Page 116 of One Killer Night
An easier breath leaves me as I start to calm. Evie’s message should feel like a knife to the heart, but all I can think isAt least she’s safe.
I switch back to the message with Matthew again before my fingers fly over the keys. I toss my phone on the bathroom counter and strip, then get into the hot shower to try and wash the last seventy-two hours away.
Me:Tell me when and where
The water splashes down over my face as I hear the ding, but I still get out and drip water on the floor to check it.
617-999-5757:Tomorrow, Friday, 1pm, Baker’s coffee downtown
Chapter Twenty-Six
Goldie
“Good morning, sunshine. Happy Thursday.” My sister’s sipping her coffee, already fully dressed, as she smiles down at me.
“What time is it?” I groan, pulling the pillow over my head.
“I don’t know, but the sun just came up, so I’m guessing early.”
I roll over in my twin-size bunk to look at the clock with one eye open, groaning because the bed’s hard and lumpy. People hate children if this is where they sleep.Huh,I think as I get a good look at the time,the time’s wrong.
“This one’s broken,” I say, picking it up to show her before smashing the pillow back over my face again. “It says 11:59.”
Evie laughs, “That’s aShiningreference.” She smacks my bottom. “I gotta go. I only have today to set up, and what’s a scary camp without dead bodies? Time to work my magic. Whenever you’re up, come find me. I’ll put you to work.”
“Pass,” I gripe before closing my eyes again.
But I only half fall asleep, never truly reaching the coveted REMs before I give up and toss the blanket off, sitting up in the quiet cabin. It’s small, almost too small for two people.
“Overrated,” I say to myself, thinking about what Evie said about us never going to camp as kids.
My bare feet touch the cold ground before I yank them back up and wiggle my toes as I search under my blanket for the socks I discarded last night.
Truth is, when the bonfire ended, we made our way to the assigned cabin. Of course ours was number thirteen. I was too exhausted to shower, so I wrapped myself up in my uncomfortable bunk and passed out, smoky clothes and all.
I take a whiff of my hair and turn my nose up before I dig deeper under the covers and find my socks. I drag them over my cold toes before padding to the bathroom so I can take a shower. I’m still blinking my eyes open and yawning as I reach past the white shower curtain to twist the handle for the hot water.
But as I do, our cabin door bangs open, making my head whip toward it as my sister yells, “Goldie, wait!” But it’s too late, because the fucking screeching sound fromPsychoplays, scaring the living hell out of me.
I scream, startled almost to death as I just barely miss falling into the tub. My arms flail as they get entangled with the white curtains, and I shriek, “For fuck’s sake.”
“Sorry ... sorry. I forgot to warn you,” my sister laughs, trying to help set me free, but I slip on the water that’s now making its way outside the shower and land squarely on my ass, the wet shower curtain covering my head.
Silence fills the small space, with only the sound of running water grating my nerves.
“Evie,” I say, extremely calm. “Get out.”
I hear her footsteps retreating before the door closes behind her.
Son of a bitch.
My eyes shut as I feel the water hitting the back of my head. I take a deep breath, forgetting about the shower curtain, and instantly almost kill myself by sucking the cheap plastic into my mouth, cutting off my airway.
I scramble to rip it off, half suffocated and panting but free to live another day as I shake my damn head.
“This is why Norman Bates’s mother went crazy,” I rant to myself. “Day in and day out with this kind of shit will make anyone batshit. Wait for me, Mrs. Bates ... I’m coming.”
“Actually ...” Evie pokes her head back inside from eavesdropping. “He killed his mom and was dressing up as her.”
