All the Pretty Dead Girls Part 10

An itchy little pulse of fear began to thread its way down Sue's spine. The only sound on the floor was some distant music-so distant and so muted that Sue couldn't even make out what kind of music it was. With a heartbeat now so loud she could hear it in her ears, she made her way down the hall to the end of the building, then started counting doors. There. This had to be the one. Fifth from the end. Room 323.

Why do I feel that this was my mother's room?

She stood in front of the door and listened for a moment. She heard nothing from inside. Hesitantly, she raised her hand and knocked.

There was no answer.

She knocked louder.

Still nothing.

She was readying herself to knock again when suddenly there was a hand on her shoulder. Sue gasped out loud.

"Can I help you?" a voice asked from behind her.

Sue spun around. A girl stood behind her-kind of a Goth-looking girl, with long black hair and heavy black mascara.

"Oh, my G.o.d, I didn't hear you come up behind me-" Sue stuttered, trying to calm her heartbeat.

The Goth girl smiled. "Sorry, didn't mean to scare you," she said. Despite her severe look-she was dressed all in black, too-she seemed friendly, and gave Sue a big smile in apology. "Can I help you with something?"

"Well," Sue said, not sure how much she wanted to say, "I was wondering whose room this is." Even as she said it, she felt stupid. What am I going to do, tell her I saw someone in the window screaming? What am I going to do, tell her I saw someone in the window screaming?

The Goth girl looked at her. "Why?" she asked warily, her eyes narrowing.

"Well, I was just-"

The other girl shook her head. "Yeah, you and everybody else. It seems every girl on campus has come by that door sometime in the past three days." She looked at Sue more closely. "Hey, I recognize you. You sat at our table in the caf this morning, didn't you?"

"Well, I was there..." She remembered there were other girls, but couldn't place this girl's face-a face she wasn't likely to forget.

"I'm Joelle Bartlett," the girl said. "I'm a senior-you must be a freshman." She stuck out her hand, and Sue shook it.

"So, Joelle...tell me. This room..." Sue glanced back at the door over her shoulder.

"Yeah. That was Bonnie Warner's room."

Bonnie Warner. Sue felt so light-headed that it seemed she might faint. Sue felt so light-headed that it seemed she might faint.

"You all right?" Joelle asked.

"I'm-I'm-" Sue stuttered.

"Come on into my room," Joelle said. "I'm right across the hall."

Sue followed her inside, still feeling dizzy. Joelle gestured for her to sit on the futon propped against the wall. The room had the exact same setup as Sue's own, but Joelle and her roommate had added a lot of small touches that made it seem more homey and lived-in. A poster of Johnny Depp in his costume from Pirates of the Caribbean Pirates of the Caribbean had been framed and mounted on one wall. Next to it was a movie poster from had been framed and mounted on one wall. Next to it was a movie poster from Finding Neverland, Finding Neverland, and a model of Edward Scissorhands stood on one bureau. One of these girls quite obviously had a Johnny Depp fixation. and a model of Edward Scissorhands stood on one bureau. One of these girls quite obviously had a Johnny Depp fixation.

A laptop computer was open on one of the desks, playing music Sue didn't recognize. The bathroom door was open, and Sue could see several candles burning in there. The fragrance of sage met Sue's nostrils. The room was neat and tidy, both beds made.

"You want something to drink?" Joelle asked. "I have wine, soda, water..."

"No, I'm good." Sue sat down in a chair and looked around the room. "I guess I just got a little woozy."

"It's okay. Everyone's shaken up about Bonnie's death."

Sue looked at her intently. "So you think she's dead?"

"Come on. You think she lost all that blood and is still alive?"

Sue shuddered. "Then where's her body?"

"I think it was a ritual sacrifice." Joelle seemed to know what she was talking about. "Some kind of witchcraft. They needed the body. The blood of a virgin."

"Oh, G.o.d," Sue said, s.h.i.+vering again.

"Sorry, I'm making things worse, aren't I? Did you know her?"

"Bonnie? No."

Joelle sat opposite her at the edge of her bed. "You're rooming with Malika, right?" Joelle poured herself a gla.s.s of wine and grinned at her. "She's very minimalist. Bare walls, everything in its place, deeply organized, right?"

Sue managed a smile. "Yeah."

"That would drive me nuts. I do like Malika, though. Very smart. She's going to go places." She sipped her wine. "Now, why were you knocking at Bonnie's door?"

"I-" Sue hesitated. "I-I thought I saw someone in the window from outside."

"Impossible."

"Why? Didn't Bonnie have a roommate?"

"No."

Sue found that odd. "Why not?"

Joelle was studying her with her dark eyes through her heavy mascara. "What did this person at the window look like?"

"It was a girl. I know that much."

"So there are lots of girls at windows in Bentley Hall. Why come up to this one?"

Sue steeled herself. "Because she was screaming." She paused. "I wanted to make sure she was okay."

To her surprise, Joelle didn't laugh or seem surprised. She just nodded. "You know why Bonnie didn't have a roommate?"

Sue shook her head.

Joelle took another sip of wine. "That room is supposed to be haunted. No one else would live there. Bonnie said she wasn't afraid of ghosts." She shrugged. "Maybe she was a little too brave for her own good."

"Haunted?" Sue looked at her, raising an eyebrow. "Okay, Joelle, I know I'm a freshman and all, but I'm not going to fall for that. You're playing a trick on me."

"I didn't say I believed it." Joelle laughed. "But that's the story. Every girl on the third floor hears it when she first moves in."

"How did the story start?"

"Who knows? Wilbourne's been around a long time. But I know it's been a bad-luck room for lots of girls."

"How so?"

"The girl who lived there when I was a freshman four years ago flunked out. Bright kid, straight A's when she got here. But once she moved in there, she started having bad dreams. We'd hear her crying out in the night. She couldn't concentrate and eventually flunked out."

"But that was four years ago. Girls have lived there since. And how have they turned out?"

"Okay, I guess. But now there's Bonnie."

Sue was sitting on the edge of the futon. "This is how legends get started..."

"Well, there have been other things that I've heard. Bad stuff that went on in that room before I got to campus." She sighed. "Of course, the worst story was the girl who got raped in there twenty years ago. Right here on the campus. You wonder why they're so strict about curfews and not allowing guests? This girl was brutally raped. She never came back to school-and the story goes her roommate moved out of there pretty quickly after that, because she heard things...."

"Is this doc.u.mented? This rape? Or is it just another story that's told?"

Joelle waved her hand. "I work part-time in the administration office and I hear things. There are secretaries there who remember when it happened. Listen, I'm just telling you what's been told to me. That room's supposed to be haunted. The stories got so bad last year that every girl refused placement there, so Bonnie asked for it and Mrs. Oosterhouse let her move in."

"Mrs. Oosterhouse?"

Joelle grinned. "Oh, that's right, you're new. You probably have met the dorm dragon yet." She let out a laugh. "She's the dorm supervisor. She has rooms down on the first floor. She can be a pain in the a.s.s, but for the most part she's okay. Just don't cross her. Now where was I?" She refilled her gla.s.s.

"Trying to scare me to death."

Joelle chuckled. "Oh, yes, the haunting of Room 323. Some of the other girls say they've heard moaning coming from there, and screams-kind of like the face you say you saw, right? But Bonnie always said she never heard anything, and neither have I, and I'm just down the hall...and to be honest with you, the girls who say they've heard things, well..." Joelle put her thumb and index finger together and held them up to her lips, and made like she was inhaling. "Let's just say they liked to smoke mind-altering substances, if you know what I mean."

"Well," Sue told her, "I've seen that face now several times..."

All at once, the door opened. A strawberry blonde burst into the room in a flutter of energy. "Oh, my G.o.d! Joelle, you have no idea what I have been through today!" She had a thick accent-it sounded as if she'd said, Oh mah gawwwwd, Jo-ail, yew have no EYE-de-ah what Ah have bin threw todayah Oh mah gawwwwd, Jo-ail, yew have no EYE-de-ah what Ah have bin threw todayah.

She stopped when she saw Sue. "Oh, hi," she said, arching an eyebrow.

"Sue, this is the now-notorious Tish Lewis, my roommate," Joelle said, pouring another gla.s.s of wine and handing it to Tish. "She's from Dallas, if you couldn't tell the minute she opened her mouth."

"f.u.c.k you, Joelle." Tish reached out to shake Sue's hand. "Nice to meet you." She gulped down the wine in one quick drink. "Hit me again, darlin'."

Joelle complied, then looked over at Sue. "You sure you won't have some? Don't worry, we won't tell. It'll steady your nerves."

"No, thank you, I've got to get going-"

Tish had plopped down on one of the beds. "Why did I ever ever agree to sign Bonnie in to the welcome ceremony? I will never do that again, agree to sign Bonnie in to the welcome ceremony? I will never do that again, ever ever, for anyone, under any circ.u.mstances. The way they treated me, you'd think I was a serial killer or something."

"I gather they didn't expel you." Joelle sat back down. "That's good to know."

"No, but just barely. One more infraction and I am so out of here." Tish shook her head. She blew out her breath with a whistle. "Which means I have to be really careful. I thought Oosterhouse's head was going to explode off her shoulders. 'I'll be watching you like a hawk, Ms. Lewis 'I'll be watching you like a hawk, Ms. Lewis.'" Tish shuddered. "I swear, she was worse than the dean."

Sue stared at her, fascinated. Tish was of about medium height, pretty, with blue eyes and a pert nose. She had a slender figure and highlights in her hair, which was cut to frame her face. On her long legs she wore a tight pair of low-rise jeans, complemented above by a blue and silver Dallas Cowboys T-s.h.i.+rt that kept riding up to reveal a pierced navel. Her b.r.e.a.s.t.s were as large as her waist was narrow.

Tish sat up and clutched a pillow to her chest. She pointed at Sue. "Let this be a lesson to you, Susie Q. You're a freshman, aren't you?"

Sue nodded.

"Don't ever do someone a favor if it means breaking the school's precious rules, no matter how much you feel sorry for them. It will come back and bite you in the a.s.s every single time."

Tish fell back onto the bed and stared glumly up at the ceiling. "I felt sorry for Bonnie. Does that make me a bad person? Does that mean I should be expelled? She had to work work, for G.o.d's sake. She couldn't afford to lose her G.o.dd.a.m.ned job. They should have excused her from the stupid welcome ceremony. We should all all be excused from the stupid welcome ceremony. It's so lame. So I agreed to sign her in. Big f.u.c.king deal. How was I supposed to know she was going to disappear or run off or whatever the h.e.l.l happened to her?" Tish rolled over onto her stomach. "I had to spend the past three days talking to the cops. Then Dean Gregory starts in yelling at me-and today Oosterhouse!" be excused from the stupid welcome ceremony. It's so lame. So I agreed to sign her in. Big f.u.c.king deal. How was I supposed to know she was going to disappear or run off or whatever the h.e.l.l happened to her?" Tish rolled over onto her stomach. "I had to spend the past three days talking to the cops. Then Dean Gregory starts in yelling at me-and today Oosterhouse!"

Sue was getting ready to stand. "Well, nice meeting you. I should be-"

"Sue thinks she may have seen the ghost of Room 323," Joelle said.

"Really?" Tish set down her gla.s.s of wine and stared at her. "What did you see, Susie Q?"

Sue felt her face start to redden. "I don't know..."

"Go ahead and tell her, Sue." Joelle waved her hand, and winked at her. "Tish is one of those girls who's heard the screaming herself."

Suddenly, Sue looked at Tish with new eyes.

"Joelle acts like I'm crazy." Tish was glaring at her roommate. "But I know what I've heard, and I've heard someone screaming in that room." She s.h.i.+vered. "Before and and after Bonnie's disappearance." after Bonnie's disappearance."

"You've really heard a girl screaming in there?" Sue asked.

Tish nodded. "Yep. Screaming for her life, I am telling you." She shot a look over at Joelle. "And I wasn't stoned either, Miss Know It All."

"Then why hasn't anyone else heard it?" Joelle scoffed, rolling her eyes.

"Do I look like Agent Mulder?" Tish snapped before turning back to Sue. "It was last semester, and it was scary as h.e.l.l. I was the only person on the floor pretty much. I was just sitting in here minding my own business studying, and I heard this screaming." She s.h.i.+vered. "Oh, it was just terrible, horrible, like someone being murdered. I went out in the hall, and it was coming from Bonnie's room...only I knew Bonnie wasn't there, she was at work. I didn't know what to do, so I went down and got Mrs. Oosterhouse, and of course when we went into the room there was nothing there." She sighed. "Of course, Oostie thought I was nuts."

"And you've heard it since Bonnie went missing, too?"

Tish nodded. "Yep. First day of cla.s.ses, in fact. Middle of the afternoon. I kept running around asking girls if they heard anything, but they all said no."

"I first saw the face at the window that day," Sue told her.

"It's not that I don't believe," Joelle said. "Especially not with the fact that I am certain Bonnie was the victim of some witchcraft ritual."

"Well, that that much is pure speculation," Tish told her, finis.h.i.+ng her wine. much is pure speculation," Tish told her, finis.h.i.+ng her wine.

"True. But if they slashed her up in front of the school, why take the body?"

"Evidence," Tish said.

Sue wanted to get back to the screaming from the room. "Other girls have heard it, though, right? Maybe no one recently, but others have..."