Eye Candy

He frowns. “Yeah, seems odd. I better go out and give them a hand. People don’t like being suddenly thrown into darkness, especially on Halloween.”

I nod and stand, pulling the office door closed behind me as we go out into the main area. It’s dark, aside from phone lights flashing around. I wave my phone around, scanning past faces, listening for Marlie or Kenai’s voices. I finally find Kenai standing in the middle of the room, telling people to stay calm, that they’ll go and check the box and get the power back on right away.

“Another power outage?” Oliver asks.

“Yeah,” Kenai mutters. “Seems odd. I’ll go check the box. Help Marlie keep everyone here.”

“Okay.”

I stand next to Marlie and Kaity.

“What a night for a power outage,” Kaity mumbles. “That bingo was just getting intense.”

“Yeah,” Marlie huffs. “Perfect timing.”

I laugh softly. “I’m sure Kenai will get it on and you’ll be able to get right back to it.”

“Hope so,” Marlie agrees.

Kenai returns a moment later, flashing the light at all of us. “We’re . . . locked in.”

I blink, and for a moment I think I’ve heard him wrong.

“What do you mean we’re locked in?” Marlie asks.

“The system I put in, the one that locks down in case of a severe emergency, such as someone trying to get in or out, has been activated.”

“But,” Marlie says, scratching her head, “that can only be activated by a key in the office.”

“Might have tripped somehow,” Kenai says, his eyes scanning the room. All the phone lights are creating just enough light for everyone to be able to see enough not to completely freak out.

“Well, let’s go into the office and check it,” Marlie says. “Kaity, you stay here and keep everyone calm. Oliver and Jade, you come with us.”

The four of us walk toward the office, where Oliver and I just were. When we reach it, Marlie digs around for her keys. I dig for mine too, but realize I left them in the office when we rushed out. Still, I didn’t lock the door. I reach for the handle, but it’s locked. Kenai tries, too. Nothing.

“Marlie, you got your keys?”

Marlie keeps shuffling around her pockets. “I swear . . . I swear I had one. I put it in here earlier before I got changed so I wouldn’t forget to grab it, but . . . it’s gone.”

“Oliver and I were just in the office,” I say. “It was open when I came in, and I’m certain we didn’t lock it when we came out.”

“It shouldn’t have been open,” Marlie says, frowning. “My key is gone. Do you think I dropped it and someone picked it up?”

“It’s possible,” Kenai says. “Mine is in my truck, which I can’t get to while the place is on lockdown.”

“What’s the other option here?” Marlie asks, her voice a little frantic. “There are a lot of people out there that will get frightened if we don’t get these lights on soon.”

“Do you . . .” I dare to say. “Do you think someone is doing this on purpose?”

“You’re thinkin’ what I’m thinkin’,” Kenai says.

“But who?” Marlie says, her voice shaky.

“Got a group full of abused victims out there,” Oliver mutters, stepping closer to me. “Could be any one of their partners, or family, or whoever was causing them problems.”

“God,” Marlie whispers. “This isn’t good. Can we call the police?”

“Yeah,” Kenai says. “When I secured this system, it was a legal requirement that law enforcement had a way in. I’ll call the station, they’ll have the key for it.”

“Okay,” Marlie says, seemingly relieved. “Okay, let’s do that.”

A scream comes from the main room, loud and piercing. We all run, full throttle, toward the main room. Kaity is still standing in the middle, and when we get to her, she’s looking around, eyes frantic. Another scream sounds out, terrified, almost like the screamer is being attacked. “Who is that?” Kenai calls.

“It came from behind me,” a voice says.

“I heard it, too,” another voice says.

“What’s happening?” someone cries.

Another scream.

“Is someone getting hurt?” a terrified woman yells.

Then people start chattering frantically, talking louder and louder, shuffling around. This could end very badly if we don’t calm things down quickly.

“Everyone please calm down. We’ve just had a power outage,” Kenai yells in his loudest voice. “It’ll be on soon but I need you all to try and keep calm for me.”

“But someone screamed!” A man shouts. “What the hell was that?”

“I’ll look into it,” Kenai assures them. He turns to Oliver and I. “Go and see if you can find out who was screaming. See if you can see anything suspicious at all. I don’t have a good feeling about this. Do not separate from each other. Stay together at all times. We clear?”

“Yes,” I say, stepping closer to Oliver. “We’ll sort it out.”

We disappear into the crowd, calming people as we move through. We go in the direction of the screaming, but there seems to be no one in great distress. Everyone has quieted their chattering and is mostly calm. So where did the screaming come from? Something crashes up on the balcony, and then one by one all the decorations we put on the stairs come sailing down and into the crowd.

“Fuck,” Oliver says, pulling me aside just as a flying witch lands on the ground beside me.

“What the hell is going on?” I ask, feeling concerned now. Whatever is happening isn’t just a power outage.

“What’s going on?” someone cries.

“It’s a ghost!” another person screams.

Kenai’s voice rings out again. “Everyone, I’d like you all to move into the theater room. It’s big enough, has sofas, and is secure. If you can move single file in there now, until we can sort out whatever is happening, that’d be great.”

People move quickly, shoving at each other, to move into the room that Kaity guides them in to. There are about forty people here, so it’ll be a tight squeeze, but it’s a massive room so they should be safe and seated comfortably enough. When the main room is cleared, Oliver and I make our way back to Kenai and Marlie. “What the hell is goin’ on?” Oliver asks.

“Not sure,” Kenai mutters. “Some fucker is in here, I’m sure of it. Someone set off that lock so we couldn’t get out. Doesn’t rest well with me. We’re trapped in here, and someone is up there.”

My chest clenches and I step closer to Oliver. Someone is in here? God, they could be planning anything. They could have planted anything. Panic grips my chest and I struggle to breathe. I don’t like this, not at all. I have to keep calm, though. Marlie and Kenai need us all to work together right now, not flip out.

“Did you call the police?” I ask.

“Yeah, they’re responding to a massive call-out at a party. They’re going to be at least half an hour away. They asked if it was an emergency. I said no. Startin’ to think I could be wrong.”

“Who would do this?” Marlie whispers, her voice shaky.

Kenai turns to her. “You’re safe, baby. You hear me? Go into that front room, help Kaity. I’ll go and check everything out.”

“I’ll come with you,” Oliver says.