Page 4 of Dead End

“We need to leave,” said Maddie. Her voice was short and impatient. I whipped around and saw her glaring at Frank with her arms crossed over her chest before looking at me. “Come on, October. Seriously, we’re going to miss the bus.”

She was right. I glanced at my watch. It was time to go. It was nearly midnight, and the aunties would be expecting us soon. I tried to give Frank a semblance of a smile, but I knew it felt flat. What was supposed to be a lighthearted, fun psychic reading at a carnival turned into something cold and eerie. I could tell Mads was visibly upset and ready to leave, like yesterday.

“Thank you, Frank...” I backed away slowly without looking away from him.

He stood there, staring at me with a perplexing expression on his withered face. If I looked hard enough, I might have even called it pity. But I’d pretend for now that I hadn’t seen it. Turning away from the old man in the strange purple suit and top hat, I left the tent with Mads, letting the beads swish behind me.

Istared out into the passing cornfields, tracking the moon as it seemed to follow our bus right outside the window. Once again, I felt like it looked particularly orange and was way too big. I tried checking my phone for any known lunar anomalies this week, but there were none.

Everyone was quiet, falling asleep with bellies full of candy and popcorn. Even the cheerleaders had finally shut up, and most were quietly minding their own business. The bus was dark, save for the blue lights of cell phone screens and the orange moonlight shining in through the windows. I had one earbud in, and Fleetwood Mac was playing low, a background to my melancholy.

I could see Maddie in the seat in front of me. She’d moved up a seat to spread out and had a sweatshirt draped over her face as she snored. Naturally, the other seats around me were empty. No one ever wanted to sit near the weird goth girl. I thought I made everyone uncomfortable. Growing up in this small town, I’d known these kids since we were kids. I’d moved here with my parents when I was five and didn’t know anyone, but Maddie introduced me to almost everyone the moment she took me under her wing.

I used to be popular, just like her. There was a time—only last year, which felt like a lifetime ago—where I’d have been sprawled out with my feet on Jason’s lap or laughing with Michael about some YouTube video we’d seen. I’d share funny stories and memories with Norman and Freddy or make plans with the girls. My life was virtually unrecognizable. A whole lot could happen in the span of one year.

Two seats ahead of me and to the right was Norman. His pale skin was illuminated by the blue light of his phone, making his green eyes shine like glowing gems. He was concentrating, his brows furrowed, and his mouth pressed into a hard line. I wondered what he was reading. Norman loved books—all kinds of books. He and I were always nerds like that. He loved Stephen King, and I loved Mary Shelley. The guys ragged on him all the time, but it was just Norman. He was still a star athlete with chiseled pecs and arms as large as my thighs, but under all that muscle, he was a nerd at heart.

I must have been staring at him a little bit too long, because it took a moment to realize he was now staring back at me. The furrow between his thick, arched brows was even deeper, and my heart sped up when his jaw clenched tightly the longer we stared at each other. I felt like I couldn’t breathe. Out of all the guys, Norman put me the most on edge. He was always intense. Always a little bit darker on the inside than the rest of them. It unnerved me now that we no longer had a close friendship. What was he thinking about?

“Find something interesting over there, Bloody Mary?” Freddy’s deep voice whispered in my ear from behind. I jolted with a quiet yelp, caught off guard.

I could feel a tickle of his long golden hair against where my shoulder met my neck. “Fuck off, Fred.” I tried to sound deadpan, but I was pretty sure I failed. Norman was still glaring at me, watching his twin come closer. My cheeks burned at having been caught so blatantly.

“You’re giving off some serious stalker vibes,” Freddy went on, taking a seat next to me without an invitation. My whole body went as still as a statue. Being so close to any one of them was difficult, and I could already feel beads of sweat on the nape of my neck.

This was stupid. It was dumb to let them affect me this way. I’d known these guys since we were six years old. I’d seen them at every single stage of their awkward adolescence. I knew which one cried during Titanic, which one farted in their sleep, and which one secretly loved to listen to classical music. It was Michael, by the way.

“C’mon, Wednesday, I’m just giving you a hard time. No need to cry about it.” His cooing words whispered against my ear like the devil.

I could hear laughter in his voice—the teasing that never seemed to stop. These assholes had taken to calling me every name in the book except for my own. Usually, it was something with a spooky connotation because they knew it grated against my every nerve.

“Seriously, I’m not in the mood. Can’t you just fuck off, or better yet, go finger fuck Jenna again or something?” I bit out, regretting it immediately. Even I heard how pathetically jealous that just sounded. Rumors about Freddy being with the cheerleader had spread around our school like wildfire after winter break last year. He could do whatever he wanted with whoever he wanted; it meant nothing to me anymore.

Yeah right… Like my heart didn’t crack open every time I saw them with another girl.

He hummed, reaching out to pinch a lock of orange hair between his fingers, and my eyes flickered up to his. They were grass-green and brimming with a mixture of year-old anger and a hint of sinister amusement. “You’d probably like that, wouldn’t you? You like to watch? Are you even more freaky than we thought, baby girl? Just say the word.” He dropped my hair and ran those fingertips down the side of my neck, light as a feather. Fire burned in its wake and between my thighs as I clenched my legs together. “I can accommodate.” He smirked as he noticed the slight movement.

Slapping his hand away, I shoved away from him, wincing as my elbow jammed into the bus window. Freddy laughed like the sadistic bastard he is. I looked over and saw Norman grinning darkly, his face no longer lit by his screen. Those lips were stretched wide, and he looked crueler than usual. My stomach curdled.

Once upon a time, they’d never spoken to me this way. Not in a million years. Flashes of skin on skin, lips hovering over mine, and deft fingers making me feel things for the first time ran through my mind. Memories of sharing firsts… I shook them away. They were taking my year and a half of silence personally. Or perhaps they were just finally showing their true colors.

“Stop messing with her,” called a voice from the back of the bus, only three rows back. I craned my neck, looking over my shoulder to where Jason and Michael sat, watching Freddy fuck with me with amusement in their eyes. Jason was chuckling as he added, “You know it’s rude to play with your food.” He licked his lips sensually as our eyes met.

I was getting so fucking tired of this shit. My parent’s just died for fuck’s sake, and all they could do was dedicate every waking moment to making me as miserable as possible. They were heartless bastards, and it made me genuinely wonder what it was that I ever saw in any of them. Maybe I was right to cut ties when I did.

I turned back to the window, having no more energy to try and think of a retort. It would fall on deaf ears anyway. So I just shoved the other earbud in and leaned my head against the frosty window, while Freddy just stared me down with a grin. All I ever felt was anger towards them, but there was an ache of sadness in my chest as memories always surfaced of the past. I felt that stare like little spider legs crawling all over my skin, but I wouldn’t let him know how much it bothered me or how much it killed me inside.

After about two full minutes of this, he must have realized I no longer gave a fuck and went to the back of the bus, probably to talk more shit about me with the guys. I didn’t look at Norman again either. I was done pining over them. I was done with it all.

I thought some more about that psychic and his ominous words of warning. They continued to swirl around in my brain until I thought I might go crazy. He’d said something dark was coming for me—something not right. What could that possibly mean? Did he mean my bullies? The guys? Were they planning a prank? I didn’t think so.

His words felt too heavy for something as little as that. I’d been pranked plenty. I’d had my locker filled with lamb's blood, had my shampoo switched with crafting glue, and had the tires on my car slashed more times than I could count. Besides, we weren’t in high school anymore; they had a lot more going on in their lives now that didn’t involve wasting their time on me.

So no, that wasn’t it. His warning still curdled my stomach. I felt nauseous as I sat alone, watching the fields rush by in the moonlight. I knew Mads had likely forgotten about the whole encounter by now. She probably brushed it off as a crazy person’s scheme to con two young girls out of money. But he hadn’t taken my money. He hadn’t wanted anything from me but the promise that I’d keep my eyes open. I wished I could have gone back to ask him more, but Maddie had been ready to get the hell out of there fast. I didn’t blame her. The entire situation was sketchy.

A chorus of howling filled the silence and snapped me out of my dark thoughts. I stiffened, sitting up a little straighter in my seat. Were those…wolves? I didn’t think this county had wolves, but they had to be because it sure as hell didn’t sound like dogs. They were howling in sync like a song—a beautiful, haunting song that had the hairs on my arm standing on end. A few others on the bus heard it too, and several people were waking up and looking around a little disoriented. There was a nervous murmuring through the bus as it slowed to the fifteen-mph speed limit.

We were nearly home now. I could see the Sunset Hollow Graveyard just up ahead behind the thick orchard that split Farmer Orson’s vast property, which went for miles. Even from here, as we sloped down a small incline, I could see the wrought iron gate standing tall, peeking out of the rolling fog. Farmer Orson’s corn field was on the other side of the street, and it was split into two halves on either side of the orchard up ahead.

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