Chapter 7
seven
Zander
The photo pops through. It takes me a second to figure out what I'm looking at. Then it's clear. I text back.
You even excel at being sentimental. And yeah, that memory is still crystal clear. Night, GA. That's what I'm calling you now cuz guardian angel is too long.
She sends back a heart emoji. I put my phone away and stretch my legs out as I slump against the couch.
It's been a long fucking day. After flipping through a million possibilities on television, I turn the thing off and toss aside the remote.
For all of as second I consider heading down to the Gold Rush for a beer, but I know I'll be surrounded by nosy people who've all heard different levels of rumors.
I already had two friends texting to find out the date of the funeral.
Rockhurst has a rumor mill problem, but mill makes it sound as if the place can gather, process and refine rumors to put out a decent product.
That's not the case at all. By tomorrow, half the town will be talking about my dad in the past tense.
My phone buzzes, and I grab it quickly, stupidly thinking it'll be Nev again.
It's Becky, a woman I've been seeing occasionally.
She's feeling lonely, according to her text.
It's not like me to turn down a good fuck, but I'm spent so I tell her maybe tomorrow night.
Knowing Becky, she'll stop talking to me for a week because I turned her down.
That's fine with me. I swipe the screen and go back to the pictures Nev sent.
The bracelet still looks pretty damn good, but it's way too long for her tiny wrist. I scroll down to the witch finger and smile. I can't believe she still has it.
* * *
Then
"Are ya all sixteen?" The ticket seller has his hair greased down like a vampire and he painted fake blood on the sides of his mouth.
He's also chewing the biggest fucking wad of gum I've ever seen.
He rolls it from side to side like a damn rubber ball as he talks.
"Gonna need some IDs. You can't get in without a parent unless you're sixteen.
" He looks at me. "You go ahead." He hands me a ticket.
Jameson, Zach, Kinsley, Weston, Indi and Nev all show their IDs.
The girls immediately hook arms because they're freaked out about the possibility of monsters and zombies popping out of nowhere to scare the shit out of them.
They talked about strength in numbers on the ride over.
They figured no one would try and scare an entire chain of girls.
I'm pretty sure their theory is wrong, and that is proven when a headless horseman, carrying his pumpkin head, sweeps out from a tree, flapping his black cape as if the actor isn't sure if he's a headless horseman or a vampire.
There are booths where you can win giant, fuzzy spiders and plastic skeletons.
Jameson has his heart set on one of the big prizes, a rubber ghoul mask.
Weston follows as he heads straight over to the shooting gallery, where knocking off three flying witches wins you the first ticket toward the grand prize mask.
You need ten tickets to get the mask. I'm pretty sure he'll spend more trying to win the mask than if he walked into the Halloween store to buy one.
The girls are at the booth where you throw baseballs at a tower of old milk bottles.
"You'd think they could come up with a new game.
Seriously, what year is this, 1952?" Zach snorts.
"I mean, none of us ever drank milk from a bottle shaped like that.
" Zach and Indi are a couple, and Weston is Indi's brother.
My brother is part of Zach and Weston's friend circle, and to make things extra fucked up, my brother is in love with Indi.
It's a tangled mess that I've tried to talk him out of, but Jameson tells me to fuck off and mind my business. And so, I do exactly that.
Indi and Kinsley screech and clap when Nev knocks the top bottle off.
Nev is always solid, feet on the ground, level-headed and the smartest person I know.
She picks a rubber witch's finger from the prize box and promptly pushes it onto her finger.
She's smiling at me as she holds up her prize, then her smile fades as two small hands cover my eyes.
Two not small breasts flatten against my back. "Guess who?" Emily giggles in my ear.
"Hmm, I'd say that's a B cup." I move my back to assure her I'm talking about her tits.
She takes away her hands and slaps my arm.
"That's all you ever think about." She throws her arms around me for a kiss.
"How come you didn't tell me you were going to the Halloween Fair?
" I'm tempted to let her know it's because she's been annoying me lately.
She's always blathering on about some influencer or another and going on about how she's going to become one and make millions telling people how to do their makeup.
She can talk for an hour about her latest manicure, and I hate her long, pointy nails.
Her dad owns a limousine service, perfect cars for making out in, but those damn nails almost make the whole thing too risky.
I'm tired of coming home scratched up like I've been wrestling with a mountain lion.
I'm lucky to still have both eyes after she covered them.
"Just forgot," I say. It's not a great answer but it's better than the truth.
"Well, I forgive you, but you've got to win me one of those witch's hats at the game booth."
"Yeah, not sure if I'm up for that." I look around. My friends and brother have deserted me. They find Emily annoying, too. I send a text to Jameson.
Where are you at?
Heading to the haunted house.
"Hey, looks like everyone is going to the haunted house."
Emily frowns. "What about my witch's hat?"
"Those games are rigged. I'm not handing over a wad of cash for something I can buy you at the Halloween shop. Let's go to the haunted house."
Her smile returns, and she wraps her arm tightly around mine. "All right but I warn you, I'm a huge scaredy cat in those things. I'm not letting go of this arm."
"Just keep the claws tucked in," I mutter.
"What's that?" she asks, her head turned and tilted.
I shrug. "Nothing. Let's hurry so we can go in with the others."
The haunted house is set up in a double wide mobile home.
The outside is decorated with a plywood cutout of a haunted house.
You can see the siding between the panels.
It's all pretty hokey. This year Zombie's Revenge is the theme of the fair, so I expect to see a lot of rotting faces and hanging limbs inside the house.
Screams are echoing from inside, which makes Emily tighten her grip more.
We spot everyone ten feet from the entrance.
Nev glances back when Indi says something to her.
She gives me a weak smile, and I really wish that Emily hadn't shown up.
Sometimes it's nice just to hang with my friends, and Nev rarely tags along with us, so tonight promised to be extra cool.
We all stand outside the haunted house and stare at it. "Looks shabbier than usual," Nev says. "I think I'm out."
"Are ya scared?" Zach teases. He's got his arm draped possessively over Indi's shoulders, and I sense that Jameson is having about as good a time as me right now.
"Just leave her alone," Jameson snaps.
"Fuck off, grump," Zach says. He's always been pretty clueless.
I'm right about my earlier sense. My brother puts himself through a lot of hell, hanging out with his two best friends, Weston and Zach, and watching from the sidelines as Zach holds and kisses the girl that Jameson loves.
"The only thing I'm scared about in there is getting gangrene or some kind of flesh-eating bacteria, and I'm not talking about anything having to do with zombies," Nev explains.
"Right. Sounds like a good excuse," Zach keeps pressing.
Nev lifts her witch's finger, which is sitting on her middle finger.
Zach laughs. "Never been flipped off by a witch."
"Oh, come on, Nev," Kinsley says. "We're all going in, even me, and I'm the biggest chickenshit in the world."
Zach nods. "It's true. She wears the title proudly, too."
"Fine, whatever. But if I pick up flesh-eating bacteria, it's on all of you," Nev says, plainly.
I hold out the arm that's free. "Got two arms, Nevvie, if you need some protection."
She gives me a hard look. "I'll take my chances with the zombies."
We reach the entrance and discover it's being manned by one of my Basset enemies.
Kyle Gregory plays varsity football for Bassett, and we've met up more than once on the field where it seemed without a ref we would have destroyed each other just out of pure hatred.
Kyle spots me and immediately mutters something into his two-way radio.
"What's up, Gregory, trying to warn everyone that we're here?" I ask. Emily is clutching my arm tightly, but she sticks her tits out a little farther for Kyle's viewing. He takes a second to admire them. I'm ready to hand her right fucking off to him.
"Just telling them to give y'all the deluxe experience." Kyle's grin is the type I'd like to wipe away with my fist. "Now, are you all over sixteen?" he laughs. "No heart conditions or pregnant women?" He looks at Indi pointedly.
"What the hell are you looking at, Gregory?" she says back. "Just let us in. You're ruining the whole damn experience."
Kyle is still wearing that ugly grin as he steps aside and waves us through.
It's the usual. A dark, maze-like hallway with people jumping out at you from each corner, and sticky webs hanging from the ceiling just low enough to grab hold of your hair and clothes. There are a few dim lights to show us the way. Emily's nails are starting to get dangerously close to my skin.
"Hey, Em, lighten up, would ya? Remember those cat claws."