Prom Nights From Hell Page 0,23

thought.

"Forget it. It was weird-let's leave it at that." He tried to lighten things up. "Now are you going to let me in, or what? I'm falling to pieces out here!"

I pressed my body against the hall wall. My knees buckled, I wasn't doing too well with muscle control, but I reminded myself that I was safe behind the solid front door. Whatever else he was, Will was still flesh and bones. Well, partially. But not yet a ghost who could move through walls.

"Will, you've got to go," I said. "I made a mistake, okay?"

"A mistake? What do you mean?" His confusion broke my heart.

"It's just... oh God." I started crying. "We're not right for each other anymore. You understand, don't you?"

"No, I don't. You wanted me to ask you to prom, so I asked you to prom. And now for no good reason... ohhh! I get it!"

"You do?"

"You don't want me to see you! That's it, isn't it? You're nervous about how you look!"

"Um..." Should I run with this? Should I say yes just so he would leave?

"Frankie. Dude. You have nothing to worry about." He laughed. "One, you're beautiful; and two, compared to me, there's no way you won't look like... I don't know, an angel from heaven."

He sounded relieved, as if he'd had a niggling sense of something being off, but couldn't quite place his finger on it. But now he knew: It was Frankie having self-esteem issues, that's all! Silly Frankie!

I heard a shuffling, and then the bump of a small wooden lid. My body tensed, because I knew that bump.

The milk box-crap. He'd remembered the key in the milk box.

"I'm letting myself in," he called, slump-thumping back to the front door." 'Kay, Franks? 'Cause all of a sudden I'm, like, dying to see you!"

He laughed, jubilant. "I mean, wait, that came out wrong... but, heck, guess that's the theme of the night. Everything's coming out wrong-and I do mean everything!"

I fled to the den, where I got on my hands and knees and frantically patted the floor. If only it weren't so dark!

The deadbolt stuck, and Will jangled the key. His breathing was clotted.

"I'm coming, Frankie!" he called. Jangle, jangle. "I'm coming as fast as I can!"

My fear ratcheted so high that I was thrown into an altered state of reality. I was gasping and crying out, I could hear myself, and my hands were blind feelers, pawing and slapping as I crawled.

With a thunk, the bolt slid home.

"Yes," Will crowed.

The door swished over the frayed carpet at the exact instant my fingers closed on the crumbling corsage.

"Frankie? Why is it so dark? And why aren't you-"

I squeezed my eyes shut and spoke my final wish.

All sounds ceased, save for the rustle of wind in the leaves. The door, continuing its slow trajectory, bumped against the doorjamb. I stayed where I was on the floor. I sobbed, because my heart was breaking. No, my heart was broken.

After several moments, the cicadas once again took up their yearning chorus. I rose to my feet, stumbled across the room, and stood, shivering, in the open doorway. Outside, a pale shaft of moonlight shone on the deserted road.

Madison Avery and the Dim Reaper Chapter One

Madison Avery and the Dim Reaper

Kim Harrison

Chapter One

If British general, a damsel in a dress, and a pirate walk into a gym, I thought as I gazed over the bodies moving in a mind-numbing chaos of pent-up, inexperienced, teenage lust. Leave it to Covington High to turn prom into a joke. Not to mention my seventeenth birthday. What was I doing here?

Prom was supposed to be real dresses with a live band, not rented costumes with canned music and streamers. And my birthday was supposed to be... anything but this.

"You sure you don't want to dance?" Josh yelled in my ear, sending his sugary breath over me. I tried not to grimace, keeping my gaze fixed on the clock beside the gym's Scoreboard and wondering if an hour was long enough to stay and not get the third degree from my dad. The music was dull-the same rhythmic thump over, and over, and over. Nothing new in the last forty minutes. And the bass was way too loud.

"Yep," I said, edging away in time with the music when his hand tried to creep to my waist. "Still don't want to dance."

"Something to drink?" he tried again, and I cocked my hip, crossing my arms to hide my cleavage. I was still waiting for the