“Well, someone is going to know about you sneaking around—and it might be Alexander.” Trevor thumped me on the head and disappeared into the crowd of students.
I wasn’t dating Sebastian. There was nothing to hide from Alexander—but by the way everyone was treating me, the whole school must have believed I was cheating on him. My boyfriend, like any other, would not have been happy about that.
After school, I was at Becky’s waiting for sundown. The time had slipped by as Becky typed away at her computer doing research for an English paper and I ignored my own homework by lying on her bed, rereading
The Vampire Lestat.
“I think I’m almost finished,” she said gleefully.
“Well, I should be going,” I said. The sun was slowly sinking; only a few rays still poked out behind the field. “I need to tell Alexander that the whole town thinks I’m dating Sebastian before it gets back to him.”
“I’m sorry things have gotten so far out of hand. If you hadn’t stuck up for me…”
“That’s my job,” I said. “I’m your best friend.” I hopped off her bed and grabbed my jacket. “I better get my bike.”
When we arrived at her house, Becky and I picked apples from one of her trees for a snack, and I’d parked my bike in the barn.
Becky peered out her window. “Why don’t I drive you home instead?” she asked with concern. “It’s totally dark out there.”
“That’s okay. I can find my way.”
“But there aren’t lights,” she said. “Even in the barn.”
I’d always protected Becky—at school, in town, in life—but this was her property and she wasn’t normally afraid on her own land.
“Don’t worry,” I reassured her as I walked down her creaky stairs. “I can go by myself. It will just take a minute.”
“The light switch hasn’t been working, and quite frankly it’s kind of spooky without it,” she confessed.
“I’m all about spooky!”
“I’ll drive you home,” she insisted.
“You don’t have to do that. Besides, I love wandering around fields in the dark. Maybe we’ll find a dead body.”
“Don’t say that!”
Once outside, Becky picked up a flashlight from on her back-porch railing. “I never get used to coming out here in the dark,” she said.
It was pitch-black except for the tiny light beaming from her flashlight. We had at least fifty yards to walk just to reach the barn. The cool night air made the journey even more chilling.
Becky dug her nails into my arm but was doing her best to be brave.
I thought I’d take her mind off her fears as we traipsed down her gravel road and through the darkness. “So are you sure Sebastian hasn’t tried to contact you again?”
“No.”
“No texts? Or flowers?” I hinted.
“Nothing,” Becky vowed.
“You’d tell me—”
“Of course I would. You know I can’t keep secrets.”
“Good.” Perhaps Alexander’s and my talk was getting through to him. “If you weren’t going out with Matt—
would you like him?”
“But I am going out with Matt.”
“If you weren’t,” I prodded.
“But I am, Raven.”
“You haven’t even thought about it?”
“No—why would I?”
As we grew close, a neighbor’s horse whinnied in the distance.
The old barn smelled like hay and old wood.
For a moment, Becky struggled, but she opened the barn door. “It sticks,” she said.
The barn was dark as a cave. Becky shined the light inside. Tools hung from the walls like dripping wax.
“What happened to the switch?” I asked.
“It shorted out the other day. My dad didn’t have a chance to fix it.”
We were blind except for the thin beam from her flashlight. Something felt strange—like we were being watched. I knew that there weren’t any farm animals kept in the barn. I wasn’t sure what else it could be.
“Hurry and get your bike,” she said.
Becky was still hiding behind me, pointing past the tractor. She clung to me so hard, I couldn’t move.
Just then we heard a rustling in the rafters.
Becky jumped. “Ooh! It’s a bat. My dad said he saw one the other night. I figured you’d want us to catch it for you, but it was too high.”
“It’s more than a bat,” I surmised.
After a few moments, the bat disappeared. I sensed someone lurking in the shadows. I took the flashlight and shined it on a bale of hay. Nothing. I shined it again on a workbench. Becky hid behind me, grasping my shirt so tight I could barely breathe.
“I’m scared, Raven. Let’s go back.”