Mason Read online

“What’s up?” she asked. “You all look like we’re going to a funeral.”

  The comment brought a crooked grin to Ricky’s face and Tara barked three short, high-pitched giggles. Lump just looked at his shoes.

  Hunter took Lara’s arm lightly and turned her away from the others. He led her out from under the willow tree to a patch of grass near the river’s edge. Behind him the carnival lights looked blurry, like chalk dots smeared by careless fingers.

  “You’re going to do something for me,” Hunter said.

  “Don’t I do everything for you?” Lara said with a giggle to make the question sound dirty.

  “Yeah, whatever,” Hunter replied. “It’s about that friend of yours. Rene.”

  “God, don’t even talk about her,” Lara said, her system thrumming now with the bump of crystal. “She’s such a bitch.”

  “She is,” Hunter said. “We need to teach her a lesson, right?”

  Lara tried to process her boyfriend’s words, but they got tangled in the Wild Turkey and meth. She didn’t understand. “You’re not going to hurt her, are you?”

  “Do you care?”

  “No,” Lara said. She laughed too loudly, feeling a strange mix of excitement and fear. Even though she was wasted and trying to impress her boyfriend, Lara wasn’t sure. Part of her remembered what a good friend Rene was.

  Yeah, she used to be cool. Now she’s all like a parent or a cop or something.

  “Look, we just want to punk her for disrespecting us,” Hunter explained.

  “Oh totally,” Lara said. “We could egg her house or leave dog crap on the stoop.”

  “Yeah, right. Like that. Only I had something a little more creative in mind. Are you in?”

  “Totally!”

  “Cool. Here’s what you’re going to do.”

  11

  Focal Point

  Rene and Cassie walked over the red carpet. The scents of popcorn and nacho cheese sauce filled the air. The movie, a typical teen comedy, was over, and now the audience wandered toward the glass doors, passing the people waiting in line for the next show. Both girls pulled cell phones from their shoulder bags and turned them on. Rene noticed she had missed a call. Cassie looked at her display screen and apparently saw no message alerts, because she said, “Figures,” and tossed the phone back into her bag.

  “Eric didn’t call?” Rene asked, already knowing the answer.

  “No-ooo,” Cassie said, adding an extra syllable to express her frustration.

  “He will. He’s just playing that stupid boy game. He probably has a three-day rule.”

  “Who teaches them this crap?” Cassie wanted to know.

  Rene pointed over her shoulder with a thumb. “We just sat through ninety minutes of it.”

  Outside in the warm night air, people stood on the sidewalk, many of them chatting. Cassie looked annoyed, her pretty face scrunched up with thought. She twirled a lock of hair around a finger.

  “So what do we do now?” Cassie asked. “It’s only, like, nine o’clock.”

  “You drove,” Rene reminded her. “Where do you want to go?”

  They tried to think of someplace new, but the conversation always came back to Frank’s.

  “Just don’t let me order fries,” Cassie said as she opened the car door. “I cannot deal with carbs this week.”

  The restaurant was busier than it had been that afternoon when Rene and Mason stopped in for ice cream. People were shoved into booths or standing in crowds around the counter, but the girls still managed to get a table. Cassie immediately brightened up. Rene watched her friend continually search the room with darting glances.

  She was totally scanning for Eric. It made Rene a little jealous. She hadn’t had a boy to look for since Carter Dane.

  The school year is just starting, she told herself as she sat in the booth. There’s plenty of time to meet someone. I’ve got plenty of time.

  “This is awesome,” Cassie said. Her eyes brightened and she waved frantically.

  Rene turned, the vinyl screeching under her backside as she looked in the direction of Cassie’s wave. Four kids from school, three football players and a girl named Connie, stood at the end of the counter. Connie waved back happily. The football players all nodded their heads. At the table in front of this gang, Miranda Bocage sat with the older guy from the night before. She looked furious, stabbing her diet cola with her straw as the man spoke to her.

  “And it’s early yet,” Cassie continued. “By ten, this place will be slammin’.”

  Yeah, Rene thought, and by eleven, we’ll all be up at the Hollow lighting a fire and drinking beers.

  The outdoor parties at the Hollow happened every few weeks. Sometimes they were planned with invitations circulated on the internet or handed out in the school’s halls. Other times, they just happened. Either way, they were a lot of fun, unless Hunter and his thugs showed up to tease and bully everyone.

  Her thoughts began drifting back to Lara, but Rene didn’t want to deal with any of that right now. She ordered coffee from the waitress and waited for Cassie to order her french fries, which she always did, even when Rene reminded her about the carbs. Rene decided to enjoy the festivities in the restaurant. Lara would have to take care of herself.

  Rene’s cell phone rang and she snagged it out of her bag on the second ring.

  “Hello?”

  “Rene,” Lara said. Her voice was low and nervous. It sounded as if Lara wasn’t willing to be forgotten just yet. “Are you there?”

  “Yes,” Rene said, half wishing she’d ignored the call.

  “I really need to talk to you. It’s totally important.”

  “So talk.”

  Rene heard fragments of words, but the noisy crowd made it hard to make out what Lara was saying. Across the table, Cassie looked around, smiling. Suddenly her eyes lit up and her cheeks flared red, and then she lowered her head to stare at the table. Rene turned and saw Eric Crawford with some of his buddies approaching the table. Lara kept talking, but Rene couldn’t make out a word of it.

  “Hold on,” Rene said. “I have to go outside.” She covered the mouthpiece and told Cassie she’d see her in a minute. Then she scooted out of the booth.

  “You can’t leave me!” Cassie said anxiously.

  “You’re a big girl,” Rene said, “and I’ll be right back.”

  Rene said hi to Eric and Orin Unger as she made her way down the aisle. Outside, she turned left and walked several feet from the door.

  “Now, what’s going on?” Rene asked.

  “Can you meet me?” Lara asked.

  “After last night? I don’t think so.”

  “Please, Rene. I’m scared. Really scared. I’m sorry about last night. So sorry, but I need to see you. It’s Hunter…. He…God, I can’t even say it.”

  A list of terrible things Hunter might have done unfolded in Rene’s mind. She pictured the tattooed thug in her mind, imagined him hitting Lara, saw him pull his gun from his pants. What had he done?

  “Where are you?”

  “I don’t know,” Lara said, panicked. “I ran out of his house. I’m in the woods somewhere. You have to come get me.”

  “The woods? Where?”

  “By his house! God, I don’t know.”

  Rene thought about Hunter’s neighborhood. It was on the opposite side of town from the Ditch—not that his family was living large. Hunter’s mother had inherited the house from her parents. It was in a nice neighborhood, but the place was run-down, with two old muscle cars up on blocks in the side yard.

  “Oh,” Lara said quickly. “I think I’m near the Hollow. Can you meet me at the Hollow? Please?”

  Seeing a chance to finally talk some sense into her friend, Rene agreed. “I can meet you. Cassie and I are at Frank’s, so it will take us a while to get there.”

  “You can’t bring Cassie,” Lara said quickly. “Please? The last thing I need is her acting like Miss Southern Perfection right now. I just need to talk to you. P
lease?”

  “Okay. I’ll be there. Just calm down.”

  “Hurry,” Lara said.

  “I will.”

  Rene walked along the wooded stretch of road. Alone.

  Eric Crawford was more than enough to keep Cassie occupied for an hour. So Rene had lied and said she had to run home for something.

  Cassie had said, “I’ll be here.”

  Rene made a right onto a dark trail that wound through the pines and dogwoods. The trees fell behind her, so tall they blocked out the sky and the stars. She stepped over a fallen branch and felt a tingling current of fear run down her spine. What had Hunter done to Lara, she wondered? Not knowing made it all the worse. Rene imagined terrible things. Had he freaked on her? Beaten her? Raped her? Rene trembled. It could have been anything. And worse, Hunter might have followed Lara into the woods. Even now he might be prowling the darkness with his gun. Sweat erupted on Rene’s neck as she picked her way along the trail.

  Farther down the path, she heard movement in the woods. She thought to call out for Lara, but what if it wasn’t her? Rene kept walking, her eyes slowly adjusting to the gloom. Finally the tight row of trees opened up into a rounded patch of beaten-down dirt, which appeared a shade lighter than the cloying darkness surrounding it.

  The Hollow was an old campground, long since deserted by families for afternoon outings. Now the area was reserved for high-school parties and burners who wanted to get wasted amid the glory of nature. Rene remembered the fire pit in the middle of the clearing and made sure to walk around it.

  “Rene?” Lara whispered from across the clearing.

  Rene squinted but couldn’t see her friend through the darkness. She remembered an old picnic bench on the far side of the clearing, imagined that was where Lara would be, and made her way toward it.

  Movement in the bushes at her back startled her. Hunter? Rene jumped and spun around, but the oppressive night hid whatever had made the noise. A branch snapped to her right.

  “Lara?” Rene said. “Where are you?”

  “Over here,” her friend whispered.

  Just then a flashlight beam broke the darkness. She’d been right: Lara was at the picnic bench. Though she couldn’t see her friend well with the glare of light beaming out at her, Rene walked toward it, covering her eyes with one hand.

  Rene didn’t even think to wonder how Lara had come across a flashlight while fleeing Hunter’s house.

  A can crunched under her foot, and Rene leaped forward.

  “Are you okay?” she asked, moving quickly toward the picnic bench.

  “I’m fine,” Lara said.

  Rene paused. Something in her friend’s voice—humor?—made her stop.

  “What’s going on?” Rene asked.

  “This!” Lara said.

  The flashlight jumped as if yanked high by a cord. Then, Rene felt something cold hit her face and hair and neck. She heard a hissing like the sound of a snake and felt long thin trails wrapping around her. Lara’s giggles filled the Hollow as the flashlight’s beam danced against the darkness.

  Rene backed away with a yelp, and saw the long slender ropes leaping at her through the night. Only then, with her heart thundering in her chest, did Rene understand what was covering her.

  Silly String?

  “I don’t believe this!” Rene shouted, already trying to pick the stuff from her hair. “You brought me all the way out here for some childish prank!”

  “Buuuuuuurn,” Lara said with a laugh. “So burned.”

  “What the hell is wrong with you?”

  “You’ve been punked!” Lara yelled.

  The flashlight continued its dance. But suddenly other lights came on around her.

  Rene turned and saw Lump Hawthorne working his way across the Hollow toward her. She whirled around. Ricky Langham emerged from a thick bush.

  Hunter! Rene thought. Oh God. Hunter.

  She turned her back to Lara. Hunter was standing in the center of the Hollow, holding a lantern in one hand and a thick length of tree branch in the other.

  “You think you’re so smart,” Lara said. “We totally got you.”

  “Yeah,” Rene said, taking a step to the left. “You got me.”

  “Don’t act all innocent, you so deserved it.”

  Does she even know what she’s done? Rene wondered. Already tears were welling in her eyes. Hunter wouldn’t go to all this trouble to play some juvenile prank on her. No way. Something worse was going to happen if she didn’t get out of there, and fast. But did Lara know it?

  Rene broke to the left, but before she could get up any real speed, Lump’s arm went across her chest and he pulled her into a tight hug. Rene screamed but was cut off by a slap against the side of her head. She reached up and drove her nails into Lump’s arm, raking trenches in it.

  “Hey,” Lump growled. He slapped the side of her head again and shoved her into the center of the Hollow, only two feet from Hunter Wallace.

  Hunter glared down at her, his face lit from the side by Lara’s flashlight. A piece of Silly String dropped in front of Rene’s eye, brushing over her lashes. Rene wiped it away with a sheen of tears.

  “You played the wrong game with the wrong players,” Hunter told her.

  “Totally,” Lara yelped. Another fit of giggles filled the Hollow. “I can’t wait to tell everyone at school about the look on your face.”

  “Why, Lara?” Rene asked. “How could you?”

  Across the clearing, Ricky Langham lifted a piece of charred wood from a long-dead fire out of the pit. In front of Rene was Hunter’s evil grin.

  “She’s a little slow,” he said.

  “You can’t do this. Cassie knows I came here.” It was a lie, but if Hunter and the others thought Cassie was watching her back they might think twice about hurting her.

  “Then Cassie is going to get a call in about twenty minutes,” Hunter replied, casually swinging his branch through the air. “Apparently, you never showed up.”

  Cold terror flowed down Rene’s throat. It hit her stomach like a fist. Her nerves jittered frantically as she tried to calculate a path of escape. But Lump and Hunter and Ricky formed a half circle around her. On the other side were Lara and the picnic bench.

  “Why are we gonna call Cassie?” Lara asked.

  “Because of what they’re going to do to me,” Rene cried. “God, Lara. Help me!”

  “She isn’t going to help,” Hunter said confidently.

  Desperation flared in Rene and she broke to her right. Arms came out at her. She scratched and she kicked, but she wasn’t able to break loose. She was a doll being tossed around by cruel children.

  “Next time,” Hunter said, “you mind your business.”

  Then, he swung the thick tree branch. It hit the side of Rene’s head, cutting her scalp and sending her sideways into Lump Hawthorne. Her vision blurred. She opened her mouth to scream, but another branch crunched against the back of her head. She dropped to her knees and looked up at her tormentors pleadingly. Their names ran through her head in a rapid loop. HunterWallaceLaraPearceLumpHawthorneRickyLangham. So many Ls. No, she thought. You have to think clearly. Stop this. But she couldn’t. The names kept playing over, changing and condensing like the game she played with other words. Desperation tangled her thoughts until nothing made sense. So many Ls.

  wall arump am

  L-L-L-L-L-L

  wall arump am

  Hunter Wallace grinned down at her. He tossed his flashlight to the ground and grasped the tree branch in both hands. Then he lifted it high.

  “Please…” Rene managed to say.

  Hunter slammed the branch against the top of her head.

  Rene had never known such pain, and it was just beginning.

  12

  Figure in Repose

  Cassie Ferguson followed Eric Crawford, Orin Unger, and about two dozen other kids into the woods. Too many lowbrows, in town for the carnival, were shoving their way into Frank’s, and its appeal was hem
orrhaging. So Eric suggested that everyone head out to the Hollow, where the party could really crank up. Cassie had tried to call Rene, but her friend wasn’t answering. She even tried the home number, but Rene’s mom said she hadn’t come home yet. That was kind of weird. Still, the mystery only distracted her for a second or two. Before she knew it, Eric’s arm, covered in his letterman’s jacket, was slipping around her waist and guiding her through the woods to the old campground.

  She hadn’t expected the night to turn out so epically wonderful. Going to the movie with Rene was okay and Frank’s was fun, but she totally didn’t expect Eric to show up and offer her a ride up to the Hollow.

  “Hey,” Eric whispered, slowing his steps.

  The other kids continued into the woods, dark shapes against a darker background. They looked like black ghosts, disappearing among the gloomy trees. Cassie shivered.

  “Yeah?” she responded.

  “Do you think Rene likes Orin?” Eric asked. “I mean, it’s cool if she doesn’t, but he thinks she’s hot, so I told him I’d do some recon.”

  Cassie didn’t know. The only boy Rene had talked about for a whole year was that Carter Dane kid who’d died in the spring. Well, him and Mason Avrett, but Cassie knew Rene didn’t feel that way about Mason. At least she hoped not. That would be gross. Orin was cute enough, and his daddy did own the town’s biggest car dealership. Why wouldn’t Rene like him?

  “She might,” Cassie said with just enough mischief in her voice to suggest she did know the answer, and that the answer was yes.

  “Cool,” Eric said. “Miranda, like, hated all of my friends, and so, when we hung out, it was just like the two of us, and it totally sucked. Maybe they’ll hook up and we can all hang out sometime.”

  Cassie’s heart fluttered. Was he saying what she thought he was saying? Did Eric already consider her his girlfriend? They hadn’t even had a real date yet. He couldn’t have meant that, but the idea thrilled her.

  “Sure,” she said, trying to maintain control.

  They were the last of the kids to enter the Hollow. Eric guided her into the clearing as Orin and one of the football players knelt over the fire pit, lighters in hand. A few small wads of paper lit up, and Orin scrambled around the pit, grabbing stray leaves from the dirt and dropping them onto the tiny blaze.