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

I was about to bolt, my hands shaking, because there was no way Jason and the guys didn’t put Howard and Eddie up to it yesterday. Their cruelty extended beyond the four of them, and I was fed up with it all.

“What. Did. They. Do?” Jason demanded, and I didn’t understand why he was pretending. He probably set the whole thing up.

“They duct taped Miss Hallowell to the bleacher poles…in her underwear, and spat some very ugly words at her. I believe something about your parents?” Mr. Myers glanced at me for confirmation, scratching his head, and I had to wonder how the hell he was a counselor when he appeared to have no real concern for his students.

He was the one to find me taped to the pole in utter humiliation and exposure as he walked out to his car. He didn’t report it to anyone but gave them a slap on the wrist as he ordered them to get me down. So yeah, I was in this idiot’s office waiting for the floor to swallow me up and spit me out so I could finally sleep.

It was almost scary quiet for a few minutes, and I nearly jumped out of my chair when Jason’s chair squeaked over the linoleum as he turned to me. I didn’t look his way. I couldn’t, unable to take the laughing mocking eyes staring back at me, so I continued looking at the duck picture behind Mr. Myers.

“What about your parents?” he asked so softly, I almost didn’t hear him. Just to give the sick bastard what he wanted, I told him exactly what Eddie and Howard said. I just wanted Jason to leave me the fuck alone.

“‘How does it feel not having parents, freak? Don’t you wish you could just die too? Maybe you’ll stop acting like a zombie and just become one.’” I ground my teeth as I repeated it and grabbed the strap of my bag with tears in my eyes.

Jason didn’t say a word. He literally just got up and left, a flabbergasted Mr. Myers yelling after him. I for sure wasn’t going to stick around if he didn’t have to, so I bolted before Mr. Myers could stop me. It was a waste anyways, and yeah, I cried for a long time, until my makeup ran down my face and my eyes burned. Maybe Eddie and Howard weren’t so far off.

Who would care if I dropped off the face of the earth besides the aunties and Maddie? No one. Maybe that’s why I dragged my feet like a zombie everyday, with only music to keep me above water. I went to class to class in a daze, not rushing through the hallways once the final bell rang like everyone else, and I didn’t look up from my feet until I stepped outside the front of the school.

A large crowd was gathered around the flagpole, and when I pushed my way through to get to the buses, I stopped in my tracks with my jaw dropping to the ground.

Duct taped to the flagpole was Howard and Eddie, completely stripped down to their underwear as students laughed and took pictures. They cursed behind their taped mouths, wiggling to try to get free. I stopped staring at them, scanning the parking lot, and stopped on the cherry red Mustang with four of my ex-best friends leaning on the bumper, small smirks displayed on their faces. My gaze connected with Jason’s for a split second, and I knew he did this… Did he do it for me?

Pulled out of that memory, I think I knew even then that they loved me and showed me the only way I would allow at the time—through anger. They may not have seen the big picture, but each of them saved my life that day. That was the day I started questioning everything, like why I was still alive.

They kept me alive by bringing my anger to the surface and letting emotion take over instead of going down the empty road I was heading. For that, I think I loved them even more. Deciding it was time to stop living in the past and look at what was right in front of me, I let all the guilt and resentment go and started really living with my guys.

“Michael, I gotta get up.” I reached behind my back, sliding my hands through his hair.

He grumbled grumply, which I found freaking adorable, and rolled off my ass and onto Norman’s leg, wrapping his arms around it while snuggling into his calf.

I quickly but quietly slid away from Freddy and out of Jason’s strong hold on my waist. Norman slipped onto his side with his mouth pursed in his sleep the moment I made it to the end of the bed.

I wished I had a camera to capture this moment in time as I held back a giggle with my hand. Freddy patted his chest, a frown marring his brow when he couldn’t find me in his sleep. That was…until he found a willing victim. He wrapped his arm around Jason’s chest and smiled in his sleep when his new snuggle buddy started slipping his fingers through his hair, thinking it was me instead of his best friend.

I glanced at the tree branch Jessica slept on but still found it empty. I missed her like crazy and wondered if I could find her somehow without being eaten alive by her family if I went to the Hangry Forest. I didn’t know what it was, but something inside me had been pulling me to reach out to her, just to make sure she was okay. She’d been missing for three days, and her absence was noted by everyone.

With a heavy sigh, I grabbed the Society cloak from under my bed and slipped it over my shoulders. I’d found it on the doorstep a few days ago and couldn’t help shaking my head at how creepy that was. I