Slow Dance in Purgatory

When everyone left class for the day, Dara Manning checked her makeup in front of the dance room mirrors and tried a sexy move, watching to see whether she looked as hot as she thought she did. Oh, yeah. She so rocked that move. She would like to see Baggie O’Bannon try that one. Thinking about Maggie just made Dara mad, and she stomped over to the sound system to retrieve her music and shut everything down.

As captain of the team, her coach left her in charge every once in a while. She should leave her in charge more often. In fact, Dara thought, she should have had some say in who made the team and who got cut from the team in the first place. She would never have let Maggie set foot on the dance room floor. The rest of the team seemed to think she was something special. Coach raved about her when she tried out. Big damn deal. Their coach was a fat has-been with four kids and stretch marks. Who cares if she danced in college or had a master’s degree in dance?

“If I had my way, we would have a new coach, and Maggie O’Bannon would never have made the team. Freaking four eyes needs to be taken down a peg,” Dara muttered to herself, flipping her perfectly streaked hair.

The lights in the room flickered erratically, and Dara spun to the door to see who else was in the room. The door remained closed, and no one was there. It was probably Derek, playing a joke on her. Derek was Dara’s boyfriend, and he loved pulling mean pranks. Dara hadn’t ever been on the receiving end, however, and she didn’t much care for it. Derek wasn’t as good looking as she was. His acne scars detracted from his otherwise handsome face, but he was Captain of the football team and very popular. He would do until something better came along.

The lights flickered again, and this time Dara was facing the door. Nobody was there.

“This school is jacked up,” Dara complained, grabbing her jacket and her purse. “Somebody needs to upgrade the electrical, obviously.”

The lights went out completely. The dance room had no windows, so with the lights out it was totally black. Dara cursed as she made her way toward where she knew the door was. Feeling along the wall, she reached the door and wrenched on the handle. It felt like someone was holding it from the other side. Dara pounded angrily on the door.

“Derek! This isn’t funny! I have to get home and get ready for the game. Stop playing around!”

Dara pulled and pushed on the door as hard as she could, wiggling the handle and shouting threats at anyone who might be able to hear. The door handle didn’t budge. It was stiff and unyielding, and Dara felt a jolt of panic that she might be locked in for real. A light flickered behind her, and Dara whirled, her fear kicking up a notch, as the sound system that she had just turned off lit back up. She reached for the light switch alongside the door. She clicked it up and down. Nothing. The power must be out. But then how was the sound system doing all that wild blinking?

Dara inched her way back toward the sound system. Derek was going to pay if he had anything to do with this. The radio blared suddenly, the volume so loud that the room shook around her. Dara squealed and stumbled back, tripping over her feet and falling to the floor.

The dial spun, bits and pieces of different songs blurring into one another. Dara held her hands over her ears and crawled toward the door. She wanted out of this room, now. She and Derek were so over! She would just bet he was standing outside the room with a remote control, laughing with his idiot friends.

“Maggie…. Maggie…Maggie….” The name repeated over and over again, like an old-fashioned record stuck in a scratch. Dara froze. The crackle of dead air rose louder, and then the radio tuned in and out, rapidly alternating between several songs and singing out a distorted message.

“Cold hearted snake….jealous….girl…..tellin’ lies….. don’t be cruel…. Maggie….. leave….. Maggie…. alone ….. leave…. Maggie….alone.

Dara whimpered and covered her ears. The music faded and then stopped abruptly.

The door swung open suddenly, and Derek entered, flipping on the light.

Dara was curled up like a snail in the middle of the floor, her butt in the air and her arms over her head.

“Dara? What are you doing, babe? Dancing in the dark, huh? Hot.” Derek smirked appreciatively. ‘Derek like.”

Dara shrieked and flew at Derek like a wet cat. “That wasn’t funny, Derek! You scared me!!” Dara swung wildly as Derek stumbled back, trying to defend himself against his hysterical girlfriend.

“What the hell, Dara? I didn’t do anything! What are you talking about? Stop it! Ouch!”

“You know damn well what I’m talking about. You held the door closed and turned off the lights and made the radio come on and …and why do you care about Maggie O’Bannon? Are you cheating on me?” The outrage in Dara’s voice made her sound like a howling hyena, and she went after Derek again, arms flailing and feet kicking. Derek cringed, grabbing at her arms and eventually wrestling her to the ground. He sat on her bucking torso and forced her hands above her head.