(Disclaimer already disclosed, see CHAPTER ONE)
I'd like dedicate this chapter to my lovely reviewers: Tinkies, Kath,and SandraSmit19. Hopefully, you'll see much more to come.
Alice spent the next few days working very hard at the video store. Some nights it was packed like crazy and others seemed like her and Janessa were the only human beings left on the planet. Every night she would restock videos and hope to see one of those boys again but they hadn't returned to the video store lately. The urge to see them again bugged Alice so much. It was odd because she didn't want to see them but there was an urge inside her to see them.
"Sometimes I wonder how you keep this place from going out of business." Alice said to Janessa while she was stocking videos one night.
"Me too." Janessa said flipping through a magazine. "So how has this beach house been?"
"It's great. I think there is a problem with one of the windows though. I woke up last night and one of them was all the way open." Alice said pausing a moment.
"You have window locks?" Janessa said finally looking up from the magazine and staring at Alice.
"I think so, I haven't really thought about checking it out." Alice said returning to shelving the videos.
"Well, you should, you don't need some drugged up hippy bum hopping into your home while you are sleeping!" Janessa said loudly.
Alice smiled. "OK, I'll look into it, Janessa."
"Hey, Janessa! Miss me?" A girl with crazy yellow and red streaks in her hair yelled at Janessa while she flung herself up on the counter.
"Well, look who decided to return." Janessa said closing her magazine. "When did a few days turn into a week and a half?"
"Craig said we'd be gone for a few days but we just got really caught up in the moment." The girl said looking off at the wall.
The girl dropped her look to Alice who she seemed to be unaware of before this moment.
"Looks like you got someone to fill in for me while I was on my romantic getaway." The girl said getting off the counter.
"She also manages to get her job done unlike you." Janessa said hands posed on her hips.
The girl rolled her eyes at Janessa and turned to Alice.
"Name's Diane Walters but please just call me Di which for some reason Janessa just can't click with." Di said holding her hand out.
"Alice Thompson. I just came to Santa Carla a few days ago. Oh, you can just call me Alice." Alice said shaking Di's hand.
Di just reminded her of Blondie. She had bright blonde hair and a good fashion sense. She wore a deep pink dress with a huge belt covering her tight tummy. She also had zigzagged earrings that were black. She liked to chew on gum as she popped it loudly at Alice.
"Nice to meet you." Di said popping her gum again. "So what do you say we drop this place?"
Alice peered up at the clock, it read a few minutes before ten o'clock.
"Yeah, it looks like my time is up."
"Excellent!" Di said giving a grin.
Alice finished the shelf she was working on and waved to Janessa a goodbye.
"Where to?" Di said slinging her arm around Alice and pushing pass others.
"Do you know a place I can get candles?" Alice asked. "My house happens to not have electricity and I need a way to see what I'm doing."
"Probably any little junk store over here." Di replied. "Here's one, let's go in."
Alice and Di entered a tiny one. It smelled like incense and smokes. It was dimly lit and full of junk. A large woman sat at the register looking at them.
"Need something?" The husky woman's voice called out.
"Yeah, got any candles?" Di asked politely.
The woman didn't say anything back but just pointed to a rack at the back of the store. Di grabbed Alice's hand and dragged her back to the rack that had tons of misshaped candles with random holders.
"First thing, don't stare at natives. I know many of the people here are…odd but they don't appreciate it." Di said quietly looking back at the woman who was still watching them.
"They like to stare at visitors." Alice said back.
"What's that mean?" Di said picking out some good candles and holding on to them.
"The first day I started working at the video store, these guys came in and stared at me." Alice said. "They even spoke with me a little. They seemed nice but they really creeped me out too."
"The guys around here do that." Di said. "That's why I have Craig, he's from Castle Rock, a few miles from this place."
"How'd you meet him?"
"A bonfire party on the beach over here. He seemed like one of those annoying frat guys but he was different. Most of beach stuff is wild. I used to hate that stuff but Craig seems to like it and I always get dragged along. I'll have to drag you along sometime, that's if you want to."
"Maybe sometime. How come all these candles are like nubs?"
"Probably used, this is a junk store."
"I think this will do."
Alice and Di returned to the register and dropped a good amount of candles on the counter. The woman looked at the the amount and said it was ten dollars.
"Ten dollars?" Alice said. "That's hardly that many candles!"
The woman stared at Alice who didn't want to pay that much for used candles. Di slapped a crisp ten dollar bill on the counter.
"Can we get a bag to go?" Di asked. The woman pulled a bag from behind the counter and Di dumped the candles into the bag.
"I think we should go." Di said grabbing Alice's arm. "Thanks for your help."
Tonight the crowd was thriving even though it was close to eleven o'clock. Di was pulling Alice through the crowd like they had been friends forever. Alice felt a little uncomfortable. Di was a little more outgoing than herself. She was waving to teenagers and young kids that passed. She had that huge grin on her face, so likable.
"You seem to know a lot of people here." Alice said getting pulled by Di and watching not to step in melted ice cream a kid had spilt on the boardwalk.
"Well, I tend to get along with anybody and everybody. It's not hard to befriend people here, they are nice." Di continued. "Of course, you have to get pass the whole crazy punk look or the nose earrings or tattoos. So where do you live?"
"Well, I live up on Dodger Bay."
"That's about a mile from Hudson Bluff, best view of the entire ocean!" Di said turning while still walking and flashing a smile. "You'll have to go up there and check it out."
"I might some day."
Alice stopped in the middle of the boardwalk and headed over to the pay phone. Di noticed this and followed her. Alice felt Di pull on her jean jacket.
"What are you doing, Alice?" Di said her eyes arched high waiting for an explanation.
"I have to make a phone call, I'll be right quick." Alice replied pulling her jacket out of Di hands and stepping into the pay phone. She closed the door behind her and dropped a quarter into the slot before dialing the number. The line rang twice before a haggard voice was heard over the phone.
"Mom?" Alice said twisting her fingers in the telephone cord.
"Alice, is that you?" Alice's mom said suprised at her voice. "How are you?"
Alice turned to see Di was sitting up on the concrete wall that seperated the beach from the boardwalk. She was tapping her hands on her lap to a song playing over the loudspeakers. Di caught Alice's eyes and Di pointed to an imagnary watch on her wrist. Alice only widened her eyes meaning for Di to just wait.
"I'm fine. It's really nice in Santa Carla." Alice said.
"And loud, apparently, are you having a party?"
"No, I'm on the boardwalk. Listen, Mom, I got a job at a video store here and I get paid well. I'll be sending you some money soon."
"Thank you, honey, but you really don't have to-"
"Yes, I do. You need this money more than myself. I know you need it. Also, did you know that Uncle Nikalos hasn't been to his beach house in forever? The electricity does not work and there was hardly any food when I got there."
"Yes, Uncle Nick had been ill for a long time before he died. He hadn't been to that house since he was last married. I suspected there would be a few problems but I thought for certain you could deal with them. I hope you are enjoying yourself."
"Yes, I am."
Alice looked up to check on Di but she wasn't up on the concrete wall anymore. Alice pushed her face up against the glass and peered out into the crowd. She couldn't see Di anywhere.
"Damn it." Alice said leaning her back against the other side of the payphone.
"What, honey?" Her mom asked over the phone. Alice brought the phone back up to her ear.
"Nothing, I have to go, I'll talk to you later." Alice hung up the phone and stepped out of the booth.
She looked up and down the boardwalk but all she saw was the thicket of people leaving and going to beach parties. Calling Di's name seemed hopeless for the commotion of people, the rides' noise, and the music booming out of the loud speakers. Alice sighed and started pulling herself towards the desolate area of the boardwalk. She could probably see Di better from over there. A group of young teens flew past on skateboards yelling loudly and shoving one another. She couldn't take it, the place was intoxicating. She stopped by a ice cream parlor that had a huge crowd of little kids waiting with there parents to get ice cream. A few bikers flew pass on there bikes yelling and holding whiskey bottles and flinging whiskey at bystanders. Alice got a bottle poured over her head. It was ice cold and she was shivering as the liquid ran down her shirt, tingling her back.
She trudged past another group of teenagers who couldn't put it past them to laugh at her. The smell of whiskey was sick and was heavy on her. She stormed down onto the beach past a bonfire party. Guys whistled loudly at her in their drunken state. Alice ignored it and found an empty spot where she could rinse herself from the whiskey. She slipped off her shoes and socks and stuffed them into her bag. She pulled off her jacket and washed it off in the water before slinging it onto her bag. She pulled her pants off and sank down into the water. She swam around for a good five minutes trying to do handstands underwater. She hadn't improved much since she was young and managed only one handstand. She pulled herself out of the water, ringing out her hair and shirt before putting her pants back on. I just had to wear a white shirt today, didn't I, she thought to herself. She picked up her bag and started her way back to the boardwalk.
"Hey, girly. why didn'cha invite me with ya for a dip?" one of the drunk guys said smiling a toothy grin at Alice. She ignored it a second time before finding the stairs back up to the boardwalk cluttered with the same bikers who poured the whiskey all over her. A security guard had been yelling for them to get off the stairs so people could get back up off the beach. There was a good crowd of people trying to get down to the beach. It's probably why the boardwalk was so cluttered tonight, these mongrels.
"Alice!" A familiar voice called from above. Paul stood up above her on the boardwalk with Marko by his side. "Need a hand?"
Paul lowered his hand.
"I doubt you could lift me."
"I doubt that, besides, Marko can help me, can't you, bud?"
Marko nodded looking down at Alice.
"Fine." Alice said throwing her bag up and over. She let the boys grab her arms and before she knew it, she was being lifted effortlessly up and over the concrete wall. Paul had his hands around her waist while Marko gripped her forearm. Her feet touched the ground and they both released her from their grip. She picked up her bag and slung it over her shoulder.
"Thanks. I'd probably have to wait another hour before those guys would have moved." Alice said looking down at the stairs still cluttered with the bikers. They were now pouring whiskey and vodka on the sercurity guard.
An INXS song started over the loud speakers. The lights of the rides were flickering a little while the masses flocked to them.
"Poor Frank, that guy never ragtagged us." Paul said lighting a fag.
"Ragtagged?" Alice said raising an eyebrow. "You guys bad boys or something?"
"We like to have our fun." Marko said. Alice turned and met his gaze.
Alice laughed. "I guess I completely missed it. The attitudes, the motorcycles, and the apparel. You reek of bad boy image."
"What can I say, how else do you get the ladies?" Paul said puffing a smoke.
"Are you implying you want to ask me out or something?" Alice asked.
"I don't know, would that be a yes?" Paul said blowing smoke in Alice's face. Alice inched her face close to Paul's. She pulled the smoke from his mouth and tossed it over the wall.
"I hope that answers your question." Alice said pulling away and looking out at the ocean.
"You are a little touchy, you know that?" Paul said lighting another smoke. "Want some?"
"No thanks." Alice said pushing Paul's hand away from her face. "I'm not much of a smoker. I want to live a long, healthy life."
Paul laughed and smiled. He turned and leaned his back up against the railing staring down at Alice. He smirked at her.
"So what have you been doing this fine evening?" Paul asked puffing in his fag.
"I am or was with a friend. I happened to lose her in the rush. It gets really crazy on this boardwalk."
"So you went to the beach to cool off?" Paul said looking out where Alice had been swimming.
"Something like that." Alice replied, her cheeks turning red. "I'm guessing you saw me out there?"
"Oh yeah." Paul said blowing smoke out of his mouth. "I really didn't think there was much underneath that jacket. I think I was wrong."
Alice shoved Paul and he lost his balance on the railing. Paul laughed loudly and Marko's laugh crawled quietly up after Paul's. Alice started laughing as well but pressed herself quickly up against the railing. The boys seeing her body naked. Well, half naked. Alice stared at the black railing and breathed deeply. She looked back up to see the two guys staring at her with a hidden lust in their eyes. She felt so naked then, really naked.
Alice's hearted started racing and she breathed deeply trying to avoid her paranoia of the these guys being creepy. Janessa's warnings came flooding back in her mind. Paul came up next to her neck and dipped his head low to her earlobe.
"Don't worry, I don't bite." Paul said with a sweet whisper. Alice's eyes rolled a bit and she felt a little queezy. His voice was alluring and sexy. She could feel his hot breath on her throat. "So, Alice, what brings you to Santa Carla?"
Paul pushed her back against the railing. He pulled his face back to her face. Marko sat back with a smirk on his face. He leaned on the railing watching with delight.
"I-I came here on v-vacation." Alice stuttered out of her trembling lips. Paul looked down at her lips as she let the words slip from them. She licked her lips and shook a little. Paul's body was so close to hers she could barely breath a breathe. Paul turned his cheek at Marko who took this as a signal and turned from the sight down the boardwalk.
"Where's he going?" Alice asked turning her head. Paul turned her head back towards him.
"Don't worry about Marko." Paul said smirking his flashy smile.
"What are you doing?" Alice said as Paul leaned down towards her face.
"Playing." Paul said holding onto her chin.
Alice pulled away. She picked up her bag and felt a hand on her wrist.
"What?" Paul said keeping back another smile. "Uncomfortable?"
"Very. I'm sorry but this isn't right. It would seem nice but I just can't." Alice said pulling her bag up on her shoulders and taking off. His smell was lingering under her nose. She was off down the boardwalk completely fixing her mind on just getting out of there. She saw a bleached mullet flash past her eyes and saw the three other boys sitting there smoking fags. David turned his head in her direction fixing his icy blue glare at her. Dwayne's and Marko's glance followed shortly after. Alice shuddered as they looked at her. Alice collided with another body and she hit on the ground soon after. She looked up to see Diane standing there.
"Alice!" Di excalmated. She helped Alice up. "Where'd you go?"
"I think I should be the one asking that question." Alice said rubbing her forearm.
"I saw my friend, Jonny, and I went to say hi for a minute. I went back to the booth and you weren't there." Di said grabbing Alice's arm. "Come on."
"Where are we going?" Alice said watching as Di started dragging her along the boardwalk.
"Jonny was talking about a killer bonfire party on the beach tonight. All you can get smashed for." Di said raising an eyebrow. "I'd figured you'd want to join me?"
"No, I'm feeling a little sick, I need to go home and get some rest." Alice brought her hand to her forehead signaling her sickness.
"OK, but you are missing one hell of a party!" Di said letting go of Alice's arm and starting down the stairs to the beach. Di waved a jaunt hand at Alice before turning to catch up with troop of guys and girls.
Alice only smiled a little and turned down the boardwalk making her way home.
Alice flicked the lighter on and lit up a few candles on her dresser. As the night progressed, the evening air became more and more chilly. Alice held her arms tight as she took a seat on her king-sized bed. She watched the candles flick from the air currents. Alice curled her legs up to her body.
Why didn't I just let him kiss me?,Alice thought. She closed her eyes and remembered Paul's body pressing up against her. His solid stomach bare for her to touch, his smile to look at and his playfulness. It all seemed harmless, but it felt odd and unlike anything she felt before. She wanted it so badly. Just him to smother her in some lust, but that's not what she wanted. She wanted someone she could be with forever and care for. Someone who knew her inside and out, that loved her just to love her. Alice shook the feelings away and got off her bed. She slipped her clothes off and threw on her Van-Halen t-shirt with the cut out neck.
BANG! Alice whipped her head around. The noise came from downstairs. Alice tensed up but thought it'd be good to check downstairs. She picked up a candle off her dresser and headed down the stairs. The entire downstairs was dark except for the moonlight that shot through the windows. Reaching the threshold, Alice peered down the main hallway to the kitchen. She heard a second thud from the living room. She turned the candle to the living room and enter quietly looking around. Looking into the room, she noticed the same window that had been opened before was now open again.
"What are you doing open again?" Alice said to the window and set down the candle on the coffee table. She walked over and shut the window again making sure it was secure. It didn't even seem like anything was loose on the window so she didn't understand why the window kept opening up. She checked the window again to make sure it wouldn't open again. It has done it every night since her first night in that beach house.
A loose wind brushed pass Alice and the candle blew out. The room was now in complete darkness. Alice's body stiffened as she became a little nervous. She had a feeling like she was being watched. Alice squinted her eyes and tried to make her way back to the unlit candle by the small orange ember glow it left. She fingered everything around her and managed to finally touch the still warm candle. She grabbed it and now was trying to make it to the kitchen. She left the living room, still with a soft foot, and into the kitchen. She could see better because the moon's light shown brightly through the window. She patted through a few drawers before finding a spot of matches and relighted the candle.
Since all the commotion started making Alice hungry, she opened the fridge only realizing that she didn't have anything in it. Feeling like an idiot for opening it she rubbed her head and cursed to herself. She managed to get a call into a electrician about the electricity problem. She was told someone would be up there in a day or so to check out her situation to fix the problem. Alice hoped soon, she didn't like what lurked in the dark. The unknown always scared her.
When she was a child, her family and relatives used to play midnight hide-and-seek at summer parties and barbeques. She was always terrified at playing. Her relatives lived in a very woodsy town with lots of forest and they always thought it was the best to play in there. Of course, it only terrified her since her cousins used to talk about a crazy man who lived out in those woods and loved little children and would steal them and slaughter them for fun. Til this day, she had yet to completely lose that memory.
Alice checked the living room throughly to come to the conclusion she was safe and ready to go to sleep. She headed back up the stairs and into her room. She set the candle back on her dresser and blew out all the candles on the dresser before retreating under her comforter. Pulling the covers up and over her body, she positioned her body comfortably and laid her eyes to rest.
The name Alice whispered in their voices and they smirked and scoffed as they sung her voice out into the night. Alice felt less in her body and more of a floating spirit whereever the wind would take her. She was then on the boardwalk. She wore the same t-shirt she slept in and her her hair remained all the same. The boardwalk was empty. Not one person was heard or seen. It seemed like dawn was approaching soon. The wind cooed softly blowing Alice's strands of hair wildly. Tucking her hair behind her ear, she walked down the boardwalk looking at everything. The stores were dark and empty inside. Alice reached the video store and entered through the standstill open door. She looked up on the counter to see a magazine neatly positioned on the edge of the it. Alice picked up the magazine and started flipping through it. A small card dropped from the magazine and she bent over and picked it up. It read in big letters, ELAS. She slipped the card back into the magazine and put it back on the counter.
She turned out of the store and went further down the boardwalk. The wind picked up and a paper flew up on Alice's leg. She took the paper and held it up. It had MISSING boldly printed at the top with a picture of a boy all too familiar. It was Paul. He smiled his cocky smile right into her face. Alice turned her head to see more colorful papers on a bulletin board perpendicular to her stand point. They all said MISSING except one about a used vaccuum cleaner for sale. Alice's breath stood still as she glanced at the other MISSING papers. David, Dwayne, and Marko's faces stared back at her. Next to them, She saw Di's picture and Janessa's along with a dark haired guy she did not recogonize.
A hand came down upon her shoulder and she dropped the paper. She turned to see Paul looking at her. His gaze intense and his breath shallow. He brought his lips to hers and pressed lightly. Alice returned the kiss with a soft compassion. She pulled Paul closer and let his arms wrap around her. His hands travelled through her hair with softness. They ran through her strands of hair and gently down the ease of her back. Using an undetectible techinque, he used his hand to ease her in closer to him. Alice pulled her hand back and looked up at Paul. A coy smile entered his face and he leaned down and started kissing her neck. Tiny pecks at first but became harder and deeper. Alice felt a sharp pain in her neck as she held closely to Paul. She let out a small cry and Paul pulled away. Soon, she was being pulled from Paul's arms to David's. Another sharp pain came and again she was passed onto Dwayne this time. The pain came back soon. Alice felt her body becoming limper as she was pulled from guy to guy. She could only hold in a sob as her eyes watered from the pain adminished into her flesh. She was finally pulled from Dwayne's arms to Marko's. Instead of intently attaching his mouth to her wound, he gently tipped her head up to see her face. She let a tear fall finally from her eye. She closed her eyes and felt Marko's fingers wipe her tear from her cheek. He leaned down and licked the blood surrounding the wound.
Alice cried out in pain. She pressed her teeth together to quell the pain. Her eyes burned with tears and she could only hold the pain back a little more. Marko tilted her head once more to his face before giving a soft kiss on the lips. Alice felt so weak but responded to the kiss without faulter. She pressed her lips back on his showing her interest. Shortly, she pulled away with what will she had left. She started to drift off into blackness...
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