Slow Dance in Purgatory(65)

The rotunda was almost completely floor to ceiling in glass along the curved front side, and Shad spoke up from the back of the pack.

“You don’t want to do it in the rotunda, man. If anyone drives by the school they’ll see your candles flickering, and we’ll be busted that quick.”

“Hmmm, not a bad point, Shadrach.” Derek stroked his chin thoughtfully, the green of the exit sign leading to the third floor stairs flickering ghoulishly over his face.

“By the way, Shad….what are you still doin’ here? This is an adults only event. It’ll be way too scary for the kiddies, don’t you think? Come on guys. Let’s put the baby in his room.”

Before Shad knew what was happening, three of the guys had surrounded him, pinning his arms and legs and lifting him like they were going to use him as a battering ram.

“Whoa….? Hey, hey, guys!...Stop!... What the heck?...I got you in here! You can’t do this!” Shad sputtered, kicking and arching, trying to get free of three pairs of powerful arms. They moved quickly up the stairs and down the hall, Shad held securely between them.

“Where is the baby’s room?” Derek shouted gleefully. “Oh look, there it is!”

The senior lockers lined two of the third floor halls, and one of the boys who wasn’t carrying Shad smacked a locker dead center with his big fist. It swung open immediately.

“Works every time!” the kid crowed happily. Shad screeched and began begging in earnest.

“You can’t put me in there! It’s dark up here! I’ll suffocate! I’ll go crazy! What if I have to pee?” He thrashed desperately. His pleas went unheeded.

“Here you go, baby Shad! Nighty night!” Trevor shoved Shad’s upper body into the locker roughly as someone else bent his legs into the long narrow opening. For a moment, Shad thought he would be able to prevent them from shutting the door, and he scrambled desperately, trying to push his way back out. He almost wiggled free, but at the last second, Derek punched him hard in the stomach, and Shad collapsed, cradling his belly with his arms, gasping for air. Trevor wrenched Gus’s ring of keys from his front pocket, and with another heavy shove, Shad was forced back in to the locker. The door was slammed shut, closing over his horrified face.

“That’ll keep the little shit for a while. We’ll come back and get him when we’re done,” Derek chortled, slapping a few of the guys across the back. “What’d he think we were gonna do - let him hang with us indefinitely?”

One of the girls protested, “Get him out, guys. You’re so mean! We can’t just leave him up here all alone!” Shad could hear her faintly as the footfalls grew farther away. She must have been overruled or reassured, because no one came back and let him out. He yelled after them, begging them to change their minds, promising them that they would be sorry, but silence was his only response. Shad breathed slowly, trying to keep the hysteria from overpowering him. There were slats in the door. At least he wouldn’t die for lack of oxygen, which provided some small comfort, but it was very small comfort indeed.

The locker smelled like sweaty socks and beef jerky. The sneaker on his right foot was wedged at an odd angle, tweaking his ankle which was already throbbing like a bad tooth. He tried to pull his foot free, but didn’t have enough room to even scratch his butt. He wiggled his other foot until it rested on the bottom of the locker. Pressing down, he released his weight from the foot that was torqued and managed to relieve the pressure by several degrees. That was better. He tried butting his head into the locker door, thinking maybe he could pop it back open. It didn’t work, and before long he was seeing stars, and his head hurt almost as badly as his ankle.

“I’m too sexy for my shirt, too sexy for my shirt, so sexy..” Shad’s ring tone jangled merrily from his back pocket. His heart leaped joyfully in his chest. His phone was still in his pocket! He wiggled and shimmied violently, trying to work at least one of his arms down and around his body. His phone stopped ringing. He kept squirming and was just about there when his phone, loosened by his writhing and wiggling, dropped from his pocket and hit his left shoe with a dull thud. Shad felt the tears welling up in his eyes and clogging his throat.

“Super strength, super flexibility, super skills,” he repeated to himself, pushing the tears away. The phone started ringing again. There was no way he could squat down enough now to grab it. There wasn’t enough clearance for his knees to bend. He was going to have to work a miracle with his big feet. He put pressure back on his wedged foot and pulled the other foot back, pressing his heel into the side of the locker, wincing in pain he tried to peel his foot out of his shoe. Little by little he pulled his foot free.

***

Tasha placed the candles in a large circle, and she and the other girls lit them, one by one, until they reflected a burnished glow off the highly waxed stage. The boys sat in the center of the circle, ringed by the candles. They had decided on the auditorium because it was fairly close to the back entrance in case they had to make a speedy getaway, and there were no windows to reveal their clandestine activities to someone passing by, as Shad had so wisely pointed out before they had turned on him.

The boys had pulled out a Ouija board and were avoiding it studiously, waiting for the girls to finish setting the stage. Everyone was feeling a little spooked. The candlelight created flickering shadows and unsettling illusions dancing over the black curtains circling the stage. They huddled together uncomfortably, wondering what to do next, most of them wishing the whole thing was behind them. Derek had disappeared a few minutes earlier, and no one really wanted to take the initiative to start without him.