Lurker

8

Friday was just awful for Mandy. She woke up expecting to find an e-mail from Kyle, but her inbox only harbored spam and five notes from Drew, all about the date she was having with Jacob. After the third e-mail—OMG. I STILL can’t believe this!—Mandy signed off and got ready for school.

After nine days, most things at Lake Crest, while not back to normal, were at least tolerable. Classes returned to being informational, if not interesting, and her friends were in high spirits, Drew especially. Still, for Mandy it was horrible. She spent the whole day ducking her head when she saw Dale, scurrying down hallways that took her to places she didn’t need to be, and once even hiding in the girls’ restroom when she spotted him down the hall.

Fortunately, they didn’t share any classes. It didn’t make the day easy, just easier. Nothing was going to make the day easy.

During her free period, Mandy went outside for some air. The crush of students in the halls, the fear of seeing Dale again, was just too much to handle. The sun shone brightly, though the day was chill. She hugged herself and walked around the main building, past the niche in the wall where the smokers gathered, toward the “Patio.”

The Patio was a broad slab of white concrete. There were about a dozen tables surrounded by metal chairs. During good weather a lot of kids ate their lunch there, but it was getting cooler and the area was pretty much abandoned until spring came. That’s why Mandy was surprised to see a handful of students gathered at a single table. Fiona Charlotte, a senior girl who was usually ignored, paced beside the table. She was moving her hands frantically while the other kids watched her.

“…totally like Jack the Ripper,” Mandy heard Fiona say as she approached.

“You mean he took her ovaries and junk?” Tim Wayland asked.

“No,” Fiona said excitedly, all but dancing on the concrete. “He didn’t take anything. He’s not a collector, that’s what my dad calls them. But he like…played with stuff. Moved stuff, you know?”

“Jack the Ripper took their ovaries and junk,” Tim said, as if he hadn’t made his point clear the first time.

“Whatever!” Fiona replied. “I’m just saying Nicki was totally messed up…inside. Okay? It was like he cut her open and did all of this gross stuff. She was totally butchered.”

Mandy’s stomach clenched, disgusted by Fiona’s performance. A thick lump lodged in her throat, and she held herself tighter.

“Like what?” Ian Page asked. He sounded eager, like Fiona was describing a sexual event. The knot in Mandy’s stomach rolled.

How could they do this? How could they talk about Nicki like she was some distant celebrity whose tragedy was nothing more than entertainment?

“He squeezed some of the organs,” Fiona said. “Like squeezed them till they popped. My dad said it was a total mess in there. Just soup.”

“Ohhhhh nasty,” Ian said with a laugh. “Nicki stew.”

The other kids laughed nervously, some lowered their heads and shook them back and forth. “Totally!” Fiona exclaimed. “My dad’s been on the police force for like a million years, and he said he’s never seen anything this full-on gross.”

Mandy backed away from the table and her excited classmates. They were awful. God, they were just so awful. She turned and ran back to the front of school, tears brimming in her eyes.

After school, Mandy and her friends went to Bodyworks. She wanted to get Fiona Charlotte’s cruel and amused voice out of her head. Cut. Butchered. Totally Jack the Ripper. She didn’t say a word to Laurel or Drew, because she just wanted to forget, though she doubted she ever would.

She was totally butchered.

They changed into their workout clothes and met at the elliptical machines. Once they programmed their routines, Drew dove into exercise and pumped her legs like her life depended on it.

“Do you think I could lose like ten pounds if I just kept running until my date with Jacob?”

“Cutting off your head would do it,” Laurel said.

Mandy winced at the comment.

“I just wish I had more time to get ready,” Drew said, panting now. “I so wasn’t expecting him to call.”

“Well, your ass wasn’t too fat for him to call in the first place, so it probably isn’t too fat now,” Laurel said.

“What if he hates me?” Drew asked.

“He won’t hate you,” Mandy said, rolling her eyes.

“No more than anybody else,” Laurel added.

“You’re so mean,” Drew said, a drop of sweat rolling down her cheek. “I mean, I’m about to have a total nervous breakdown, and you’re all bitchy. It’s only like the most important thing to me ever.”

“It’s just a date,” Laurel said. “Quit hemorrhaging. He likes you. And hell, at least you get to go out. I have to stay home with Dad and clean my gun.”

Mandy and Drew just shook their heads.

After twenty minutes, Mandy was exhausted and Drew looked like she’d just stepped out of a shower. Laurel announced it was time for abs, and Mandy groaned. She was so tired. Last night was rough. Asleep, she’d had terrible dreams. Awake, she’d worried what to do about Dale and Kyle. And the fear was back. The fear she’d felt in the days following Nicki’s death had returned, thanks to Fiona.

He said he’s never seen anything this full-on gross.

“You guys have to meet,” Laurel said, startling Mandy. “Unless you just don’t want to, and then you have to delete him, because you can’t chat forever.”

“I know.”

“Has Kyle asked you to meet?” Drew asked, finishing her crunches and dropping back to the mat.

“No,” Mandy said. “Do you think that’s weird?”

“Right now, everything is weird, and I’m lookin’ out for my girls. Don’t want you gettin’ in too deep with Mr. I-don’t-think-so. If he doesn’t want to meet, then he’s got glitches. Best to find out early so you aren’t all English Patient with him.”

“She’s right,” Drew said. “You should make sure.”

“Oh, now listen to her,” Laurel said, her voice high and amused. “She’s going on her first date in like two years, and she’s all knowledgeable.”

“God, Laurel, I’m just agreeing with you. Check your meds.”

“Yeah,” Mandy said. “You’re right. Next time we chat, I’ll ask.”

“Good,” Laurel said, springing to her feet. “Let’s go work lats.”

After the workout, with no time for the juice bar that afternoon, the three girls gathered in the parking lot. Laurel continued to make jokes at Drew’s expense, and Mandy found herself tiring of the banter. All she wanted to do was go home, log on, and have a quiet night chatting with Kyle. (If he’s even online tonight.) But Drew’s anxiety over her impending date and Laurel’s overpossessive father worked together to cancel Mandy’s plan.

“You have to help me get ready,” Drew said. “What if I go out and meet Jacob and I’ve got like a huge stain on the butt of my dress or something?”

“Help her out,” Laurel said. “I’d do it, but if I’m not home in twenty minutes, Dad is going to blow a vein.”

“All right,” Mandy said. Her lackluster response brought a frown from Drew.

This is a huge deal to her, Mandy thought, feeling bad. If Kyle is online, he’ll still be there when I get home.

Mandy put on a big smile and arched her eyebrows. “Quit moping,” she told Drew. “This is the biggest night of your life, and we’ve got to make you fabulous. Frown lines are not fabulous, so knock it off.”

Seeing that Mandy was finally taking her date with Jacob seriously, Drew smiled wide and switched into hyperdrive. “I’ve got to shower again, do my hair, and you have to pick an outfit for me because, God, I hate everything I have.”

Drew had already set off across the parking lot, speaking more to herself than to either Laurel or Mandy. Her hands danced around her head as she emphasized all of the things she needed to do before meeting Jacob.

“Once you get our girl set up, why don’t you come chill at my place?” Laurel asked. “We can watch some screen, eat some pizza.”

“You’re not going to let me say no, are you?” Mandy asked.

“Oh, so now it’s like some huge favor to hang out with the glamorous L?”

“It’s not that. I wanted to chat with Kyle tonight, you know?”

“I have a computer,” Laurel reminded. “In fact, I have the computer. Makes yours look like a dusty old adding machine. Besides, I might have a few words of my own for that man of yours.”

After a shower, Mandy helped get Drew’s hair to lie right, and then slapped at her hands every time Drew reached up to fiddle with it. She gave makeup tips, having Drew ease up on the eye shadow but insisting she give her lashes another pass with the mascara brush. Then, they rummaged through Drew’s closet for the right clothes. Drew wanted to wear a nasty green dress that made her look like a cheap hooker. Instead, Mandy put together an outfit with a black blouse and snug khaki slacks that made her look amazing.

“And wear a low heel. You don’t know if you’re going to be doing a lot of walking or not.”

“You’re the best.”

“Was there a particular reason you were trying to cultivate the ho look?”

Drew turned away from the mirror, feigning shock. She laughed and slapped at Mandy’s shoulder. “I wasn’t going to look like a whore. I just want him to like the way I look.”

“He already likes the way you look. That’s why he asked you out.”

“I’m just so nervous.”

Mandy shook her head and stepped forward to give her friend a hug. Mandy knew that Drew felt things more intensely than she or Laurel did. It was usually annoying, but this evening, she felt like a big sister sending her kid sister out for the first time.

“I’m such a dork,” Drew said into Mandy’s shoulder. “I’m a stupid dork and Jacob is going to hate me.”

“He’s not going to hate you, Drew. Not unless he’s a total looz.”

“Really?”

“Really,” Mandy said.

Drew returned to the mirror to look at herself, pulling at the hem of her blouse and smoothing the fabric of her slacks with long strokes along the thighs.

Mandy’s cell phone buzzed, and she looked away, pulling the unit from her jacket. Another text message. Like the message she received at Nicki’s vigil, no username appeared with the note, and though the message might have been harmless enough, it unnerved her to see it without attribution.

CUL8R

Of course, the message came from Laurel. Mandy wasn’t expecting to see anyone else that night. Still, she looked at the screen, and it made her uncomfortable. She rationalized, telling herself it was likely a glitch in her cell phone service. Maybe her screen was broken or some signal had whacked the display. None of these explanations removed the electric tingle of fear from her skin.

“Who is it?” Drew asked, reaching a palm toward her perfectly fixed hair.

“Don’t touch the ’do,” Mandy warned, closing her phone. “It was just Laurel,” she said, feeling almost certain that it wasn’t.

“Probably something nasty about me.”

“No,” Mandy said. “It didn’t have anything to do with you.”

Mandy had hoped that Jacob would give her a lift to Laurel’s before sweeping Drew off on their date. Though early in the evening, it was already dark, and she didn’t want to walk alone. Drew’s father wasn’t home, and her brothers had already gone out for the evening, so she had her digits crossed for Jacob. But when he arrived, she saw it wasn’t going to happen. Jacob had borrowed his dad’s convertible, a sweet little black BMW roadster. No back seat. Only room for two. She supposed Drew could sit on her lap, but that was a less-than-glamorous way to kick off a first date.

The three of them chatted briefly, and again, feeling like an older sister, Mandy hugged Drew and sent her off. Her friend grinned nervously in the passenger seat when Jacob gunned the engine and sped away.

Alone on the walk in front of Drew’s house, Mandy hugged herself and looked around the neighborhood. Lights burned behind all of the windows. People wandered through living rooms and dining rooms. For most, it was suppertime. Not late at all.

CUL8R

Mandy stepped off the walk, crossed the street, and headed to Laurel’s. A sense of being watched lay over her like a shawl, but she knew it was just lingering paranoia. The Witchman was long gone, probably in Mexico by now, or lying low in some shack three states over. Still, Mandy walked a little faster, checking every yard and sidewalk. She didn’t really think about the direction she was going.

It wasn’t until she approached the library property that Mandy even remembered it was on her way. But the moment she saw the trees rise up, separating Drew’s housing development from the one where she and Laurel lived, Mandy’s pulse began to race.

That’s where the Witchman took Nicki. Those trees were the last nice things Nicki ever saw.

She was totally butchered.

Mandy crossed the road to put distance between herself and the library. Though the far side of the street was lined with shrubs and another stand of trees, she didn’t care. She was more worried about being too close to the place where Nicki died.

Walking quickly, head down, ears peeled for any sounds, she pulled her cell phone from her jacket. She’d call Laurel. A familiar voice would help. That way, Mandy wouldn’t feel so alone.

She dialed, put the phone to her ear, and looked up to see that she was alone on the walk. Across the street, she saw the library. The sight of it chilled her. A cone of light from the floods under its eaves spilled over the edge of the parking lot into the tall brown weeds at the side of the building. This was the same view she’d seen on the news.

Come on, Laurel, pick up.

The phone rang twice and a hiss of static filled her ear. “Laurel?” she asked. The static rippled like someone crumpling a paper bag, pausing, then crumpling again. “Laurel. It’s me, Mandy. Laurel?”

“This isn’t Laurel,” a rasping voice said. Whoever was on the line sounded old.

He also sounded amused. Behind his voice, that crunching, crumpling sound grew faint and then burst forward, nearly deafening her.

“I’m sorry,” she said into the phone. Her speed dial must have glitched, and she got the wrong number. “Good-bye.”

“See you later,” the man said. The word was followed by what sounded like a cough. Or a laugh. Then the static erupted and the line went dead.

CUL8R

Mandy looked at the phone, terrified. Her heart thumped hard in her chest. Behind her, in the brush that ran beside the sidewalk, a twig snapped. Branches rustled.

She ran. At first she sprinted down the sidewalk, but her fear intensified. Someone could leap out of the bushes, drag her in. Oh God. Checking for traffic ahead and behind her, Mandy ran into the middle of the road. In her mind, terrible things happened: the Witchman shot out of the brush, his stooped form moving with inhuman speed to catch her; he appeared as if by magic in the road ahead of her, one long finger pointing at her chest before he raced forward and lifted her from the street; he threw her over his shoulder, carrying her screaming to his special place behind the library, where he would…

Cut her open…. She was totally butchered.

Mandy let out a cry of fear and ran faster, trying to keep the Witchman out of her head. But it didn’t work. With every step, his beaklike nose, his pointed chin, his wild eyes were with her. The fear of his outstretched fingers reaching for her back made her charge desperately down the street.

The familiar houses of her development, aglow with lights, fell in around her. She slowed her pace, caught her breath. A couple, chatting quietly, walked their dog on the sidewalk ahead. Behind the walls and windows of the homes, men, women, boys, and girls sat down to dinner. TVs showed syndicated reruns of popular sitcoms and the national evening news. Eight blocks away, her mother would just be getting home from work.

It was still early, but for Mandy it felt very late.

Laurel held the slice of double cheese pizza in front of her mouth and looked at Mandy like she’d just said, “I want to work the drive-through window at Meaties.” Laurel put down the slice and wiped at her lips with a finger as if she’d actually taken a bite. “You’re trippin’,” Laurel said. “I didn’t text-mess you.”

They sat in the kitchen of Laurel’s house with a large pizza that had arrived two minutes after Mandy. Mandy didn’t want any. She was still scared, and the fear tied a knot in her stomach, twisted it up tight so she couldn’t even think about eating. She could barely get sips of iced tea through the tension in her throat. She was so upset, and all she wanted was some kind of rational explanation. The message must have come from Laurel.

“That’s not funny, L.”

“And I’m not joking, M.”

“I called here.”

“But the phone didn’t ring. Look, when have I ever been down with practical jokes? That was Naughty Nic’s bag, not mine. Yeah, I get my giggle on bustin’ some chops, but I don’t play the mind screw.”

“Then who sent that message?”

“Uh, Dale?”

“No,” Mandy said. “The more I think about it, the more I’m sure he didn’t do it. Hiding his ID like that would be too complicated for him. Even asking Matthew to do it would be too much effort.”

“What about your new boy, Kyle?”

“I didn’t even know Kyle the night of Nicki’s vigil.”

“Doesn’t mean he didn’t know you.”

“Oh, come on,” Mandy said. “That’s ridiculous. Why would he?”

Laurel shrugged and retrieved her pizza from the plate. She took a bite and pulled back, cheese stretching like suspension wires between her mouth and the slice. She washed the bite down with a swig of her iced tea and leaned back in the chair.

“Your problem is, you’re too rational,” Laurel said. “You expect everyone else to act rationally. But that’s not how people are. They want to be, and they can explain every weird-ass thing they do, but that doesn’t make them rational. Even psychos got reasons. It’s that method-to-the-madness thing. Now, you think someone is playing you, and you figure it’s got to be someone that has a reason to be playin’. I’m just sayin’ that some folks don’t need a reason. Some folks get their giggle on just knowin’ you’re scared, whether they know you or not.”

Mandy tried to think of an argument, but everything she considered struck her as overly rational. Laurel was making sense.

“And let’s not forget,” Laurel continued, “people say ‘see you later’ all the time. Now, I can see why you got the creeps in you. I won’t go anywhere near that library myself these days, but it’s not exactly a death threat, you know?”

“It was that voice, though,” Mandy said. “When I thought I was calling you. The guy’s voice.”

“Old people are scary,” Laurel said.

Mandy laughed.

“It’s not that he was old. He just sounded, I don’t know…He sounded wrong, but I can’t really describe it. It seems kind of stupid now. Maybe it was just being by the library that scared me.”

“Let’s talk about it upstairs,” Laurel said. “Dad is floating around in the living room, and I don’t need him finding something new to freak over. He’d probably make me drive a tank to school or something.”

“Okay.”

“Now, eat. Or I’ll put this fine cheesiness away by myself, and my skin so doesn’t need that.”

Before going up to Laurel’s room, Mandy picked at a single slice of pizza. Her appetite didn’t return, and the whole thing seemed to be annoying the hell out of Laurel. In her room, with Mandy sitting on the bed, Laurel went to her computer and killed the screen saver. Her wallpaper, a field of bright yellow sunflowers, burst across the monitor.

“The first thing to do,” Laurel said, “is forget about that phone call. We both know that nobody can jack into a line like that, unless they’re FBI or magic or something. The signal got mixed up, and you called a wrong number. Unfortunately, you got some old dude with Satan’s voice who says ‘see you later’ instead of ‘bye.’”

“I know,” Mandy said. But part of her didn’t know. At the time, she’d immediately connected the wrong-sounding old man with the earlier message. It was hard to sever that connection now, no matter what Laurel said.

“So, that really only leaves the text messages.” Laurel typed while she spoke. “And, I think I have an answer to that. When we were talking downstairs, I remembered something. Here, come read.”

Mandy walked across the room and leaned over Laurel’s shoulder to look at the screen. Her friend had loaded a news page from a tech site with the headline Cell Phones New Frontier for Hackers. She read the first two paragraphs, which described a series of cell-phone specific viruses.

“Does it say anything about receiving blind messages like I have?”

“No,” Laurel said. “But they only talk about a few of the service problems people have with these. See, a hacker doesn’t know anything about you, but he’s groovin’ on knowing that he’s messin’ with your life and everybody else’s. It’s like I was sayin’.”

Mandy read another paragraph of the article, but every third word was tech slang that she didn’t understand, so she gave up. She’d take Laurel’s word for it. After all, it made perfect sense. Neither of the messages, when taken out of context, was threatening in the least. One was just hahaha, and the other CUL8R, one of the most common phrases she’d come across. She used it herself.

“God,” Mandy said. “What jerks.”

“True enough,” Laurel agreed. “But before you call customer service, let’s check out one more thing.”

“Okay. What?”

“Kyle.”

MC9010025: Missed u lst night

Kylenevers: Sorry. Parents dragged me out.:—( What’s up?

MC9010025: At a friend’s 2night. Saw u online.

Kylenevers: It’s my life LOL

MC9010025: LOL. Can’t chat long. She’ll be back in a minute.

Mandy turned to Laurel with a smile and winked. Laurel nudged her with a shoulder.

Kylenevers: b home l8r?

MC9010025: Probably stay here

Kylenevers: Oh. Drag. Hoping we could chat.

“Ask him,” Laurel said.

“Check your meds. I’m going to.”

MC9010025: Me too. Hey! Friends and I are getting together at Corey’s that restaurant by the mall tomorrow. U should come.

Mandy felt Laurel’s arm snake around her neck as her friend leaned in close to read Kyle’s reply. Mandy waited anxiously, but it was taking Kyle a long time to answer.

“He’s going to bail,” Laurel said. “Boy has got glitches.”

“Just wait. Let’s see what he says.”

Kylenevers: Ugh. Can’t…

“What did I say?” Laurel asked, tapping Mandy’s shoulder.

Kylenevers: Remember my brunch last Sun?

MC9010025: Sure

Kylenevers: Got an early acceptance to Stanford. Have a campus tour on Wed and a meeting with counselor on Thurs. My parents are making a vacation out of it. Ugh. LOL. I just found out we’re leaving Mon morning, so my weekend is kind of screwed. What about next weekend? By then, I’ll need to recharge. Sat night?

MC9010025: k. Sounds good.

Kylenevers: Awesome. It’s a date.

MC9010025: Kewl. Chat l8r. Friend coming back. TTFN

Kylenevers: BFN

“Doesn’t mean anything,” Laurel said defensively. “He’s got all week to bail on you.”

Oddly enough, Mandy was thinking the exact same thing.