Chapter Two: The Shadyside Curse

***

Alisha lowered her headphones as Deena stopped the car, seeing they had arrived at their high school. Cars crammed the parking lot, joining the buses, and it looked as if it was miracle Deena had nabbed a parking spot, students flooding into the school, the bell haven't rung yet for class. Grabbing her bag, Alisha got out of the car as she and her siblings, headed up to their school, Shadyside High. 

Alisha pushed her way in among the crush of students at the doors, bringing up her headphones again over her ears as Deena turned to them and said, "See you later Ali, Sir Silence."

Deena patted their brother's head, Josh giving Deena an annoyed look. He turned to Alisha, who just said, "Later, doofus," and descended into the crush to find her locker, Nirvana and Smashing Pumpkins helping to keep her sane.

As she did, Alisha could see people looking at each other, obviously talking about last night, about Heather. Or maybe even about the curse. Alisha rolled her eyes and huffed out an irritated sigh at that. She couldn't believe people would buy that curse bullshit. Shadyside was just a fucked up town with fucked up people one snapped thread away from massacring others. Everyone knew it. Everyone had a story related to their bloody history.

Even their school was drenched in blood.

Alisha was just a kid when in 1986, on the night of senior prom, Tabitha Patterson, the prom queen, snapped and murdered nearly everybody in the school. She stabbed them with her sceptre and knife, becoming so drenched in blood her once-white dress turned red, even crushing a portion of the senior class and two teachers underneath the giant decorations. Her reign of terror ended when Tabitha, known forever as the Killer Prom Queen, was killed by her last victim, Dani Lin. Only eight people had survived that night of terror.

Her classmate and Simon's co-worker, Alex, had lost his sister that night.

But unlike some of her classmates, Alisha wasn't scared by their school's bloody history, nor daunted by the whispers that the Killer Prom Queen still haunted these halls, ghost stories told to scare the freshmen and occasionally even the older students, her heels eternally clicking upon the floor as she hunted for her next victim. Some of the rumours centred around the Fier siblings—that she was hunting for them, to end the curse on their town.

Alisha tended to tune out those rumours. 

Like everyone, she didn't know much about the siblings aside from what was rumoured about them, but even she could tell how fucked up that was. Why blame the descendants for something their ancestor had done? It didn't make any kind of sense to Alisha.

And she didn't need to be a genius to know that, today, as much as sympathy was going around for Heather, blame was going to be pointed directly at Sloane and Zack Fier.

Not like it was her problem, anyway. They weren't friends. And they could stand up for themselves.

Shouldering through the crowd, Alisha finally arrived at her locker. Opening it, Alisha looked through her shit for what she needed for class and took it, putting it into her backpack. 

She was slamming her locker closed when Alisha saw her.

Kate Schmidt, in her black, blue and white cheerleader uniform, brunette ponytail bouncing across her shoulders, a floral-patterned binder in her arms. She winked at Alisha and she felt her heart stop.

Kate, her friend, one of her closest friends. Kate, the sister of her best friend.

Kate, the girl who Alisha had a huge crush on for two years.

Alisha watched Kate go past, longing in her heart to go to Kate and confess her feelings to her, but fear rooted inside her as Alisha kept her face neutral and detached, not showing any sign of how much she loved Kate. When she walked away, Alisha's facial expression dropped and she sighed.

"I see someone's still pining after a certain someone."

Alisha jumped, whirling to see her best friend Leah there, smirking knowingly.

"Oh, ha ha. Funny," Alisha said dryly.

"You know, you could always tell her how you feel," Leah prompted, eyeing her meaningfully.

"Oh yeah, totally," Alisha snarked, rolling her eyes. "Only in an alternate universe where we're saving the world from zombies or something and we're about to die."

"Hey, you never know," Leah said, shrugging. Looking at Alisha, she grinned. "Come on."

Grabbing her hand, Leah led Alisha through the crowd toward the girl's bathroom, where Leah saw Deena and Kate. Alisha froze, before adopting what she hoped was a normal expression.

"Hey, Kate," Alisha greeted.

"Hey, Alisha," Kate responded. She turned to push Deena in, Leah doing the same. The Johnson sisters exchanged a look, Alisha screaming with her eyes for Deena to tell her what the hell was going on but Deena only rolled her eyes as they walked into the girls' bathroom proper.

At what she saw when they entered, Alisha rolled her eyes as well, now understanding.

On the bathroom stalls in red spray paint was the last part of the children's nursery rhyme Alisha had grown up hearing—the rhyme about the curse of Sarah Fier.

"'She reaches from beyond the grave...'" Leah whispered as they headed into the bathroom, with her twin finishing  with a grin and a suggestive wriggle that had Alisha's heart flip, "'... to make good men her wicked slaves.'"

The door banged open, revealing Simon as he yelled, "'She'll take your blood!'"

"Simon," Deena hissed as Alisha glared at Simon, her heart rate trying to calm down.

"You asshole, give us a warning next time!" Alisha yelled, but Simon only grinned as he finished, "'She'll take your head. She'll follow you until you're dead.''

"Wow," Deena deadpanned, "you guys are dicks."

"It's just fun," Kate defended as Simon slung an arm around Leah, her best friend giggling.

"It's sick," Deena countered.

"I'm surprised you're joking about it, Leah," Alisha admitted, looking at Leah pointedly.

She shrugged. "You either laugh or cry. And I'm choosing laugh."

"And come on, the dude was wearing a Halloween skull mask! How is that not fun?" Simon argued, letting go of Leah as he held the frames of the stall, still grinning.

"People died. Heather died," Deena reminded. 

"No to mention, who is gonna get the blame for their deaths? Not some curse, not some dead witch. It's going to be the very alive, very easily blameable descendants of said dead witch," Alisha pointed out, crossing her arms as she leaned against the sinks. "They're gonna get blamed along with this stupid curse for something that was probably because the guy was pushed too close the edge one too many times and just snapped and decided to go on a murder spree."

"Exactly," Deena agreed as she took off her jacket. "The dude was probably some sad sack who hated his life just like the rest of us, except he decided 'Hey, why don't I get out of here for good, and hey, why don't I take Heather and a couple other mall rats with me?' There's no angry dead witch who made him go postal, the only thing that made him go crazy is this town!"

Silence radiated as Deena dumped her jacket on the grimy bathroom floor. Alisha looked at her twin, surprised at the vehemence of her words and frowning as she felt something much deeper and more cutting than some Shadysider snapping and murdering people radiating from Deena. Whether it was twin intuition or not, Alisha knew there was something else behind it.

Kate seemed to sense it too, as she asked, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," Deena answered. Alisha was not convinced, raising an eyebrow. Deena shook her head with a glare to match Alisha's. Alisha glared back, but her twin was stubborn. Alisha huffed. Fine. If Deena didn't want to talk, that was all fine with Alisha.

"Seems like maybe you got a little witch in you," Simon teased.

Kate laughed and Alisha smirked as Leah rolled her eyes at her boyfriend with a fond smile. Simon pulled her in to kiss her as Leah swatted at him before he let go and turned back to the stall, Deena asking, "Why are you even in here? This is the girl's bathroom?"

"You know it would've ended badly for you if it had been anyone but us who'd came in here, right?" Alisha reminded him, but Simon ignored them both as he grabbed a box out of the vent above the stall and turned to them, grinning.

"Candy store," he said and Alisha's eyebrows raised as Leah's grin dropped, looking at Simon with shock and a dent of disapproval in her eyebrows.

"You know we don't believe in this witch shit, right? It's like, fucked-up Santa Claus," Kate reminded them as she fixed her ponytail.

"Except with murder instead of gifts," Leah deadpanned, leaning against one of the graffited stalls.

"Ho ho ho," Simon piped in.

"We know. But sometimes you make it hard in showing that you don't," Alisha pointed out.

"Didn't know I make it so easy," Kate said.

"You always do and still look nice doing it," Alisha murmured, a moment before she realised she said that last part aloud. Oh shit.

She was spared from answering when Kate asked, "What's this?"

Alisha looked to see Deena handing Kate the box full of Sam's stuff, as Deena told their friend, "I need you to give this to Sam tonight."

"Uh, no way," Kate declined, even moving back a step to get away from the box.

"Come on, Kate," Deena wheedled, gesturing with the box at Kate again.

"No way, Deena. I am not getting mixed up in your ex drama," Kate refused. "Do it yourself."

Alisha frowned, having a feeling she knew why. "Deena, you didn't."

"I can't," Deena said, looking at Alisha steadfastly as the frown deepened on Alisha's face. "I'm not going to the game. I quit band."

"Wait, seriously?" Leah asked, sounding shocked as Alisha sighed. Of course her sister quit band. It was the last extracurricular she had left, the one that gave her sister a reason to get out of the house and not mope over Sam and their breakup. And it wasn't a shock to Alisha—she'd known Deena had done this since she started coming home earlier than Alisha expected from rehearsals, when she stopped hearing her sister play drums. It hurt a part of Alisha that Deena had lost her passion for something that she had loved, and it had her want to scream at her that just because she lost Sam didn't mean she had to give up everything else. But Alisha only knew Deena would brush her away, so she didn't say anything and instead gave Deena looks of disapproval. Her sister just ignored them.

"Since when?" Kate asked.

"Since who gives a shit," Deena answered.

"Basically since her and Sam broke up," Alisha deadpanned, ignoring the heated glare Deena sent her way.

"God. I knew you were quitting your extracurriculars, but I didn't know you quit band as well," Leah said, looking at Deena in shock.

"Yeah, was band the only extracurricular you had left?" Kate questioned.

The silence from Deena was answer enough.

"Well, you still have your band uniform, right?" Kate pointed out. "Just wear that shit one last time."

Alisha looked at her sister. "She makes a fair point, Deena."

Deena just glared at her sister. "Of course you'd agree with Kate."

Alisha kicked Deena in the shin. Deena glared back before turning to Kate, who had a devious smirk as she took off the lid of the box and said, "I got you the balls you need to face Sam."

Deena and Alisha looked into the box, where Alisha could see bottles of pills inside. Pills that Alisha had assumed Kate had stopped dealing, that Leah had thought she'd stopped dealing as she glared at her twin.

"What? You're dealing again?" Deena demanded. "I thought you stopped after this dingus' brother OD'd."

"Seems like a pretty good reason to stop dealing this shit," Alisha agreed, crossing her arms.

"My thoughts exactly," Leah muttered, looking at her sister and boyfriend pointedly.

"Timothy?" Simon said, grinning.

Kate looked between them and defended, "Timmy wasn't a real OD. He didn't actually die. They brought him back."

Simon imitated the noise defibrillators made as Leah rolled her eyes, muttering, "Why I am dating you, Simon?"

"Because you love me," Simon responded, holding her hand as he kissed her. Leah still looked annoyed, but it wasn't lasting long.

"Still think a near-OD is pretty good reason to stop dealing," Alisha muttered, rolling her eyes. Though, she could understand, could see the appeal. Kate was desperate to get out of Shadyside, and no matter how hard she worked for her grades, colleges required money. Drugs provided cash, and lots of it from people who wanted drugs. She just assumed after what happened to Simon's brother, and that colleges wouldn't exactly overlook someone who dealt drugs, that Kate had stopped. 

But, again, money. That was a big motivator in this town. And Alisha would be hypocritical if she said she never touched drugs, even if it was just one weed brownie.

"You're both morons," Deena declared.

"Excuse me?" Kate said, taking mock offence as the group moved to finally leave the bathroom. "Which one of us is valediction again and president of every club this shithole has to offer?"

"You're not valedictorian yet, Kate. I'm still in the running, remember?" Leah pointed out.

"Then may the best woman win," Kate replied, smiling a competitive smile at her sister before turning back to the main group. She and Alisha brushed against each other as they opened the door and Alisha jolted at the contact. Kate didn't appear affected as she continued in a determined voice, "I'm getting out of here. Off to claim my place amongst the stars, bitch."

She's so gorgeous when she's determined, Alisha thought, eyeing Kate out of the corner of her eye.

"Same. I'm leaving this town, and hoping a truck or something doesn't hit me on the way out of here," Leah said, determination across her face. Alisha had also heard Leah say that, say that she wanted to leave Shadyside and not look back. She told her she and Simon were thinking long distance and Alisha hoped it would work out for her friend, but she knew she wasn't like Leah or Kate, that she would have to say goodbye to her and swallow her feelings when Kate left.

Because Kate was getting out of here. And Alisha was not, her fate decided before she was born. She could rage and scowl about Shadyside, but Alisha had faced the grim reality there was no way she was escaping, nothing she could do to tear free.

Shadyside would be where she spent the rest of her days. Alisha tried not to think about it too much, that she'd end up being exactly like her dad, continuing the cycle. 

And it wasn't like she could leave Deena. She was her twin, after all, the only person who truly understood Alisha, her other half. No matter how much they fought, Alisha couldn't bear to be parted from her sister, to leave her behind while she escaped, to sever that tie between them.

She just couldn't.

And she tried not to think about her dreams of leaving Shadyside, half-baked flights of fancy of getting out of this hellhole and living her own life far away from here. Dreams that were crushed by the starkness of reality.

Alisha shook her thoughts away, standing near Kate as Leah stood next to Simon—and watched as a student ran past them, dragging a dummy with a rope around it and a knife in it chest and crowing, "Long live the witch! It's Sarah Fier!"

Students either grinned, cheered or ignored the display, Simon shouting, "Yeah!" Alisha rolled her eyes as her friends and sister grinned at each other before heading towards the assembly meant for the football game against Sunnyvale tonight.

As they did, Alisha noticed two students who did not smile at the display, who the crowd seemed to part around.

Sloane and Zack Fier.

***

The gang's all here!!

LOVED writing all their interactions together—it was so fun. And I loved writing Leah and Alisha—they are so besties (it's gonna hurt SO MUCH with everything that happens later...)

And yeah, Alisha has a crush on Kate that she would rather die than admit (but who knows?)

And next chapter we'll be back to the siblings and the last character...

Please read, comment and vote!

GhostWriterGirl out!