Dead and Buried Part 4

“Does anyone know what time it is?” Paley asked. They’d been looking around the storage room she’d gotten them into for fifteen minutes. No one seemed interested in venturing up the stairs, not that she really wanted to, but she didn’t want to spend the rest of her night wandering around the dusty storage room either.

Brighton glanced at his watch. “A little after nine.”

“Oh, wow. Is it really that late?” Paley asked, trying not to sound suspicious.

“Why? What’s your problem?” Brody said as he peaked around a stack of grimy boxes. “It’s not like you have a curfew or anything.”

“Yeah, I know,” she said, laughing uneasily. “I just… I’m supposed to check in with my case worker before it gets too late. Ya know, gotta keep an eye on me.” God, she was a horrible liar. Of course, she didn’t really have to call Mrs. Fletcher. In fact, she hoped never to lay eyes on the ogre again, but the others didn’t know that and she wanted an opportunity to go through Brody’s phone, see if Quinn had called or messaged him. She wasn’t about to be tricked twice in the same evening, and she had a feeling that was exactly what they were planning. “So…” She raised her eyebrows, hoping she looked sincere. “Can I borrow your phone?”

              “Have at,” Brody said, digging his cell from his pocket.

             What? The kid was even too cool to finish his sentences?

Paley suppressed an eye roll, took the phone and mumbled thanks. She glanced at the others, made sure no one was paying attention, then walked across the room to a darkened corner that provided a little privacy. She dialed a random number and let it ring a couple of times before hanging up. That way, if Brody checked, it’d look like she called her case worker. She pretended to carry on a conversation for a minute, then glanced over her shoulder. The others were completely oblivious to her. Working quickly, she scrolled through the phone and found the messages from Quinn. She didn’t feel bad snooping through Brody’s phone because she was pretty sure they’d brought her out here just to scare her. They’d probably made up the entire suicidal nun story for that purpose, though she had to admit, it was a pretty good one.

“That’s what I thought,” Paley whispered as she found the message she was looking for. Quinn and his girlfriend were on their way to Jackson Hill. Brody had told Quinn to sneak into the campanile so he could scare her. “Not going to fall for that again.”

                “I can’t believe this,” Brody said.

                Paley wheeled around, expecting to find him hovering over her scowling. Instead, the others were still across the room. She took a deep breath, told herself to calm down. She clicked out of the messages and made her way toward them. “What’s going on?” she asked, trying to sound as natural as possible, though her heart was still jackhammering against her ribcage. She wasn’t about to get frightened now knowing that Quinn and his girlfriend would soon be somewhere in the building waiting for Brody’s instruction to leap out and scare her.

                “Look at what Brody found,” Hannah said. She knelt on the dirty floor and shone the flashlight down a tunnel just big enough for a person to crawl through. “He pulled out a couple of loose bricks, and there it was.”

                “What is it?” Paley asked, kneeling beside her.

                “Some sort of passaged, I think,” Brody said. “We should check it out. No telling where it leads.”

                “It looks flooded,” Hannah said, with a frown. She brushed away a string of cobwebs. “I’m not about to go down there.”

                “Chicken,” Brighton taunted.

                Hannah ignored him. That seemed to be her default response to Brighton, one Paley seriously considered adopting. The guy was a totally jerk, and not just because he’d managed to scare her half to death.

                Brody shrugged, so nonchalant. “If Hannah doesn’t want to go, we’ll check it out some other time.”

                “Okay,” Paley said, standing. She dusted off her jeans. “So I guess that leaves the upstairs.” She looked toward the darkened spiral staircase and wished she hadn’t given her flashlight to Hannah. For a split second she thought she saw something move deeper into the darkness. A shiver ran down her spine, ice cold like a breath from the grave. She really didn’t want to go up there, and it had nothing to do with the scare she had earlier.

                “Or,” Brody said, his voice soft, drawing Paley’s attention away from the stairwell. “We could see what’s behind door number two. Brighton, help me move these,” Brody instructed as he pushed on one of the rusted file cabinets behind the dirt-begrimed counter.  

                Door number two? Paley hadn’t noticed another door, and as they moved the file cabinet out of the way, she didn’t know how Brody could have seen it either. Unless he’s been here before.  Try as she might, she couldn’t shake that feeling. Hell, they’d probably all been there before and she was playing right into their elaborate prank.

              “Is it locked?” Hannah asked, shining her light directly into Brody’s eyes.

He smiled, easing the flashlight from her hand. “Trade ya,” he said to Paley, and he passed her the flashlight in exchange for his cell phone.

“It’s not locked,” Brighton said. He turned the knob and pulled the door open, exposing a darkened corridor. The smell of mildew and dampened earth wafted out on of a gust of cold air.

“Where do you think that leads?” Paley whispered.

Brody smiled, his white teeth shining too brightly in the dim light. “Let’s find out.”

“I don’t know,” Hannah said hesitantly. She looked uneasy. Maybe she wasn’t in on the prank after all. “Maybe we should wait on Quinn and Nora. Shouldn’t they be here by now?”

“They’re not coming.”

“What?” Hannah sounded upset. “Why not?”

Brody wrapped an arm around her waist and smiled. “Take it easy, Han. Nora got sick at Horrorville. Quinn thinks she ate something bad, so he took her home.” He kissed the top of her head. “Don’t look so disappointed. You’ve still got Paley here to keep you company.” He gave her a dark look, his blue eyes ominous. “She’s not so bad,” he said, sounding almost sarcastic.

What was his problem? He’d lied so easily to his girlfriend, all the while smiling at her and rubbing her back. The guy was a bigger creep than Brighton, just better at hiding it. Whatever. Paley would play along with his little game. Besides, it wasn’t like there was anything to be afraid of now that she knew the whole thing was a setup. She looked around the room, her eyes drawn to the staircase again. Fickle shadows leapt and danced in her flashlight’s buttery beam. Just shadows, she told herself, nothing more, but she couldn’t ignore the unease slithering through her like a serpent.

                “Paley.”

                “Huh?” She snapped her head around to find Brody, Brighton, and Hannah all staring at her. “What’s up?” she asked, trying to will away the oily feeling of unease pooling in her stomach.

                Brighton chuckled, the noise like nails on a chalk board to her. “I said, do you want to check this way out or try the stairs?”

                “Whatever,” she said, shaking off another chill. What was it about those stairs that freaked her out so much? “I’m up for whatever.” She was not about to be the one to chicken out on this.

                “Okay, then we’re going this way,” Brody said, nodding toward the open doorway. “Let’s try to stick together. Brighton, take the lead. I’ll bring up the rear. Girls, ya’ll stay between us. Who knows what we’re in for?” He said it mysteriously, but Paley was pretty sure he already knew. He didn’t just find the hidden passage and the blocked off door by accident. No one’s that good, Paley thought, or that lucky.

                Paley followed Brighton down the dank, fetid corridor. Hannah walked beside her while Brody trailed behind. The sound of their collective footfalls echoed down the empty halls, reminding Paley of how alone they were. It wouldn’t be easy for Quinn and Nora to sneak up on them, at least not while they were in the stone passageway.

“This place reeks,” Hannah said, holding a hand over her nose.

“The air smells fresher up here,” Brighton said. He was several paces in front of them. “I think this must lead outside.”

“Or there’s an open window or something,” Paley mused aloud.

Brighton jogged ahead, eager to discover where the air seeped in from. “Up here,” he called, sounding very far away as he faded into the darkness. Paley could barely make out his flashlight beam, then it disappeared altogether.

“Where did he go?” Hannah asked, her voice feather soft, almost frightened.

“I don’t know,” Brody said, obviously irritated. Apparently losing Brighton wasn’t part of the plan, or at least, that’s what he wanted them to think. “C’mon.” He grabbed Hannah by the hand, placed his other on Paley’s back. “We’d better find him.”

Her heart began a slow tattoo in her chest as they walked together down the empty corridor, Brighton nowhere in sight. "He couldn't have just vanished," Paley said. "He's probably flipped his flashlight off and is hiding, waiting for us to come up on him."

A haunting scream cut through the night, bringing them to a sudden halt. "That wasn't Brighton," Hannah said, her voice quivering.

"No," Brody agreed. "That was a girl."