The Evil Lives! (2 page)

Inside the bag, on top of Janine's red sweater, lay a thin black snake.

As Amanda stared, it began to uncoil itself. Its flat,
wedge-shaped head slid over the zipper. Its forked tongue slithered out, flicking the air.

“Whoa!” Keesha cried. “Where did that come from?”

“The student parking lot,” someone replied.

Everybody turned.

Brandon stood a few feet away, a mischievous gleam in his pale gray eyes. As everyone stared at him, he grinned. “Got you—didn't I, Janine?”

Janine glared at him. “I don't believe it! You put that horrible creature in my bag?”

“I
believe it,” Natalie muttered, shaking her head in disgust.

Amanda did, too. Putting a snake in someone's duffel bag was exactly the kind of prank Brandon loved to pull.

“How could you
do
that?” Janine demanded. “You scared me to death!”

“Oh, come on,” Brandon protested. “When I found it outside, I couldn't resist.”

“Guess what? I'm not laughing,” Janine snapped. “I'm really tired of your dumb jokes, Brandon.”

“Aw, give me a break. I'll get rid of it.” Giving Janine an innocent, little-boy smile, Brandon trotted over to the duffel bag and picked up the snake. It froze for a second, then began to writhe wildly in his hand.

Janine took a step back, sucking in her breath.

Brandon chuckled. “Don't be scared. It's totally harmless. See?” He quickly thrust his arm out, pushing the snake an inch from Janine's face.

“Cut it out!” Janine shouted, stumbling backward.

“Okay, okay.” Brandon spun around and lobbed the snake through the air.

Amanda ducked as the snake sailed over her head, straight toward Judd.

With a startled cry, Judd stuck his hand up and caught it.

“Come on, Judd!” Brandon cried, waving his arms over his head. “Toss it back!”

“Whoa, this thing can
move!”
Judd held the wriggling snake at arm's length.

“Throw it!” Brandon shouted.

Judd swung his arm back, then tossed the snake toward Brandon's outstretched hands.

Brandon leaped into the air and caught it above his head. “Yes! A perfect catch!” he yelled. “Okay, Judd—get ready!”

Before Brandon could throw the snake again, Natalie dove over and caught hold of his arm. “Stop throwing that poor thing around like it was made out of rubber,” she scolded. “It's a living creature—not a toy.”

“Come on, Natalie,” Brandon said. “We weren't hurting it.”

Natalie glared at him. “How do you know? Give it to me. I'll take it back outside where it belongs.”

Brandon grinned sheepishly and handed over the snake. Shaking her head, Natalie marched across the gym toward the outside doors.

Janine gave Brandon a dirty look, then turned to Amanda. “Come on. Let's go get something to eat.”

I'd rather talk to Judd some more, Amanda thought.

Unfortunately, Coach Davis returned and called the team back to practice.

With a sigh, Amanda grabbed her duffel bag and
followed Janine and Victoria into the girls' locker room.

“I'm absolutely going to kill Brandon,” Janine muttered in a muffled voice as she pulled her T-shirt over her head.

“You always say that,” Victoria reminded her. She sat on a bench in front of the lockers and unzipped her bag. “Every time he plays a trick, you threaten to kill him.”

“This time I mean it.”

Amanda laughed. “You do not.” She walked down the aisle until she came to locker 312. Its battered door sagged crookedly, held up by only one hinge. “Oh, right,” she murmured. “They assigned me a new locker.”

Amanda fished a slip of paper out of her bag and checked the new locker number—113. She found it in the next aisle and pulled it open.

A small mirror hung on the inside of the door. Amanda checked her reflection. Strands of auburn hair had sprung loose from the rubber band, and her face was all sweaty and red from practicing so hard.

Great, she thought. I was certainly looking my best in front of Judd.

Shaking her head, she dressed in the jeans and yellow sweater she'd brought from home. She stuffed her practice clothes into her duffel, then brushed out her hair in front of the little mirror.

As she started to shut the locker door, she noticed something stuffed way at the back of the narrow shelf. She reached in and pulled out a pale blue duffel bag.

A name tag hung from one of the straps. Amanda turned it over. “Corky Corcoran,” she read aloud. “Where have I heard that name?”

Curious, she sat on the bench and unzipped the bag. Inside, neatly folded, was a cheerleading uniform. A short, maroon-and-white skirt, and a thick white sweater with a big maroon “S” on the front.

A Shadyside uniform, Amanda thought. An old one. Now the squad wore one-piece uniforms with short, flared skirts and long sleeves.

As Amanda set the uniform aside, a photograph slid from its folds and fluttered to the floor. Amanda picked it up.

Five girls smiled out at her, all dressed in the old Shadyside cheerleading uniforms and holding maroon-and-white pompoms in the air.

“Amanda, are you ready?” Victoria called from the next aisle.

“Just a sec.” As Amanda started to stuff the old uniform back into the bag, she noticed something else inside. She reached in and pulled it out.

It was a small box, made of smooth, dark wood. A tarnished brass catch held the lid closed.

A label had been taped to the top of the box, with bold black letters that screamed out a warning:

DO NOT OPEN. EVIL INSIDE.

“I
t has to be a joke,” Victoria declared.

“You think so?” Amanda asked.

“Pretty creepy joke!” Janine ate a French fry, then took a sip of her shake.

The three of them sat at a booth in the little restaurant called The Corner, staring at the wooden box.

DO NOT OPEN. EVIL INSIDE.

Amanda shivered. The warning seemed to glare up at her.

She gestured at the photograph that had been in the duffel bag. “Does anybody know which cheerleader is Corky Corcoran?”

“That one,” Victoria replied, pointing at the pretty blond-haired girl in the center.

“Did you know her?” Amanda asked.

Victoria shook her head. “I think she was cheerleading captain when we were freshmen. Or maybe when we were still in middle school. Why?”

Amanda shrugged. “I just wondered if she was the kind of person who liked to joke around.”

“Who cares?” Victoria said. “Let's open the box. I'm dying to find out what's inside.”

Victoria is always ready to do anything, Amanda thought. “What about the warning?” she asked.

“Oh, please!” Victoria rolled her eyes. “Aren't you guys curious?”

“Well . . . sure.” Amanda reached for the box.

Janine sucked in her breath.

Amanda quickly drew her hand back, laughing nervously.

Clicking her tongue with impatience, Victoria grabbed the box and unhooked the brass catch. “Get ready for the Evil!” she cried.

With a wicked cackle, Victoria lifted the lid.

Amanda held her breath. She knew it was silly, but she half expected some horrible, fiendish monster to rise from the box like a genie from a bottle.

But nothing happened.

Amanda cautiously peered inside.

On the bottom of the box lay a small stack of papers, tightly folded.

Victoria laughed. “Not exactly evil-looking, are they?”

“Maybe it's an old test that Corky failed,” Janine suggested. “Or a break-up letter from some guy.”

Amanda pulled out the first piece of paper and unfolded it. “It
is
a letter,” she said. She turned it over and read the signature. “From Corky.”

“Well? Don't keep us in suspense,” Victoria told her. “Read it!”

Amanda cleared a space on the table, then smoothed the letter out and began to read:

“If you are reading this letter, then you've opened the box. I left it here as a warning.
Please!
Once you've finished reading,
destroy this box and everything in it!”

Amanda glanced up.

“Keep going,” Victoria urged.

“This is a story of Evil,” Amanda read. “A horrible, terrifying Evil. An Evil that kills and kills and kills.

“And it's a true story. It happened to me and my friends.

“It all started at the Fear Street Cemetery. At the grave of a woman named Sarah Fear. Sarah died a hundred years ago. But the Evil that possessed her lived on.”

Amanda shivered. This didn't sound like a joke.

“When I first became a Shadyside cheerleader,” Corky's letter went on, “the squad was traveling to an away game. The bus skidded and crashed into the cemetery. Jennifer, one of the cheerleaders, was thrown out the window.

“She landed on Sarah Fear's grave.

“We didn't know it then, but that was the beginning.

“The Evil was released.

“And it took over Jennifer's body. Using Jennifer, it tried to kill me, to bury me in Sarah Fear's grave.

“I fought it. I thought I killed it. But I was wrong. The Evil was too strong, and it came back. This time, it came back in my friend, Kimmy. Next, it took over my body.”

Amanda glanced up again.

Janine and Victoria sat still, serious expressions on their faces.

“This is really spooky,” Janine murmured.

Victoria nodded wordlessly.

Amanda's heart pounded. The letter frightened her, and she wanted to rip it to pieces. But she couldn't stop reading.

“The Evil killed people in horrible, gruesome ways.

“It chopped off my boyfriend's hand and he bled to death.

“It forced a cheerleader to keep doing back flips, over and over and over, until she went crazy.”

Victoria shuddered.

“I finally discovered a way to kill it,” Amanda read, her voice shaking. “It had to be drowned. And I did it. I almost drowned, too. But I managed to kill the Evil.

“Is it
really
dead?

“I don't know.”

Amanda paused.

“Is that it?” Janine whispered.

“No, there's a little more.” Amanda licked her lips. “You may think this is a joke,” she read. “I wish it was. But it isn't. The Evil lived. It killed. If it isn't really dead, it will kill again.
Destroy this box!”

A
manda stopped reading.

“Whoa,” Janine murmured. “Talk about creepy!”

Amanda nodded and picked up her Coke. Her hand shook. She quickly put the glass down. “Maybe we should do what Corky says—destroy the box.”

“Do you believe the letter?” Janine asked.

“I'm not sure,” Amanda admitted. “What about you?”

“It's almost too weird to believe,” Janine replied. “But there's something about it. I don't know—it sounds so serious. It's obviously not a joke.”

“Yeah, Corky believes it, that's for sure,” Victoria declared. “Maybe she went crazy and actually thought this Evil went around possessing people.”

“Maybe.” Amanda frowned. “But what about all those deaths?”

Victoria shrugged. “If Corky was crazy, maybe when somebody died, she decided the Evil did it.”

“I guess you could be right,” Amanda agreed. She eyed the box. “Do you think I should get rid of it?”

“Wait. At least let's see what the other papers are.” Victoria started to reach for the box, then paused as a shadow fell across the table.

Amanda glanced up.

Dustin stood there, gazing down at her with an annoyed expression on his face.

Amanda forced a smile, even though she wasn't thrilled to see him. “Hi.”

“Hi.” Without waiting for an invitation, Dustin squeezed into the booth, forcing Amanda to slide over. “I searched for you after practice,” he told her. “Why didn't you tell me where you were going?”