Nightmare City Part 11

This time it was unmistakable. A figure was emerging from the darkness inside the school. It was approaching the window.

The thunder rolled. The wind blew. The fog rolled toward him up the hill.

The figure inside the school became clearer-and even more clear. It pressed itself against the gla.s.s and looked out at him.

"Gordon?" said Tom out loud-but his voice was lost in a fresh rumble of thunder.

It was. It was Gordon. The Tigers football star stood for a moment, pressed to the window. He peered out at Tom with a strangely empty expression on his face. Slowly, he lifted his hand in greeting.

But before Tom could respond, the thunder rolled again like dark laughter. There was a first flash of lightning. And Gordon drew back into the darkness of the school's interior and vanished like a ghost.

INTERLUDE THREE.

There came a nightmare day. A Wednesday afternoon. The last cla.s.s period but one. For Tom, that meant PE. He and ten other guys doing gymnastics, climbing ropes in the gym, working on the horse and the beams and the mats and so on. When the cla.s.s was over, the guys headed into the locker room. They showered. They got back into their street clothes. Tom was standing in front of his locker, b.u.t.toning his s.h.i.+rt, when he felt that something was wrong.

He looked up. Looked around him. Where was everyone? Somehow, while he was concentrating on getting dressed, all the other guys had quietly slipped out of the locker room. The place was empty. He was alone.

Alone-and then not alone. The locker room door opened and three guys came in. Not just any three guys. Three Tigers. Big Tigers, too-jumbo size-from the defensive line: Matt Halliwell, Hank Thatcher, and Dub Simpson.

As Tom stood staring, they moved in on him. They stood around him in a semicircle. Tom's back was against his gym locker. There was nowhere for him to run.

Tom's fingers were still fiddling with the last b.u.t.ton on his s.h.i.+rt. He didn't even have his sneakers back on yet. He was in his socks. He realized this must've been part of some kind of plan: the other guys slipping out, leaving him alone; the three football players converging on him. His mind raced, trying to think of an escape strategy. He came up with nothing. He felt just about as helpless as it was possible to feel. If these guys wanted to rough him up, he was going to get majorly roughed.

Matt Halliwell spoke first. Broad-shouldered, fat-faced, flat-faced, with black hair so short it looked like iron filings standing up on top of a magnet. He put a finger the size of a sausage against Tom's chest. Poked him hard.

"Nice story you wrote about us, wimp," he said.

Dub Simpson, shaped like a cinder block and about as smart as a cinder block, shoved Tom's shoulder with his open palm.

"What'd you have to do that for?" he said.

Tom's eyes flashed from Matt to Dub-and then to Hank Thatcher. Hank looked away, frowning. What a weird situation this was! Hank was one of the sources for Tom's story. Hank had been a benchwarmer on the champions.h.i.+p team three years before. He had seen the players taking drugs himself. He had pictures of them and e-mails from them proving it. He had met Tom in a parking garage one dark night. Handed the evidence over in a rolled-up manila envelope. But he had given Tom that information on the condition of anonymity. Tom had promised never to reveal his name. And now Hank, to protect his secret from his teammates, was joining with the others in taking vengeance on him-and Tom was bound by his promise to keep his mouth shut about it. If this was irony, then irony stank.

"You should've kept your stupid opinions to yourself," said Matt, poking him in the chest again.

"n.o.body asked you what you thought," said Dub.

"It's not what I thought," Tom said. He figured, well, if he was going to get a beat-down, he wasn't going to whine about it. He was going to say his piece at least, while he still had his teeth. "It has nothing to do with my opinions. You think I don't like the team? I love the team. My brother played on the team. I didn't want to write this story. I had to. Because it was true."

Dub somehow wasn't interested in hearing about the responsibilities of the press. "They say they may take our champions.h.i.+p away," he complained, sticking out his jaw angrily.

Yeah, because you didn't earn it fairly! Tom thought. But he didn't say that out loud. No sense pus.h.i.+ng things too far. What he did say was, "Well, look, man, I'm really sorry, but like I said, I'm a news guy, I have to . . ."

"Sorry?" And this time Matt poked him so hard it made him step back into his locker with a clang. "What good does sorry do us now? You're supposed to be loyal to the school, man! You're supposed to stand with the team."

Tom could see this was about to get ugly. He could see that Matt was working himself up to do violence and that Dub was already on the brink-Dub was pretty much always on the brink. And Hank was not going to do a thing to stop either of them because that would give him away.

But just as Tom was wondering how he was going to explain his broken bones to his mother, the locker room door opened again and in came Gordon Thomas.

One of the secret truths of the world, Tom had sometimes noticed, was that life is unfair and that some people get all the luck. This truth was so harsh that many adults couldn't face up to it. But a kid only had to step out onto a playground once to understand: some people are born smarter, some faster, some stronger, some simply cooler than the rest. Parents and teachers worked hard to convince kids that everyone was special, but kids could see for themselves it wasn't so-otherwise, the word special wouldn't mean anything. Every soul was important, sure-a unique work of creation-but when it came to the gifts of nature, most people were kind of ordinary. Only special people were special.

Gordon Thomas was one of those special people. He was handsome with chiseled features and reddish-blond hair that fell rakishly into his startlingly pale blue eyes. Fast and strong? Check. No one had ever beaten him in a race. No one ever tried to beat him in a fight. He was even smart-maybe not as smart as some of the geeks in school, but he always paid attention in cla.s.s, always did his homework, and always got good grades. And as for being cool, it just came naturally to him. For all his gifts, he wasn't arrogant or stuck-up. For all his physical strength, he never bullied anyone. For all his success, he always acted modestly and treated people decently. So you couldn't even hate the guy!

And Tom didn't hate him. He envied him sometimes. But he liked him. Everyone liked him.

Gordon came into the locker room fast now, and he looked angry. Quickly, he shoved his way past Matt and muscled in between him and Tom, s.h.i.+elding Tom from the others with his body.

"What d'you guys think you're doing?" Gordon asked them. He looked at each in turn: Matt, Hank, Dub. All three of them averted their eyes, shamefaced in front of the quarterback. "What, are the Tigers beating guys up now? Are we thugs all of a sudden?"

"We're just talking to him," Matt muttered.

"Oh yeah," said Gordon. "I can see."

The three linemen looked at their shoes, ashamed.

"Coach says they may take our trophy away," said Dub. "It's not fair."

"It's not fair?" said Gordon, staring hard at the cinder block. "How is it not fair? It wasn't fair when our guys took drugs to win. That wasn't fair to the Sandy Hill Panthers, who should've gotten the trophy in the first place. All Tom did was tell the truth about it. How is that not fair?"

Dub blinked stupidly. Dub did that a lot. "He wasn't loyal to the team," he grumbled.

"Well, maybe he was loyal to something bigger than the team," said Gordon-though even he sounded miserable about it. "It's his job to tell the truth even when he doesn't like it. Maybe especially when he doesn't like it. He was loyal to that."

"We just wanted to make him understand what he did to us," said Matt.

"I know what you just wanted to do," Gordon said. "But the facts don't go away just because you beat up the guy who tells them. That just makes you as bad as the guys who took the dope. You want the trophy back?"

"Yeah!" said Dub.

"Well, then let's win it back," Gordon said quietly. "If we do it right, we don't have to be afraid of what anyone says."

Dub blinked stupidly some more, but even he seemed to grasp this concept. Sort of.

"Now get out of here," said the quarterback. "Leave Tom alone. He didn't do anything wrong. And anyone who messes with him, messes with me."

That was Gordon-typical Gordon. And that was why, when all the players had gone, when Gordon was gone and Tom was alone in the locker room again, he sank down slowly onto one of the benches.

Because he felt bad-really bad. It was true he hadn't written the story about the team because he hated the team or because he was envious of Gordon, and he hadn't done it to impress Marie. He had written the story because it was the truth and telling the truth was something he did, something he felt the need to do. But whatever his motives had been, the results had been the same: he'd gotten the team in trouble and hurt Gordon and won Marie's admiration. It made Tom feel guilty, as if those had been his motives after all.

He especially felt guilty when he was hanging out with Marie. And he was hanging out with her more and more now. The very next weekend, the next Sunday afternoon, he was at her house after church. He joined her and her father and mother and brother for lunch.

The Cameron mansion was even more impressive inside than outside. When Tom stepped through the front door, he came into a vast foyer with marble floors and a sweeping staircase rising to a second-floor balcony. In the study, where he sat with Marie before lunch was served, there were photographs everywhere. Dr. Cameron shaking hands with the mayor. Dr. Cameron with his arm around the governor's shoulder. Dr. Cameron laughing with the owner of the Dodgers. Dr. Cameron with just about every famous person who lived anywhere near town.

When it was time to eat, they all sat in a vast dining room with a wall of gla.s.s doors that looked out across the hillside at the sparkling Pacific Ocean. Dr. Cameron sat at one end of the long gla.s.s table and Mrs. Cameron at the other. Marie's brother, Carl, was on one side, and Marie and Tom sat next to each other across from him. The room was bright with sunlight. The light hit the prisms in the chandelier and was turned into rainbows and the rainbows fell on the crystal goblets and the china plates and the hand-carved oak sideboard against the wall. Tom felt as if he had stepped into a world so plush and beautiful as to have an aura of magic.

Dr. Cameron lifted a gla.s.s of orange juice in a toast to him. He was a tall, trim, broad-shouldered man with a face as perfect as his daughter's, his hair a silvery blond. "Marie has told us so much about you, Tom," he said with a smile. He had a calm, rea.s.suring voice-a good voice for a doctor, Tom thought. "We're really glad to know we'll be seeing more of you around here in the future."

Tom was glad to know this, too-it was the first he'd heard of it! But Marie seemed to agree. She smiled in that way that made Tom ache.

It was a wonderful lunch. Tom talked about his work at the newspaper. He talked about his story, the one about the football team, and how he was working on new leads. Instead of being angry at him, Marie and her family admired him. It was a nice change from being at school.

After lunch, Marie walked him over the broad front lawn of her house to where Tom's Mustang was parked at the curb.

"Daddy really likes you," she said. She took hold of his arm as they reached the car. She pressed close to him. "That's a really good thing, you know. He's the best guy in the world. And he knows a lot of important people-all the important people around here, for sure! He can be a really good friend to you, Tom, when you're applying to colleges or looking for a job, all that stuff."

"Yeah, well, he seems like a really good guy," Tom said. And he thought he could probably use some help applying to colleges now that the princ.i.p.al and all his teachers hated him.

They reached his car. Tom turned to look at her. He wanted to ask her about Gordon then. He wanted to make sure everything was over between them, that there would be no hard feelings about him moving in on Gordon's girl or anything like that. But he didn't say a word. With Marie holding his arm and looking up at him the way she was, he didn't want to do anything that might ruin the moment.

He was still trying to convince himself to speak when Marie suddenly moved in even closer and kissed him.

At which point Tom completely forgot about Gordon Thomas, and about everything.

Urged on by the wind and thunder, Tom hurried over the last yards of the hill to the school's front door. The door was made of gla.s.s and was dark, like the windows. As he approached it, he thought he saw another figure within, but it was only his own reflection. It was the first time he'd seen himself since he left the house. He was shocked by his expression of wild-eyed panic. With the baseball bat gripped in his fist, he looked like some sort of madman ready to bust up the world.

The wind blew harder, with a hollow roar like the sea's. It carried the first drops of rain in it. Tom felt them on his neck and cheeks. He tried the door. It was locked. He rattled it, but it wouldn't budge. There was a fresh grumble of thunder. It sounded-weirdly-like the low laughter of the Lying Man. Tom looked over his shoulder, half expecting to see the man himself standing right there behind him. What he saw was almost as scary: the first tendrils of mist were swirling up the hill after him. The fog-and the malevolents within it-were on their way.

He rattled the school door again.

"Gordon?" he shouted. "Are you in there? Let me in! I need to get in!"

There was no answer.

"Gordon!"

An electric crackle made Tom stiffen. White light flashed around him, making his image on the gla.s.s door transparent and phantom-like. Lightning. The storm was beginning again. He didn't want to be exposed out here when it struck. He had to get inside fast.

He stepped back from the door. He lifted the Louisville Slugger in his two hands.

Well, he thought, since I'm inside my own mind, I guess this isn't a crime.

He jabbed the head of the bat at the gla.s.s door. Then he did it again. That second time did the trick. With a loud crack, a triangle of gla.s.s broke away from the rest of the pane. The shard fell into the school and Tom heard it shatter on the floor in there. He reached through the hole, hoping to find a latch, but the door had a key lock. There was no way to undo it. So, as the thunder rolled again-the thunder that sounded like eerie laughter-Tom worked quickly, jabbing through the gla.s.s of the door with his bat head again and again, breaking off piece after piece, clearing a larger and larger hole for himself.

The thunder subsided then, but the wind rose. Tom took one last look behind him. The mist was creeping up the hill, advancing quickly with a slithering motion back and forth across the gra.s.s. The air was now laced with thin rain. Tom turned and, stooping low to keep from getting cut, stepped through the hole he'd made in the door and entered the school.

At first there was the noise of gla.s.s crunching under his sneakers. But as he moved away from the litter on the floor, the noise stopped and a deep quiet surrounded him, broken only by the steady sough of the wind through the broken door. He was in the school's front lobby, a place he saw almost every day. A broad, open hall decorated with bulletin boards and posters and signs. "Spring Comes to Springland" read a banner in one display case. There were various poems and works of art taped up inside. There were posters for school shows nearby and sign-up sheets for clubs and programs. And there was a trophy case displaying plaques and prizes the school had won: top test scores in the county, winner of a state essay contest-and, of course, the trophy for the state football champions.h.i.+p, the one now under investigation because of Tom's story.

Two corridors ran off from the lobby, one on either side of him. The halls were dark, sunk in shadow. Peering into the gloom, he could make out rows of lockers on the corridor walls, their bright green paint muted in the dim light. At first glance, the halls looked empty. But as Tom paused there for a moment, peering down the corridor to his right, he suddenly saw something. He caught his breath. There had been a swift movement in the shadowy reaches at the end. Someone crossing the hall from one side to the other. A moment later Tom heard a door swing shut down there.

"Gordon?" he called.

But there was no answer. No sound at all except the wind through the broken door. The wind that sounded like a whisper.

And then there was a whisper: "Tom."

Startled, Tom wheeled around. That sounded like Lisa. Yes! There she was. Or at least he thought he could make her out standing in the shadows down the other hall, down by the princ.i.p.al's office. Just standing there, watching him.

"Lisa?" he said softly, his throat dry. This place was really beginning to spook him.

The figure didn't move, didn't answer. Just stood there, watching him. Creepy. Very.

He started walking toward her slowly. "Lisa?" he said again-though he could barely get the word out now. "Is that you?"

Still, the figure stood motionless. As Tom got closer, the shadows seemed to gather around her. Her shape seemed to blend in with their darkness. As he came even closer, he saw that the darkness was all there was. Lisa had faded away like a mirage, vanis.h.i.+ng so smoothly into the shadows that Tom couldn't be sure she had ever been there at all.

He reached the spot where Lisa had been-or where he thought she'd been-about halfway down the hall. It gave him a very eerie feeling to find the place empty.

He was right outside the princ.i.p.al's office now. There was a large pane of gla.s.s here. Usually, on a school day, you could look right through the gla.s.s and see the outer office where the princ.i.p.al's two a.s.sistants worked. But today the gla.s.s was completely-weirdly-black. Nothing was visible through it. Nothing at all.

Just then, from behind him-through the gla.s.s door he himself had broken-there came a rattling crash of thunder. Lightning flashed almost simultaneously. The electric glow flickered over Tom where he stood-and in that momentary light, Tom caught a glimpse of someone standing on the other side of the princ.i.p.al's window, looking out at him.

Tom gasped-and then his breath came out of him unsteadily. He recognized that half-seen face. It was the Lying Man.

I'm not only traveling with you-I'm waiting for you wherever you go.

"Tom! This way! Hurry!"

With another start, Tom turned toward the whisper. It sounded like Lisa again. And again, there she was-or the ghost of her-standing still and dim in the hall's far shadows.

He took another glance at the princ.i.p.al's window, but it was black again. If the Lying Man was in there, Tom couldn't see him. All the same, he was glad to get away from that place. He moved down the hall toward the figure of Lisa, calling out to her as he went.

"Lisa, is that you? Wait for me."

But she didn't answer him. She stood eerily silent. And eerily, she did the mirage thing again, fading away into the shadows before he could reach her.

Tom's heart was rabbiting inside him. He felt like he was in a haunted house. A school full of phantoms. It was almost more frightening than the fog full of monsters. And the thunder and lightning outside didn't help any either.

"Tommeeee."

Lisa's ghostly whisper drifted to him again, but this time when he looked into the dark, he couldn't see her.

"Tommmeeeeee."

He moved toward the sound. He reached the end of the hallway. There were stairs there, a broad flight going down into the bas.e.m.e.nt.

"Tommmeee."

That's where her voice was coming from.

Was she trying to get him to come down to the Sentinel's office? To get the address he'd left there, the address of the woman in the white blouse? But why haunt him like this? That's where he was headed anyway.