The Confession Page 10
Taylor swallowed hard. Tears rolled down her pale cheeks. She made no effort to wipe them away.
“That’s when I lost it,” she continued, gripping the chair arms so tightly that her knuckles whitened. “I grabbed the skates back. We wrestled. The laces were tied together. Somehow … somehow they ended up around his neck. I guess I put them there. I really don’t remember.
“But I remember pulling them, pulling them tight. Pulling them with all my strength. With the strength of my fury. My insane fury. Strength I didn’t know I had.
“I strangled Al. I hated him so much. I went into a fury, I guess. Like a trance. As if I was blind. As if I wasn’t inside me. I was on the outside, watching my body—watching someone’s body—choke Al. Choke him. Choke him. Until he stopped struggling and didn’t move anymore.
“And then … ” She sucked in a deep breath. The tears stained the shoulders of her tank top. “And then I ran to Sandy. I told him everything.”
Taylor let out a sob that made her whole body shudder. “Sandy was so wonderful. No guy ever cared about me that much. Sandy cared about me too much! He confessed to the murder. To save me.
“He told you that he killed Al. He knew you were his friends. He knew you wouldn’t betray him. He trusted you. And—and—” Taylor’s voice caught in her throat.
“And what did you do?” she managed to scream at us. “He trusted you—and you turned on him!” She glared across the room, her eyes locked furiously on Hillary. “You turned on him. And you killed him! How could you? He was innocent! He was totally innocent! How could you kill him?”
Taylor jumped up. She balled her hands into tight fists and started toward Hillary.
She stopped as the doorbell rang.
The sound made us all cry out.
Hillary leaped to her feet and tossed away the plaid quilt.
The doorbell rang again.
Vincent and I followed Hillary to the front door.
“Did you call the police?” Taylor demanded. “Is that who it is, Hillary? Did you call the police before you invited us over?”
Hillary didn’t answer.
We stepped into the front hall.
She pulled open the door.
And Sandy walked into the house.
Chapter
25
I can’t tell you what happened next.
I felt so much emotion, I was dazed. The room started to spin. Lightning flashed in the open doorway, and I felt as if its white-hot current was exploding through my body. Blinding me with its brightness. Making the whole room vibrate and whirl.
And then a shrill voice broke into my consciousness.
“You tricked me!” Taylor shrieked.
I turned in time to see her collapse to her knees. “You tricked me! You tricked me!”
Sandy grabbed her up. He wrapped his arms around her. “I’m so sorry,” he whispered. “Taylor, believe me. I’m so sorry.”
He was still holding her as Hillary and I hurried to the phone to call her parents.
“Sorry I had to pretend with you too, Julie,” Hillary apologized, holding the receiver to her ear. “I figured out the truth and confronted Sandy with it. Sandy couldn’t live with the secret any longer. He and I agreed we had to shock Taylor into confessing. But I needed you to be shocked too.”
“It’s okay,” I told her. “At least we finally know the truth.”
Hillary talked to Taylor’s father. She told him to hurry over.
“I owe everyone an apology,” Sandy said. “I—I wanted to protect Taylor. But I don’t know why I started treating you guys so badly. Following you around. Trying to scare you and everything. I guess I didn’t want you to find out the truth. And I guess I wanted to show Taylor that I could be as dangerous as Al.”
Sandy sighed, holding on to Taylor tightly. “I know the whole thing was crazy and stupid,” he said sadly. “I never should have confessed to the murder. Never.”
“I think we’ve had enough confessions around here to last a lifetime!” I exclaimed.
Everyone in the room agreed.
But there was one confession still to come.
♦ ♦ ♦
Two weeks later, Vincent and I were walking home from school when he suddenly leaned close and said in a low voice, “Julie, I have a confession to make.”
A confession?
Oh no! Please—no! I thought. One more confession and I’ll scream!
I held my breath. I shut my eyes. “Confession? What’s your confession?” I asked hesitantly.
“I’ve had a crush on you since third grade,” Vincent confessed.
I screamed.
About the Author
R.L. Stine invented the teen horror genre with Fear Street, the bestselling teen horror series of all time. He also changed the face of children’s publishing with the mega-successful Goosebumps series, which Guinness World Records cites as the Best-Selling Children’s Books ever, and went on to become a worldwide multimedia phenomenon. The first two books in his new series Mostly Ghostly, Who Let the Ghosts Out? and Have You Met My Ghoulfriend? are New York Times bestsellers. He’s thrilled to be writing for teens again in the brand-new Fear Street Nights books.
R.L. Stine has received numerous awards of recognition, including several Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Awards and Disney Adventures Kids’ Choice Awards, and he has been selected by kids as one of their favorite authors in the National Education Association Read Across America. He lives in New York City with his wife, Jane, and their dog, Nadine.
A Parachute Press book
This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real locales are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
SIMON PULSE
An imprint of Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing Division
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Copyright © 1996 by Parachute Press, L.L.C.
All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form.
SIMON PULSE and colophon are registered trademarks of Simon & Schuster, Inc.
FEAR STREET is a registered trademark of Parachute Press, Inc.
Designed by Sammy Yuen Jr.
The text of this book was set in Times.
First Simon Pulse edition June 2005
Library of Congress Control Number 2004112717
ISBN 1-4169-0322-4
ISBN 13: 978-1-4424-6643-2 (ebook)