Bitter

thirty-six - lydia

   "Well, I'm never watching that again," Meg said as we walked out of the theater into the clear night. We both shivered as a chilly breeze hit us all at once. It was really starting to feel like October now.

   The movie was average and like Meg said, wasn't worth watching again, but it had started out okay. Then it just went downhill from there and I had been left, sitting in the theater wondering when it was going to be over. I guess it was nice I had something to talk about with Meg now. "It wasn't as bad as that one we saw that one time," I mentioned, recalling a movie that had the worst acting I'd ever witnessed. "I can't remember what it was called but we went to see it on Halloween together."

   "Oooh, yeah," Meg said, then started laughing, "I remember that. That was so long ago."

   "I know," I agreed. We both walked side by side, past restaurants and bars and clothing stores. There was this one fancy restaurant that we peeked into, commenting on the dim lighting and gawking at a sparkly, gold mural of a flower on the back wall. Everyone looked so expensive in there and the smell of steamed crabs and seafood escaped out the grand, glass entrance.

   Meg sighed and I looked over at her, noticing she was smiling a tiny bit. "Marco said he was going to take me there," she spoke softly. "Once he has enough money," she added.

   I lost my ability to speak for a second, mainly because I hadn't known Meg liked Marco like that and vice versa. She went on before I could say anything. "We're going to go to homecoming together and—wait," she paused, glancing over at me, "are you going too?"

Yes, I was. With West Haley too. A knot started forming in my stomach, curling tighter and tighter. I couldn't tell Meg about it as much as I wanted to. If I did, she'd probably do anything in her power to prevent it from happening. I needed to be at least one step ahead of West at all times, for everyone's sake including Cal's, and this was what I had to do.

"I don't know yet," I lied, turning my attention on a couple in the restaurant that was eating what looked to be lobster.

"Oh, well I hope you do," she told me, "it'll be fun." Her gaze left the window of the restaurant and so mine did too. We were back to wandering down the street, heading in the direction of Meg's car. It was strange (like I'd expected) being with Meg, actually talking with her again one-on-one. Like we were friends again. It was definitely a change and what I hadn't expected in a million years was to be spending a Tuesday with her, seeing a movie and laughing together.

We finally made it to the parking garage that was now almost empty and the harsh, buzzing lights shined down on concrete. We took the stairs, traveling up to the top level where Meg's car was waiting patiently for us. And so was someone standing off to our right at the end of the lot.

They weren't moving, just facing us, frozen. Their face looked almost fake and that's when I realized they were wearing a mask. I couldn't tell exactly what it was yet, but they began slowly stalking forward and I really didn't need to find that out. The color had drained from Meg's face when the figure appeared to be holding something shiny in his hand. Funnily enough, the white light shining down on the figure decided to burn out at that exact moment and everything was wiped out by darkness. That was it. I wasted no time. "Run," I whispered to Meg, heart almost instantly thumping so loud it shook my whole body.

Her car sat ahead of us and wasn't too far away, but how fast was the man stalking us? Meg and I sprinted across the lot, and that was when we found out the answer to that question. I was running and I heard quick, heavy footsteps pounding from my right and then behind me, gaining on me. Closer. Closer. Two strong hands pushed me forward and I tripped over my own shoes, slamming hard into the ground.

The man moved quickly, but I realized I was a little disoriented because I couldn't get up fast enough, like there were weights strapped to my feet. "Down! Stay down!" the man shouted at me. I stole a look at him and saw the mask up close now. Even with very little light, I could see Freddy Krueger with a switchblade similar to West's standing over me. "Don't move!" he demanded, flicking the blade out and pointing it at my neck. Then he darted away and I heard Meg screaming. She sounded so far away.

   Tears were forming in my eyes, but I blinked them away, thinking of that mask as I struggled to stand. I recognized that mask. I'd been attacked by a Freddy Krueger before on Halloween. This wasn't West.

   All fear left me and anger flooded in when I figured it out. I started scrambling over to our masked attacker grabbing Meg from behind as he threatened to kill her with the blade. I sure hoped he was who I thought he was, otherwise Meg would really be dead before me in less than a minute.

   Meg was trying to free herself, but she was so constricted by the man's arm that she could barely move. He was dragging her backward, right to the edge of the parking garage. They both swam in my vision (wow, I must have hit my head pretty hard or something). I didn't have anything on me currently to hurt the man with other than pepper spray, but that was completely useless since he was wearing a mask anyway.

   "Stop!" I ordered, my voice wavering. Like he's going to listen to you. The man did exactly what I thought he'd do. He didn't stop and he instead stepped up onto the concrete edge, holding Meg to him. She had no choice but to stay completely still or else she'd accidentally toss herself off the side. "I know who you are," I warned, inching closer to both of them. I didn't know how crazy he was or why he was doing this, so I didn't want to make any wrong moves.

   A muffled laugh came from behind the mask. He held the blade closer to Meg's neck and a strangled sound escaped her. "Who am I, Lydia?" he questioned. His mask turned to Meg and then back to me. "One wrong answer and she goes over. Just like Marco went over that balcony at the party."

   I knew who it was. Right? Was I a hundred percent sure? My throat suddenly felt very dry, like it was closing up on me and I couldn't get a word out. I swallowed and took in Meg's terror-filled gaze. Tears were running down her cheeks and she shut her eyes tight, like what I said next was a bullet leaving my mouth. Then I said it. I said a name (it was him, it had to be).

   A moment of silence passed the three of us and I was just staring at Freddy Krueger, quietly willing him to take the mask off. I narrowed my eyes and with one swift motion, the man reached up and did as I wanted. He held that mask in his free hand and his familiar face was glaring back at me, his eyes wild. He reminded me of West just then.

   Suddenly, he grinned mischievously and let go of Meg for a second who was already teetering on the ledge four stories above the ground. My heart skipped a beat when she started falling backward, but he grabbed her again before anything happened. He was just trying to scare both of us, he wasn't actually going to kill us. But he had definitely crossed a line with this. "What's wrong with you?" I asked, my voice only a little louder than a whisper. Something had clearly changed about him. Or maybe he was always like this and hanging out with West awakened something within him. I didn't know, anything was possible.

   He didn't say any more. He obviously wasn't in his right mind and if I could've prevented what happened next, I would've. I was only feet from both of them when the switchblade slipped from his hand. Reflexively, he tried catching it, letting go of Meg, and I acted as quickly as I could. He misjudged how close to the edge he really was, his fingers just grazing the blade falling from the garage. And he lost his balance.

   I'd reached Meg and had just grasped her hand to pull her to me when he made some sound, voice breaking (it sounded a lot like my name) and stumbled from view. He was falling and I heard him hit the ground. Meg crashed into me then and she was full on sobbing now, hugging me in the dark, empty lot while I stood numbly, Jason Miller's last desperate, fear-filled cry for help replaying in my mind.