Shocking Pink

“It’s kind of creepy,” Andie whispered. “I keep getting this feeling, like all the houses are watching us.”

“They’re empty, Andie. Nobody lives in them, so how could they be watching?”

She inched closer to Raven. “They’re supposed to be empty, but what if they’re not? I mean, it would be so easy for someone to hide in one of them.”

“And do what? Jump out and grab some poor, unsuspecting teenager? I don’t think so.”

Andie made a face at her friend’s sarcasm. “It could happen. Look at those houses at the end of the circle. There’s nothing behind them but old man Trent’s fields. And the one on the left’s bordered by a wooded lot.” Andie shuddered, imagining. “That doesn’t spook you at all?”

“Nope.” Raven shook her head. “I like that they’re empty. There’s no nosy old busybody peering out her window at us, scolding us for crossing her yard and threatening to call our parents. I wish they were all empty.”

They reached Julie’s house, a beige-colored two-story with dark blue shutters, and went around to the rear. Their friend’s bedroom was on the second floor, in back. Luckily, her parents’ bedroom was on the other side of the house.

They had done this before, though they didn’t push their luck. Of all their parents, Julie’s father was the toughest. He believed in punishment as a daily cleansing ritual. It didn’t matter what Julie did, she always did wrong. He made it clear she always let him down.

When she really did let him down, he made his daughter pay in ways that scared Andie. Forcing his daughter to stay on her knees for hours reading the Scriptures, humiliating her publicly, controlling her in ways that went way beyond what any other parents did.

Andie was of the opinion that the Good Reverend Cooper, as she and Raven called him, was obsessed with sin and sinfulness, and that he kind of got off on it. It didn’t help that Julie looked more like a Playboy magazine centerfold than a regular fifteen-year-old. Andie also thought he was a complete A-hole and that Julie deserved lots better than him for a father. She only wished Julie thought so, too.

Raven scooped up some gravel and threw a few pieces at a time at Julie’s window. Within moments, Julie appeared. She saw it was them and raised the window and unlatched the screen.

“What are you guys doing here?” she whispered, then glanced nervously over her shoulder.

Raven grinned. “Come down and find out.”

“I don’t know.” Julie looked over her shoulder again, then back at them. “Dad was pretty suspicious tonight. After you guys left, he asked me lots of questions about how you got hurt. Then we had to pray for purity and forgiveness.” She lifted the screen higher and leaned her face out, squinting without her glasses. “How’s your leg?”

“Hurts. It’s no big deal.”

“She got twenty stitches,” Andie said.

“Twenty?” Julie’s eyes widened. “Oh, Rave.”

“Forget my leg, okay? Come on down.” Raven stuck her hands in her back pockets. “Your dad’s going to beat your ass even if you don’t come. He’ll find some reason, you know he will.”

Julie pushed her honey-blond hair away from her face and grinned. “If I’m going to go down anyway, I suppose I might as well have a little fun on the way. Give me a sec.”

A minute or so later, Julie appeared at the window once more, gave them a thumbs-up, then within moments emerged from her house, locking the door behind her. She hurried over to them.

“Andie’s folks are splitting up,” Raven said without preamble.

“Oh my God!” Julie swung to face Andie. “It’s not true, not your parents!”

Andie’s eyes welled with tears. “He told us tonight. He’s been … cheating on my mom. With his secretary.”

“No! That little blonde?” Andie nodded and Julie hugged her. “That really sucks, Andie. You know, I always thought your parents were so happy. So perfect. Like one of those TV families. And your dad, I thought he was the best and that you were so lucky.”

Andie started to cry. “So did I.”

“Great, Julie. You made her cry.”

“I didn’t mean to!”

“Well, you did anyway. Geez!”

Andie made a sound that was half laugh, half sob, then wiped her nose with the back of her hand. “It’s not Julie’s fault. I’m just upset, that’s all.”

“Let’s get out of here,” Raven said, “before Julie’s dad or one of her tattletale brothers gets up to take a pee and sees us out here.”

They started off, keeping to the shadows until they were well clear of Julie’s house. As they neared the bottom of the cul-de-sac, Andie stopped. “Wait.” She held up a hand to quiet them. “Do you hear that?”

“What?”

“Music. Shh … there.”

The other two girls listened. They heard it, too.

“Where’s it coming from?” Julie asked, frowning. They were standing dead center between the four empty houses at the end of the cul-de-sac.

Andie strained to locate the source of the faint music. It floated on the night air, disembodied, there and then gone. It was odd music, disturbing somehow, with a slow, deep beat that made her pulse pound.

“We shouldn’t be hearing music here.” Andie looked at her friends. “Where would it be coming from?”

Julie glanced over her shoulder at the rest of the houses on her street. All were completely dark. “This is weird. Everybody on this block is asleep.”

“We’re not.” At her friend’s blank glances, Raven giggled. “Guys, get a grip. It’s probably coming from a couple blocks away. Sound carries on the night air. Which I should know.” She grimaced. “My parents’ fights were legendary, all over every neighborhood we ever lived in.”

“You’re right.” Andie laughed, sounding a bit breathless even to her own ears. “My imagination is working overtime.”

“But it is kind of creepy,” Julie said, rubbing her arms. “It’s so quiet otherwise.”

Raven laughed. “Come on you chickenshits. Follow me!” She took off in a sort of run-limp-hop because of her stitches; with a sound of surprise, the other two followed her. They cut across the backyard of the last house, then ducked into the twenty-foot stand of trees that separated Trent’s farm from Happy Hollow. Once in the open fields, it was easier to see; their shed stood out incongruously against the otherwise flat, barren field.

They reached it, but instead of going inside, climbed onto the metal roof, lay back and gazed up at the black velvet sky. Minutes passed; none of them spoke. Somewhere in the distance a dog barked.

“It’s so beautiful,” Julie murmured.

Raven murmured her agreement. “And so quiet.”

Andie folded her arms behind her head and breathed deeply. “It’s like we’re the only people in the whole universe. Just us and the stars.”

“What if it was just us?” Raven mused. “No asshole parents? Nobody making us be what they want us to be?”

“If it was just us,” Andie murmured, “I wouldn’t be so sad right now.”

“What about boys?”

Andie and Raven looked at each other, then burst out laughing. “Leave it to you, Julie.”