WITSEC

Chapter 17

Chapter Seventeen

Today was Halloween and tonight was the party. After last night’s failure to watch IT , I took a moment to reevaluate. I felt good. It was a party with my friends. Yes, there would be costumes, but the guys had assured me the music wouldn’t be ominous and the decorations would be tame.

I got this!

I was packing everything I would need to stay the night at the cabin, which was a good hour away. I packed clothes, my costume, shoes, everything to do my hair and makeup. The last things I needed to grab were toiletries. Going into my bathroom from my bedroom, I grabbed my toothbrush from the holder next to the faucet and began going through the drawers and opening the medicine cabinet, grabbing everything else that I would need. As I went to shut the cabinet, I heard the floorboards creak in the hallway right outside my room.

“I’m almost ready,” I yelled out, assuming it was Keelan. He, Knox, and I were driving up together. Colt and Creed were already at the cabin getting things ready for the party. I was trying my best not to think about how awkward the car ride might be with Knox. After learning the truth about what was bothering him, things weren’t really resolved, and we were at a standstill.

There wasn’t a response from Keelan.

“Did you hear me?” I asked as I went back in my bedroom, expecting him to be sitting or lounging on my bed waiting for me. The bed was empty. I glanced down the hall. It was also empty. Standing in the doorway, I said loudly, “Keelan?”

The house was quiet.

The hair on the back of my neck stood up.

Had I been hearing things?

Was I being paranoid?

My alarm wasn’t set, but I knew all the doors and windows were locked because I had checked last night. The only door I had unlocked was the front door and that was when Isabelle had left, but I knew I’d locked it as soon as I’d closed it.

It was Halloween. It made everything about today spooky.

I continued to stare down the hall, straining my ears.

Fear was taking hold of me because I knew I’d heard what I’d heard. I backed away from the doorway, further into my room. Without looking away from the hall, I set my toiletries on my bag, then reached for my nightstand drawer. I pulled it open and grabbed the 9mm I had stashed there.

I clicked the safety off and held it out in front of me. Pushing on even though I was shaking and my heart was starting to pound, I walked into the hallway. Not two steps into the hall, the wood floor creaked underfoot.

My hands began shaking badly. I’d heard this. I knew I had.

Someone was in my house.

I checked the hall bathroom first.

Clear.

I checked the hall’s linen closet.

Clear.

I jiggled the handle to my panic room. It was locked. I doubted anyone could be in there, but I still entered the code on the lock and looked inside.

Clear.

Back in the hall, I made sure the panic room shut behind me and the lock clicked into place. Then I moved down the hall toward the spare bedroom. The door was halfway open, as I had left it this morning after returning the pillows and blanket I’d taken.

I slowly pushed the door open until it hit the wall. Nothing inside seemed amiss. Trying to keep my breathing normal and failing, I entered the room and walked over to the closet. I slid open the closet door and peeked inside.

Clear.

I returned to the hallway and made my way to the living room. Though I did my best to keep my steps quiet as I entered the dining room, the floor creaked again, making me grimace.

I was going to rip out these darn wood floors. I swore I was.

I searched the kitchen.

Clear.

I lowered my gun and rubbed my forehead. The house was empty.

As I was heading back to my bedroom, the front door unlocked and both Keelan and Knox walked in. I froze.

Keelan spotted me first and smiled. “Hey.”

“Hey,” I said back.

I watched as both of their gazes dropped to my hand hanging at my side. Or more specifically, the gun I was holding.

“Did something happen?” Knox asked, stepping ahead of his brother as if intending to come to me. Then he caught himself and stopped walking. Yup. Things were awkward between us.

“I—” I glanced down at my gun. “I think I might be going crazy.”

I finished the last of my makeup by coloring in the two red lines I had going from my forehead down over my eyes to the corners of my mouth. I had made my face a little paler than I was, but not as pale as Pennywise’s face. My nose and lips were blood red. I had put on false lashes and my eye makeup was black and highlighted in red. My gray eyes stood out significantly, which I liked. It was a terrifying yet sort of alluring look that went perfectly with my low red pigtails and solid white costume that had three golf-ball-sized red pom-poms lined up from my sternum down.

My costume was a short dress with cap sleeves and a poofy tutu skirt. There would be no bending over allowed or I’d flash everyone the white lacy underwear I had underneath. The dress had a sweetheart neckline and bared a lot of cleavage. Around my neck was a ruffled collar that I had splattered with blood-red dye to make it more horrific. My legs were covered by white thigh-high tights that were visibly being held up by white satin garters with a little white bow on top of each clip.

Staring at myself in the mirror, I was proud of the final result. There had been a quick moment of panic where I’d had to remind myself that the illusion of blood on my collar wasn’t real, no matter how realistic I’d made it look. Blood was a trigger and so far, I was still in control. I was in the moment.

My black Mary Jane pumps with a single strap each clacked on the tile floor in the bathroom as I went to leave. As soon as I had the door open, my ears filled with the sound of loud gunfire from Keelan and Knox’s video game they were playing.

Their eyes flicked in my direction when I entered Knox’s room, where they were planning on locking themselves in all night. They were sitting in front of the large TV on Knox’s dresser, Keelan on the foot of the bed and Knox in a leather desk chair, both with controllers in their hands.

Keelan’s brows rose and Knox paused their game, as if needing full focus to take me in.

I stopped walking a few feet from them and did a turn. “What do you think?”

“Amazing,” Keelan said and looked to his brother. “Would it be weird to develop a clown fetish?” Then he gestured to me with his hand. “Because I’m into this.”

I snorted.

“You just have a Shiloh fetish,” Knox said. “If she came out dressed like a nun, you’d be into that, too.”

Keelan appeared to ponder that. “Are we talking about a naughty nun or a full-fledged nun?”

“Would it matter?” Knox asked, his gaze never leaving me. The way his eyes drank me in made me think it wouldn’t have mattered to him.

“I suppose it wouldn’t.” Keelan gave me a naughty grin. “I’d be going to hell either way, because I don’t think I could let her leave this room until I had her praying to God. Loudly.”

Knox rolled his eyes and I had to fight not to squeeze my thighs together. I shouldn’t egg him on because I really didn’t want to start the party with wet panties and I was wearing the only lacy white pair I’d brought, but the words left my mouth before I could stop them. “Is my clown costume not tempting enough to make me pray? Or is it the idea of corruption that snaps your control?”

Keelan’s grin shifted into a smirk that made me want to throw myself at him just as much as it made me want to run from the room. “You are a temptation all on your own. I’m holding myself back because I know you’re looking forward to the party. But if you push my buttons enough, baby girl, you’ll be late for that party and Knox will get a front-row seat as I have my way with that gorgeous red mouth of yours.”

That red mouth stretched and lifted. “Just my mouth?”

Keelan stood and I yelped, dashing for the door. I could have sworn I heard Knox chuckling as I exited the room.

Music was playing and it grew louder as I made my way down the hall that led past the door to the garage and into the kitchen. Before entering the kitchen, I had to duck under caution tape and a sign that said “Area Off-Limits” pinned across the hall’s entrance. I paused as I entered the kitchen to take in the room. The rest of the cabin was an open floor plan. From the kitchen, I had an unobscured view of the living room, dining nook, and most of upstairs. The living room ceiling was vaulted, and one wall was completely windows with a view of a large wooden deck and the forest beyond it. The second floor was balconied off and curved around the living room like an L. From downstairs, you could see four doors. Three doors led to Keelan’s, Colt’s, and Creed’s rooms and the fourth led to a guest bathroom.

The guys had pushed the living-room furniture up against the walls, leaving the center of the room empty for dancing. They’d decorated lightly. A few fake cobwebs here and there, hanging bats, and a bunch of jack-o’-lanterns. In the corner there was a fog machine and a strobe light that filled and lit up the dance floor in the living room.

There were already some people here as I made my way toward the outside deck that the living room’s folding glass doors opened to. Standing around a lit fire pit in the center of the deck with their backs to me, Colt and Creed were wearing matching yellow raincoats and rain boots like Georgie had worn in the movie IT . They were currently in the middle of talking with Ethan and Isabelle, which was probably why they didn’t realize I was behind them, even when Isabelle spotted me first and smiled.

“Did you two make matching paper sailboats for me to steal from you, as well?” I asked.

Colt and Creed turned at the same time. Both were smiling until their eyes landed on me. Their gazes danced all over me, taking in my costume.

“I didn’t think a clown could look creepy and hot at the same time,” Creed said.

Colt nodded in agreement.

Isabelle giggled and I glanced at her. She was in a strapless, skintight, full-length mermaid-style dress. The bodice had metallic-looking black, bluish-gray, and teal scales sewn all over it until where the bottom poofed out with black tulle. On top of her head, she wore a matte black, spiked crown. She had crimped waves in her teal hair and her makeup was dark. Even her lips were done in black. Ethan dressed as Isabelle had said he would, as a drowned prince, but his outfit matched hers perfectly. His black billowy tunic, which was collared and cuffed with black lace, was torn in some places. Fake seaweed was tied and hanging from one of his wrists, his belt, and his neck. He was wearing makeup to make his skin look pale and grayish and his lips look purple. And he wore a crown that matched hers.

“You two look amazing,” I gushed and moved closer to Isabelle. “I can’t believe you made this dress. Well, I can. I’m just blown away. It’s gorgeous!”

“Thank you,” Isabelle beamed. “It took a lot of work, but it was so worth it.”

It definitely was.

Loud voices came from inside as more people arrived. From a glance, it was some of Ethan’s football buddies and their girlfriends or dates. Creed and Ethan separated from us to go greet them, while Colt stayed by my side.

“Drinks?” Isabelle asked me.

I nodded. “Yes, please.”

“The kitchen is stocked with everything, and if we run out of anything, we have another fridge stocked in the garage,” Colt said before Isabelle left.

Colt took my hand in his. I smiled up at him, but found him staring at his friends that Creed and Ethan were talking to inside.

“If you want to go talk to them, I’ll be all right,” I said.

He reached into his pocket, pulled out a paper boat, and held it out to me. “I’m good here.”

I laughed as I took it. “Now I kind of wish I had sucked it up and watched the movie.”

“You will watch it one day.”

I nodded.

“How are you feeling right now?”

“I feel good. A little nervous, but mostly, I’m looking forward to having fun,” I explained in a low voice. “The best way to differentiate scary movies and this party is that the movies depict fear and death a little too well and it’s harder to ignore. There shouldn’t be any killing at this party.”

He huffed a laugh. “Let’s hope not.”

Tonight, I expected dancing and drinking and fun, with a little bit of spookiness woven in. Scary movies weren’t going anywhere. But these experiences would pass me by if I let them. If I came across a trigger…well, I’d get to test out some of the exercises Dr. Bolton had taught me.

Ethan and Creed returned with one of Ethan’s football buddies and his date. He was dressed like Freddy Krueger, without the burned-face mask. He had on the striped sweater and the glove that had the finger blades attached to it. The moment my eyes landed on his date, I stiffened. She was dressed like a zombie with bite marks on her arms and cheek. The costume makeup was very realistic, especially how she made her throat look ripped out with all her blood spilling down her chest.

I couldn’t look away as memories of Shayla’s blood rolling down her neck and chest tried to overwhelm me. I squeezed Colt’s and Creed’s hands and I worked to calm myself down. I focused on the sound of my breathing as I made myself inhale deeply and exhale slowly through my nose.

“Babe?” Colt said at the same time Creed said, “Shi?”

Suddenly, a hand went over my eyes, and I was picked up.

“Where are you guys going?” I heard Isabelle say.

“Guys?” I said as they carried me somewhere that was dark and a little bit quieter.

When I was set down, my eyes were uncovered, and I realized we were in the hall leading to Knox’s room.

“You okay?” Colt asked. Both him and Creed stared at me, worry etched around their eyes.

I nodded. “Yeah. I had it under control, but you whisking me away was…effective. I was caught off guard a little. I was expecting costumes, but I hadn’t been expecting that. ”

“She might not be the only one who shows up like that,” Creed said.

“Now that I know to expect that, I should be all right,” I said.

They looked like they weren’t so sure.

I grabbed their hands. “If it becomes too much for me, I’ll go hang out with Knox and Keelan for the rest of the night.”

“Okay, babe.” Colt said and the three of us headed back to the party.

I noticed some of the caution tape had been ripped down as we left it. Rushing to get me somewhere else, they must have yanked it out of the way. Creed bent to pick up the pieces of caution tape off the ground and proceeded to put them back up.

Isabelle was waiting in the kitchen with two mixed drinks in each of her hands. She held one out to me. Her gaze traveled over us. “Everything okay?”

I took the drink. “Yes.”

I can do this.