A Midsummer Night's Scream (2 page)

Eyes bulging, Cindy raised a bloody stump. Her hand had been cut off cleanly at the wrist. It sat in front of her on the tabletop, thumb and fingers outstretched. Like a small white crab.

2

ANOTHER ACCIDENT?

“OH MY GOD … OH MY GOD…”

Bright-red blood began to spurt from Cindy’s open wrist. It squirted high in the air, splashing onto the table.

Cindy screamed and screamed, waving the stump in front of her. Sue turned and tried to hug her. Blood splattered the front of her skirt and top.

Grunting and groaning like a hurt animal, Cindy toppled off the chair and collapsed to the floor. Silent now, she didn’t move.

The others rushed to her. Only Darlene held back, her face suddenly pale, her features tight with fear. “Get something to wrap around her arm,” Tony said. “We have to stop the bleeding.”

“Too late,” Sue told him. She was on her knees, leaning over Cindy. Cindy’s eyes were wide and glassy. Her mouth hung open. She wasn’t breathing. “Too late. I … I think she’s dead.”

“Noooo!” The cries rang through the enormous room. “She can’t be!”

“Oh my god. No. Please, no.”

“We have to get help,” Randy said. “We’ve got to call the police. Call an ambulance.”

“There has to be a phone,” Brian said. “Did anyone see a phone?”

“Maybe in the kitchen?” Sue suggested. Cindy’s blood was darkening on the front of Sue’s clothes.

They stumbled to the kitchen door at the far end of the dining room. Tony got there first. “Yes!” he cried. “A wall phone.”

He lifted the receiver and put it to his ear. His face appeared to collapse. “No dial tone. It’s dead.” He studied the phone. “Hey—the cord has been cut!”

They all stared at the dangling phone cord.

“S-someone doesn’t want us to call for help,” Darlene choked out. She swallowed hard. “Th-that sword that dropped on Cindy’s hand—maybe it wasn’t an accident. Maybe someone
dropped
the sword on her. What if the killer is still in the house?”

“That’s crazy!” Tony cried. “Don’t talk crazy ideas. Keep it calm, hear? It
had
to be an accident.”

“We have to do
something,
” Darlene whispered. She lit a cigarette with a trembling hand. “We can’t stay in here arguing with each other. There’s a dead body in the dining room. There has to be a way to reach the police.”

Tony pointed to the kitchen window, thick bars outside the glass like all the other windows. “Very dark out there,” he said. “And nothing but woods for miles. I don’t want to go out till morning.”

“I … I really don’t like this,” Sue stammered. Her whole body trembled.

“Who does?” Darlene said, taking a deep drag of her cigarette.

Tony walked over and put his arms around her. She lowered her head to his shoulder.

“We need to think,” Randy said. “I’m like in shock. It’s hard to think straight.” He rubbed the front of his t-shirt. “Maybe it’s because I’m starving.”

“I’m hungry, too,” Brian said. “We haven’t eaten anything since this morning, and—”

“How can you think about food when Cindy is lying in there dead?” Sue demanded. She wrapped her arms around her chest as if shielding herself from danger.

Brian put a hand on her shoulder. “I think Randy is right. We’ll all think more clearly if we have something to eat.”

“Who says there’s any food in this creepy old house?” Tony asked, scowling at Randy.

Randy shrugged. “We can look—can’t we?”

He bent down and started sliding kitchen drawers open. Tony moved quickly across the kitchen. He grabbed Randy by the shoulders and tried to pull him back. “Don’t touch anything, Randy. What if Darlene is right? This whole house could be a trap. We can’t just make sandwiches and pretend we’re not in danger.”

Randy pulled free of Tony. He tugged open another cabinet door. “But I’m hungry, man. And when I’m hungry, I’m hungry.”

“We’re all hungry,” Brian said. “Tony, we’ll think better if we grab a bite. We’ll be able to make a plan.”

“I don’t like this,” Darlene said. “We need to plan how to protect ourselves in case—”

“Found something!” Randy shouted. He pulled out a loaf of bread. He raised it for the others to see. He turned to the counter. “Look. A toaster. I’ll make toast. See what’s in the fridge. Any butter? Jelly?”

He walked toward a silver toaster on the counter. Tony blocked his path. “I’m warning you, man…”

“And I’m warning
you,
man,” Randy grunted. They had a short staring contest.

Finally, Tony backed off. “Okay, whatever you say. Make your toast.”

Randy slid two slices of bread into the toaster. He started to push the lever down.

He gasped at the loud, electronic buzz. A bright flash of light burst from the toaster.

Darlene let out a shriek. Sue and Brian stumbled back against the counter.

Randy’s whole body jerked wildly as a jagged bolt of white electricity crackled up his arm, then around his shoulder and head.

The electricity roared as it swept over him. Randy’s body jolted and thrashed. He opened his mouth in a shriek of pain and horror. But his cry was drowned out by the crackling, roaring electrical charge from the toaster.

3

A BAD FALL

THE WHITE-HOT JAGGED BOLTS OF current shot around his head, his shoulders, his whole body. Randy’s face started to burn. The roar of the powerful jolts grew deafening.

His arms flew straight up. Trapped inside the burning, crackling power charges, Randy started to do a wild dance. His arms swung above his head. His legs bent and kicked. The pain of the electrical jolts forced him to dance … dance …

Then his screams stopped. His eyes closed. His head tilted back at an impossible angle. His eyes bulged, staring blankly at the ceiling.

The others gaped in helpless horror. They knew Randy was dead. The electrical shock had killed him. But it kept him dancing. Jolt after jolt. His arms flailing, his legs bobbing and bending. A crazy, horrifying dance.

A dance of the dead.

Finally, he collapsed to the floor.

He didn’t move. Darlene’s sobs broke the silence. Tony moved to hold her, but she knelt down beside Randy and held him by the shoulders. His mouth hung open. His face was burned black.

Tony banged his fists on the wall angrily. Brian stared wide-eyed, as if he’d gone into a trance.

“I warned him. You heard me,” Tony said. “You all heard me.” He was trying to sound tough, but his voice cracked.

“Too late for warnings,” Sue murmured.

“We’ve got to get it together,” Tony said, shaking his head. “We’ve got to think. Think…”

“We’ve got to get out of this house before … before someone kills us all,” Brian said.

Darlene set Randy’s charred head down gently. Then she climbed to her feet. “Brian is right. Let’s go. Let’s just get out.”

She spun toward the kitchen door and strode over to it. Sue watched her struggle with the door handle. “Locked,” Darlene reported. “We’re locked in.”

“Try the front door,” Sue said. She led the way back through the dining room. Past Cindy dead on the floor, her pale hand still sitting on the table. Through the library and front room. Back to the tall front door.

Tony grabbed the door handle. Pushed, then pulled. Angrily, he set his shoulder against it and tried to force it.

“Locked,” he finally admitted, breathing hard. “Someone must have locked it. We’re … trapped in here.”

“Who is doing this to us?” Brian cried, pressing his hands to the sides of his face. “What crazy maniac wants to kill us all?”

Tony frowned at Brian. “Get it together, man. If you lose your cool now, you’ll never get out of here.”

“But … but…” Brian sputtered. “The doors are locked and the windows are barred.”

“Upstairs,” Darlene said. “Maybe we can climb out an upstairs window.”

Their shoes thudded on the hardwood floors as they made their way to the bottom of a steep stairway. The four teens gazed up into the darkness at the top. They hesitated.

“Are you sure you want to go up there?” Brian asked. “It’s so dark, man.”

“We have no choice,” Darlene said, pushing the two boys aside, “if we want to get out of this house alive.” She raised her foot to the first step. “Follow me.”

They watched her run quickly up the wooden stairs. They were steep. There was no banister. And each step squeaked when she climbed onto it.

She turned back to the three at the bottom. “What are you waiting for? Come on!”

She raised her shoe to the next stair—and stumbled. They all screamed as Darlene fell. There was no step beneath her. The top boards were missing. It was an open hole.

Darlene uttered a shrill wail as her body sank into the hole. She fell quickly. She raised her arms to stop herself, but she wasn’t quick enough. Her scream was cut off by a sickening
craaack
.

The sound of her neck breaking.

Her eyes went wide. Her face froze. Her body plummeted into the hole, and on the way down, her chin caught the stair edge. The fall broke her neck—and she died instantly.

At the bottom of the stairs, Tony and Brian were screaming, staring up at Darlene’s head.

Sue turned away from the scene of horror. She pointed at a strange man who suddenly appeared behind them. He was very short and had a wild nest of black hair on his head and a heavy black beard that cast his face in shadow.

“Stop it!” Sue shrieked at him. “Why don’t you
stop
it? Stop it!
Stop it!
”

4

CURSED

THE MOVIE SCREEN WENT WHITE. My friend Delia Jacobs and I sat staring at it, blinking at the sudden bright light. I tried to swallow but my throat was too dry.

“That … was so horrible,” I said in a whisper. I pressed my hands against my cheeks. My palms felt cold and wet against my hot face. I could feel the blood pulsing at my temples.

“Claire, I totally don’t believe it,” Delia said. “But it really happened, didn’t it? Those poor kids. Trying to make a movie and … and…” Her voice faded.

Delia gripped the arms of the leather chair. She shuddered. “We actually watched those three young actors die. I think I’m going to be sick. Really.”

“Me, too.”

We were sitting in the front row of my family’s basement screening room. It’s a pretty awesome room—six rows of soft, comfortable chairs, a huge LED screen, a theater-quality sound system, and in the corner, an antique popcorn cart on two wheels that actually makes the best popcorn ever.

But we didn’t make popcorn today. Delia and I knew what we were going to watch was truly horrifying. And real.

My dad begged us not to watch it. He said it would give us nightmares. “I know you’re curious,” he said. “But sometimes it’s better not to know the reality.”

Dad is an avoider. He likes to see the bright side of things. He has a way of pushing aside the unpleasant. I’m a lot like him. But this time I didn’t agree.

Delia and I decided we had to see that film. We had to know what we were getting involved in.

Let me explain.

Delia and I have always dreamed about acting in movies, and our dream has come true. This summer we are going to be in the remake of
Mayhem Manor
. That’s why we just sat through the original
Mayhem Manor
film from 1960.

Or, at least, what exists of it.

The film ended when Darlene fell into that open stair and broke her neck. That was the last scene they shot. Because of the three horrible accidents—and the three deaths—the movie was never finished.

It was a horror movie that turned into real horror.

Three young actors lost their lives while the camera rolled. Books have been written about the tragic accidents that stopped the film. Some people believed that Mayhem Manor was
cursed
. It became a dark Hollywood legend.

My mom and dad run WoodCast Studios in Burbank. They make one or two movies a year. Dad decided to green-light a new version of the old horror film. Sixty years had passed since the original
Mayhem Manor
. He knew a remake of a cursed film would get a lot of press, a lot of attention.

Delia and I were desperate to be in it. As I said, we both totally want to be actors. We both auditioned …

… and the rest is movie history.

Okay, okay. I exaggerate. But, you never know.

“Did you watch it?” A voice from behind us. My dad walked to the front of the screening room.

“Yeah. We did,” I said. “Where were you? You were going to watch it with us.”

He shrugged. He looked tired. “We had a problem on the set of
Please Don’t,
that comedy we’re doing. So what else is new? I had to stay late.”

I told you Dad is an avoider. I knew he wouldn’t watch it with us.

He rubbed his smooth cheeks. “I owe you girls an apology. I should never have given you the footage. It’s too upsetting and—”

“Too late,” Delia murmured. “My stomach is already acting like a wave machine at Six Flags.”

“I know I’m going to have nightmares tonight,” I said.

“I warned you,” Dad said. “Maybe if you keep telling yourself it happened sixty years ago…”

“How did it happen?” Delia asked. She suddenly looked very pale. “Did someone like deliberately kill those actors?”

Dad shook his head. “It was a big mystery. A mystery that was never really solved. The L.A. police … the FBI … private investigators … they all decided the deaths were accidental. Three horrible accidents.”

My stomach churned again. “I feel sick. Really.”

“I’m so sorry,” Dad said. “But I guess you have to know the truth. You’re going back into that house to film our remake. So you need to know what happened there.”

Delia and I gazed at the blank screen on the wall. I kept hearing those awful screams in my ears. Not acting. Real screams.

“If either of you wants to quit…” Dad started.

“No way!” Delia and I said in unison.

“You’re right. We have to keep telling ourselves it was sixty years ago,” Delia said. “It’s history, right?” She was trying to be positive, but her voice trembled.