Afraid (7 page)

Donna knelt down to look at the box, and she saw the white card stuck to the paper. “Here's a card with Alice's name, but there's no message. Do you think it's from Rondelle?”

“I know it is. She's the only person I know who dots her
i'
s with a circle. And if Rondelle gave this package to Alice, you can bet that the red shoes were inside.”

“But the box is empty!” Donna swallowed hard. “Do you think Alice is wearing the red shoes?”

“I wouldn't be surprised. I just wish we knew where she was.”

“Last night at the party, I heard her tell Craig she'd help him clean up. Do you think she could be out at the cabin?”

“It's worth a try.” Steve grabbed Donna's hand. “Maybe we're making something out of nothing, but we'd better drive out there to make sure that Alice is all right.”

 

Alice stared down at the red shoes on her feet and they seemed to gleam dangerously. But that was ridiculous. These shoes were from Craig, weren't they?

But Craig hadn't signed the card and she'd only assumed that the shoes were from him. What if someone had sent her that package and tricked her into believing that it was from Craig? She could be wearing the cursed red shoes!

Alice glanced down at the shoes again. They had stopped gleaming, and now they looked perfectly harmless. But when she raised her eyes to the road, the fence posts were speeding by at an alarmingly fast rate.

What was happening?! Alice glanced at the speedometer and gasped. The needle was hovering at just below fifty, and that was much too fast for a gravel road in poor repair!

Alice tried to ease up on the accelerator, but something was terribly wrong. Her foot was stuck, and with each passing second, it was pressing down harder and harder.

The needle on the speedometer rose to fifty-five and then to sixty. And even though Alice struggled to pull up her foot, it just wouldn't budge. She
was
wearing the cursed red shoes! And one of them was tromping down on the accelerator, trying to kill her!

S
teve knew a shortcut and they took a back road to the lake. As they turned onto the gravel road that led around the shoreline, Donna clutched her hands together to keep them from trembling. Alice just had to be at the cabin. And she had to be all right!

The lake sparkled in the afternoon sun. It was a beautiful shade of blue that she would have appreciated at any other time, but now she was much too worried about Alice to give it more than a passing glance.

“Only four miles to go.” Steve looked at his watch, and Donna could tell that he was just as worried as she was. “Hang on, Donna. This gravel road is really rough.”

As they drove over the ruts made by heavy summer rains, Donna held onto the edge of her seat. Steve's car was old and a spring poked her every time they bounced over a rut, but the last thing Donna wanted was for Steve to slow down. The faster they got to the cabin, the quicker they could talk to Alice. If she was wearing the red shoes, they simply had to convince her to take them off!

As they rounded a corner, they heard a loud bang. Steve stopped the car by pumping the brakes, and they both got out to look.

“It's flat.” Steve frowned as he pointed to the right rear tire. “We must have picked up a nail or something.”

Donna nodded. “Do you have a spare?”

“Sure. Don't worry, Donna. It'll only take a couple of minutes to change. You can wait in the car if you want to.”

“No way!” Donna walked around the car with him and waited until he'd opened the trunk. Then she reached inside and grabbed the jack. “I'll jack it up while you roll out the spare.”

It didn't take long to change the tire with both of them working. Steve lowered the jack, put it back in the trunk, and handed Donna a clean rag. “Thanks for helping, Donna. I hope you didn't get too dirty.”

“Only a little and that'll wash off.” Donna smiled at him as she wiped her hands on the rag.

Less then five minutes later, they were turning onto the long winding driveway that led to the cabin. Donna held her breath as they passed the tall, stately pines and the cabin came into view.

“Craig's here.” Steve rounded the corner, and parked next to Craig's Thunderbird.

Donna nodded, but she felt her heart sink down to her toes. Craig's car was the only one in the driveway. There was no sign of Alice's Chevy.

Steve seemed to read her mind, because he turned to give her an encouraging smile. “Alice might be here. She could have parked in the garage.”

They rang the doorbell and a moment later, Craig opened the door. “Hi, guys. What are you doing out here?”

Donna crossed her fingers for luck. And then she took a deep breath and blurted out the question. “Is Alice here?”

“Not yet.” Craig looked a little disgruntled as he motioned for them to come inside. “She told me she'd be here by two, but she's late. She probably had car trouble. That old wreck of hers doesn't go more than ten miles without breaking down. Which way did you come?”

“We took the shortcut.” Steve turned to Donna. “Let's show Craig that card.”

Donna pulled the card out of her purse and handed it to Craig. “We found this with a gift-wrapped box on Alice's front porch. Did you send her a present?”

“No. Not me.” Craig looked puzzled as he examined the card.

Steve nodded. “That's what we were afraid of. We think Rondelle might have sent Alice the cursed red shoes.”

It took Steve and Donna several minutes to tell Craig what had happened to Rondelle. When they were finished, Craig looked shocked.

“And you think that Rondelle sent the red shoes to Alice for revenge?”

Donna nodded. “But we won't know for sure, until we can talk to Alice.”

“This stuff about cursed shoes is crazy, but she
is
really late.” Craig started to frown. “Let's give her another five minutes. If she's not here by then, we'll go out and try to find her.”

 

The needle on the speedometer was hovering at seventy, and Alice felt panic wash over her in waves. She couldn't lift her foot off the gas pedal, and the road ahead climbed steeply. At the top of the hill was the most dangerous curve on the road. It was deceptively sharp and very steep, with a rock-filled ravine on one side. It had been the scene of several fatal accidents, and everyone called it Deadman's Curve.

She had to do something before she got to Deadman's Curve! Alice began to tremble with fear. If she couldn't slow down, she'd skid off the road and crash into the ravine.

But only her right foot was stuck. Alice picked up her left foot and stomped down hard on the brakes. Her car slowed for a brief instant, but then the sole of the red shoe slipped right off the brake pedal, as if it had been greased. The red shoes had control of her car, and they were going to kill her!

That was when Alice started to scream, a high thin wail of pure horror. But screaming wouldn't help. She had to stay calm. Alice clamped her lips tightly shut, and forced herself to think. There had to be some way to stop her car, but what was it?

The emergency brake! Alice reached down and pulled up on the handle with her hand. And then she sobbed in relief as the brake engaged and her car began to slow. Thank God she'd thought of it in time!

The acrid smell of burning rubber filled the car. Alice began to cough, but she didn't release her hold on the emergency brake. It was her only chance to stop.

The burning smell got worse with each second that passed. The smoke that filled the interior of the car made Alice's eyes water, but it was working! Her car was slowing down.

Alice could see the speedometer through the haze of choking smoke. The needle had gone down to fifty, even though her right foot was still pressing down on the accelerator. She was going to defeat the curse of the red shoes!

As she watched through painfully stinging eyes, the needle sank slowly to forty. Alice laughed out loud, she was so relieved. The red shoes couldn't kill her. The moment her car stopped, she'd take them off and throw them right in the lake!

Her speed went down to twenty, and then to fifteen miles an hour. The needle was almost at ten when Alice heard a loud grinding noise. The noise got louder and louder until it turned into a high-pitched screech. And then there was a horrible snap and the handle on the emergency brake pulled off in her hand.

“Oh, no!” Alice stared down at the broken handle for a moment, and then she raised her eyes to the speedometer in fear. The emergency brake had broken and the needle on the speedometer was climbing again. The cursed red shoes had won! She was going to die!

Alice watched in horror as her car hurtled forward, down the gravel road. Even though she was wearing her seat belt, she still bounced up and down in her seat. Her head hit the top of her car with a painful thump. She was going too fast to steer the car and the most dangerous curve of all was only a mile ahead.

She was going to die. Alice dropped her hands from the wheel as her car charged forward toward the curve, faster and faster until the trees whipped past with a dizzying speed. Alice no longer heard the thumps and the rattles, and the high keening sounds of the engine. The terror of knowing that she was going to die filled her mind.

But a sound like a gunshot brought Alice back to the present with a jolt. One of her rear tires had blown out! Alice reached for the wheel and began to steer again. She couldn't just sit there passively, waiting for her car to crash. She had to do something, and she had to do it fast!

A high, tinkling sound claimed Alice's attention, and she glanced down to see what it was. Her key chain. It was rattling against the metal post of the steering wheel, tinkling like wind chimes, as the car bounced over the ruts.

The key! Alice reached down to grab the key, and she pulled it out with one swift jerk. The sound of the motor stopped abruptly, and Alice sobbed in relief. She'd done it! Now all she had to do was wait until her car coasted to a stop.

But Deadman's Curve was coming up fast! Would she slow down in time? Alice gripped the wheel so hard, her knuckles turned white. She was still going over fifty miles an hour. Could she steer around Deadman's Curve that fast?

The yellow curve sign flashed by her window, and Alice felt her heart jump up to her throat. Deadman's Curve was posted at a maximum speed of thirty, and even though her car was slowing down, she was still going much too fast. How fast could she take Deadman's Curve?

Alice held her breath as she went into the curve, her tires skidding on the gravel. Her car fishtailed, swerving dangerously close to the edge, but Alice fought the wheel and somehow managed to stay on the road.

She'd made it! Alice laughed out loud in triumph. There was nothing but straight road and gentle downhill curves for the next two miles. Without any power, her car would stop, and she would be safe from the curse of the red shoes!

That was when she heard it, another sound like a gunshot. Her second rear tire had blown out. Alice jerked the wheel, fighting to keep from going into a skid, and again, she managed to stay on the road.

A glance at the speedometer told her that she was only going forty, and Alice began to relax slightly. And then something happened that Alice had never anticipated. There was another loud bang that sent her car swerving to the left side of the road. And then another, as both of her front tires blew out in rapid succession.

Alice's old green Chevy swerved sharply and sideswiped the guardrail. The glancing impact sent her careening across the road to crash into the thin metal barrier on the other side. For one brief moment, Alice thought the guardrail would hold. But it didn't, and she and her car hurtled into space, rolling over and over, finally landing upside down on the jagged rocks at the bottom of the ravine.

The wheels spun around and around, gradually slowing to a stop. Then there was silence, but Alice didn't hear it. She had entered a much deeper silence, the permanent silence of death.

Flames licked up under Alice's wrecked car, flicking their way to the gas tank. They hovered there for a moment, and then there was a mighty explosion. The tremendous force turned the old green Chevy into a pile of twisted metal that glowed and burned with tremendous heat, igniting the surrounding trees in a towering funeral pyre.

T
hey were just getting ready to leave when they heard a loud explosion across the lake. Donna turned to Steve with fear in her eyes. “What was that?!”

They rushed to the deck to get a better look. What they saw made them shudder. There was a giant fireball leaping up toward the sky and, as they watched, it ignited several pine trees.

Steve was the first to recover. “I'll go call it in. The pines are dry this time of year, and a fire this big could spread fast.”

Donna and Craig stayed on the deck, staring at the fire, which was growing larger with each passing moment. A slight wind was blowing in from the north, and several more pine trees started to burn before Steve came back.

“They're on their way.” Steve looked very worried. “A couple of other people reported it, too. I was the third call.”

They heard the high-pitched wails of several sirens, and Donna drew a deep sigh of relief. “Here they come!”

“Let's take a run over there.” Craig motioned to them. “I've got a really bad feeling about this.”

Steve and Donna climbed in Craig's Thunderbird and they peeled out of the driveway. Normally, Donna would have enjoyed a ride in the classic car, but right now she was too worried about the fire.

“I wonder what started it?” Donna frowned slightly. “A gas line explosion?”

Craig shook his head. “There aren't any gas lines out here at the lake. My mother wanted a gas range and they told her she'd have to get electric.”

They were flagged down by a fireman when they were still about a mile away. Craig rolled down his window and leaned out to talk to him. “Do you know what started the fire?”

The fireman nodded. “Somebody lost control coming out of Deadman's Curve. The car crashed through the barrier and it exploded when it hit the bottom of the ravine.”

Steve exchanged worried glances with Donna. And then he asked the question that was uppermost in all their minds. “Do you know what kind of car it was?”

“It was burning too hot to get very close, but we found a hood ornament up by the guardrails. It looked like it came from a Chevy.”

“Any idea what color it was?” Craig's face paled.

The fireman seemed impatient, but when he noticed how worried they were, he nodded. “My guess is green. There was a scrape of green paint on the post that held the rail.”

“How about the driver?” Steve's voice was shaking slightly.

The fireman shook his head. “I don't think the driver made it. You couldn't walk away from a crash like that, and no one called for an ambulance.”

They didn't say anything on their way back to the cabin. They just rode in silence, each lost in private fears. When they were back inside, Craig headed straight for the phone. “We're probably worrying for nothing. I'm going to call Alice.”

The phone rang several times and then a deputy sheriff answered. The news he gave them wasn't good. Alice's old green Chevy had crashed through the guardrail on Deadman's Curve, and Alice was dead.

 

They were back in town, parked in front of her house, when Donna finally asked the question. “Do you think Alice was wearing the red shoes?”

“I don't know.” Steve frowned. “I'll try to find out and I'll call you, later tonight.”

Donna was glad her parents weren't home as she climbed the stairs to her room. There were tears in her eyes, and she knew she'd break down if they'd asked her a single question.

Even though she didn't want to think about it, Donna sat down at her desk and worked on her article. It was due on Friday and she'd be disqualified from the contest if she didn't turn it in by the deadline.

As she wrote about what had happened to Rondelle, tears threatened to spill from Donna's eyes. The red shoes were cursed; she was sure of it now. What else could explain the awful things that had happened to Tammy and Rondelle?

When she came to the part about Alice, Donna began to cry. A tear dripped down on her article, leaving a messy blot. Another tear fell, and Donna put down her pen, sobbing quietly to herself. She felt terribly guilty about everything that had happened, and she was sure she could have prevented the tragedies if she'd just tried a little harder.

She'd made her first mistake the night of the school carnival. She should have dragged Tammy away from Magical Footwear and stopped her from buying the red shoes. Her second mistake had happened right after the play. She should have confronted Rondelle at the wrap party and demanded that she give up the cursed shoes. Then there was her third mistake, just today. She should have stayed with Rondelle and told Steve to go find Alice. If he'd found Alice in time, he could have stopped her before she'd put on the red shoes.

Donna swallowed hard and wiped her eyes with a tissue. Tammy was in the hospital, Rondelle's mind had snapped, and Alice was dead. It was all because of the cursed red shoes, and one thing was very clear. Donna had to find them and destroy them before someone else was hurt!

The phone rang and Donna reached out to pick it up. She was so miserable, she barely smiled when she heard Steve's voice. “Hi, Steve. Did you find out about the red shoes?”

Donna held her breath as Steve told her what he'd learned. He'd called his older sister, who was dating a deputy sheriff, and he'd found out that Alice's car had been completely destroyed. If Alice had been wearing the cursed red shoes, they had certainly gone up in smoke.

“Are you sure they're gone?” Donna held her breath. But Steve seemed very sure when he told her that nothing in Alice's car had escaped the flames. The deputy would be there tomorrow, to sift through the wreckage, and he'd promised to tell Steve if he found even the slightest trace of the cursed red shoes.

Donna was smiling as she thanked Steve and said good-bye. She felt so much better, she even managed to finish writing about what had happened to Alice. But after she'd climbed into bed and turned off the lights, Donna began to feel uneasy again. What if the red shoes had somehow survived the wreck? If someone found them and put them on, the curse might claim a fourth victim!

 

Things seemed much better in the morning. The sun had been shining when she'd climbed out of bed, and Donna had felt much more in control.

Steve had called his sister during lunch, and he'd come back to the cafeteria with very good news. Her boyfriend had examined every inch of Alice's car, and he'd found no trace of the cursed red shoes.

That had made Donna relax a little, and the rest of the day had gone very well. When she'd turned in the new pages of her article, Miss Adams had said they were perfect. Steve had walked her to every one of her afternoon classes, and her classmates had begun to call her Donna instead of “the new girl.” And now she was sitting with the crowd at Clancy's, sharing the biggest fake leather booth.

“I'm so glad I'm not working!” Lisa gave a deep sigh as she slid into the booth next to Donna. “This is the first day I've had off for over three weeks!”

Jerry reached out to take Lisa's hand. “And you've got Friday night off, too, right?”

“That's right.” Lisa nodded. “Shelly says no one should have to work on their birthday, and I even get paid for taking the night off. Isn't that great?”

“So you'll go to the fall dance with me?” Jerry looked hopeful.

“Oh—uh—sure!” Lisa smiled the biggest smile Donna had ever seen. “I'd love to, Jerry!”

“You'd love to do what?” Steve came back with a giant plate of fries just in time to hear the end of Lisa's sentence.

Lisa laughed. “Go to the fall dance with Jerry. You're going, aren't you?”

“Sure, but I haven't asked Donna yet.” Steve turned to Donna and held out the plate of fries. “How about it, Donna? I'll give you the biggest fry if you'll go to the fall dance with me.”

“You just made me an offer I can't refuse.” Donna reached out to grab a long, crispy fry and popped it into her mouth.

“Do you want to double?” Jerry turned to Steve. “Your Olds is nicer than my Nissan.”

Steve shrugged. “That's fine with me. How about it?”

Donna and Lisa nodded. A double date would be fun.

“Great!” Jerry gave a relieved sigh. “That means I won't have to clean out my car!”

Jerry's comment prompted a series of jokes about the Nissan and how Jerry hadn't cleaned it out since he'd bought it used, two years ago. Donna smiled and laughed right along with the others, but she noticed that Lisa had begun to look a little worried.

“Lisa?” Donna motioned her over so that they could talk privately. “What's wrong?”

“Nothing, really. It's just that I said I'd go to the dance with Jerry, but I don't have anything to wear. I can't afford to buy clothes like yours.”

Donna leaned closer to Lisa and lowered her voice. “I don't buy my clothes, Lisa. I just . . . well . . . I make them up. There's a thrift store in town, isn't there?”

“Sure.” Lisa nodded. “That's where I buy all my clothes. But they don't have anything fancy enough for the dance.”

“That's no problem. We'll go down there right after school on Friday. I know we can find something we can use. Then we'll go to my house and put together some fantastic outfits. It'll be fun, Lisa.”

Lisa's eyes began to sparkle and she looked very excited. “You wouldn't mind helping me?”

“Of course not. The guys can pick us up at my house.”

Lisa's face lit up in a grin. “Thanks, Donna. I can hardly wait!”

Donna smiled. She felt fantastic, even though she'd just given away the secret of her designer outfits. It was a small price to pay to see Lisa so happy.