So while it's still Halloween somewhere, enjoy this little Halloween story. A bit of a sequel to When Ice and Dirt Mix, it's based more on that one than Giving Back. At least the timeline is.
Unbeta-ed. I do hope you enjoy.
Screams at Eden Hall
"So let me get this straight," Charlie said looking up at Russ, Guy, and Portman after practice one late fall day, "with Halloween right around the corner, the three of you want to attempt to scare my cousin? My unflappable, not scared of anything, prank genius, 18-year-old cousin and want to know if I'm in?" Charlie asked in disbelief. He was glad there was no one left in the locker room to hear this crazy plan.
When Russ and Guy had come up with the plan and approached Portman that morning, it had sounded like a good idea. Scare the girls to get back at them for taking up all the hot water after practice. Since they were all seniors now and all on the varsity hockey team it should be easy to get them all in one fell swoop. However the look on Charlie's face was making them rethink their plan. Charlie shook his head as he looked at them.
"Yeah, that sounds about right," Guy said slowly and hesitantly.
Russ was surer of their plan. "Come on Charlie, you know you're just as tired of them taking all the hot water after practice as we are," he prodded.
"Yeah, I do hate that. No one likes to shower off sweat in cold water, especially not after coming from a cold ice rink."
"So you're in?" Russ asked.
"However," Charlie continued, "I know my cousin. Port, why is this a good idea?" He looked up at the tall enforcer who hadn't said a word.
"If we do this ..." Portman trailed off trying to come up with something. "Well, at the very least, it'll be fun," he finally said.
"Fun watching her point out all the ways you failed at scaring her. As well as watching her point out how she knew it was coming. Matt, Seth, and Ben have tried every Halloween since she was 10 and every year they've failed. Chris has taken her through every haunted attraction in the state, even the ones where her dad has had to sign a waiver, and nothing fazes her. Her favorite Halloween movie is Texas Chain Saw Massacre. If you manage to pull this off it's going to be epic."
"Does this mean you're in?" Russ asked again.
"Sure, just know that it'll be easier to scare Connie and Julie than Lizzy," Charlie answered. He stood up and grabbed his bag then led the other three boys out of the locker room.
"What if we used something from Child's Play or It?" Russ asked.
"Neither of those movies actually scare her; they just freak her out," Portman said.
"But we can attempt it. The robotics club is building a Chucky doll for a haunted house," Charlie said.
So the following afternoon, as everyone poured out of locker room to go to practice, Lizzy noticed Portman was missing. "Where's Port?" She asked looking at Fulton as they reached the ice.
"Said he forgot something, he'll be right out," Fulton answered. Lizzy nodded making a note to be very careful when reentering the locker room. Anyone hanging back on the way to practice, had to be up to something. Especially Portman. He was very good at pranks, almost as good as she was. Since no one made any suggestions about entering the locker room in a specific order, she placed herself in the middle of the pack and was only slightly disappointed when nothing happened. She looked at her stuff and saw nothing. Maybe he wasn't up to anything or maybe it wasn't aimed at her. Liz shook it off and went to shower.
That theory was instantly disproved when she entered the shower room and Connie let out a blood curdling scream over the sound of running water. It was followed by a less terrified and more surprised shriek. Lizzy set her clothes and towel on the shelf in one of the showers and proceeded to the other two showers where the water was running. "Cons? Jules? What's wrong? If it's a spider so help me—" Then she saw what had caused it. The water pouring from both shower heads was blood red. She smirked then quickly schooled her face into a neutral mask. They wouldn't appreciate being laughed at.
"Look at what they did," Connie shrieked, coming out of her shower, "my skin will be red for a week."
"Vinegar or toothpaste," Julie said, also stepping out. Connie had a towel wrapped around her body and Julie was still in her tank and shorts.
"What?" The incensed girl snapped.
"Both vinegar and toothpaste will remove the stains." Julie tasted the water on her hand. "Tastes like Kool-Aid. I just don't get why, it's not April Fool's Day."
"I think the intention was more scare than prank, but I don't get why they'd do just the two of you unless ..." Lizzy trailed off. She walked over to the last perfectly working shower and carefully turned it on. After a second or two, red water started coming out of it too. "Yup. Probably payback."
"How did they know which showers we would use?" Connie asked as she and Julie hopped in different shower stalls.
"Think about it. Only three of these showers really work, three of us why not?" Three of the nine showers had the perfect water pressure, temperature and no imperfections. Of the remaining six one had loose tiles in the floor, one didn't drain, two had water pressure that felt like knives, one had barely any pressure and the last had no hot water.
"Any idea who or why?" Julie asked as Lizzy hopped in the ice cold shower.
"A little bit." Lizzy answered. She got out of the shower and got dressed. She walked back into the locker room where her eyes instantly landed on Portman. "Dean Oscar Portman, you know better than to scare Connie."
"That's it?" Portman asked as she walked over to him.
"That was Connie's scream," Guy said.
"You startled Julie but only Connie was scared."
"How'd you know it was me?" Portman asked.
"You were late to practice, Fulton said you forgot something, and that reminds me: Fulton!" Lizzy spun and stared at her friend since birth.
Portman grabbed her shoulders and turned her back around. "He knew we were going to try to scare you but not how," Portman said.
"We? As in more than just you?" Julie asked.
"Of course," Lizzy said slowly. "Guy's one of the few people who knows what truly terrifies Connie and Charlie never misses a chance to get at me. But who else?" Lizzy pondered out loud. "Ken?" The boy in question shook his head. If Portman hadn't brought in his brothers then it had to be because they cared about Lizzy so his accomplices had to be the ones who didn't care quite as much. "Prankmaster Russ and lighthearted Averman." Both boys nodded.
"Let's just assume they all know," Julie said.
"Okay then. I only have two questions. First, Jell-O or Kool-Aid?"
"Kool-Aid, Jell-O didn't work when my brother did it," Portman answered.
"And second?" Guy asked.
Lizzy glanced at Guy tossing her brown hair over her shoulder. She smirked and looked back at Portman. "Are you sure you want to do this?" He nodded. "Then bring it on, just remember what they say about revenge and that I love the cold."
The next day after lunch Lizzy was talking to Julie by the blonde's locker about their math homework when Julie started to stammer. "Chu—Ch—Chucky!" Julie screamed pointing behind Lizzy. Lizzy stared at the younger girl wondering if Portman had turned her but then remembered that he had been trying to get all three of them. Lizzy turned around slowly, expecting the worst then frowned seeing the Chucky doll from the Child's Play series walking towards them.
The doll's walk didn't look right though. Lizzy couldn't put her finger on it precisely but something was off. Perhaps it was too stiff, she didn't know, but it didn't scare her or freak her out like it should have. Lizzy let her eyes trail up and down the hallway, spotting Russ and Guy peaking around the corner at her but no Portman to be found. Julie's nails were starting to dig painfully into Lizzy's arm and that was when she spotted Mack from the robotics club, half hidden behind a locker. Lizzy pried Julie's hand off her arm as the robotic doll finally reached her. She knelt down and picked him up. "Come to kill me have you?" Lizzy asked, standing back up. He just let out an evil laugh. She turned and glared at Mack who walked over with the remote in his hands.
"Sorry," he said sheepishly.
"It would have been creepier if you had used the new Chucky from Bride of Chucky, the one with stitches across his face and if he actually said lines from the movies. You're lucky I didn't drop kick him across the hall."
"Again, I'm real sorry."
"Where is he?"
"Behind you," Portman sighed. "How'd you know?"
"His walk, it just seemed too robotic," Lizzy said, handing the doll to Mack then turning to face Portman. "Kinda freaked me out but I wasn't scared by it."
"If I admit that I was scared will you leave me out of whatever you're planning next?" Julie asked. Portman nodded. "You got me, good."
"Great. So it's down to Little Lizzy," Portman said as they headed for class.
"One would believe that since we dated for four months in freshman year and that we've known each other for years you would know what scares me."
"The answer to that is not much and the fear I'd get by threatening to hurt you, isn't the one I'm looking for."
"Yes, but you could never actually hit me so no fear there either," Lizzy answered as they dropped Julie at her class then continued on. "How did this whole thing start?"
"Russ and Guy wanted to get you back for using all the hot water after practice all the time. Now it's more of a pride thing," Portman admitted.
"I'm telling you, you gotta let this go." Lizzy sighed as they sat down is history class. Portman only shook his head and Lizzy knew it was going to be a very long two weeks until Halloween.
Their next attempt to scare Lizzy came the following afternoon. They paid the drama teacher's husband to dress up like the clown from It. When Lizzy closed her locker door and stared him in the face without flinching, he sighed and walked away and Russ stormed up to her. "How? How?" he spat angrily. "You were not supposed to just stare at him."
"If you ever want to surprise anyone, don't tell Averman until the last second. I overheard him talking to the drama teacher yesterday. Plus I saw the dude's shoes under the locker door. That's why I didn't even flinch."
"You're not making this easy."
"It's not supposed to be, Russ." Lizzy smirked and they headed to practice.
With three days until the holiday Dean Buckley stopped Russ, Portman, and Guy outside the cafe. "Chucky," he started, "Pennywise, Jason, Freddy," for each villain he listed he ticked off another finger, "Michael Myers, Pinhead, Candyman, the headless horseman? Did I miss any?"
"Pumpkin Head," Russ added.
"Thank you," the dean said as Russ's teammates glared at him. "This stops, right here, right now. I have gotten complaints from students, teachers, parents, the school board, and the Alumni Association. Enough is enough. If I see, or get a report of, another horror movie villain walking through my school, I will put your entire team in detention and suspend the three of you for a week."
"State playoffs are coming up, you can't do that," Russ protested.
"Do you understand me?" Buckley asked.
"Yes, sir," the three boys answered.
The dean walked away and Russ turned to Portman. "What now?" he asked.
"Horror villains weren't working anyway and small scares won't work on her," Portman said.
"Think Portman, you dated her for six months and you know her better than anyone on the team. What will scare the pants off of her?" Guy asked.
"Rats? Snakes? Ants? Bees? Ghosts?" Russ questioned.
"We only dated for four months and no, no, no, no, and I honestly have no idea. The topic of ghosts never came up," Portman answered.
"Charlie will know," Guy said confidently. However Charlie didn't know but Fulton was positive Lizzy didn't believe in ghosts. "Fulton, you've gotta help us."
"Alright. There is one way that I know of but it's very devious, underhanded, and could get her mad at us for weeks," Fulton finally admitted.
"Tell us," Russ insisted.
"Under the condition you let me tell her roommate first. The last thing you need is Ashley telling the dean and we all get in trouble."
"Deal," Portman agreed.
After explaining it to the boys, Fulton went to find Ashley, who was in her room studying. Out of the corner of his eye he spotted Lizzy, but paid her no mind. "Hey, Ash. What are your plans for tomorrow?" he asked, sitting down on Ashley's bed.
She turned from the homework she was doing at her desk to look at him. "Fulton Reed, are you asking me on a date?" Ashley asked in disbelief. Lizzy looked up from her homework at the pair a bit shocked. He had an amazing girlfriend and he wasn't the cheating kind.
"Of course not," he said quickly, then added, "I mean you're beautiful and any guy would be lucky to go out with you but I have a girlfriend that I love. I just want to know if you'll be in here tomorrow."
"Probably," she said, confusion evident in her voice.
"Then I want to warn you that Port, Russ, Averman, Guy, and Charlie are going to rig this place with fishing wire to make it seem like it's haunted—" Fulton told her.
"Fulton," Ashley tried to interrupt when she realized where it was going. She looked over Fulton's head at Lizzy a little panicked but Lizzy only shrugged.
"So that, in Port's words, he can scare Lizzy beyond belief. I don't want you to get scared and report him to the dean and get us all in trouble. Promise me you won't report him."
"You done?"
"As soon as you promise."
"Yes, I promise I won't report him."
"Good, now what was so important?"
"Just that Lizzy's sitting right behind you."
"And you promise to act terrified so he'll stop?" Fulton asked, turning to look at Lizzy.
"If I must." Lizzy sighed though she was a bit shocked to see that he didn't look surprised to see her.
"You know this is about his pride and him being the most brilliant prankster ever." Suddenly Lizzy's face lit up. After a second Fulton grinned too. Then he stood and left the room.
The following afternoon after practice Russ got Lizzy out of her room by reminding her of her date with her boyfriend and she went to shower. That gave the boys just enough time to set up. When she came back Portman put his plan in motion. Lizzy plopped down on her bed and slowly braided her hair. Out of the corner of her eye she thought she saw the door to her closet move but shook it off as part of her imagination. Then her desk lamp started to move. In fact it levitated right off the desk. This was followed by the TV and stereo turning themselves on and flipping channels. That's when Lizzy realized it was part of Portman's plan. Then she spotted the camera on top of the TV, a sweet 16 gift for Ashley, with its red recording light on. Just as she realized all of this, her bed started to shake and the dresser drawers pulled themselves open as well as the blankets on Ashley's bed started to lift up as though someone was getting into bed. That's when everything stopped. Lizzy pretended to be trying to control her breathing as though she had been scared and was calming herself down. When she managed that, though it was all fake, she hoped it looked real to whoever was watching, Ghostface jumped out of her closet. Lizzy gave her best terrified, horror movie girl scream.
The character bent double and Lizzy could hear the distinct sound of Portman's laughter. Her face fell and her eyes narrowed at him. He calmed down then pulled off his mask. "Sorry," he said but he was still smirking.
"You guys can come out now," Lizzy called, knowing the other boys were close. Averman, Russ, and Guy popped up outside her windows, Charlie rolled out from under her bed, and Adam and Fulton stood in the doorway. "I applaud you all," Lizzy clapping softly as she walked over to the TV and shut it off. She also discreetly shut off the camera on top of the TV. Then the stereo shut off as well. She turned back to Portman with her hands on her hips. "So Charlie made the bed shake, the stuff on the desk was fishing wire with the boys outside, I figure Averman had both remotes but Ashley's bed? The dresser drawers?"
"Actually the dresser drawers were Guy, Averman had the remote to the TV, and I had the one for the stereo and the wires for Ashley's bed. Strung it up and over. We were going to do the lights as well but we couldn't figure it out without you possibly tripping over it or figuring it out," Portman said.
"Interesting choice of horror villain."
"We wanted one we hadn't used before." Portman stared her down and the rest of the boys made their exits. "You knew," he said after a moment. "I'm sure Fulton told you, but I think you knew without him saying anything."
"Charlie sneezed and you bumped the door. I kinda do believe in ghosts though. My brother Seth went here about seven or so years back and he told me this story about a cheerleader named Lindsey that died here. She haunts the school."
"Ghosts? Really? That's what you're afraid of?"
"The unknown. Things moving by themselves. Anyone would be scared. Normally she haunts this dorm. It's where she lived but she also haunts her locker. The very locker you have."
"How—How'd she die?" Portman asked.
"Zamboni accident. Happened on the ice. Anyway, the reason I'm not scared of horror movies is when I was nine, Chris took me down to a slasher film they were shooting here in Minnesota," Lizzy shook her head as Portman began pulling the fishing wire from the ceiling. "A friend of a friend of a friend's father worked on the set. He introduced us to their special effects guys and they showed me the behind the scenes stuff. Plus we got to watch them film some of it. Once I realized that there's 50 or so guys behind the camera watching it all go down, the fear wore off quick. I haven't been scared of horror movies since."
"So those scary movies I took you to?"
"I was faking it. Child's Play and It freak me out because I saw parts of them when I was little. Macho men like you and my boyfriend tend to want their girls to need them during scary movies. Matt and Chris explained it to Ben and Seth and I overheard them. The best place, according to them, for a date is a scary movie. Then you'll know if she's really into you if she jumps into your arms. I disagree," Portman moved to pulling the fishing wire off the dresser drawer with his back to Lizzy and she swapped out the videotape to one Ashley had filmed of one of Lizzy's ball games. "I think the best place to take a girl on a date is to a movie she wants to see. She'll fall for you even more if she thinks you're considerate and kind enough to take her, especially if it's not your kind of movie. Horror movies could drive her away."
"Makes sense," Portman said, turning back to face Lizzy. They lagged into semi-quiet and Lizzy smiled.
"I have to go, my boyfriend is waiting. Shut the door when you're done." Lizzy walked out of the room, taking the tape with her, and when Portman checked the tape on Halloween morning he was angry to find it had been switched. When he confronted Ashley, he realized that Lizzy had known the camera was on and had probably stolen the other tape. Knowing how protective she would be of it, he just rolled his eyes and let it go.
"So I was tell—Fulton?" Portman asked, looking around his locker. Fulton had just been standing beside him and was listening to Portman tell the story of how he had told his oldest brother about their prank but he was now gone. Portman shut his locker and looked around the hallway. In fact it was completely empty. "Fulton! Fulton? Where'd you go? This isn't funny." Portman looked around again then the hallway went completely dark. His breathing quickened and his heartrate picked up. There were two things Portman hated beyond anything else and that was being completely alone and power outages. "Fulton."
The door at the end of the hall swung open then slammed shut all on its own. Then Lizzy's story from a few days prior hit him. He tried to remind himself that ghosts were a figment of the imagination but part of him wasn't buying it.
"Come on, where are you?" Portman breathed.
The lights in the hall cut back on and he heard giggling. Girlish giggling. The door opened and slammed again and Portman felt afraid. There wasn't much the large enforcer was scared off but ghosts was one of the few. Then he heard a cheer. "Go, Fight, Win, Tonight. Warriors, alright, alright." He didn't recognize the voice.
"It's not real, it's not real," Portman muttered to himself, pressing himself back against the locker. He wiped a hand down his face then clutched his book to him. Even though it was Sunday, he just had to have that book from his locker. Getting it right before dinner had been a good idea. Portman swallowed hard as the cheer got louder.
"Go, Fight, Win—Run, Run, the Zamboni comes. Listen to that engine roar." The voice stopped and Portman spotted a cheerleader come around the corner at him. The lights began to flicker on and off as more slamming could be heard.
"Bang!" Locker doors began slamming all around him and he began to get more and more freaked out. The cheerleader spotted him and did a couple cartwheels and a back hand spring towards him stopping in front of him. It had to be Lindsey. Her face and arms were pale like all the ghosts from the horror movies he had seen, her uniform was drenched in blood, and he could see wounds all over her body that looked consistent with what he thought a Zamboni could do.
"Get away from my locker!" The girl roared in his face.
He couldn't help it anymore and he let out the most terrified scream he had ever screamed. Then orange and black confetti fell from the sky as well as balloons and a banner that read Happy Halloween.
Suddenly the girl let out the most gut-busting laugh he had ever heard. He also heard laughter from all around his as more people poured into the hallway. Most of them were his teammates and they were all laughing. "Smile, you're on Candid Camera," the girl said pointing to two cameras at either end of the hallway. Then one went off a few feet from him. That's when he recognized the girl.
"Lizzy?" He asked in disbelief.
"In the flesh. You should have seen your face. "Oh my, it's not real, it's not real." I didn't know you were afraid of ghosts," Lizzy mocked.
"How in the world?" he asked looking around, trying to figure out what had just happened.
"I've been planning this for months. Then you and Russ and Guy had to just get us back for so called "taking up all the hot water". That's not always our fault. I wasn't going to do it to you but you tried for two weeks to get me back so you made yourself a target. The lockers are on motors and Julie has the controls for it." Julie flipped the switches in her hands causing the lockers to open and shut. "Connie slammed the door from the outside which we paid the janitor 20 bucks to keep unlocked for us. Fulton's controlling the lights. Kenny and Adam did the banner, balloons, and confetti. And the girls on the baseball team's cheer squad taught me those tricks. They had an old Warriors Uniform lying around so we drenched it in fake blood and the drama department was more than helpful with the makeup. I'm never going to forget the look on your face."
"That's why Fulton's mentioned Lindsey the past couple of days?" Portman asked, the blood slowly coming back to his face.
"Yep. I planted the seed and he just prodded your imagination to take over. Oh and I'm sure you know Eric and Todd from the AV department." She motioned to the two boys with video cameras in their hands. "And little Ralph from the school newspaper."
Portman sighed and hung his head. Finally he looked up at Lizzy. "Why?" he asked.
"I was going to pull this prank on Charlie, but you made yourself a target by trying to take my queen of pranks title. Besides its Senior Year. Go big or go home," Lizzy explained. Fulton escorted Portman to dinner and the rest followed. Lizzy clamped a hand on the Ralph's shoulder. "You'll give me the only copy of that photo," Lizzy stressed.
"Yes, of course," Ralph answered, knowing it wasn't good to mess with the girl. Lizzy smiled and headed for dinner, handing an extra twenty to the two boys with brooms at the end of the hall. It wasn't fair for her to expect the boys to clean up her mess without some kind of incentive.
So what did you think? Please let me know. Maybe if you prod me enough I'll do a Christmas one too.