Night School

‘I don’t know,’ she replied. ‘It’s like she’s not … her.’


‘Whisper whisper whisper!’ Jo’s angry voice cut through their conversation, and they turned to see her standing at the altar, palms flat on the pulpit, glaring at them. ‘Why don’t you two just shag and get it over with?’

Allie stared at Jo with her mouth open. She felt like she’d been punched.

What the hell is wrong with her?

But she tried to keep the wounded tone out of her voice. ‘Hey, that is so not cool, Jo. Look, it really is getting dark and I’d like to get back. Come with me?’

She held out her hand. Jo studied her for a moment, and then walked across the nave to her.

‘Fine. Whatever. Let’s go.’ Her tone was reasonable and as she took Allie’s hand she gave it a squeeze, but Allie had the uneasy sense that something still wasn’t quite right. When they got outside the light was fading, and the woods looked darker and more ominous than before.

Jo balanced on her toes on the front step.

‘Hey Allie, remember what I said about the only way to go through the scary woods?’

Allie gave her a puzzled look. ‘What? Run?’

At that, Jo took off down the path at surprising speed as Carter and Allie stood in front of the church staring after her.

‘What the hell?’ Carter looked up at the sky like he hoped it held some sort of answer.

‘I have no idea what is going on,’ Allie said. ‘I think she fought with Gabe and now she’s just, like, lost it. Big time.’

‘Oh great,’ he sighed. ‘I thought she was done with this stuff.’

Allie shot him a puzzled look. ‘What? She’s done this before?’

‘She used to do her crazy act whenever anything went wrong, but she hasn’t done it in a while.’ He seemed exasperated. ‘Now I’ve got to go and make sure she gets back to the school or Gabe’ll kill me – will you be OK? I’ll come back for you if you want.’

‘You don’t have to come back,’ she said. ‘I can keep up with you.’

They took off through the gate and at first she matched him step-for-step. But as they ran through the first stretch of darkened woods something occurred to her.

‘We left the door open,’ she said, slowing to a jog.

‘What? At the church?’ Carter stopped running. At first he looked doubtful but then he slapped himself on the forehead. ‘Damn. You’re right. I should go back and close it.’

But he didn’t move. He looked ahead towards the school then back at the church as if he couldn’t decide what to do.

Seeing his indecision, Allie knew what she had to do.

‘I’ll go back,’ she said. ‘I’ll close it up. You go and catch up with Jo.’

‘Are you sure?’ he asked doubtfully. ‘It’s getting dark and it’s nearly curfew.’

But Jo was not being rational and she was out there in the dark on her own. And while Allie wasn’t thrilled about being in the woods by herself, she knew it was the right thing. But she had a feeling he wasn’t going to let her, so she knew she’d have to convince him.

‘We’ll get in trouble if it’s left open,’ she pointed out. ‘And I really don’t think it would be great for Jo to be quizzed by Zelazny right now. Besides, what if a fox gets in and eats Jesus?’

He burst out laughing and for a second all the stress left his face.

‘OK,’ he said. ‘But I’ll double back for you as soon as she’s inside.’

‘Don’t worry about me – I’m not afraid of the dark,’ she lied. ‘It’s all good.’

‘Thanks, Sheridan.’ She could hear the relief in his voice. As he took off for the school, his final words floating back on the breeze. ‘I’ll come back.’

‘Don’t!’ she shouted after him. He gave no indication that he’d heard.

As soon as he was out of sight, her bravery abandoned her. I could just leave it open, she thought looking down the path. Maybe nobody would know it was us.

Then she thought about how awful it would be if anything happened to that amazing chapel – what if it rained all night and the Tree of Life was ruined and it was all her fault.

She turned around and headed back through the gloaming to the church.

The pool of golden light that had illuminated the churchyard earlier was gone now, and as Allie walked through the gate, the chapel door loomed open like a leering maw.

Taking a deep breath, she hurried to the door and pushed her weight against it. It didn’t move at all until she realised it was held open by a black metal hook that fixed it in place. Even after she’d freed it, though, the door was incredibly heavy. She gave it a good shove and it was closing with a reluctant creak when, just for a split second, she saw something move between the shadows inside.

Allie froze, staring into the darkness. Then, as the door continued to swing shut, she sprang into action, grabbing it and digging in her heels to try and hold it open. But the old door had a mind of its own now and nothing she did would stop it. It shut with a resounding clang that seemed to echo through the trees.