Carver Pike - Scalp

“We should go up and down the hallways,” Nitsy said, turning once again toward Robbie.

He grabbed both of her arms and kissed her again. This time it was a short but passionate kiss. When it ended, he said, “I don’t know what home will be like, but you want to know a secret? I’ve kind of had a thing for you for a while.”

“A thing for me?” she asked.

Nobody had ever had a thing for her. He nodded.

“You’re so full of shit,” she said.

“Ouch,” he replied. “That wasn’t exactly the response I was hoping for.”

“What were you hoping for?”

“I don’t know. That maybe we’d see how things go. Ride it out, you know? I like you and I think you like me, so why not?”

Because I don’t know if I can handle having my heart broken. That’s why not.

Her thoughts said one thing, but her voice said, “Okay, sure.” They started toward the cafeteria doors when she added, “I guess we should go check your other girlfriend’s room first.”

Robbie laughed and she did too.

With everyone inside the big conference auditorium, the campus was eerily quiet. The sun beat down over them as they crossed the courtyard, passed the big Stonewall statue, and headed toward the dormitory wing. Nitsy thought the weather was beautiful, but she’d seen how quickly it changed in West Virginia. It could be sunburn weather one second and raincoat the next.

The bugs were what fascinated Nitsy most. Like most girls her age, she didn’t want to be close to any flying insects, but she did find the new variety to be spectacular. She’d never seen such heavy bees in her life. Back home, they were the common garden variety most people steered clear from, but here, they had giant bottoms and were black, almost purple looking. It was like she’d been transported to some other planet. One flew past them as they walked and she squealed, moving quickly behind Robbie. He threw his arm around her and pulled her in close.

“They won’t sting you,” he told her.

“How do you know?”

“I think they’re carpenter bees. My uncle lives in Pennsylvania and they have them there too. They’re just pests.”

Nitsy swatted at a fly. “West Virginia sure has a lot of pests.” She pushed Robbie away teasingly and added, “present company excluded.”

“Oh, I’m a pest, am I?” he flirted back, pulling her close to him once again. “If you think the bugs are bad, you should watch out for the snakes.”

Nitsy stopped in her tracks and got dead serious for a second. “Snakes?”

“Copperheads for sure… rattlesnakes too I think.

“You’re serious?”

“Very. You’ll be fine as long as you stay here on campus. Then again, people do sometimes find them in their houses so… you never know I guess.”

“How much longer is this trip?” she joked.

They’d reached the dormitory wing and stopped. They stood quiet for a second.

“I don’t hear any kids goofing around,” Nitsy said.

“I’d imagine they’d be pretty quiet if they were skipping the meeting.”

“They should do a rollcall and find out who’s missing. It would be pretty easy. Then search the rooms of the absent kids.”

“You sound like a pretty good leader. You should suggest it when we get back. Might score you some leadership points.”

She liked the sound of that.

“I guess we should go ahead and take a look at Bianca’s room,” Nitsy said, pouting as she did.

“I really don’t want to.”

“Sure, you don’t.”

“I don’t. I told you. I like you .”

Nitsy beamed at the sound of that. His flirtation game was strong, and she didn’t mind it at all as long as it was directed at her. This morning, at breakfast, she’d stopped him from eating a glazed donut. She’d hated being the motherly figure to him, but she’d found herself genuinely concerned about his wellbeing. She didn’t need to watch her figure, especially after all the hospital stays where red and green Jell-O was her main meal, but she cut the sugar out of her breakfast too, so he wouldn’t have to eat that way alone.

“Well,” she replied, “I did give up the bowl of Frosted Flakes I wanted so badly this morning.”

“I gave up my donut, so I understand.”

“That was for your health, creep! I gave up my sugar for you !”

“We need to find you one of those saintly robes—”

“You’re an asshole,” she said as she slapped him playfully on the shoulder.

They ascended the stairs to the girls’ floor and Robbie said, “I think we’re the only ones making noise out here.”

He was right. The corridors were dead silent. This was going to be a waste of time. She only hoped they hadn’t started the conference without her. She wanted to be a part of the questioning process, so she could hear the questions asked of the other leaders before it was her turn.

A loud bang came from somewhere on their left.

Nitsy jumped and Robbie laughed.

“Sounds like someone’s up here,” he said.

“Please tell me that was a slamming door and not a knocking headboard,” Nitsy replied.

“If that was a headboard, Lord help the poor girl in that bed.”

“Why does it have to be the poor girl?”

Nitsy’s face went red with the look he gave her. It was the first time she’d made a sexual joke, at least the first time she made one with a boy.

My God. What will he think of you now?

She doubted Robbie was a virgin. There was no way. What if he didn’t think she was one? What if he thought she was some girl who’d climb right into bed with him?

The door slammed again. They were in the hallway this time when it happened. A steady breeze rattled the trees to the left of them and blew against the corridor from the open courtyard. Nitsy glanced over the railing and could see the door to the auditorium in the distance. They needed to hurry back before she was too late to participate in the morning’s activities.

One of the dormitory room doors swung open in the wind and then slammed shut. They approached cautiously. Nitsy wasn’t aware of Robbie’s thoughts, but she knew something was wrong. It looked like the door was splintered, as if the lock had been kicked open.

She squeezed Robbie’s hand and said, “Maybe we should stop and tell one of the teachers.”

Nitsy had read once in one of those teen magazines that nothing built excitement in a new relationship like a creepy situation, but she didn’t like this. She couldn’t quite explain why the broken door scared her, but it was enough to make her want to flee and go get an adult involved.

“That’s the door to Bianca’s room,” Robbie whispered.

There shouldn’t have been a broken door on campus, and even if there were a good explanation for it, it bothered her that it was Bianca’s room. The room Robbie visited last night with his roommates. The roommates who were missing.

“Let’s just look a little closer,” Robbie said, “that way we have something to tell them when we go back.”

“We can tell them the door is broken,” Nitsy whispered. “That’s weird enough, isn’t it?”

“How about you stay right here,” he suggested, “and I take a closer look.”

“Robbie…”

“It’ll be fine. I won’t go in the room. I’ll only peek.”

“We should go back.”

“Just a sec…”

Nitsy let go of his arm and took a few steps back while he took a few forward. She wished he didn’t feel the need to try and be brave in front of her. This wasn’t going to earn him any points. She would much rather have him here, holding her hand, than over there pretending to be Sherlock Holmes.

Robbie’s shoe crunched on the ground, and he stopped. He looked down at his feet and then over at the window. He backstepped carefully, much quieter than he’d approached, and looked over his shoulder to say, “There’s glass all over the ground. The window’s shattered.”