Dead End: Midnight Hollow by Penn Cassidy (free novel 24 TXT) 📗

just love games,” Freddy said with an emotionless laugh. My eyes went wide. Freddy, too? Had I only imagined that bus accident?

I peered over Michael’s shoulder with a forced glare and smacked his hands away from my waist. Freddy sat behind him, his golden hair like a beacon in the dark. He was staring at me with a cruel yet relaxed smirk, and he reached high over the seat to ruffle Michael’s hair. “I gotta say, man, this hair is wild. Absolutely wild.”

Michael shoved him away, scowling. Freddy and Norman started laughing as he bent down to look in the window at his reflection. The girlish scream he let out would forever play on repeat in my mind, and the way he turned to glance at Maddie in shock was even better. They both let out comically loud shrieks, as if they were united in their hair horror. My god, they were divas.

“I swear to god, if you don’t stop with the noise, I’m gonna kick both your asses off this fucking bus,” grumbled another husky voice toward the front. My heart dropped to my stomach and fluttered back up again in a matter of a split second.

Jason… Holy shit!

I might have had some lingering loathing for these assholes, but the heart never truly stops loving, even when it’s been kicked and beaten down until it’s on its last dying breath. In this case, my heart was hammering.

We all swung around as one and faced Jason. Our eyes connected first, and I didn’t miss the way his stormy greys swept me from head to toe, as if checking for something. Checking for injuries, maybe? But he was done in a heartbeat, and his concern morphed into a disgusted dirty look once more.

“Anyone else have a bizarre fucking dream?” Maddie asked, holding the sides of her head. “Shit…maybe this is a dream right now! Oh my god, pinch me!” She made a gimme gesture at Michael, prompting him to reach over and pinch her on the forearm hard.

I think we were all holding our breath, only to sag with utter dread when she yelped and jumped back, smacking his hand away before collapsing against the window with her arm dramatically draped over her eyes. “Not a dream… Oh god, do you have any idea how much it cost to get my hair so perfectly golden?”

Rolling my eyes, I said, “Everyone needs to just calm down. Think critically. There has to be an explanation. Maybe we’re hallucinating, or maybe Maddie’s right and this is just some kind of shared fucked up dream…” The others eyes me dubiously. “Okay, yeah, that sounded a lot better in my head, but what else could it be? Look at our hair!” I gestured around wildly.

Jason stood up, glaring out the side windows saying, “Forget the hair for a second! Where the hell is everyone else? There were fifty of us plus the driver. I don’t see anyone out there. Maybe it’s a prank, like a Halloween one? Did we even leave that carnival?” He looked straight at me, as if somehow I’d be the one with all the answers.

I shifted nervously under the pressure of everyone’s attention. They all looked pissed, except for Maddie, who moved her arm to glance up at me, because my girl had my back no matter what. I rolled my eyes with a long sigh.

“You did this, didn’t you, Cruella?” Freddy sneered. His deep voice was like a rumbling growl that made me shiver. I’d never heard him sound quite so…feral. I swore on the holy pumpkin that his eyes flashed yellow and then to a pitch black before settling back on the familiar emerald green I was used to.

“So you think what, that I somehow convinced fifty people to knock you out and then hide in a cornfield five miles from town for shits and giggles?” I snorted, crossing my arms as I narrowed my eyes at him. “Yeah, Freddy, that’s what happened. It was my diabolical plan all along. Idiot…” I shook my head and rolled my eyes for the millionth time, trying not to look at Norman. He had a thing about eye rolling.

No, stop it, October. You do not get to think about Norman’s kinks at a time like this. Get your shit together.

“She did it. No doubt about it,” Michael said in disgust, grimacing as he slid both of his hands through his silver hair, making his biceps flex. I glanced away, not wanting to get caught staring or worse…drooling. I almost couldn’t help myself. A few minutes ago, they were all very dead.

The guys started arguing, just like old times, about how it was all my fault and they should have left me back in Sunset Hollow, as if it were even their choice to make. All the while, I just stood there with my arms crossed over my chest, staring up at the ceiling in annoyance. Maddie entered the fray when they started to get irate.

The bus doors creaked wide open without warning, metal sliding on metal until cold air rushed in to greet us. All arguments stopped as we collectively stared at the creepy orange tinged fog that began to roll in. There was no driver, and none of us were anywhere close enough to pull the lever and open the door. Jason stepped into the aisle, since he was the closest, and made his way to the door on quiet feet. I held my breath as he bent over to look outside.

“What is it?” Maddie asked, standing on her tiptoes to see over the seats. I was doing the same.

“It’s just more orange fog. I think we’re still on the road…” Jason looked back at us with a deep, confused frown. “I say we get off this creepy bus and head to town on foot. I’d rather not get murdered in a cornfield, ya know? Can you imagine what the newspaper would say? We’d be known as those dumb fucks who disappeared