ON THIN ICE

“Somebody help me!” Melissa tried to scream. But in her terror, her voice came out a choked murmur.

She waited for the pain to roll up her side.

“Oh!” She realized the knife had plunged into the enormous, bulky overcoat. It had missed her.

Her attacker realized it too, and tugged the knife out of the coat, preparing to thrust it forward again.

“Rachel, please!” Melissa shrieked. In her panic, she lost her footing. She started to fall forward.

“Rachel—” As she started to fall, Melissa reached out and clutched at her attacker to hold herself up.

“Oh!” Her hands got tangled in the long red hair—and pulled it off.

A wig.

Stumbling backward, the red wig in both hands, Melissa caught her balance.

“Erica!” she cried. “You!”

Erica glowered angrily at her through the darkness, the knife raised at her side. “Give the wig back, Melissa,” Erica said, breathing hard, reaching for it with her free hand. “We don’t want the Drama Club to miss it, do we?”

“Erica, why?” Melissa cried. “Why?”

With a violent, angry tug, Erica grabbed the wig from Melissa. Her eyes gleamed furiously at Melissa in the flickering shadows.

“Surprised, Melissa?” she asked through clenched teeth.

“Yes,” Melissa admitted.

“Of course. You’d never suspect Erica. You’d never even think of Erica. No one ever did,” Erica said bitterly. “After all, Melissa, who am I? I’m no one!”

“Erica, please—” Melissa pleaded as Erica raised the knife once again.

“Rachel is the beautiful one,” Erica continued, ignoring Melissa’s cry. “And Josie was the popular one. And me? I was poor Erica, so plain, so shy, so ordinary.”

She lowered the knife and skated closer, her breath steaming up in front of her. Melissa tried to back up, but the ice behind her was starting to crack.

I’ve got to keep Erica talking, Melissa thought desperately. It’s my only chance. “You—you killed Josie?” she asked.

“Of course!” Erica replied in a raspy whisper.

Melissa gasped. “Your own sister? Erica, why?”

“Josie had to die,” Erica whispered. “She was responsible for Rachel’s accident. But did she take any responsibility? No. Josie went on with her life as if nothing had happened. And me—I was stuck with Rachel.”

She thrust her face close to Melissa’s, her eyes seething with anger. “Do you know how many lives were ruined the day of Rachel’s accident, Melissa? Do you know how many? Two! Rachel’s and mine. Ruined forever. But you and Josie were just fine, weren’t you? You were just fine.”

“That’s not true, Erica,” Melissa told her heatedly. “Josie and I, we were both—”

“Shut up!” Erica screamed. “Do you know how much I looked forward to high school? Do you have any idea? But thanks to you and Josie, I couldn’t enjoy it for a minute. I had to give up everything to take care of Rachel. And Josie gave up nothing. I couldn’t let her get away with that. I couldn’t.”

Melissa gazed past Erica to the crowd of skaters so far away across the ice. Where is Luke? she wondered. Where is he?

“But the valentines,” she told Erica. “I don’t understand. Dave sent Josie those threatening valentines. And you—”

“When Dave started sending those awful valentines, I saw my chance to kill Josie,” Erica revealed, her eyes glowing in the darkness, her face close to Melissa’s as if challenging Melissa to back away. “Those valentines gave me the idea. I knew when I saw them I could pay Josie back for ruining my life, for ruining Rachel’s life. And I could get away with it.”

“But you were stabbed too!” Melissa exclaimed.

“I stabbed myself,” Erica said in her raspy whisper. “It was easy compared to the pain I already felt.”

“I don’t believe it,” Melissa blurted out, shaking her head.

Where is Luke? Where is anybody? Doesn’t anybody see us out here?

“I was home, pretending to be too upset to go to Josie’s funeral,” Erica recalled. “I was worried about being caught, about people figuring out that I had killed Josie. Then I saw Dave break into our house. Dave to the rescue again. He was giving me the perfect chance to throw all suspicion off me. I called the police. Then I stabbed myself without even thinking about it. I knew Dave would rescue me before I lost too much blood.” She snickered. “Good old Dave.”

“But you killed Dave too?” Melissa cried, horrified by her own words. “You killed him last week!”

“I had to. He was figuring things out. He realized I still had the valentines he sent to Josie. He realized I was using them to copy his handwriting on the cards I sent to you.”

Melissa slid back a few inches. The ice cracked noisily.

Laughter floated across the ice from the skaters near the shore.

I’ve got to get past her and skate to the others, Melissa thought. I’ve got to!

Erica raised the knife as if reading Melissa’s thoughts. “Enough talk,” she said quietly.

“But why me?” Melissa cried shrilly, a wave of panic tightening her chest. “I’ve been your friend, Erica.”

Erica uttered a bitter laugh. “You’re no friend,” she said. “You got everything, Melissa. Poor Rachel lost everything. You even got Luke. You even took Luke away from Rachel. And that made me even more of a prisoner—because after you took Luke away, I was all that Rachel had left.”

She let the wig drop at her feet and raised the knife. “You have to die, Melissa. It’s only fair. You killed Rachel and me. Now you have to die too.”

“Why the wig?” Melissa demanded desperately, raising her hands as if to shield herself. “Why did you wear the red wig, Erica?”

Erica glanced down at the ball of hair. “This is Rachel’s revenge too,” she said quietly. “I wanted Rachel to be here too. In some way, she’s here with me, getting her revenge on you.”

“You’re crazy!” Melissa cried. The words burst out of her mouth. “I’m sorry, Erica, but you’re crazy!”

Erica uttered an angry curse. The knife swung wildly, cutting the darkness with a near-silent whoosh of air.

Melissa stumbled back and saw Luke. He was leaning low, skating rapidly toward her.

“Luke! Help!” she screamed.

Erica thrust the knife at Melissa’s throat.

Melissa heard a booming peal of thunder. It took her a few seconds to realize that the sound wasn’t thunder. It was the ice cracking beneath them.

“Help me, Luke!” she managed to scream as the ice gave way and she felt herself begin to drop.

She saw Erica’s angry expression turn to fear. Erica raised both arms and cried out in terror.

Both girls were screaming as the ice split apart and they dropped into the freezing water.

Дата добавления: 2015-07-20