closed off.”
“And then there’s the ghost,” Barry said matter-of-factly.
“What ghost?”
Barry stopped right in the middle of the walkway, causing a group of girls behind them to divert into the grass. “You haven’t heard about the ghost of Curtis?”
Danielle shook her head and narrowed her eyes skeptically. “Are you shitting me or what?”
“For real. You know some of the offices on the third floor used to be dorms back in the day, right?”
“So I’ve heard.”
“Well, back during the Civil War, there was this chick named Patty something-or-other, and her fiancé got blown up by a landmine in battle.”
“I don’t think they had landmines in the Civil War.”
“Whatever. Point is, he kicked it and she was all heart-broken, right? So one night after dinner, she takes a knife back up to her dorm room and plunges it right into her chest, bled to death in her bed. And now she wanders around Curtis, there have been several sightings of her on the third floor. They stay she still has the knife sticking out of her chest.”
Danielle laughed, but there was a nervous edge to the sound. “Sounds like a bunch of horseshit, if you ask me.”
“No way. I heard Dr. Rob telling some of the guys on the lacrosse team about it, and Dr. Rob would know. He’s a history professor, after all.”
Danielle looked back toward Curtis, now seeing the building in a new light. With its flaking paint, bell tower, and large white columns out front, it certainly looked like the kind of place that might be haunted. And she had always gotten a weird vibe in there, like someone was watching her.
“So you still wanna go by the Business office?” Barry asked.
“Uhm, no, it can wait.”
***
From one of the upper windows of Curtis, the ghost of someone who had never lived looked down on the quad and smiled.
REVOLUTION OF SOUND
Leslie and Joanne stopped at a Taco Bell on the way to the concert. They’d left their respective houses this evening wearing jeans and T-shirts, their hair pulled back in sloppy ponytails. In the restroom of the fast food restaurant, they unloaded the duffel bag they’d brought with them and started their transformation. Leslie changed into a pair of ripped fishnets, a red-and-black checkered Catholic schoolgirl skirt, and a baggie black T-shirt emblazoned with a picture of Johnny Depp as Edward Scissorhands. She smeared eyeliner under her eyes so that she looked like she hadn’t slept in a week.
Leslie glanced over at her friend and was a bit amazed by the audacity of Joanne’s outfit. Leslie wasn’t exactly a slender girl, a little too thick in the hips and thighs, but Joanne was downright fat. A tank of a girl, she weighed close to three hundred pounds, and yet she had a confidence when it came to her body that Leslie envied. Joanne had changed into a short black skirt that came only halfway down her thighs, and a shredded shirt that had several gashes in the rear, nearly exposing her entire back. She applied black lipstick that looked like greasepaint and used a giant can of hairspray to tease her hair into a dark brown helmet.
“Wanna use some of this?” Joanne asked, holding the can out to Leslie.
Leslie shook her head, loosening her dyed-black hair to fall about her face. She preferred to wear her hair over her face like a veil, looking out at the world from in between the curtain of dark strands.
They left the bathroom and went to the counter to order some sodas for the road. They inspired a lot of disapproving stares and whispered comments, but they were used to that. It was the kind of treatment they always got at their high school. It was a world of Neanderthal jocks and vapid cheerleaders, and Leslie and Joanne didn’t fit the mold, neither physically nor mentally. Sometimes Leslie thought she and Joanne had become friends out of a desperate need to commiserate with someone.
Back in the car, Leslie behind the wheel, Joanne
“And then there’s the ghost,” Barry said matter-of-factly.
“What ghost?”
Barry stopped right in the middle of the walkway, causing a group of girls behind them to divert into the grass. “You haven’t heard about the ghost of Curtis?”
Danielle shook her head and narrowed her eyes skeptically. “Are you shitting me or what?”
“For real. You know some of the offices on the third floor used to be dorms back in the day, right?”
“So I’ve heard.”
“Well, back during the Civil War, there was this chick named Patty something-or-other, and her fiancé got blown up by a landmine in battle.”
“I don’t think they had landmines in the Civil War.”
“Whatever. Point is, he kicked it and she was all heart-broken, right? So one night after dinner, she takes a knife back up to her dorm room and plunges it right into her chest, bled to death in her bed. And now she wanders around Curtis, there have been several sightings of her on the third floor. They stay she still has the knife sticking out of her chest.”
Danielle laughed, but there was a nervous edge to the sound. “Sounds like a bunch of horseshit, if you ask me.”
“No way. I heard Dr. Rob telling some of the guys on the lacrosse team about it, and Dr. Rob would know. He’s a history professor, after all.”
Danielle looked back toward Curtis, now seeing the building in a new light. With its flaking paint, bell tower, and large white columns out front, it certainly looked like the kind of place that might be haunted. And she had always gotten a weird vibe in there, like someone was watching her.
“So you still wanna go by the Business office?” Barry asked.
“Uhm, no, it can wait.”
***
From one of the upper windows of Curtis, the ghost of someone who had never lived looked down on the quad and smiled.
REVOLUTION OF SOUND
Leslie and Joanne stopped at a Taco Bell on the way to the concert. They’d left their respective houses this evening wearing jeans and T-shirts, their hair pulled back in sloppy ponytails. In the restroom of the fast food restaurant, they unloaded the duffel bag they’d brought with them and started their transformation. Leslie changed into a pair of ripped fishnets, a red-and-black checkered Catholic schoolgirl skirt, and a baggie black T-shirt emblazoned with a picture of Johnny Depp as Edward Scissorhands. She smeared eyeliner under her eyes so that she looked like she hadn’t slept in a week.
Leslie glanced over at her friend and was a bit amazed by the audacity of Joanne’s outfit. Leslie wasn’t exactly a slender girl, a little too thick in the hips and thighs, but Joanne was downright fat. A tank of a girl, she weighed close to three hundred pounds, and yet she had a confidence when it came to her body that Leslie envied. Joanne had changed into a short black skirt that came only halfway down her thighs, and a shredded shirt that had several gashes in the rear, nearly exposing her entire back. She applied black lipstick that looked like greasepaint and used a giant can of hairspray to tease her hair into a dark brown helmet.
“Wanna use some of this?” Joanne asked, holding the can out to Leslie.
Leslie shook her head, loosening her dyed-black hair to fall about her face. She preferred to wear her hair over her face like a veil, looking out at the world from in between the curtain of dark strands.
They left the bathroom and went to the counter to order some sodas for the road. They inspired a lot of disapproving stares and whispered comments, but they were used to that. It was the kind of treatment they always got at their high school. It was a world of Neanderthal jocks and vapid cheerleaders, and Leslie and Joanne didn’t fit the mold, neither physically nor mentally. Sometimes Leslie thought she and Joanne had become friends out of a desperate need to commiserate with someone.
Back in the car, Leslie behind the wheel, Joanne
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