The Locker Read online

  “I’ll take you upstairs. And then I’ll show you the auditorium. And then we’ll go to your locker, and then I’ll take you to class, ’cause I’m going there, too.”

  She squeezed my arm and grinned an impish grin.

  “Don’t worry—in just a few days you’ll be breezing around here like you grew up in Edison with the rest of us. And if you need anything at all—I mean anything—just let me know.”

  It’s funny how some people just seem to click with the very first meeting. That’s how I felt about Noreen, though I was trying really hard not to. Living with Aunt Celia, I’ve learned not to make friends too easily because I know I’ll just end up leaving them. But Noreen made me want to be friends, no matter if I left again or not.

  She was right about the school. It took about two more minutes to cover the rest of the classrooms, and then she hauled me out the back door and showed me the athletic field, then the gym, the cafeteria and snack bar, and finally the auditorium. The campus was small but much nicer than some I’d been to—there were trees everywhere and benches and even picnic tables for eating outside on nice days.

  “Ahhh, if spring would just get here and stay here …” Noreen took a last longing glance over her shoulder as she ushered me back into the main building again, and I nodded.

  “I’m not used to your cold weather,” I said.

  “It’s not usually this chilly in spring—though it has been known to snow at Easter!” Noreen sighed. “Things are blooming and we’re still stuck in jackets—I want sunshine and swimsuits!” She shut her eyes as if dreaming of summer, and let out a huge sigh. “Come on, let’s go to your locker, and then we’ll brave Mrs. Clark’s history class. If we’re really lucky, she’ll spend so much time making you feel at home, she’ll forget about the test we’re supposed to have today!”

  I had to laugh. As Noreen raced off again, she glanced at the piece of paper in her hand and quickly scanned the rows of lockers we were passing. Finally she stopped at the end of the hall, and as I caught up with her, I saw her stare at the top locker, then down at the paper, then up at the locker again.

  “Is there a problem?” I asked, coming up behind her. “If it’s already taken, I’ll just go back to the office and ask—”

  “No!” She whirled around, and for just a split second her smile had this odd little twist to it, almost like someone had pasted it there on her face. But then it melted into her familiar grin again, and I knew I must have imagined it.

  “I mean … no, it’s not taken,” she said. “This one wouldn’t be taken. As you can see, it’s perfectly empty.”

  I couldn’t really see, because the door was closed, but I followed the point of her finger to the end locker on the top row.

  “Here it is,” Noreen said. “Right here. You can go ahead and put your jacket in if you want—the building’s always hotter than anyone can stand.”

  I was watching her as she talked, but she wasn’t looking at me now, and she wasn’t looking at the locker, either. Her eyes were fixed on some vague spot in the air above my head, and she was shoving the piece of paper into my hand as if she didn’t want to hold it anymore. After throwing her a puzzled glance, I read the combination, then reached up to open the door.

  “That’s funny.” I frowned. “I can’t get the lock open.”

  I tried the combination again, holding my breath as I twisted the dial. When I reached the last digit, I pulled at the latch, but it still wouldn’t give.

  “There must be a mistake,” I told Noreen. “It must be the combination to some other locker.”

  “I don’t think so,” she said quietly.

  “Here. Hold my purse, will you?”

  Determined now, I took the lock in both hands, gritted my teeth, and turned the knob slowly and carefully.

  “Third time’s a charm,” I mumbled, and to my surprise, the door popped open so suddenly that if I hadn’t known better, I’d have sworn something heaved it out at me from inside. The impact sent me sprawling back several steps, right into Noreen, who put up her hands to steady me.

  “Must have just been stuck,” I said, relieved. “I hope it doesn’t do that every time I need to get it op—

  I never got to finish my sentence.

  As a sickening stench washed over me, I choked and started to gag, dimly aware of hands clutching my throat, clawing for air—

  From far away someone called to me, but the hall was a total blur now—dark and brown and runny—oozing down around me in a suffocating flood of darkness.

  I opened my mouth and heard the screams.

  But not my screams …

  Screams of pain … horror … agony …

  Screams coming from my locker.

  3

  Silence rushed in.

  For an eternity I floated there in my strange, quiet darkness, every sense numb beyond feeling.

  “Marlee … what’s wrong …”

  Reality slammed into me with a terrible jolt.

  Lights overhead, rows of old lockers, peeling walls, scuffed floorboards—everything hit me at once, and I felt myself falling backward into a pair of arms that were all too real.

  “Marlee! Marlee, are you okay?”

  It was Noreen’s voice, I recognized it now, but she was yelling, not whispering, and it wasn’t her arms holding me up and literally keeping me from collapsing onto the floor.

  “Are you all right?” Tyler demanded. His face was about two inches away from my own, and I could see Noreen right behind him, peering anxiously around his shoulder.

  “I …” My eyes grew wide as I looked at him. “What happened?”

  “I thought you were going to faint!” Noreen’s voice rose several octaves. “You looked so strange, and I saw Tyler coming out of class, and I yelled for him to help!”

  “I’d be insulted,” Tyler said in a stage whisper, “if someone told me I looked strange.”

  I gazed into his eyes and slowly put one hand to my forehead. Things were starting to focus now, crystal clear—too clear—so sharp and distinct that I wanted to block out each larger-than-life detail. I could see the little threads unraveling from one of Noreen’s shoe-laces, and the tiny mole hidden behind her right ear; I could see the crooked finger on Tyler’s left hand that might have been broken once, and the faded scar on his wrist beneath the cuff of his shirt.

  “Should we get her to the nurse?” Noreen looked at Tyler, but I put my hand on her arm.

  “No, I’m okay.”

  “You sure?”

  “No,” Tyler said, squinting at me. “I think she’s going to cry.”

  “I’m not going to cry,” I insisted, even though I’d never felt more like crying. “Just give me a minute.”

  “Can you stand up?” Noreen leaned over me, but when I didn’t answer right away, she cupped her hands around her mouth. “I said, can you—”

  “Hey, Noreen, why don’t you talk a little louder so everyone in the building will come out here to see what’s wrong?” Tyler’s look was mildly reproachful, but Noreen didn’t seem to notice.

  “Really,” I said shakily, “I’m fine.”

  “Let’s get her outside,” Tyler said. “In the fresh air.”

  The next thing I knew, they were both guiding me out the door, and I was shaking so bad that I stumbled and fell right against Tyler’s chest.

  “Here you go, sit here,” Tyler said. He lowered me carefully onto one of the concrete steps, and then he stood back and began to whistle softly, as if this sort of thing happened all the time and music always made it better.

  “I’m so embarrassed,” I mumbled. No—it didn’t really happen! “I can’t believe I did this.” No—I won’t let it happen! And I put my hands to my temples and pressed hard—harder—no, no, it’s not supposed to happen, I promised myself it would never happen again—

  “Marlee?” Noreen sat down beside me, and I felt her arm slip gently around my shoulders. And then suddenly things began to settle again … normally … ever
ything in its right place and proper perspective. I looked up at Tyler, and he stopped whistling.

  “It’s okay,” Noreen reassured me, giving me a hug, but her voice was quivering and her hands felt cold. “It’s hard being the new kid in a new school, everyone staring at you, not knowing what to expect. It’s really okay. Isn’t it okay, Tyler?”

  “It might be okay,” Tyler said agreeably, “if you’d shut up for ten whole seconds.”

  He met Noreen’s frown with a look of wide-eyed innocence, but there was this little twinkle way back behind his stare. I couldn’t tell if he was amused at my stupid predicament or at Noreen’s overreaction—she seemed almost as upset as I was. My hands were still trembling, and I clasped them together so he and Noreen wouldn’t notice. It wasn’t supposed to come back—wasn’t supposed to happen—how could it—how could it—

  “I told you to be careful,” Tyler reminded me, a slow smile easing across his lips. “I bet you didn’t even eat breakfast this morning, did you?”

  “This doesn’t have anything to do with eating.” I didn’t mean to sound so defensive, but I was scared and queasy and still trying to shut down all the confusion in my brain. “It was the smell in that locker.”

  Tyler looked at Noreen and Noreen looked at me, and I looked back at the door as if the smell might come pouring out on top of me at any second.

  “I’ve never smelled anything like that before. What do you think it was?”

  Even now the horrible odor still lingered in my mind. Pressing one hand to my throat, I fought off a wave of nausea and suddenly realized that Tyler and Noreen were staring at me, not saying a word. I felt my cheeks grow hot, and I fanned myself with one hand and tried to laugh.

  “Well. I guess whoever had that locker before me forgot to fumigate it.”

  What’s wrong with them—why aren’t they smiling? It was a joke! Why aren’t they saying anything—why are they staring at me like that—

  “What smell?” Noreen finally asked in a small voice.

  This time it was my turn to stare. “You’re not serious, are you? You couldn’t have been standing that close to me and not smelled it. It practically knocked me over!”

  Noreen’s brows knitted together and she chewed her lip.

  “I …” She glanced quickly at Tyler. “Maybe I just didn’t notice—”

  “You couldn’t not have noticed.” I looked her full in the face, dumbfounded by her answer. “You must have—you had to—”

  I broke off as Tyler took my elbows and hauled me to my feet. He held the door open for Noreen and me, and then he sauntered back down the hallway. Pausing in front of the open locker, he leaned slowly forward till his head was inside. Then he turned around and faced us with a look of mock horror.

  “The gym socks that wouldn’t die!”

  “Come on, Tyler,” Noreen mumbled, “can’t you see she’s serious?”

  His smile faded. “Okay, sorry. There’s no smell.”

  “It can’t be gone—that’s just impossible.” Pushing past Tyler, I stuck my own head inside the locker, but after a few seconds, I pulled back out again, bewildered.

  “But it was here,” I insisted. “I mean … it was so strong!”

  Noreen took a cautious sniff, hesitated, then took a second one for good measure.

  “I don’t smell anything,” she said weakly, and again I caught the quick look she shot at Tyler.

  “What exactly did it smell like?” Tyler asked me.

  I stared from one of them to the other. I knew my mouth was hanging open, so I closed it and swallowed hard and concentrated on looking halfway rational.

  “It was so …”

  I frowned. Only minutes ago every one of my senses had been brutally assaulted, but now I could barely remember what any of those feelings had been. That’s it … that’s right … empty your mind … you can do it … just like you did the last time … just like you did when it hurt so bad …

  I shook my head slowly, trying to clear it. “I don’t know what it smelled like, exactly. Horrible. Sickening. But I’m sure I’d know it if I ever smelled it again.”

  “Biology lab is right over there.” Tyler gave a casual wave of his hand. “Probably some experiment going on. Something being dissected. You could have gotten a whiff of that.”

  “My friend Becky walked past the lab one time and keeled right over,” Noreen said helpfully. “She was carrying a fishbowl to one of the other science rooms, and she fell on top of it and cut herself in eight places.”

  “Poor fish,” Tyler said, and the corners of his mouth twitched as Noreen turned on him.

  “Well, you know, Tyler, it really wasn’t funny!” She sounded upset. “I know Becky is sort of … well … heavy … but she didn’t squash those fish on purpose!”

  Tyler was trying so hard to look sympathetic and failing so miserably that I finally had to smile.

  “It must have been the lab then,” I lied, because I knew no stench like that could possibly have been there one minute, then faded so completely the next. I didn’t want to talk about it anymore—didn’t even want to think about it. I just wanted to go to class and lose myself in some boring lecture and forget about what had happened.

  “Right, then, let’s go,” Noreen said quickly. She seemed as relieved as I was to drop the subject, and as she leaned over to brush off my skirt, Tyler stood watching her with a tolerant smile.

  “I don’t know what to say,” I told him. “Seems like all I’m doing today is apologizing to you.”

  His smile widened in a lazy sort of way. “Are you always this much trouble to have around?”

  “Maybe they’re working on gas lines somewhere, and there’s a leak,” Noreen fretted. “That could really happen, couldn’t it?”

  Tyler gave a solemn nod. “Anything could happen, Noreen. I could get bitten by a werewolf tonight and spend the rest of my life running naked through the woods trying to find a good vet.”

  “Oh, please,” Noreen said dryly, “the very image of you without your clothes is enough to give anyone severe nightmares.”

  She winced as Tyler shoved her from behind and sauntered away down the hall. He paused at the corner and saluted us before he disappeared, and Noreen turned to me with a sigh.

  “I’m only kidding, you understand.”

  “About what?” I asked.

  “About Tyler. Actually, he doesn’t look half bad without his clothes. Actually”—she sighed again— “he looks pretty damn wonderful.”

  I glanced down at my watch. “Shouldn’t we get to class?”

  “He’s very modest,” Noreen went on, leaning in close to my ear. “Kind of shy, really. How was I supposed to know a bunch of the guys were skinny-dipping when I drove out to his cabin that day? He should have told me not to come. Was that my fault?”

  I was only half listening. Noreen was talking really fast, carrying on this one-sided conversation and walking out into the hall again, but my locker was still open, and I couldn’t stop staring at it. Just a locker, I told myself sternly. One that looks like all the others around it. Nothing unusual about an old empty locker …

  But I was still shaky. I made myself go over and close the door, and then I told myself I must have imagined the whole thing, and I wasn’t going to think about it anymore.

  “Thank you,” I said, and Noreen broke off chattering to look at me in surprise.

  “For what?” She smiled.

  “For not laughing,” I said. “For not thinking I’m crazy.”

  “Hey, come on—”

  “For trying to come up with some excuse so it won’t get around the whole school that I’m some kind of disaster.”

  She looked at me sympathetically. “You’re not a disaster. Now, Tyler … that’s disaster.” She waited for me to laugh, but when I didn’t, she added cautiously, “What do you—really—think happened when you opened your locker?”

  I frowned, trying to recall exact details, yet I knew I’d already buried them in s
ome forbidden memory zone.

  “Something happened,” I said simply. “Whatever I smelled was coming from”—I stopped myself and proceeded cautiously—“seemed to be coming from that locker. Like whoever used it before me had something really disgusting stored in there and—”

  “That’s impossible.” Noreen shook her head. “It hasn’t been used for …” She hesitated and seemed to be searching for words. “For a long time,” she finished at last. “Not since last fall, anyway.”

  “What do you mean? How do you know that?”

  Her face looked so serious now, it was making me nervous. I waited for her to answer, and she finally said, “Because I knew the girl who had it last.”

  For a long time she didn’t say anything else. We both stood there in the hall, and I could hear muffled classroom noises up and down the passageway and the faint faraway slam of a door, and then Noreen put her hand on my arm.

  “It was Suellen’s locker,” she murmured. “Suellen Downing.”

  Just the way she said the name made me feel weird. When I didn’t respond, Noreen glanced up at me and then away again, as if she really didn’t want to talk about it anymore.

  “Who’s that?” I heard myself ask, even though every instinct was telling me not to.

  “A girl who went to school here,” Noreen said softly. “Before she disappeared.”

  4

  Disappeared?” I saw Noreen take a step forward, but I just kept standing there in the middle of the hall looking at her. “What do you mean, disappeared?”

  “I mean she just vanished into thin air.” Noreen gave a little shiver, then took my elbow and steered me down the hall, keeping her voice low. “You’re bound to hear about it sooner or later—it’s our town’s one claim to fame. Or is it infamy?” She gave a wry smile. “One day she was here, and I was walking with her just like I’m walking with you now, and we were laughing and everything was normal. And then …”

  She stopped walking. Her voice lowered even more, and her fingers tightened on my arm.

  “No one knows what happened to her after school that day. No one ever saw her again … or heard from her.”