Chapter Seven.
That had been almost two weeks ago. Hannah had slept a grand total of 2 hours that night, and in the following two weeks had only gotten around 15 hours of sleep. It was now Halloween, and Hannah had somehow managed to escape taking the girls trick-or-treating.
"And tell me, how did you get out of this one?" Lee raised his eyebrows.
"I have no idea," Hannah attempted to stifle a yawn, as she pulled her long hair into a ponytail. "But remind me to thank my aunt later."
"Don't thank me yet," Allison said, entering the room, "You're stuck handing out the candy, instead of going out to your hip college parties."
Hannah rolled her eyes, "Like I could go to any of them anyways, I think that's probably against my rules,"
Allison looked at Hannah, who was now occupying herself with picking a hole in her jeans, and leaned towards Lee, "Could you try to cheer her up a little?"
"I'll try, Allison." Lee said quietly, "But I can't make any promises, I don't have the first clue how to make a twenty-one-year-old girl happy."
"I'm sure you'll be able to, Lee, don't worry," Allison smiled, as Marie came skipping into the room with face paint in her hands.
"Hannah…" Marie tugged on Hannah's t-shirt. "Moo!"
"Oh, right, come on, Marie, I almost forgot." Hannah led her younger cousin into the bathroom and lifted Marie onto the counter to paint her face with the white and black paint.
Ariel came into the room, holding two separate piles of clothes in her arms, "Where's Hannah?"
"Bathroom," Lee and Allison said together.
Ariel walked into the bathroom and closed the door behind her.
About 20 minutes, Marie emerged, with her face painted like a cow, with Ariel behind her, looking more broody than usual with black lipstick, eye shadow and nail polish to match her black clothes.
Allison smiled, "Oh, babies, you look so good!" She pulled Marie into a hug, "Wait, where's Hannah?"
"Refusing to come out of the bathroom because we forced her into the costume she bought." Ariel said, smiling evilly.
"Ah," Allison nodded, "Well, I have to get some pictures of you three girls, but Lee, maybe you could try and get her to come out before they leave, so that she can get some pictures taken too,"
"Sure?" Lee wasn't sure if it was a question so he just agreed.
Allison left the room with Marie in her arms, and Ariel gave Lee a look.
"What?"
Ariel raised her eyebrows, "What?"
"What are you looking at me like that for?" Lee asked.
Ariel crossed her arms over her chest and smiled in a slightly devilish fashion, "You know why I'm looking at you like this."
"Actually, Ariel, I don't."
Ariel scoffed, "Sure…"
"Ariel! Pictures!"
She smiled mockingly at him, "See you later."
Lee shook his head and walked towards the bathroom. He knocked on the bathroom door.
"Go away."
"Hannah,"
"I'm not coming out,"
"And why not?" Lee was interested to hear her reason why.
"Because I look like an idiot." Hannah responded.
"You honestly think I care about how you look, Hannah?"
Hannah was silent for a few moments and then she pulled open the bathroom door, looking none too happy about it. But when Lee actually looked at what she was wearing… She was wearing a teal, full-length dress, with puffed sleeves, and a bow above a split in the front of her dress, which was filled with peach material.
"What are you staring at?" Hannah raised her eyebrows.
"Huh?" Lee blinked a couple of times and tried to shake off the bizarre feeling he was having.
"Do I have something on my face, or what?"
"Uh… no." Lee shook his head.
'Well, then, wanna tell me what the hell is with the stare you're giving me?" Hannah asked, looking suspicious.
"I wasn't giving you a stare," Lee said hastily.
Hannah didn't look as though she believed him, and was about to say something else when Allison called down the hallway.
"Hannah, want to come get some pictures taken with your cousins?"
Hannah gave Lee one last suspicious look before turning on her heel and walking down the hall to the entryway, her princess dress swaying behind her.
Lee let out a slow breath, and shook his head. What was getting into him?
After Allison and Joe took the kids out to go trick-or-treating, about 20 or so kids came trick-or-treating, but then almost 20 minutes passed with no kids coming to the door. Hannah and Lee sat in the living room in an awkward silence, when Hannah said, "Let's watch a movie,"
"What about the trick-or-treaters?" Lee asked.
"I don't think anymore kids are coming," Hannah replied, "And it really isn't Halloween unless we watch a scary movie,"
Lee almost smiled, and then said, "What do you have in mind, Hannah?"
"Well, I'm deliberating between The Grudge and When A Stranger Calls," Hannah replied, looking thoughtful. She held up the two DVD's, "Take your pick, Scanlon."
"Let's go with The Grudge," Lee replied, not thinking about which one was scarier, but choosing the one that didn't have to do with a psychotic killer.
"All right," Hannah smiled and put the DVD in the DVD player, grabbed the remote and sat beside Lee on the couch, still wearing her princess dress, "But if you get scared, I'm not holding your hand."
Lee glanced at her, and then rolled his eyes, "I think I'll be able to handle myself, Hannah."
"I don't know, man, some guys act all tough on the outside, but on the inside, they're just big softies who get as freaked during scary movies as the rest of us." Hannah said, grinning slightly.
"Yeah, I don't think you have to worry about that," Lee stated as the opening credits started rolling.
Hannah smiled at him before sinking back further onto the couch to watch the movie.
They were about halfway through the movie, when the doorbell rang. Lee looked at Hannah, "I thought you said nobody else was going to come trick-or-treating,"
"Don't be a smartass, Scanlon, nobody likes a smartass." Hannah informed him, standing up, "And I'll get the door, thanks for offering."
Lee paused the movie, even though he anticipated she'd be back in no time. When he didn't hear her talking to anyone, however, and she didn't come back right away, he got up and walked into the entryway to check on her.
"Hannah?"
She nearly jumped out of her skin, which should've been the first sign something was wrong. She turned around, and Lee noted that she was even more pale than normal, her eyes were as round as dinner plates and she was shaking from head to foot.
"Hannah, what's wrong?"
Hannah pointed to a piece of paper that had fluttered to the floor from her hands just moments ago. Lee walked over and as soon as he read what was on the paper, and closed and locked the front door and grabbed Hannah by the shoulders.
"Go into the living room, make sure all the windows and doors are closed, and then stay as FAR away from them as possible."
"Lee," Hannah's voice was quiet.
"Just DO it, Hannah," Lee snapped.
Hannah bit her lip, looking unsure, but did as she was told. Lee grabbed his cell phone and called the DA.
"Devalos."
"It's Scanlon. I'm with Alison's niece… the serial was just here."
"What do you mean, the serial was just there?"
"Just get over here, okay?' Lee stated.
"I'm on my way." Devalos hung up the phone, and Lee let out a deep sigh. He looked at the picture… it was one of the girls, after the serial had killed her, and written over the picture in messy red Sharpie, it read"
'I DIDN'T FORGET, HANNAH BENOIT.
YOU'RE NEXT'
Sorry again for the long wait, guys. Things have been crazy around here. I'm going to try and update more frequently though, thank you for your reviews. Please read and review!
