“Just what? Just go hang out with a friend? I didn’t break curfew, so what’s the big deal?”
Suddenly she came over and wrapped her arms around me. Taken by surprise, I just stood there. “You’re right,” she whispered as she held on tight. “I’m just a mom who worries too much. And I worry because I have something important to ask you.”
Trying not to let my impatience show, I said, “What is it?”
“Do you think-” She stopped, and paused. Then started again. “Do you think that it would be possible for you to stay at a friend’s house for Halloween weekend? Maybe Beth’s? Or Cacey’s?”
“Why?” I said suspiciously.
“Your father and I would like to go away for a mini vacation. There’s this romantic little B and B in Connecticut that I’ve been dying to stay at for years, and now is the off-season. We’re getting a great rate, plus an automatic upgrade.”
She looked hopeful, and I felt some of that hope transferring to me. Mom and Dad were going to be out of the house for Halloween weekend? That meant I could have the entire day of November first to be alone with Caspian.
A touchable Caspian.
I’m going to get the chance to be with Caspian. Here. Alone! That thought was happy enough to make me forget about what had just happened at Cyn’s.
“Yeah, Mom,” I said with a slow smile, catching Caspian’s eye. He was smiling too. “I can stay at Beth’s.”
“Really? That’s great! I’m so glad that works for you, Abbey. I didn’t want to push you too hard with things being so … unsettled.”
“Unsettled” must be code for the breakin.
“You and Dad totally deserve a weekend away. I hope you have fun. And enjoy yourselves.” Okay, so that’s a bit much. … But, whatever it takes to get you guys out of the house.
She beamed at me until eventually I stepped out of the hug. “Okay. I’m going up to bed now. School tomorrow.”
“Okay, sweetie. Sleep tight. See you in the morning.”
“Night!” I called, trying to hide the huge grin covering my face. I wasn’t going to “sleep tight” tonight at all. This turn of events was too exciting.
Turned out, I was right about the not-sleeping part. But it wasn’t because of excitement. It was because of bad dreams.
My bed was soft and squishy-unnaturally so-and I squirmed around, trying to find a spot that felt better. I tried to throw a hand above my head to readjust my pillow, but my hand stayed put. It wouldn’t move.
Frowning, I looked down at it. The room was too dark for me to see anything. Shifting my weight, I went to turn over and switch sides. But I bumped into something hard. And cold.
Fear rode up on me, and I wiggled my shoulders, forcing my hand to move an inch. It jerked to the left, and hit something cold and hard there, too.
Frowning again, I tried to sit up. Tried to focus.
I couldn’t move.
“Help!” I opened my mouth to form the word but no sound came out. My throat flexed and constricted, but there was no voice. “Help!”
I tried again. Gasped. But still, nothing.
“No one can hear you, silly,” a voice said in my ear. “It’s just you, me, and the maggots.”
I clamped my lips shut as revulsion turned my stomach. It’s not her. It’s not Kristen!
“I’ve been waiting for you,” she said in a singsong voice. “Now we can lie here for an eternity together and keep all our secrets. All of our secrets, forever and ever.”
I squeezed my eyelids shut, holding them as tightly closed as I could. This is a dream. You’re dreaming. It’s not real. Just open your eyes and you’ll see. This is a dream. It’s all a dream.
Suddenly there was light behind my closed eyes, and when I opened them, I could see a wooden plank being lifted above my head. A clod of dirt hit my face, landing dangerously close to my mouth, and I could taste the earth.
Instantly a spray of dirt showered down upon me, and I was hopeless. Surrounded by cold, hard wood. Above my head. Below my feet. At my sides. … I was in a coffin.
I couldn’t hold back the scream of fear and anguish then. And this time sound came out.
My hands unclenched, and gripped the edges of my clothes. My beautiful Victorian white dress that I’d been saving for Caspian’s death day. “No!” I screamed, glancing down at it. “No! This isn’t real!”
A shadow fell over me, and I looked up. Vincent stood there, his dark head blocking out the sunlight.
“How do you like it?” he asked, his teeth growing monstrously larger with every word. “It’s your new home. I built it special.”
“Let me out of here!” My voice was working now, and so were my fists. I banged them on the sides of the wood as hard as I could. “Let. Me. Out!”
“And leave your best friend down there to rot away all by herself?” Vincent laughed. “I couldn’t do that. That would just be … cruel.”
His laughter filled my head. His voice was so loud that I shoved both fingers into my ears to try to drown him out as a red rose was tossed down upon me.
“Ashes to ashes,” he said, then tossed another one. “Dust to dust.”
“Nooooooooo,” I screamed again. “Nooooo!”
“This is what happens. After.” Kristen’s voice was back again. “This is what happens after you fall in love,” she said. “Just take it from me.”
A bony hand wrapped around my wrist. With every fiber of my being, I wanted to shake it off. Wanted desperately to climb out of that hole and leave everything behind. But instead I did something worse.
I turned to look at her.
She was nothing but a skeleton head, with no skin and only globs of hair. Her jawbone worked with a creaky back and forth hinge motion, and the teeth looked like they were ready to fall free from their sockets.
My stomach revolted. I was going to be sick.
“You should have known,” the head cackled. “Look at me. Just look at me!”
