Chapter 22
Zara Moxley didn’t know it, but she wasn’t alone in wanting to go back to school as soon as possible.
Kylie Mason felt the same way, though for very different reasons.
At school, she got to spend time with her boyfriend, Brendan Manning, who was, like, so hot.
Being stuck at home, and with her parents both working from home, too, there was zero chance of that.
The math was simple—no school, no boyfriend.
No thanks.
If that wasn’t bad enough, her little brother and sister were driving her up the wall. It had only been days, but she didn’t think she’d make it an entire week.
So when her parents finally caved and agreed to do dinner and a movie night, with dinner being Excalibur Pizza, Kylie did that math.
It was Friday night, and Excalibur would be busy, so twenty minutes to get there, an hour and a half for pizza, two hours for the movie, twenty minutes home.
That was four hours and ten minutes of quality Brendan time if she played her cards right.
All she had to do was fake being sick, insist they still go without her, and then promise to lock the door behind them and not answer it for any reason.
Keep the Ring camera on. If she felt better, she could order food but make them leave it on the doorstep and wait until they drove away to get it.
She was safe as long as she stayed home.
Ever since Paxton Embry, her parents had kept a tight leash, and she was tired of it.
And she did exactly as they asked. She stayed home. She locked all the doors. Which was fine, because Brendan crawled in through her window.
When the doorbell rang, she ignored it at first—she hadn’t ordered food yet, and they were all the way in the living room and busy.
It was going to take a lot to make Kylie leave the couch right now.
The bell rang a second time, and she seriously considered ignoring it some more, but Brendan didn’t agree.
“I’ll check it,” Brendan said, pulling his shirt back on. “If the camera keeps going off, your mom might get worried.”
Kylie let him get it—he wasn’t on the stupid yearbook list—but reminded him to be careful to stay out of the camera’s view.
He came back moments later, pizza in one hand, a two-liter of soda in the other.
“Wow, Mom must really feel bad. Pizza and soda,” she said, taking the box from him.
“I thought soda was forbidden in this house?” Brendan asked. “On pain of death?”
“Mom is still on her no-sugar kick. So if you want any, we should drink as much as we can before she changes her mind and dumps it out.”
After they ate, they went back to the couch, throwing on a movie just in case anyone came home early.
She wasn’t sure when she started noticing the colors or how weird Brendan’s face had started to look.
It was like the walls were breathing. That worried her a little.
Walls shouldn’t breathe. She was going to ask Brendan about it, but then thought she heard a noise in her room.
Had she remembered to lock the window after Brendan?
Kylie thought so, but then again, he’d kissed her, and she hadn’t been paying too much attention after that.
They decided to check her bedroom together, because Kylie had seen a few horror movies and only dumbasses go alone, but they didn’t see anyone. The stuffed toys on her bed were swaying by that point, so maybe she was a little distracted.
Kylie started to think maybe her mom had been right about soda when Brendan started to puke. She wasn’t feeling so good herself.
Then…She wasn’t sure what happened then.
Someone was moving around the house. She wasn’t sure who.
They had one of those old, cheap plastic Cinderella masks on, the kind with the dead eyes that usually creeped her out, but right now was just so funny.
Kylie couldn’t stop giggling. Brendan had stopped upping his chuck, but he was too busy talking to the shadows.
Which was annoying, because he was supposed to be spending time with her.
The masked person was speaking, but Kylie wasn’t listening.
She was too dizzy to pay attention. The masked person got down on the floor, hand going underneath the couch, which looked like a fun game to Kylie, so she tried to do it, too.
She snatched the little plastic thing under the couch and giggled.
“It’s an ID card! I know him! He works at my school!
” She bounced in place, feeling like she’d won a huge game show prize.
She wobbled, unsteady on her feet, and tried to look at the card again. “Isn’t he—”
But the masked person got mad, snatching the plastic ID out of her hand and putting it back. Then she was tucked back onto the couch with a blanket, which was soft and warm. The room was spinning a lot now, so she didn’t fight it.
Kylie felt like sleeping, except her stomach was still cramping a little. Brendan had been so whiny about the pain, but what did she expect from a boy? She didn’t think it was as bad as period cramps, so she could handle it.
Time blurred, going fuzzy, but she was snuggled on the couch next to Brendan.
That was nice. There was a movie on, and that made Kylie happy—it was one of her favorites, about a woman who became a lawyer and carried a little dog in her purse.
She used to watch it all the time with her mom.
She smiled at the screen, leaning her head on Brendan’s shoulder.
She grumbled in an irritated way when someone shook her, pressing a cup to her mouth. Kylie wanted to sleep, but they made her drink. It was vile. Bitter and nasty.
But then they let her lean back against Brendan. That was nice. She was listening to Elle Woods explaining the bend and snap when she drifted off to sleep.
She didn’t wake up.
When Brendan did, it was to someone screaming.