The Dark Place (#FrightFest2016 Gold Winner)

The Dark Place - Chapter Fifty (Part One)

Chapter Fifty (Part One)

1

Wendy Jones couldn't believe her luck when Amanda Sheen and Sarah Wilmot had invited her to join their little clique. Susan Colman had moved up to Glasgow when her father's firm of architects had outgrown the little town of Eastlake leaving a vacant space in the group and it was time for quiet, insignificant Wendy to be elevated from the put upon underling to potentially becoming a fully fledged member of the clan.

She was no fool, she knew exactly what she was getting herself into. This was a clique with a bit of a reputation. Many times her old friends had told her not to get mixed up with Amanda and Sarah but as far as Wendy could see, she could either be bullied by them and live in misery, or she could become one of them. She had never seen herself as the bulling type but if being one of them saved her from being a victim then so be it.

They had told her that there was an initiation that she would have to undertake. They had also assured her that it was nothing too difficult, just a little bit of roll playing to see if she had what it took to join them.

"Roll playing doesn't sound so bad," she remembered telling herself. "I mean... well what's the worst that can happen?"

2

"So, what do you reckon?" Sarah Wilmot sat on one of the hay bales at the back of the barn applying deep crimson lipstick to her slightly puckered lips.

"What?" asked Amanda Sheen, wrinkling her brow at the other girl.

Sarah lowered the lipstick from her mouth and looked in Amanda's direction. "That silly little bitch, do you think she'll have the guts to show up tonight?"

"She'd better - if she knows what's good for her!" Amanda allowed herself a little smirk before she continued. "We're going to scare the fucking daylights out of her."

"So have you got it with you?" asked Sarah, shooting a cute, cheesy grin to her compact mirror.

Amanda picked up her shoulder bag and gave it a pat. "Of course, I only wish Sue was here to see this. It was all her idea after all."

"Yeah, I'd just like to know how she managed to steal it from the Big House."

Amanda allowed herself another smile. "That stupid old bag Mrs. Hughes took her up there to help her with the cleaning didn't she!"

"I remember that much, just can't see why Sue volunteered though."

"You really can be quite dim sometimes can't you?" Amanda sneered. "She didn't go up there to help out. She only wanted to see what she could pinch, and she took this." she smiled as she patted the bag again.

"Do you think it's going to work?"

Amanda closed her eyes and rested against the bale behind her. "Of course it will. It'll work like a dream."

3

Jane Jones heard the floorboard creek outside her door and poked her head out from under the duvet. She looked towards her bedroom door expecting to see lines of light beaming between the panel and the frame but there was nothing. Slipping out from under the duvet she sneaked over to the door and opened it just far enough to peep out and see her big sister sneaking down the steps.

"Hey, where are you going?" she whispered opening the door a little wider.

"None of your beeswax!" Wendy's voice was more like a hiss.

"What time is it?"

"Time for you to get to sleep before a ghost comes and eats you."

"That's silly." the younger girl retorted, stepping across the threshold of her room and onto the upstairs landing. "There's no such thing as ghosts, mummy and daddy told me so!"