Hidden Treasures Series

Chapter Thirty-Two

    It had finally dawned on most of the party guests that what was happening wasn't a joke or a prank or a clever set-up in honor of the macabre holiday. They seemed to absorb the fact that the argument occurring before them was genuine. They started to inch towards the door, where Freddy had long since given up. He sat on the floor with his back pressed against the door.

    Brian knelt down so that he could speak to his friend. "If I die and you make it out of here alive, Freddy, you can have my Bluetooth radio and my Xbox," he said earnestly. Then he added, "You'll have to break into my room and steal 'em though, because I already promised 'em to my little sister a while back."

    Tabatha hadn't made an effort to stand up. She remained stretched out across the floor. She was vaguely aware of her boyfriend kneeling down by her side. He pulled her into a sitting position and kept asking if she was okay. Couldn't he hear her? Couldn't he hear that she was answering that yes, she was fine? She just had the wind knocked out of her, that's all.

    It apparently didn't please Patty to see Zander rushing to Tabatha's aid, because she yanked Zander up by the collar of his black and red cape. His brows shot up in surprise. She should have never been able to lift him off of the ground. He weighed nearly double what she weighed.

    Still, she plucked him up as if she were plucking up a light, fluffy pillow. Then, with just as little effort, she hurled him across the room.

    Their classmates couldn't believe their eyes. Several of the girls were crying at this point, wanting nothing more than the chance to escape from this house alive. They didn't know the specifics of what was happening, and they didn't want to know. Still, the door would not budge. The locks were engaged. No one knew how to disengage them. A few of the boys attempted to break through the living room windows with chairs, but the glass refused to break. They were all trapped in here with Patty, Tabatha, Zander, and their drama.

    Meanwhile, Patty stalked across the room to where Zander had fallen. After cruelly kicking him in the stomach, she dropped down to the floor and brushed his hair out of his eyes. "Tabatha and I had the same gym period, and sometimes our classes shared the gym and the pool. She used to love making fun of me in gym class." She continued playing with Zander's hair as memories clouded her eyes. "Did you know that whenever we had to swim for gym class, I would make sure that I was the first one into the pool and the last one out of the pool?"

    He was in and out of consciousness, but everyone else listened intently to the story, Tabatha included.

    She went on. "I had to be the first one in the pool and the last one out, you see. If I wasn't, then everyone would see me in my swimsuit. I always wanted to wear a t-shirt over my swimsuit, but our gym teacher wouldn't let me. She made me wear that tight little one-piece swimsuit and I never felt comfortable in it. Your girlfriend and her friends always made fun of me when they saw me in it. They laughed at me and said horrible, hateful things. That is the kind of girl that you dated and loved and did anything for."

    Tears formed in Tabatha's eyes. She struggled to stand on her feet.

    "And I don't want either of you to apologize," Patty said quickly. "I've heard you apologize more than enough. Apologies won't bring Ricky back. They won't bring Shelly back, or Detective Warner back. They're all dead, and they're dead for good. And me...I'm changed for good. I'll never be the same girl that I was." The red glow seemed to fade away a little bit as she bowed her head.

    "It's never too late," Tabatha whispered.

    Patty's head lifted. "What do you mean?" she asked. "I've killed three people! There's no turning back from that. Three people are dead because of me...and because of you."

    Tabatha grew tense at those words.

    Patty tilted her head to the side. "You had to be aware that you are just as much to blame for all of those murders as I was. That thought had to occur to you."

    "Yes, it did," Tabatha admitted.

    "Good. Then you're not as stupid as I thought you were." Patty took a deep breath and glanced around her. Her gaze halted on the group of students that was clustered near the front door. With a roll of her eyes, she lifted one of her hands and disengaged the locks.

    The teenagers didn't hesitate in flooding out of the house as soon as the door was pulled open.

~~~~~~

    Detective Goldenstein carefully approached the Davis family residence. Tabatha had given him the address during their phone conversation earlier that day. She'd explained that there would be a Halloween party happening at this address. She hadn't explained much more than that. He didn't know if she was under the impression another murder was going to take place. She'd simply told him the address and informed him that he might want to make a guest appearance.

    So here he was, creeping up to the house as quietly as possible, with his hand hiding inside of his jacket in case he had to draw his weapon. He didn't know what to expect, but surely it wasn't a stampede of teenagers running out of the front door of the house and down the porch steps, as if they were being chased by some monster from a horror movie.

    He saw goblins, ghouls, celebrities, cartoon characters and video game characters. These teenagers hadn't spared any expense when it came to putting together their Halloween costumes. That much was apparent as they tore past him.

    He grabbed the arm of the nearest student. "What is going on in there?" he questioned.

    The teenager, who was dressed up as Super Mario, shook his head. "You don't want to know man, trust me on this."

    Jack withdrew his badge from the inside of his coat pocket. "Try me."

    The kid's eyes grew round. "You're a cop?"

    "I'm Detective Goldenstein. I need to know what is going on inside that house."

    "Some girl in there is flipping out, man!" the kid exclaimed. He removed the red cap from his head and glanced towards the house. "And I don't just mean going crazy. There's some weird stuff going on in there. There's this weird red light. And all of the power went out. She keeps talking about when she used to be fat, but we've known her since grade school. She has never been fat, man. I don't know. It's really weird in there."

    "Thanks, kid." The detective ran towards the porch, no longer concerned about being as quiet and stealthy as he could be. The front door had been left open, so he didn't have to worry about breaking and entering.

    There was a light touch at his shoulder that caused him to nearly jump out of his skin, though. With wide eyes, he arched a look over his shoulder.

    He wasn't sure if the person he was looking at was a man or a woman. The person he was looking at had long, platinum blonde hair and strange-looking, light blue eyes. Only once the person started speaking could Goldenstein be even remotely sure that it was a man standing beside him.

    "I'm not sure if you want to enter this house," the gentle deep voice warned him.

    "I'm not sure you should even be here," the detective countered. "You look a little old to be partying with this group. What are you dressed up as?"

    "I'm not dressed up," the man said, glancing over the detective's shoulder. "But I am sure that you do not want to enter this house, not now."

    The dark-haired detective flashed his badge again. "I'm here on account of my partner, who's no longer with us," he said. "Not that I have to explain my reasoning to you. I have business here."

    The slender man shrugged his shoulders. "I also have business here."

    "It looks like we're both going in, then," Detective Goldenstein deduced.

    "Yes," the other man agreed.