Scared to Death
A short story by Yari Garcia
Copyright 2016 by Yari Garcia
All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
Table of Contents:
Scared to Death
About Yari Garcia
Other Stories by Yari Garcia
Scared to Death
Chapter One
Karissa walked up the illuminated path towards her house, keys in hand. The door was alluring to her, as she wanted nothing more than to cross the threshold and kick her shoes off. It had been a long night--cramming for finals with her annoying tutor. She waved away a moth that circled around the porch light, unlocked the door, and stepped inside.
“Helloooo,” she called out to no one. The kitchen light was on, but she knew nobody was home. Her parents were always at Bingo on Thursday nights. The mere thought of it made Karissa roll her eyes. If her adult life ever included Bingo Night, she’d just end it right then and there.
Karissa tossed her backpack into the dark living room in the general direction of the couch. She shuffled into the kitchen, opened the fridge, and slipped her shoes off as she surveyed the contents in the ice box. One shoe got thrown to the left with a thud. The other got thrown to the right with another thud. Then Karissa heard yet another thud.
She looked up and around her. “Mom?” she called out, but no one answered. Looking back into the fridge, she wondered if her parents had put away any leftovers…
Thud.
Annoyed, Karissa shut the fridge door. “Dad?” she called out, a little louder this time. Karissa walked around the kitchen island and past the sink full of dishes. She peered into the living room, but could see only darkness.
Thud!
The sound made Karissa jump as she realized it wasn’t coming from inside the house. She turned to her left where, above the sink, was a large window. The gauzy curtains were see-through, barely doing anything to cover the glass. She suddenly felt exposed, since all she could see was her own reflection on the glass, looking back at her in confusion. Whoever was out there, though, could clearly see her standing under the kitchen light…
This is stupid, Karissa thought and went back to the fridge. But she could not shake the feeling that she was being watched.
Just as Karissa was starting to calm down, she heard three successive thuds, one after the other. Then a loud one, right outside the back door.
She quickly shut the fridge door and turned the lights off. At least in the dark, whoever was out there could not see inside. Karissa then creeped slowly towards the back door. She mentally cursed at her parents’ definition of privacy—another thin, translucent curtain waved lazily, barely covering the square window on the door.
Karissa felt her way through the darkness. She reached out her hand and slid it along the wall, knowing that at any moment her fingertips would bump into the light switch. She needed to reach the switch and turn on the outside light. Then she’d be able to see who was out there.
Karissa could feel her heart beating loudly against her chest as she slowly, very slowly, kept moving forward. She knew she was inches from the light switch now. Karissa felt relief when she touched the familiar switch, but it didn’t last long.
As she flicked up the switch, the backyard was illuminated. Mere inches from the door’s window stood a figure, large and imposing, wearing a bloody mask.
Karissa always thought that, in the face of danger, she would run. Hide. Or better yet, run to her father’s closet and grab his pistol. She’d fight any intruder and come out victorious.
That’s what she always thought.
Instead, Karissa let out a blood-curling scream that reverberated throughout the house and stung her ears. Eyes glued on the man, she could see that he had a bat, and was about to swing it at the window’s glass.
Another scream escaped Karissa’s mouth as she waited for the glass to shatter. But it never did. When Karissa choked on her own scream, everything fell silent.
Then she heard the laughter.
Karissa dove towards the back door, undid the latches, and pulled it open. She would have ripped the door off its hinges if she could. She advanced on the masked man and gave him a hard shove.
“Keith! You freaking jerk!”
Keith pulled off his mask and tossed it aside. He made a fist in front of his mouth to try to contain his explosive laughter. Karissa’s face turned red when she saw two of her other friends, Emily and Mike, standing not too far away. Emily held up her smartphone while Mike was bent over in laughter.
“Ha-ha. Real funny, guys. Real funny,” Karissa said. She advanced towards Emily and swiped at her phone. “And stop recording! Don’t you know the neighbors are probably going to call the cops?”
Emily swung her phone away just in time to keep it from Karissa’s grip. “Probably,” Emily said between laughter hiccups. “After hearing your scream-fest, anybody would.”
“Man, that was crazy,” Mike said, wiping tears from his eyes. “Best one yet.”
Karissa rolled her eyes and crossed her arms over her chest. She hated to admit it, but that was the best scare they’d had yet. She shifted her weight to one foot, realizing for the first time that she was barefoot on the wet grass.
“You all need to go home,” she finally snapped. “It’s past ten and my parents will be home soon.”
The teens allowed their laughter to subside as they made their way to the back gate.
“And you,” Karissa added to Emily, “send me that before you post it. I don’t want you adding it to the website if I look stupid.”
Emily pranced back to Karissa, quickly pinching her cheek lightly. “You didn’t look stupid. Just absolutely terrified.” Emily smirked and turned on her heel, which made her baby doll dress flutter.
“Whatever, Emily. Go home,” Karissa said to Emily’s back. “And do NOT post it without my consent.”
“I won’t! I won’t!” Emily called back to her and disappeared behind the wooden gate. With a sigh, Karissa headed back inside.
That was good, she thought. But I still want something scarier.
Chapter Two
Emily stepped into her math class. She loved her math class. Actually, she hated math, she just loved the classroom. Actually, she hated the classroom and school altogether. Emily just loved that her desk was so vintage. The wood was weathered and scratchy. You could lift the top of the desk and have a secret compartment all to yourself. She had decorated the inside of hers with stickers of hair bows, pacifiers, and baby rattles. It was like she had a tiny room to retreat to in the middle of algebra.
Emily made her way to her desk. The very first thing she did every day when she got to class was open it up to see if anyone had messed with her stuff. She slipped into the chair and ran her hands along the side—the secret piece of scotch tape was still there, meaning nobody had opened it. Perfect.
Emily lifted the lid to the desk, squealed, and quickly dropped it with a BANG! Laughter erupted all around her.
“Wow, really?” Mike, her boyfriend, called out to her from across the room. “That easy?”
Emily’s heart fluttered inside her chest, and not because Mike gave her butterflies. She had just had a glimpse of hundreds of cockroaches inside her desk. Only they weren’t real.
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“You’re going to make me cry!” Emily pouted. Mike approached her and sat on the desk in front of her. “You’re supposed to be on my side, you know.”
“I was just kidding, babe,” Mike replied, leaning on the back rest of his chair. “I wasn’t even recording.”
Emily opened her desk abruptly, forcing Mike to lean back to avoid being hit. “Whoa, take it easy,” he said.
“Now I have to pick all these things out of here. Ugh!”
Emily noticed a girl come up behind her and jump. “Eww, what is that??” The girl squealed.
Emily looked up to see the new girl looking down into her fake-cockroach-infested desk. The girl looked positively grossed out and pale. She had truly been frightened. Emily gave her a big, innocent smile. “Don’t worry, they’re fake.” Emily shut her desk and leaned her elbows on it. “You’re the new girl, right? What’s your name?”
The new girl shifted her weight to one foot and slipped a lock of hair behind her ear. “Um, I’m Bella.”
“Hi, I’m Mike. And this is—”
Emily’s snicker interrupted Mike. “Bella? But it says ‘Arabella’ right there, on your folder.”
“Yeah… but,” the new girl stuttered a bit. She moved her hands so that her fingers covered the place where the guidance counselor had written her full name. “But people call me Bella.”
Emily giggled. “Right. I’m Emily. People call me Emily. And that’s Mike. We call him Mike.”
Bella nodded. She glued her eyes to the ground and started to walk away.
“Hey, you can sit here, behind me,” Emily called out to her. “I don’t mind. We can talk. And maybe you can help me get these fake bugs out of here, too.”
Bella looked into Emily’s face, which was now full of sweetness and friendship. Bella was new in the school, and not many people had talked to her, so she decided what the heck. Bella slipped into the desk behind Emily’s and ran her fingers along the top.
“All these open up?” she asked. “Huh. That’s kind of cool.” Bella opened the lid to her desk, only to squeal loudly and quickly drop it with a BANG!
Chapter Three
Bella kept stealing peeks at Emily as she ate her lunch. She was trying not to stare at this girl, who looked more like a doll than a person. Her eyelashes were long and dark, and her bottom lashes seemed even longer. Bella thought about asking the girl if those were falsies, but she thought better of it. She didn’t want to offend Emily, even if the girl had already offended her a million times. That day, Bella had quickly learned that Emily was the type of girl that would tease you horribly, then say “I’m just kidding!” with her innocent, endearing smile.
As much as it irritated Bella, she was just glad she had someone to sit with at lunch. She had arrived at Pines High four days ago, and hadn’t been able to make a friend yet. She had sat alone at lunch each day, feeling like everyone was staring at her, as if she had a huge neon sign above her head that flashed Loser Sitting Alone. Finally being able to sit with someone at lunch was a huge relief.
“Hello, boys,” Emily cooed as her boyfriend, Mike, reached the table with another guy.
Bella looked at the guy, and he was so gorgeous that she immediately looked away. She prayed that she wasn’t turning beet-red, but could feel the heat rising up her neck.
The guy noticed and seemed to find it amusing, though not in a mean way. When Bella’s eyes took a glance at him again, he smirked, revealing a hidden dimple on his right cheek.
“Mike, you met her already,” Emily pointed at Bella with her thumb as the guys sat down. “Sey, this is Arabella. Arabella, this is Sey.”
Bella cringed in her seat. Why did Emily have to do that? Bella hated not having a more modern name. She would have loved something new and sexy, like Nikki or Lexy. Instead, she was stuck with Arabella. Emily knew this—she had told Emily. And yet the girl kept using her antiquated name. While fuming at Emily’s mean-spiritedness, Sey’s voice broke through her vengeful thoughts.
“Hi, I’m Sey,” he repeated. “I bet you go by ‘Bella,’ though. Right?”
Bella unglued her piercing eyes from Emily to look at Sey. “Yeah… actually, I do.”
“That’s great,” Sey said, taking a sip of cherry cola. “It’s beautiful,” he murmured so that only Bella could hear.
Bella’s eyes lingered on Sey’s, and a comfortable warmth spread between them. Sey’s eyes were green and piercing, made the more intense by the darkness of his brows. Bella saw a glimmer of interest and curiosity in them, and she quickly realized this boy would be her #1 crush.
“What did I miss?”
Bella startled as a girl slipped into the seat beside her. The girl gave her an amused smile and a giggled. “Sorry, didn’t meant to scare ya,” the girl said and set down her tray.
“You didn’t miss much, just introductions,” Emily said.
And before Emily could say ‘Arabella’ one more time, Bella jumped in. “Hi, I’m Bella.”
“I’m Karissa,” the girl said with a smile. Her lips were perfectly glossed in a shade of peach. “You’re new here, right?”
“Yeah,” Bella replied. “I’m from Salem. I’ve been here a little bit less than a week.”
“Oh, yeah,” Karissa said, picking a cherry tomato from her salad. “I’ve seen you here. You sat alone for days, over there.” Karissa gestured to a corner of the cafeteria. “Glad to see you decided to join humanity.”
A guy laughed, and Bella jumped. This made Karissa giggle even more, and Emily joined in. Bella wondered when the boy had gotten there.
“Glad to see you join the human race, too,” the guy said. “I’m Keith. I’m always glad when a chick joins the human race.” The guy smiled and winked, and it made Bella cringe.
Emily leaned forward to look past Bella. “So, Karissa, I have a really cool idea for the website,” Emily said. She looked at Bella, then back at Karissa. “But I’ll have to tell you later.”
Karissa glanced at Bella, which made her shift in her chair uncomfortably. Karissa then looked back at Emily. Intrigued, Karissa said, “Okay… Tell me later, then.”
The two girls shared conspiratory smiles, and Bella hated being between it all, like she was in the line of fire. Bella was glad when everyone’s attention zoomed into their phones and away from her. She finally had a moment of respite from her new and odd friends. They already felt more like frenemies, and she hated it.
But Sey…
She looked up and was surprised to meet his eyes—intense, gorgeous, and looking right at her.
“Hey, you don’t have a drink. I got you,” Sey said. Bella watched as he walked over to the vending machine and came back with a bottled water. “I had to guess what you like.”
Bella took the water, unable to give anything but a smile as a thanks. She was taken by Sey’s kindness and attention. She smiled inside, wondering if Sey had noticed her eating a vegan lunch. Water was what she liked most with her healthy meals, and somehow he knew. Bella bit her lip. It was all she could do to keep from heaving a lovely sigh.
As they all ate, Bella and Sey kept exchanging glances and smiles with each other. He was giving her butterflies like she had never felt before.
Although, Bella had a hard time keeping her attention on Sey alone. Karissa and Emily kept snickering back and forth, and Bella just knew they were texting each other. About her.
Chapter Four
“Isn’t my girlfriend the prettiest evil genius?”
Mike rested his languid arm across Emily’s shoulders as she beamed a big, proud smile. They were sitting on the bleachers waiting for gym class to end. Emily had just explained to Karissa and Keith the plan that would make the perfect viral video. The video that would finally get some traffic flowing to their website. And it definitely included the new girl.
“I don’t know…” Karissa said. She was doubtful, but incredibly excited at the
same time. “Isn’t that pretty cruel? And won’t we need her consent to upload the video?”
“First of all, cruel is our game,” Emily stated bluntly. “We won’t get the best horror website by being nice. So get that thought out of your head. Like, now.”
Mike brushed a lock of Emily’s hair behind her ear and added, “Yeah, Karissa. There’s no nice way to go about this. We’re running a horror show, not a charity.”
“Okay, but what about the consent thing? She’ll never give us permission to post that.”
“Don’t need it,” Keith butted in all matter-of-factly. “Not if it’s done in a public place. You lose all rights to privacy then. We’re protected by the First Amendment, and we won’t be using the footage for commercial use. So, we’re covered.”
“As long as it’s filmed in a public place, we don’t need her consent?” Karissa asked to confirm.
“Not at all,” Keith reassured.
Karissa bit her lip. It was a major prank, and the new girl already seemed twitchy and anxious. “What if her heart stops or something?” Karissa blurted out.
The three teens—Keith, Mike, and Emily—burst into laughter. “Are you serious??”
“She’s like, sixteen or something. She’s not an old lady waiting to croak,” Emily giggled. “Although, judging by her name, she could be an old lady. Arabella. Such an old lady name.”
“Seriously, Karissa, it’ll be fine,” Keith said. “She’ll get spooked, then we’ll all laugh about it. It will be like hazing her into our group. She gets a thrill, and we get a kickass video.”
“I even know the perfect place,” Mike said. “My grandparents own a cabin in the woods right on the edge of town. They just got it. It’s pretty much abandoned, since they haven’t been able to go in and do any repairs. Anyway, the cemetery next to the cabin is considered a public place.”
“Great! We’ll keep the equipment in the cabin, then sneak it out when we’re ready to do the prank,” Keith said. “We won’t be carrying any cameras or lights to make her suspicious.”
“Done deal,” Emily stated with finality. “Oh, and let’s not tell Sey.”
Karissa perked up at the mention of her crush’s name. “Sey? Why can’t we tell Sey?”