowed in the gut by Amanda.

“It’s okay Amanda. Ryan won’t tell anyone, will you Ryan?” Cat said confidently looking at him. He shook his head.

“Well you see, we’re going to sneak out tonight and go see that new Robert Craven movie
Darkness Awakes
,” Amanda whispered.

“Really? You’re going to risk getting in trouble over that movie?”

“Yeah, Julie and I tried to talk them out of it, but we were outvoted.”

“What do you mean
that
movie?” Amanda exclaimed, ignoring Cat’s comment.

“I mean, it’s just another vampire movie that will reiterate the false stereotypes that most people have about them. Plus most of those movies have terrible plots.”

“Not these movies though, they’ve got great plots Ryan,” Elle said trying to calm Amanda.

“Yeah and the guys in them are really hot too,” Amanda chimed in.

“Well to each his own, I guess.” Ryan laughed

“Would you like to come with us?” Cat asked ignoring the stares from her friends.

“Thanks, but I’m busy tonight. I’ll take a rain check though,” he replied as they moved down the hallway, leaving the others behind.

“I’ll hold you to it,” Cat said, hoping that he meant it. She smiled at him thinking back to the tutoring session a couple days after her sleep walking incident. She remembered how nervous she was walking into the library that day and seeing him smile at her. Things had definitely changed. Ryan would hold her hand under the table during their sessions and steal kisses when no one was looking. He began to sit with her at lunch and ignored the glares from his group. Her friends seemed to accept him. Julie and Matt were the only ones that had any reservation, but they too eventually came around. When he asked her to be exclusive, she had no hesitation. T he answer was yes. Though each day it became more difficult to keep their romance a secret, but they had to.

Up in her room Cat hid that night’s outfit behind her trifold rice paper screen. The creak of the attic stairs alerted her and she flung herself on her bed, opening her English book.

“Come in!” Cat called out hearing the knock on the door.

“Is something wrong Cat? You ate dinner awful quickly,” Rachel asked entering the room and sitting down on the corner of her bed.

“Yeah mom, I’m doing fine. I’m just catching up on my reading.”

Noticing that the book was upside down Rachel sighed, “Oh okay. Hey Cat, I know it’s been tough being stuck inside every night. But you know we could always play a board game like we used to. Or rent a movie and eat popcorn?”

“No that’s okay mom. I’m pretty beat. I think I might go to bed soon anyway.”

“Alright Cat. Night then sweetheart,” Rachel said bending down and kissing her forehead. “If you change your mind, we’ll be downstairs, okay?”

“Okay mom, night.” Rachel walked to the door, looking over her shoulder as she opened it.

“I love you Cat.”

“Love you too mom”, she said with a smile.

The house stood silent, Cat’s bedside clock showed eleven. Everyone was asleep except for Cat, who was climbing out her oval bay window onto the balcony. She made her way to the white lattice fence that covered the back side of the house. Taking each step carefully, and trying not to rip her clothes on the sharp thorns of her mom’s roses, she made her way down. Cat let out a gasp as her foot broke a piece of the fence. She held on tightly and tried to regain her footing. Dangling high above the ground, she felt around for another spot to place her foot. Trying to pull herself up, she quickly leapt to the next piece of fencing, surprised when she caught herself effortlessly. She made her way to the ground breathing a sigh of relief until she looked up at the gaping hole in the lattice. “Mom and dad are going to kill me for that!” Cat moaned. “Crap, I’m going to be late!” she said looking at her cell phone and running to the shed to retrieve her bike. “I’ll worry about the fence later!” Riding her bike to the end of the street, Cat found everyone waiting for her.

“What took you so long Cat? We were beginning to think you weren’t going to show!” Amanda whispered.

“I had a complication. I still don’t feel right about this,” she replied.

“Well we’ve come this far, we might as well just keep going,” Elle interjected.

“Ok guys, we’ve got to watch out for patrol cars. They’re all over the place. We need to get to the theater quickly,” Amanda detailed, looking at everyone.

“My sister’s going to sneak us in through the back. She said this is the only time she will do this. She kind of owes me a favor.” Everyone stared at Matt, looking as if they knew there was more to it. “Okay, okay, I kind of blackmailed her. But we don’t need to get into that,” he said smiling evilly.

Traveling to the theater they stayed close to the shadows, vigilantly watching for any sign of trouble. Arriving at the back of the theater, Matt sent a text to his sister letting her know they were there. A few minutes later, Sara opened the door and they scrambled in. “Okay you guys have to hurry, there are police officers doing a scan of the theater. They mean business so be quiet and sneak into the balcony seats. The stairway is here on your left,” she whispered hurriedly. They made their way to their seats and slouched down waiting for the theater to darken and the previews to start. The signature for the Craven movies began, a full moon turning red and then waning to form a crescent moon like the C in his name. They sat glued to their seats for the entire movie and not one word was said.

“Boy what a ride! I could’ve easily sat through several more hours of that!” Matt said as they made their way up the aisle.

“I’m glad the ending wasn’t too sad,” Elle commented as they reached the exit door.

“Those special effects were awesome! I mean man! Those creatures looked freakin’real!” Matt exclaimed as he pushed the bar on the exit door. It didn’t open. “How can this door be locked? It’s an emergency exit!” he whispered intently staring at the bar in disbelief. “I’m going to text my sister,” he said, frantically pulling out his cell phone.

“I knew this was a bad idea! We’re going to get caught! Hurry! Let’s go into that hallway over there. People are starting to come out of the theater! Someone’s going to see us!” Cat whispered nervously moving quickly into the adjacent hallway.

“She’s saying that security has locked all of the doors and they’re having everyone go through the front of the theater. She’ll be over here soon with the keys to let us out. We need to be invisible ‘til she gets here. Yeah, like we can do that,” Matt muttered looking around nervously.

Sara rushed around the corner making them jump. “Guys hurry! I’ve got to get these keys back to my boss before he gets suspicious. We’re even now Matt!” Sara whispered unlocking the door and pushing them outside. The door closed firmly behind them. Retrieving their bikes from behind the dumpster, the group made their way down the darkened alleyway. Turning onto a well-lit street, Matt noticed a police cruiser turning the corner just ahead of them. A bright light briefly blinded them.