broad forehead and a lot of white in his hair. They both were in uniformâblack dress shirt, black tie, and black slacks. They both had little white nametags on their shirt pockets.
âThey must be new,â Eric whispered in my ear. âI havenât seen either of them before. The Fears have so many people working for them.â
âBut the house has been closed, right?â I said. âThey just opened it for Brendanâs party today.â
Eric nodded. He darted over to Geena and put his arm around her. âI see you watching me, Geena. You canât take your eyes off me, can you? Maybe you and I can sneak away later. Maybe do some nature walks on the island? Are you into nature like I am?â
She laughed. âThatâs a maybe, Eric.â
âYou mean itâs a yes ?â
Geena shook her head. âA maybe is a no .â
âSo itâs a yes,â Eric said.
âNo.â
âIâll take that to be a yes.â
The sky darkened again, and the air grew cooler. Behind us, the boat rose up, then splashed down as waves washed hard against the narrow dock.
âOkay, guys. Letâs get to the house before the rain comes,â Antonio shouted. He had some kind of foreign accent. Italian, I think. He pointed to a dirt path that led through the tall grass, away from the shore. âItâs a short hike through the woods. Be careful to stay on the path. There are a lot of snakes.â
âWhat kind of snakes?â Patti asked.
âThe kind you donât want to meet,â Antonio replied.
We all started toward the path. I stopped when I heard a shrill scream.
I turned back in time to see Randy fall. One foot was caught in the tie rope, and he screamed again as he stumbled off the dock. I gasped as his head hit one of the tall log pilings. It made a sick thud .
His white cap landed upside down on the dock. Arms slumped at his sides, Randy dropped into the churning lake water.
Screaming, shouting in shock, we went running to the dock. Antonio and Miguel were already on their knees, peering into the water. They tried to wave us back. âHeâll be okay,â Antonio shouted. âHeâs a good swimmer.â
âBack, everyone,â Miguel ordered. âGet back.â
No one moved. My heart was pounding in my chest. I struggled to catch my breath.
And then I uttered a choked cry as a circle of bright red rose up in the dark lapping water. The red tint spread quickly, washing with the waves.
âBlood! Itâs his blood!â Geena shouted.
âWhere is he? Why isnât he coming up?â Delia cried.
Iâd been holding my breath the whole time. I forced myself to breathe. My legs suddenly felt weak. No sign of him.
Antonio began to wave frantically. âGet up to the house! All of you! Miguelâtake them to the house. Iâll deal with this. Everyoneâ move !â He tugged his shoes off, then started to strip off his clothes.
âHeâll be okay. Randyâll be okay,â Miguel kept repeating. He frantically began moving us off the dock. âCome on, everybody. Antonio will pull him out. No worries. Really. No worries.â
I had no choice. I had to follow the others to the path that led to the house. But as I stepped off the dock, I turned back. And saw the water so crimson, rippling red, the blood spreading in the waves and around the dock. And no sign of Randy ⦠just Randyâs blood, billowing up from down below.
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10.
ROADKILL
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I shut my eyes. I turned away from the horrifying sight at the dock.
Was it really possible? Was the party ruined by a drowning before it even began?
I suddenly thought about Amy. She warned me not to come to this party. She kept saying there was a curse on the Fear family. Mac warned me, too, but he was crazy and jealous and out of control.
âKeep moving, everyone,â Miguel ordered us. âDonât worry about Randy. Antonio
Patrick Lewis, Christopher Denise