Finding Reed

Chapter 4

Theo may be adorable, but I swear he was secretly the devil in disguise. Okay, I understood babies constantly woke up for food or for a nappy change or they needed attention, but sometimes I wished they allowed you to sleep for the night. My brother has only been home for five days and already he has made it hard for my parents and I to sleep. Mum said that Theo may not sleep through the night until he is about six weeks old. I’m not looking forward to sleepless nights for the next six weeks.
 
“You are welcome to sleep over whenever you want to catch up on your sleep,” Indy tells me when I arrive at the twins’ house on Monday morning. I was thankful it was the school holidays and I had an afternoon shift today. From the lack of sleep for the last five days, I felt like a zombie.
 
I give Indy a small smile as I sat down at the kitchen table. Bradley was in there too, putting together a protein shake to take with him to the gym. Indy and I were supposed to attend our boxing session this morning, but being so tired I had no energy to go. Indy could have headed off to the gym with her brother, but she decided to stay home with me.
 
“Thanks, Indy,” I say. “But I really don’t want to bother your family every time I can’t sleep at home because of my brother. It would be unfair to my parents.”
 
“Leela, you’re basically a family member here,” Indy says, taking an apple from the fruit basket in the centre of the table. She gestures to me if I wanted one. I nod, and she tosses me the apple in her hand before taking another one for herself.
 
“Yeah, Leela,” Bradley adds, shaking his protein shake. “You are like the sister we never had.”
 
Mrs Dylan walks into the kitchen, greeting us.
 
“Hey, Mum, can Leela sleep over here tonight?” Indy asks. “She hasn’t been able to sleep much because of her brother.”
 
Mrs Dylan pours herself a coffee from the coffee maker. “Of course she can, just as long as it’s okay with her parents.” She turns to me. “How is your new brother, Leela? Indy showed me a photo. I need to make time to see your folks and meet your new brother.”
 
“You are welcome to come over any time. Maybe my parents can arrange for you to come over for dinner some time this week and to meet Theo.”
 
“Yes, that will be lovely, dear. Also, let your mother know that if she needs any help with your brother that I’m happy to help.” She sips on her coffee.
 
I give her a smile. “I will let her know.”
 
She downs her coffee and places the cup in the sink. “Well, I have to get to work. You kids have a great day.”
 
Mrs Dylan kisses the twins on the forehead. Bradley mumbles to her about embarrassing him, but she only laughs. With one last goodbye, she leaves kitchen through the garage door.
 
“Well, ladies, I’m going to leave you, too,” Bradley says as he heads out with his protein shake, slipping out the front door to his car that’s parked on the street.
 
As soon as Mrs Dylan starts up her car and opens the garage door, Indy turns to me as she makes her way over to the coffee. Her parents didn’t approve her or Bradley drinking coffee at their age, but the twins always had it when their parents weren’t around. “Would you like some coffee?”
 
I shake my head. “I’m right, thanks.”
 
“Are you sure?” Indy pours the coffee into her cup and then turns to face me. “It could give you a pick up so you aren’t so exhausted.”
 
“You know I don’t like coffee. Besides, caffeine makes me even more tired.”
 
“What time do you have work?” Indy takes a sip of her drink.
 
“I start at one o’clock and finish at nine o’clock.”
 
“Why don’t you go and sleep in my room? I will wake you before you need to go to work.”
 
I take her advice and head up the stairs to the second floor. I could use as much sleep as I can get before work while I can. The last thig I wanted was to show up to work half asleep. For the past few days I have been tired at work and I didn’t want to get to the point where I couldn’t do my job.
 
I set the alarm on my phone so I wouldn’t sleep in. I could call my boss and ask for the day off, but I didn’t want to put him through the trouble of finding a replacement at the last minute. I sleep on top of the blankets as it was already humid this morning to sleep under.
 
I swear it didn’t feel like I had slept for long when my alarm goes off. I wanted to continue on sleeping. But I drag myself out of bed, saying goodbye to Indy and thanking her for allowing me to sleep in her bed. I head next door to change into my uniform and then head off to work.
 
There was no time to rest at the bowling alley. I push myself no matter how much I wanted to collapse somewhere and just sleep. As much as I love my job, I couldn’t wait for my shift to be over. But even if I wanted to go home and crawl into bed, Theo will prevent that from happening. Luckily my parents allowed me to spend the night at the twins’ place. So maybe I will be able to get the sleep I needed.
 
I should have called Dad to come get me, but he too was sleep deprive from the lack of sleep we have all been getting, and the last thing I wanted to do was bother him at this time of the night.
 
I was so exhausted riding my bike home that I didn’t even have the energy to petal. I even almost fell off my bike a couple of times.
 
Bradley. I need to call him to come pick me up. I’m sure he won’t mind coming to get me at this hour, especially when I was spending the night at his house. At least I know he wouldn’t be sleep deprive like my parents are.
 
I was about to pull out my phone to text Bradley, when I come to realise where I was. I had come to the intersection of Faulkner and Dale Street. If I turn left onto Faulkner Street I will be heading home to my neighbourhood. But if I turn right on the street, it will lead me up to the drive-in.
 
No matter how tired I am, I make a right turn, wanting to prove to my friends that the drive-in wasn’t haunted. It’s nine thirty and it’s around the same time mysterious things are supposed to happen.
 
It’s head silence on the street, except for some dogs barking nearby. As I get closer to the theatre, I hear it. The static coming from a radio, with classical music playing. I freeze beside the fence listening to it. If the music is really coming from the drive-in, I’m sure I’m hearing things. It has to be sleep deprive. I mean, I’m that exhausted that I’m sure my body could collapse at any moment.
 
I keep pushing my bike towards the entrance. I rest it up against the gate and peek in. It’s dark and no movement at all, just the music coming from a radio. Was it coming from speakers?
 
Glancing around me, I make sure no one is around. I see a car down the street but they turn right onto Dale Street. I start climbing the fence, ignoring the ‘no trespassing’ signs. I twist my ankle when I land on the ground. I curse softly. I pull out my phone and tap the torch app, using it to light up my surroundings.
 
I take a step forward as soon as I recover from the jump, only I couldn’t put any pressure on my ankle at all. I sit down on the ground, resting my back against the wall of the gateway. I take off my shoe and sock of my right foot and shine a light over it. There was no bruise yet, but it did start to swell. Great. A sprained ankle is all I really needed right now.
 
The right thing for me to do was to climb back over the fence and call Bradley to come get me. Instead I put my sock and shoe back on, and went to explore the drive-in.
 
I can hear the classical music continuing to play as I limp around. A part of my brain told me to get out of there as quick as I can, the other half of me wanted to prove to my friends that this drive-in wasn’t haunted like the rumours they wanted to believe.
 
There are two screens, both of them still standing. Brown and black stained the once white screens, which was probably caused from dirt and perhaps damage from the weather and low maintenance. None of the screens have fallen apart yet, but I’m sure in a few years if no one reopens this place up again, it will.
 
I stand between the first screen and the building that connects with the concession stand, toilets and the projection room. I listen to the music that’s coming from the speakers. How is the music coming from it when there is no power in this place? I turn to the projection room. The music has to be coming from there.
 
“Hello?” I call out, which is probably the stupidest thing I can do right now. I mean, isn’t that how the characters often die in horror films? By coming out to a location in the dead of night, calling out to the serial killer? “Is anyone here? Anne Jones, is that you?”
 
The music stops playing right then. My heart beats fast in my chest. Could it really be the ghost of Anne Jones?
 
No, Leela, I tell myself. There is no such thing as ghosts. It’s a figment of your imagination. You are sleep deprive, remember? Your brain is playing tricks on you. You need to go home and sleep it off.
 
I step towards the projection room, trying to see through the dusted window and broken glass. I use my phone to shine a light inside, but there was nothing I could see.
 
This is silly. It’s obvious this place was not haunted. Wherever the music was coming from, I’m sure I was hearing it in my head.
 
I start to make my way to the gate so I could get out of here and call Bradley to come get me. I’m about to press his number in my contacts when I catch a glimpse of a light on my right. I turn to see the light from the projector shining on the screen. On it is a dark figure as someone steps in front of the projector. My heart pounds against my rib cage that I can hear the heart beat in my ears.
 
I make a run for it, limping through the car park to the front gate as fast as I could, not daring to look over my shoulder to see what I saw on the screen was chasing me.
 
When I near the gate, I reach for my phone to call Bradley, only I didn’t have it in my hands. I put the pocket of my pants, but of course I didn’t have it on me. I stop for a minute to rest my aching ankle, and glance back in the direction I had come. Somewhere in the darkness I had dropped it without knowing I did. Mostly likely it was due to the shock when the projector came on.
 
I go to take a step forward back in the direction to retrieve my phone. But before I could go any further, a light from a torch shines back at me. My heart has now jump into my throat. I turn to run for the gate, wishing I hadn’t sprained my ankle breaking into this place. I could get away faster than instead of limping.
 
Why did I decide to come here alone? I should have drag Indy and Bradley here.
 
I reach for the fence and start the climb, only I’m panicking too much to get my feet up. I glance back to see if the dark figure with the torch is still following me. As they came closer, I let out a piercing scream.