WARNING! FOR BRAVE READERS ONLY!
WARNING! FOR BRAVE READERS ONLY!
ENJOY A SHRIEK PREVIEW OF THE FIRST CHAPTER FROM BUMPS IN THE NIGHT #3: CLOWNING AROUND!
The bell rang, signaling the end.
Screams and shouts filled the air as kids burst through the doors and ran from the building. The first seconds of summer vacation had finally arrived. Another school year at DeSanto Middle School had come to an end. Everyone was excited. Everyone except Billy Zeebo, that is.
Most kids had plans. As Billy slowly trudged his way towards his final bus ride of seventh grade, he couldn’t help but overhear the excited chatter of his peers. He passed a group of girls giggling about summer camp, each hoping they were going to have the cute counselor this year. He heard others sharing plans about their trips to the water park, and beach cottage rentals and playing hours and hours of video games in their air-conditioned rooms.
As Billy stepped up onto the bus, he wished he could join in on the palpable excitement. He wished he could smile and talk about his endless list of plans to swim and camp and tan in the sun. But to Billy, summer held a different meaning. Instead of sizzling fun and cool ice cream, Billy’s summers were defined by boredom and loneliness.
An empty seat awaited Billy at the back of the bus, as though it were assigned to him. He was painfully used to it by now. The back of the bus, the end of the line, and with a last name like Zeebo, often the last one called on. He slid in and pressed his shoulder against the bus window, staring out at the school that was nearly emptied of students by now.
The loud chatter of the other kids moved around him like smoke slithering above his head. As the bus lurched forward and the school building faded from sight, it felt like everything existed around Billy, as though he were floating in a bubble. That was how he often felt, with a constant knot in his stomach that continued to tighten as he waited for the bubble to burst. So far, it hadn’t popped.
Billy kept his focus locked on the window as the city of Golden Hill passed by. Billy’s mom often called it by a different name, one that felt more akin to how she felt about the place. “Golden Hell,” she often muttered under her breath. Billy shared the same thoughts and feelings. He longed for the day he and his mom could move to a new place, a better place.
Golden Hill was like Jekyll and Hyde, two very different sides of the same location. Sprawling two story houses with clean, streak-free windows, freshly trimmed lawns and families that played tennis on the weekends made up most of the nice part of the city. It was the “golden” part of Golden Hill. But once you passed through the belly of the city, just beyond the cemetery and the train station, it became another place entirely.
A tunnel connected the north part of Golden Hill to the south part and it was there, in the graffitied passageway, that everything changed. That was where Hyde came out to play.
The bus was approaching that point now. Billy watched the bright afternoon sun disappear as the bus ushered him and the remaining students into the darkened tunnel. In the shadows, his reflection stared back at him within the glass of the bus window. His short brown hair, the galaxy of freckles across his cheeks, his tired eyes and the small slant of his mouth that never seemed to smile. The bus pulled out of the tunnel and the returning sunlight washed his reflection away.
Gone were the shimmering front yards and pristine houses. In this portion of Golden Hill, there were overgrown lawns and rundown duplexes. In place of streak-free windows were boarded up window panes and broken glass. There was no tennis court. Instead, there was a basketball court with faded paint and torn netting. Empty bottles and trash littered the sidewalks.
In the distance, Billy could make out the skeletal structures of the summer carnival being set up. Every year the carnival came to Billy’s side of Golden Hill for a whole week. Usually, Billy looked forward to it. His mom took him every year. But something about this year felt different. The sheen had worn off. Billy couldn’t help feeling like a mouse caught in a wheel and the carnival was a tiny piece of cheese. After the treat, he was still stuck in the same place as the wheel spun and spun.
The large apartment building where Billy lived loomed ahead. The bus rolled to a stop at the street corner a block from the building and the doors squeaked open. Billy stood up and made his way down the middle aisle. He was almost the last one off the bus, but there were still two others left that lived in a deeper part of the city.
Billy stepped down onto the street corner. The doors shut and the bus rumbled off, leaving a black cloud in its wake. Billy coughed into his hand, then walked on towards his apartment building.
Summer vacation is here, Billy thought. Three months of heat and boredom.
CLOWNING AROUND RELEASES SOON! PREORDER YOUR COPY NOW!
"i closed my eyes and stomped my cleats into the pitcher’s mound.”
This next play was crucial. My team, the Slammers, were up by one run in the final inning for the championship title against our arch rivals, the Tigers. Bases were loaded with two outs.
Come on Zelda! I told myself. All you need to do is whip a heater straight over the base and into the catcher’s mitt. If I didn’t strike this batter out, it meant the game. It meant going home without the glory. We had to win! We had to show those snooty Tigers we were the best!
The crowd held its breath. Everything hinged on this moment.
Eyes closed, lost in a zone of zen, I released a fireball of a pitch. It blazed towards the home plate. I waited for either the sound of a cracking bat or the thump of the catcher’s mitt extinguishing the flames. I waited for either the crowd’s disappointed groans of a defeat or the overwhelming roar of a Championship win. I waited and…
“Ow!!!”
I was instantly thrust back to the reality of my backyard to find my brother on the ground, clutching at his side.
“You hit me Zelda! What the heck?”
“Why’d you walk in front of my pitch? You knew I was practicing out here.”
“I didn’t mean to! I was walking around the yard playing the Switch when your ball hit me!”
“Mario, what have Mom and Dad told you before about that? You need to sit when you play. You get so lost in your games, you might as well shut your eyes and walk around blind.” I sighed and strolled over to inspect Mario’s injury. There was a purplish mark where the ball hit his side beneath his right armpit. I gently touched it. Mario winced.
“It’s sore,” he whined.
“Well yeah, a heater is going to do that to you. Come on,” I helped him up and walked him over to the picnic table on the other side of the yard. “You need to sit and relax. It will hurt for a bit but you’ll be okay.”
“Thanks a lot, princess,” Mario sarcastically replied.
I narrowed my eyes towards him. “Oh, go shove a mushroom in your face. It’s not my fault you walked into my pitch. Sit down and shut up so I can finish practicing.”
Mario loved calling me princess because he knew how much it drove me crazy. Why did our parents have to name us after their favorite video game characters? I suppose my name does fit, seeing as I share the same golden hair and blue eyes as the princess of Hyrule. But that doesn’t make it any less annoying. Mario is two years younger but practically my twin. We share the same hair and eye color and he’s skinny as a rail, so he doesn’t quite match the pudgy plumber he was named for.
I resumed my position, picking up another softball to pitch at the practice net. My team was undefeated this season. I wanted to keep it that way. I wanted that Championship trophy.
Mario was back on his game, face inches from the screen, his fingers mashing away at the buttons. His pain appeared to be gone. Or maybe the game helped him ignore it. Either way, I couldn’t help but roll my eyes.
Sure, I enjoyed all the modern technologies as much as the next kid, but I much preferred being outside. I’d rather be playing softball, or going for a hike. Mario on the other hand? Kid can’t go two seconds without a screen in front of his face. It’s like oxygen to him.
I conjured up the championship match once more. It wouldn’t be long until our parents were home and I wanted to get as much practice in as I could before dinner time.
I imagined myself back on the mound. I rolled the ball between my hand and my glove and glared at the batter stepping up to the plate. I steadied myself. I focused on fire and flames. I thought of burning the competition, of winning in a blaze of glory. I wound up, ready to release the pitch when something disrupted my concentration.
It was my phone ringing on the picnic table where I’d left it. Oh well, it can go to voicemail. I’ve got a Championship game to win!
“Uh, princess, your phone?” Mario said. “Come answer it. The ringtone is distracting me from my game!”
“So what?” I shot back. “I’m trying to practice here!”
The phone stopped ringing for a moment, then started up again. An annoyed grunt escaped Mario’s mouth.
“Zelda! What if it’s Link wanting to rescue you? Answer. Your. Phone!”
I huffed and dropped the softball onto the grass before strolling over to grab my phone. I eyed Mario with disdain as I picked up the ringing phone from the table. “Happy now? Go disappear down a pipe, you fungus lover.”
I looked at the screen. It was Aunt Stacey calling. That was weird. Why would she randomly be calling on a Wednesday afternoon? Why was she calling me and not my mom or dad?
“Hello?” I answered.
“Zelda honey,” Aunt Stacey said, “I…I’m sorry, I don’t know how to say this…”
“What?”
“I was just notified by the police that your parents were in a car accident. I’m going to come pick you and Mario up and bring you guys to the hospital.”
I nearly dropped my phone. An accident? The world around me seemed to shrivel up and disappear. The trees in the yard lost their color. The ground beneath me crumbled away like a newly formed mouth, ready to swallow me whole. I didn’t know how to respond. Words escaped me. I managed a frail “okay” and hung up.
Mario noticed the change in my face. “What’s going on, Zelda? Link turned you down?”
I didn’t answer immediately. Too many thoughts swirled in my head. How bad was the accident? Why did this have to happen to Mom and Dad? Were they going to die? Were they already… dead?
“Zelda! I was only joking! Zelda! Is everything okay? Talk to me!”
“Mom… and Dad…” I finally answered. “They… were in an accident.”
CONTINUE ON WITH NOSTALGIC NIGHTMARE! ORDER YOUR COPY TODAY!
enjoy a shriek preview of in the mall of madness chapter 1!
"I can't believe this! They're trying to kill this town!"
Sam groaned and stopped recording the video she was taking on her phone. She'd been working on a reel for her Tiktok series about life in a small town. As an aspiring director, Sam figured what better way to hone her craft than to document the mundanity of her existence in Plainfield. But her dad's outburst had ruined the whole thing.
Sam looked up and watched her dad slam the door of their general store then storm up to the front register. He smacked something down onto the counter. It looked like a lawn sign. Sam’s mom, who’d been ducked down behind the register sorting through some boxes, jumped in surprise.
"You messed up my video dad!" Sam said.
“This is far more important than some Tick Tack video,” her dad rebutted.
"It's Tiktok," Sam muttered, knowing it was useless trying to correct him.
"Well, what is it dear? What's got you all worked up?" Sam's mom asked.
"This!" Sam's dad yelled, slapping his hands down on the sign.
"And this is?" Sam's mom eyed the sign on the counter and then her husband as she awaited his explanation.
"It's a mall, Linda. They're building a mall right here in Plainfield!"
"A mall?"
A mall? Sam smiled thoughtfully.
She had lived in Plainfield her whole life. Plainfield, the most boring town in the whole United States. It was all right there in the name, as if a field wasn’t boring enough, they decided to add plain to the front of it.
Plainfield was suffocatingly small. Sam’s parents ran Lowe’s General Store and they lived above it on the second floor. There was one school which Sam had attended since she was in kindergarten. Beyond that was the downtown strip, a collection of aged brick buildings that housed the bank, the post office, two restaurants and a handful of shops. At the heart of the strip was the local church and town hall. There were no traffic lights in town. Traffic, Sam often joked, might be a little too exciting for Plainfield. The only real thrill in town was the large expanse of woods behind the school but after twelve long years, even that had lost its luster.
There was no crime in Plainfield. No one locked their doors and everyone knew everyone else's business. So little happened in town Sam was surprised it even existed on a map. Her parents called Plainfield the "last great American town", a comment she rolled her eyes at every time.
Plainfield felt like a trap, like a heavy anchor wrapped around her legs. She knew what would happen if she didn't leave after high school graduation. It was her worst fear: she would become her parents, a permanent fixture of Plainfield. Though Sam admired her parents and their devotion to the town and its ways, she craved more.
Her parents didn't even use cellphones! They didn't find them necessary. It fit the Plainfield way of simple living. According to Sam's dad, the landline was more reliable and everything they needed was right there in town. Sam had begged her parents for a cellphone and though it had felt like some sort of betrayal, eventually they gave in. Until Sam graduated, it was her only link to the world beyond the confines of Plainfield.
Movies helped fill the void for Sam. That was her escape, her comfort. She couldn’t wait to leave for New York or some other big city and attend film school. She desperately wanted to be in a place with a vibrant culture, a place that appreciated art, a place where new things were always happening. Sam couldn’t remember the last new thing to come to Plainfield. It was like the town was against anything hip or modern.
But a mall? Now that was exciting. Finally, something new! Something to add a little spice to vanilla Plainfield.
"This is going to destroy us," Sam's dad seethed.
"Whoa, whoa, slow down a second," Sam's mom urged. "Where did this sign come from?"
Sam sauntered over to the counter, curious as to what the sign said exactly.
“It was on our property. Someone placed it out front by the parking lot entrance. It’s like they are threatening me,” Sam’s dad said.
Sam looked at the sign on the counter. It read: COMING SOON! THE PLAINFIELD MALL. HUNDREDS OF SHOPS, DINING AND ENTERTAINMENT. Below the large text, at the bottom of the sign was the slogan: Live to shop, shop to live.
That’s a bit of a weird slogan, Sam thought. Shop to live? What was that supposed to mean?
“James,” Sam’s mom said. “No one is threatening you. Just take a deep breath before you jump to conclusions. We don't have all the information."
"Information!?" Sam's dad huffed. "Linda, it's all right there on the sign. Someone placed this on our property. How could it not be a threat?"
"James..."
"No Linda, this isn't right! I'm marching down to town hall this instant to give them a piece of my mind. They think they can just put up a mall that no one asked for? What happened to a sense of community, huh? What about the small businesses that are the lifeblood of this place? I won't stand for it!"
As quickly as he had burst in, Sam's dad fled back out with a fiery fury. Sam's mom sighed and looked over at her daughter.
"Will dad be okay?"
"Eventually," her mom replied, then added, "I hope."
"So is it true? They're building a mall right here in Plainfield?"
"From the looks of it," Sam's mom said, her eyes scanning over the sign. "It's just so strange."
"What's strange?"
“Well,” her mom hesitated as though she was about to tell Sam something she shouldn’t. "None of this was mentioned at the last town meeting. I mean, a project like this is a big deal and I know lots of people would have opinions on it. But the selectmen said nothing. Not one peep. And now...it's just...happening?"
Sam’s parents always went to the monthly town meetings. Most of the townspeople did. It was how things were decided and how Plainfield was able to remain the way it was. That’s what the townspeople wanted. To preserve the small-town charm, to keep things local. Sam remembered years ago when Dollar General wanted to open a store in Plainfield and the idea was torn apart at the town meeting. So why all of a sudden was a mall going in without town approval?