The Wish (Nightmare Hall) (7 page)

Flirting? Jenny?

Bennett had, until recently, been dating a gorgeous, red-haired Omega Phi. She’d dropped him like a hot potato the minute he’d taken to crutches. If he wasn’t going to be a football hero, she was no longer interested.

Her loss.

Jenny would never be that shallow.

At Alex’s insistence, they tried Burgers Etc., a diner not far from school, after the game. But they couldn’t even get into the parking lot.

“I don’t see why you guys had to take showers,” Kiki complained as they drove around the parking lot searching for a space. “You didn’t even play!”

“Thanks for pointing that out, Kiki,” Marty said drily. “You thought maybe we hadn’t noticed that?”

“Well, it let everybody else get here ahead of us. And I’m so hungry I could eat a cow.”

Alex had thought that Kiki looked a little thinner when they’d first met in the stands. Then she’d watched Kiki do nothing but eat chips and pickles and hot dogs and cookies and candy throughout the game and decided she was wrong. No dieting being done here, she’d thought, and helped herself to the bag of cookies sitting on Kiki’s lap.

Kyle refused to go to Vinnie’s. “It’ll be a madhouse. I need peace and quiet, okay? How about Chinese?”

So, they drove into town and ate at Hunan Manor. It was quiet, just as Kyle wanted, and not crowded. At Jenny’s gentle coaxing, Bennett finally pulled out of his funk, and they had a good time.

But on the way home, Marty, Bennett, and Kiki insisted on stopping at Vinnie’s. “I have to check with The Wizard,” Bennett said, half-jokingly. “Maybe he can tell me if I’m going to be able to play next week.”

Alex had no intention of going into Vinnie’s. “I’ll ride back to campus with Kyle,” she said as she got out of the car. “Jenny? You said you were tired.”

“I am.” Jenny hesitated, then smiled at Bennett. “But I think I’ll stay.”

They all argued with Alex, especially Jenny. “Why go back to the room and be alone? C’mon, Alex, we won today, and we haven’t really celebrated.”

But Alex wasn’t in any mood for celebrating. She could have told them about the phone call, but she was afraid they’d think she was being silly. Marty would say it was obviously just a joke. They’d think she was making too much of it.

Maybe she was.

“C’mon,” Bennett urged, “you haven’t had your fortune told yet. Now’s your chance.”

“I don’t want my fortune told,” Alex said sharply. “That stupid Wizard is totally bogus, and you all know it. I wouldn’t waste my money on that thing.”

Surprised by her reaction, they all began backing away. “Alex, chill,” Kyle chided. “He might hear you.”

“Who?”

Kyle laughed. “The Wizard, dummy. He could have far-reaching powers, Alex. You wouldn’t want to hurt his feelings, would you?”

“He’s right,” Kiki said, grinning. “You should watch what you say about someone who has the power to grant wishes and tell fortunes, Alex. You could be asking for trouble.”

Alex regarded both of them with suspicion. “Did either of you make any phone calls during halftime?”

Kyle looked bewildered. “Phone calls?”

But Kiki’s grin widened. “Why?” she asked with phony innocence. “Did you get one? Did you, for instance,” her words deliberately slow and measured, “get one from someone who warned you about being skeptical?” And then she cleared her throat, and with one hand over her mouth, repeated in a low monotone the words Alex had heard over the phone. “Hear me well, Alexandria, skepticism can be dangerous.” Laughing, Kiki pointed at Alex’s face. “You should see yourself! I wish I had a camera.”

“You made that stupid call?” Alex’s face burned. “It was you?”

“Oh, relax, Alex. I was just having fun. You were such a drag about The Wizard. Where’s your sense of humor?”

“Maybe I left it in Julie’s backseat the night of the accident,” Alex snapped. Lips clamped together, she whirled in disgust and walked stiffly to the edge of the parking lot to await the shuttle.

There was whispering and muttering behind her, and then Marty was standing beside her. “I sent everyone else on inside,” he said. “What’s up? What was that all about?”

“I actually thought, for just one tiny little second, that it might be him,” she murmured, so low that Marty couldn’t hear her. And it’s not really Kiki I’m mad at, she thought angrily, it’s myself. For being so incredibly stupid.

Marty bent his head toward hers. “What? What are you mumbling about?”

Alex shook her head. “Nothing. Never mind.” She felt like such a fool.

He was annoyed with her lack of response. “Why are you pooping out on us? C’mon inside, Alex. It’s too early to call it a night.”

“I don’t want to go in there,” she said. “Like Kyle said, it’s too noisy. I have a headache.”

“You’ve always liked Vinnie’s,” Marty said, a frown furrowing his forehead. “What’s up?”

What was up was that being in Vinnie’s reminded her of the storm and the lightning and the accident. She didn’t want to be reminded of any of those things. And then there was that stupid wooden Wizard, fixing his cold blue eyes on her as if he could see right through her. Reminding her of what a fool she was, not guessing that Kiki was behind the stupid practical joke.

Maybe dieting made Kiki irrational. Because in spite of the enormous amount of food she’d eaten tonight, she really did look thinner.

“I told you, I’m tired,” Alex repeated, becoming as annoyed as he was. “I mean, I don’t have to do everything everyone else does, do I? I want to go home, and that’s what I’m going to do, okay?”

“Okay, okay! Forget I said anything. See you!” And he turned on his heel and walked, head down, back to the restaurant and went inside.

Good. Who needed him? He could never understand how foolish she felt.

Because she had thought, just for that tiny, awful little second, that The Wizard had actually called to warn her not to doubt him.

W
HEN ALEX GOT BACK
to the dorm, the sounds of some heavy-duty partying echoed from one of the rooms on her floor as she entered the hall.

The temptation to join the party was strong. Tired or not, she hated the thought of going back to an empty room again. All she had to do was knock on the door, and she’d be with other people. Maybe even having fun, who knew? She could forget about Julie’s face and Gabe’s injured legs and Marty being annoyed with her. She could push everything, including her battle with the tower wind, out of her mind, just for a little while, and have a good time. Wasn’t that what parties were for?

Alex hesitated in the hallway. If Marty found out she’d refused to stop at Vinnie’s with them and then had gone to a party instead, he’d be double-ticked.

Too bad. She hadn’t said she wanted to go home and go to bed. She’d only said she didn’t want to go into Vinnie’s. And that was the truth.

Alex marched straight over to the source of the party sounds and rapped sharply on the door.

It was opened by a short, pretty girl with blonde hair. Alex had seen her at parties. She was a friend of the Omega Phi redhead who’d been dating Bennett. The blonde girl’s name, Alex remembered, was Amber.

She let Alex in and handed her a brimming paper cup. “You’re Alex Edgar,” she said. “Aren’t you a friend of Bennett’s?”

Alex nodded. The room was thick with people, lounging, sitting. There didn’t seem to be a square inch of empty space.

“Poor Bennett,” Amber said. “He was really nuts about Shelley. But she doesn’t date non-athletes. Ever. I guess Bennett was really wrecked over it.”

“Doesn’t seem to be,” Alex said coolly. If Bennett was wrecked, she was positive he wouldn’t want Shelley and all of her friends to know it. “He was having fun tonight with Jenny Pierce.”

“Oh, the twin of that girl whose face was totalled.”

Alex winced at the remark. Turning away, she stepped carefully around reclining bodies sharing a huge bowl of pink popcorn, and went to the window. Squeezing between two people she didn’t know, she made a space for herself and stood looking out. The tower was directly across from her.

“Hey, Alex!” a girl named Jill from Alex’s math class called out, “You’re being antisocial. How’s Julie doing?”

Alex turned around and joined in the conversation and, after a while, the fun. When she next turned back to the window, she was surprised to see people on the sixth floor observation deck of the tower. They were directly in her line of vision. Two figures, moving about. Dancing? Maybe they’d taken a tape player up there and were dancing under the stars. How romantic. Cold, even without the wind, but romantic.

She couldn’t see who the couple was. Too far away, and the lights on the deck weren’t that bright. They wouldn’t be looking at the stars. If they were going to do that, they’d have gone higher up, maybe even to the eighteenth floor, where the bigger telescope was…the one that had saved her life.

One of the figures moved away from the other, waving its arms. It didn’t seem that they were dancing anymore.

Alex peered through the glass, ignoring the laughter and loud conversation behind her. There was something about the taller of the two figures…something familiar. The height? The build? The way it moved around the deck? Something….

Suddenly the shorter figure began to back away, slowly at first, his or her head turning from side to side as if looking for something. Then he began running from one side of the stone wall to the other, while the taller one remained in place with his back to the door leading from the tower.

Blocking it, Alex thought all of a sudden. The door is being blocked so the shorter one can’t get to it.

Why?

It looks like the shorter person is trying to run away, Alex thought, and realized instantly that that was exactly what was happening. The figure dashing frantically about on the observation deck was running from the taller one, who was blocking the only escape route.

But there’s nowhere to go, she thought next, leaning closer against the window. Her forehead gently bumped the glass. It felt cool, refreshing in such a hot, stuffy room. Why does he need to get away? The other person isn’t doing a thing…just standing there. Nothing scary about that.

So why was the other person running frantically around on the observation deck like a rat caught in a maze?

The taller figure began to move…slowly…toward the shorter one, who was rapidly backing up against the waist-high wall. When his back had collided with the stone and he could no longer move, his hands moved up and out, in a defensive posture. As if he knew a fight was coming.

Alex stood up straighter. What was going on? They definitely weren’t dancing, and they weren’t being romantic…were they just fooling around?

Alex didn’t know what to do. Call security? What if it was just two people horsing around? She’d feel like an idiot. And the two people, whoever they were, not to mention the security guard, would think she had nothing better to do than stand at a window and spy on other people.

But what if they weren’t just horsing around?

The shorter person now stood with his back against the stone wall, hands raised, as the taller person approached. There was something very odd about the figure, something Alex couldn’t place…what
was
it?

He looks like he’s laughing, Alex thought, and felt an enormous sense of relief. If he was laughing, there couldn’t really be anything wrong, could there? She’d been right not to race to the phone and call security. They were playing.

And then, with Alex still watching, the approaching figure reached the wall. His arms reached out, made contact, and, for a moment, seemed to be toying with the other person’s shirt.

Alex heard Jill calling to her and she flushed in embarrassment. She felt like a Peeping Tom.

And then, just as she was about to turn away from the window in disgust with herself, the taller figure lifted the other one and threw him up and over the side of the observation deck.

A
LEX SCREAMED. THE SOUND
went unheard in a room raucous with music and laughter.

The figure that had been thrown off the deck arched up, up, and out into the air before beginning his rapid spiral downward. Arms and legs flailed wildly, grasping outward for something to stop his flight. Alex could feel his mouth opening, could hear, in her mind, his futile screams for help, help,
help
….

The figure slammed into the awning over the second floor deck and bounced off, arching up again before he made his final descent.

The arms and legs no longer flailed.

In her mind, Alex heard the awful thud when the figure slammed into the ground.

Then he lay still, arms and legs sprawled awkwardly.

People who had been walking across campus began running toward the unmoving figure.

Alex, so ill she could barely stand, sagged against the window. “Someone,” she whispered, “someone was thrown off the tower.”

No one heard her.

She took a deep, cleansing breath and whirled away from the window. No one was paying any attention. People were rummaging through a pile of CD’s in one corner of the room and people in the middle of the room were making a futile attempt to dance, and other people were lying on the floor tossing popcorn at each other, but no one was paying any attention to the fact that someone had just been thrown off the sixth-floor observation deck of the tower.

“Someone
fell
!” she screamed, and this time everyone stopped what they were doing and looked. “From the tower! Call an ambulance! Hurry!”

Then, as someone reached for the phone, Alex stumbled through the crowd to the door and ran out of the room.

Followed by Amber and Jill, Alex raced out of the building and to the tower.

A crowd had already gathered. Alex, her breath coming in ragged gasps, pushed her way through it. And saw Marty, kneeling on the ground beside…Kyle!

It was Kyle she had watched go off that tower. Kyle…

He was lying on his back, a spreading puddle of red covering the grass underneath his blond hair. He wasn’t moving, but…Alex’s eyes moved quickly to his chest…he was breathing.

Her knees gave, and she sank to the ground, close to Marty.