Page 23 of Hell House
“Yeah. I had a bunch of pictures of me and my mom.” A few tears spill over.
“I wonder what started it?”
“You know these old buildings. Probably faulty wiring.”
“We should probably find some clothing.” Skye grabs my hand, pulling me up. My legs feel like tiny needles are stabbing my skin as we walk down the hall towards the main hall.
“We’re okay.” Skye says, more to herself than to me, but I nod.
“We’re okay.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Skye
Salem and I sit buried under a mountain of blankets while we wait outside Dean Camden’s office. My fingers wrap around a styrofoam cup of hot chocolate that I find myself mindlessly sipping. I had such little possessions as it was, and I wondered if I’d just lost everything I had in the fire. My heart stutters thinking of my photo album carrying some of the only pictures I had of my mother. I feel my eyes begin to water with exhaustion and a tiny bit grief for my things that I was certain were ruined. I should have left the album with dad, but stupidly I’d thought it would be safe with me. We’d been up all night since fleeing our room. The fire happened around 2 am. Prime rem sleeping time. We’re lucky to have woken up when we did.
A familiar woman’s voice cuts through my wandering thoughts.
“Salem, Skye. Would you mind coming into my office?” She asks, and I recognize her as the woman who was running down our hallway with rollers in her hair, although they're missing now. Her jaw is tightly clenched, and she has deep purple bruises under her eyes that scream of a lack of sleep. She ushers us both into her office which is cozily decorated and thankfully she has a space heater pumping warmth throughout the small space.
“Take a seat please.” She gestures to two tattered thread bare upholstered chairs that have a dark floral pattern. Upon closer inspection what I’d assumed were vines, were actually snakes. Creepy.
“Thankfully, those quick-thinking boys with the buckets of water were able to contain the fire to your room, but unfortunately that leaves your room completely uninhabitable. According to the fire department, you’ll be allowed to go and see if there’s anything salvageable, but in the meantime I’m afraid we don’t have any extra dorm rooms.”
“So where will we stay?” Salem asks, pulling the blankets around her tighter.
Dean Camden shifts in her seat and clears her throat. “It seems the only place on campus with rooms to spare is the fraternity house. Now, normally you’d need to be a pledge to live there, but these are extenuating circumstances. The boys have already been made aware of your situation and were most agreeable to accommodate you both.”
Salem and I lock eyes, silently communicating our worry. We were supposed to move into Hell House? My stomach clenches with anxiety thinking of all the rumors surrounding that place and now we were supposed to live there? Fuck my life.
My thoughts snag on having to coexist in the same space as Lukas Ledger. Our few interactions had proven that I was an utter disaster anywhere near his proximity, but now we had to live in the same house? I fanned my face, suddenly feeling overheated. Salem shared my same panicked expression. I’m sure that close embrace I found her and Pierce in earlier was eating at her.
Salem HATED Pierce, but the way they looked at each other? I felt like they were about to tear each other’s clothes off and go at it on the floor. I set down my hot chocolate and rub at my temples, feeling the bloom of a headache starting to manifest. This is not how I imagined this day would go. I had plans to work on my piece for Professor Whitelsbee, maybe do some sketching to practice, then study for my Chemistry test in between attending my regularly scheduled classes. Life had a way of laughing at your plans before sprinkling some chaos around like a maniacal evil genius. I’m pretty sure it had the matching villain mustache to twirl as it fucked up people’s well laid plans.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Salem
Skye and I pick over our charred belongings. My side of the room was worse, I’d found only a few clothing items that made it unscathed due to the fact that they were squished with Skye’s. My bed was turned to ash which made my stomach roil. I had just been sleeping there. What would have happened if I didn’t wake up in time?
“Did you find anything?” I ask clutching my few belongings and the burned entrails of my special edition ofThe Hobbit.I couldn’t bring myself to let it go just yet, even though it was falling apart in my hands.
“My album thankfully escaped. It’s a little burned on the outside and there’s some water damage but I think I can salvage the pictures.” She says in a small voice sniffling, “And my roller skates seem to be okay, I’d stashed them under my bed.” We’d borrowed some clothes from Javelynn but both Skye and I were having a hard time fitting into them. I drop down to my knees, looking under my ruined bed and find the pink vibrator I’d stashed there. It was burnt rubber now.
A knock on the doorframe jolts me out of my reverie. Pierce’s large frame eats up all the light pouring in from the hallway like my very own unwelcome black hole.
“What do you want Ledger?” I say clutching my charred book to my chest and hiding the vibrator behind my back. I remembered how he left aburptly after almost kissing me last night. Out of all the people to deal with at the moment, he sits firmly at the bottom of the list. Which is saying something. My mother used to hold that rank. He stands awkwardly for a moment taking in the damage before clearing his throat and fixing his face up into a smirk. That goddamn smirk.
“Headmaster sent me to help you both settle into your new digs. I’m supposed to carry anything you need help with.” He looks down at my arms. “What’s that behind your back?”
“Nothing.” I say clutching the vibrator harder, but as I do, my thumb presses the on button and it begins to vibrate in my hand.
Pierce’s eyes go wide with amusement. “Nothing?”
I nod my head yes, even though we both know I’m lying.
“That nothing wouldn’t happen to be a toy shaped like an eggplant, would it?”
