Intrinsical (13 page)

“
All year,” I confessed spooning salad onto my plate. “Well there have been weird things happening all year but it’s only been the last few days that one has actually been trying to talk to me.”

Brent grabbed a bread roll and slammed it onto his plate. “I see.”

“
This place is haunted?” Audrey asked, the pupils in her eyes widening.

“
Yes,” Cherie said at the same time Brent answered, “No.”

Their gazes locked in a sort of battle until Cherie turned toward Audrey. “You haven’t heard the story about what happened here?” Audrey’s face had gone white and she shook her head. Cherie leaned forward and her voice lowered. “About sixty years ago, a group of students snuck in here after hours. It was a night like this— the moon was full and the air chilly. They snuck into the pool house to have some harmless fun. They had no idea that what awaited them was death.” Cherie had always been an excellent storyteller and her words were weaving an eerie magic, enthralling us all. Between breathing out and breathing in a now familiar musky scent became heavy in the air. The second ghost was here. The mp3 player skipped, cutting the current song off halfway through and a new one began, ”Can’t Stop Dreaming of You.”

A cold wind rushed around the room and the candles on the table flickered in response. From the bottom of the floor, a blanket of icy dark fog began rising as it rippled out, reeking of chlorine. The mist was here, too. A loud sound like a footstep echoed through the pool, followed by a long banging noise that sounded like an old wooden rollercoaster going up the track. When it stopped my stomach felt like it was at the top of the ride about to plunge to my toes. Audrey screamed. Another loud thud came from the pool floor and my stomach plunged. My mouth went dry and I tried unsuccessfully to swallow. We waited for a second, no one breathing. When everything remained silent, we let out a collective sigh.

“
What . . . what was that?” Travis asked as Audrey dove into his arms.

A deep chill settled inside me, crackling with a wintry intensity, raising every hair on my arms and neck in an electrified static. A cold sweat broke out across my forehead and I lifted my hand, still entwined with Brent’s, to wipe it away, his fingers were like ice. A blinding white light exploded in the center of the table.

Its brightness was impossible to look at directly and I had to turn my head to peer into it, squinting my eyes. The intensity of the light dimmed slightly, leaving dancing spots in my vision as a figure appeared. Through the harsh glare, I could make out only a flash here, a flicker there— random details but never the whole picture. It seemed like a young man, about my age, almost completely translucent, standing on the table. His untucked white button-down shirt undulated in an unseen breeze, as did tendrils of his hair. I could make out his deep brown eyes— they seemed dazed and slightly unfocused as his gaze traveled rather aimlessly around our circle.

“
It isn’t safe. He will hurt you,” the ghost whispered. My heart pricked with pity for him, sensing his loneliness, his innocence and I wanted to help him.

“
Don’t trust him,” the ghost pleaded, recapturing my attention as he looked down on us, turning slowly on the spot. The way he moved, it seemed like he was lost, unsure where to go. As I glanced around the table no one seemed to be seeing him except Brent, whose thunderstruck expression I’m sure matched my own. “You must stay away from him!”

“
From who?” I asked before I could think. My outburst caused everyone to look at me, including a startled Brent.

The ghost seemed to notice me for the first time. I blinked and jumped to see him squat to my eye level, his face directly in front of mine. He seemed familiar but before I could place him he screamed, “Stay away from him!” His voice was so loud and so shrill my ears throbbed in pain. The wind stirred up by his movement was no longer cold but hot, mirroring the anger in his words.

“
He isn’t me.” Suddenly, without warning, he pointed at me and my hair was sent flying behind me. The hot air that followed the motion of his finger seared my skin, burning me. I screamed as the wave of heat clung to me, like burning fabric and I clutched Brent’s hand tighter as my head lolled back.

“
Stay away from her!” His brown eyes turned scarlet, and I could feel the hate and anger that was boiling in him as the hot wind whirled around me. A heavy scraping echoed through the room, as the pool shuddered and trembled. I let out another scream. The intensity of the heat raged against my body threating to consume me, and my mind spiraled in chaos, breaking, losing reason, unable to stand the frenzied pain throbbing.

Then suddenly there was the sweetest release from the pain. I was blanketed in a comfortable chill, and the pool was eerily still. My soul had fled my body to protect itself, my body was frozen, my face contorted in pain, my lifeless eyes wide in terror. My friends, even Brent, were completely still.

Something chilly brushed my shoulder and I wheeled toward it screaming. It was the ghost, the intensity of light surrounding him had dimmed and we looked at each other. My ears pounded in confusion and my jaw went slack because it looked just like Brent, almost a mirror image, dressed in the Pendrell uniform. The ghost rubbed his eyes, his energy focusing on me, his brown eyes tender.

“
Yara?” He asked before the candles in the room flickered out and I was pulled back into my body.

I looked toward him, shivering from the cold, but he had vanished. I freed my hands, pulled my knees to my chest, squeezed my eyes closed, and covered my ears.

“
Are you okay?” Cherie pleaded, throwing her arms around me. There was a scraping of chairs as everyone gathered in

around me.

“
I’m okay,” I said, not sure if I was lying.

Steve turned on an electric lantern that lit our surrounding area. I opened my eyes and saw Audrey clinging to Travis, white as chalk. Brent’s eyes were trained on the ground as he shuffled his feet.

“
Is he really gone?” My voice trembled as I forced my hands away from my ears.

“
Who? Did you see something?” Cherie asked incredulously.

“
The boy . . . the one who looked like Brent?”

“
You saw a boy?” Cherie asked.

“
Yes . . . didn’t you?”

“
No, I didn’t see anything. But I felt the wind . . . cold at first and then burning hot. And I felt the ground shake and heard some loud noises. What happened?” Cherie pressed.

Steve let out a low whistle and nodded toward the edge of the pool above our head, “I think I see what that sound was.”

Not sure my heart could take any more, I took a deep breath before glancing up. Something was covering half the pool— luckily not the portion where our ladder stood.

“
What is it?” Brent asked, cracking his knuckles.

“
Wow,” Cherie said, mouth agape.

“
The retractable floor,” Steve answered, setting the lantern on the table.

“
The one that closed and trapped all those kids . . . when they died,” Travis concluded as his machine gun laugh nervously bounced off the pool walls.

“
One and the same,” Cherie said, her voice cracking.

“
Yes, the floor thing is very eerie,” I interrupted, “but what about the ghost? Did anyone else
see
him?” I questioned, looking from face to face and being bewildered as each person shook their head no. I turned to Brent. “I know you saw him.” His eyes met mine and he hesitated for a moment before shaking his head and dropping his gaze back toward his feet. I knew he was lying but didn’t feel like arguing.

“
There was a boy . . . he looked exactly like Brent.” I swallowed hard. “Was it your brother?” He shrugged. I looked around the group. “I think maybe it was. He seemed to be lost and wanting to warn us about someone.” There was a collective gulp and Brent’s head jerked up. “But then he noticed me and he became angry and I thought . . . I thought . . . I thought he was going to hurt me.” Even though I had somewhat deadened myself to the experience, my breath was coming too quickly and I found myself gasping for air.

“
She’s hyperventilating,” Travis said and was quickly digging through Cherie’s box for something. He came back with an old brown lunch sack that he held out for me. I took it and tried to follow his deep breaths. But all I could manage were rapid, shallow ones. Cherie and Brent each put an arm around me and I mimicked Travis’s deep breaths until my gasps had slowed to normal.

“
Uh . . . can we go?” Audrey begged. “Personally, I don’t want to be here. I’m not hungry anymore.”

“
I couldn’t agree more,” I said as I stood up and then swayed, grabbing the table.

“
That’s probably a good idea,” Cherie said, steadying me. “You guys go ahead. Steve and I will clean up.”

“
Are you going to be okay?” I asked her, realizing the evening hadn’t gone according to her well-laid plans.

“
Of course!” Her entwined hands shook and her eyes glistened with unshed tears. “What else could I have asked for? We made contact.” I reached out to her and gave her a hug before she shoved my purse in my hand and pushed me off toward the ladder with a sniff.

Travis and Audrey waved goodbye as soon as they reached the top and quickly disappeared down the hall toward the window, eyeing me curiously. I had a feeling they were anxious to talk privately about what I claimed to have seen and what had happened. Climbing down the ladder had been nervewracking; going up seemed twice as menacing because my body was still weak. I followed behind Brent, inching my way toward the top, gripping the rungs tightly.

When we made it to the window, I looked warily down to the ground as Brent climbed out the window and swiftly down the tree.

“
Just get to the tree and then I’ll catch you,” Brent offered.

My shaking arms hugged the branch and I hoisted myself out the window. Brent smiled up at me, his outstretched arms ready to catch me. I landed in his strong embrace and clung tightly to him. I took a deep breath and let the crisp air cleanse out the anxiety I was feeling. He set me gently down but kept his arm around me as he started walking back toward our dorms. Involuntarily, I kept peeking at him out of the corner of my eye.

Brent stopped, leaning against one of the trees. “Do you want to ask me something?”

“
I know you saw him,” I said, picking at the sequins on my dress.

“
Yeah. I was just overwhelmed. Still am.” Brent sighed. “Aren’t you?” I nodded wearily. “It’s a lot to process. Could we talk about it?”

“
I thought guys didn’t talk about their feelings,” I teased.

His blank expression made me think he didn’t catch my reference to his earlier statement.

“
Sure, we could do that,” I said, grinding the heel of my shoe into the walkway.

“
Good. Let’s go somewhere where we can be alone. I know the perfect place.” He took my hand and tugged me forward.

The moon was full, immersing us in blue beams while a scattering of clouds inked the evening sky. Our lone steps echoed through the stone corridors and cobbled pathways as we wandered hand in hand around campus, ending finally at the new pool house.

“
It’s going to be locked,” I warned, as Brent walked around the glass building, heading toward a side door.

“
Oh, ye of little faith . . .” he smiled broadly, bringing a key out of his pocket and dangling it in front of me. “I might have borrowed this from Coach Tait.”

“
And is he aware that you have that?” I laughed, as he unlocked the door.

“
He asked me to come back and clean up the bricks and towels after practice, and since it would be locked, he let me borrow his key. It’s a shame I haven’t seen him yet.”

“
That is a shame,” I agreed, walking through the door he held open for me. It was a shade darker in here than it was outside and my eyes squinted slightly to make out the shapes in the room.

“
I would turn on the lights, but then we might get caught,” Brent explained as he followed me into the room.

Surprisingly enough, there was still enough light to walk around by. Sconces on the walls glowed dimly, providing enough light that it was possible to maneuver through the room without fear of falling into the pool. I was grateful. I didn’t feel like trudging through campus in a sopping wet formal dress.

I made my way over to a plastic lounge chair, which squeaked in protest as I sat on it.

“
So talk.” I dropped my purse beside me on the chair and leaned back on my hands.

Brent held up a finger and walked toward the locker room. The sound of his footsteps echoed around the room, and I looked around absently while I waited for him. I noticed vaguely that a banner had been set up for tomorrow’s pre-season swim meet against Sierra Academy, Pendrell’s arch rival. Brent would be swimming in that and I planned to take advantage of the chance to admire him working in his natural habitat. He was fantastic eye candy, and I had earned the right to a few cavities.