Chain Letter Read Free

it!” Brenda shouted again. “Listen to yourself; you’re babbling like a child.
     There are no ghosts. There are no vampires. This is nothing but a joke, a sick, sick
     joke.”
    “Then why are you so upset?” Fran snapped back.
    “If I am, you made me this way. It’s your fault. And that’s all I’m going to say about
     this. Alison, give me that letter. I’m throwing it away, and then I’m going home.”
    Alison rested her head in her hands, massaging her temples. A few minutes ago, they
     had been happily gossiping and stuffing their faces. Now they were at each other’s
     throats and had the dead haunting them. “Would you two do me a favor?” she asked.
     “Would you both please stop shouting and allow us to discuss this calmly?” She rubbed
     her eyes. “Boy, have I got a headache.”
    “What is there to discuss?” Brenda asked, picking at a Twinkie with nervous fingers.
     “One of the others, either Joan, Tony or Neil sent this letter as a joke.”
    “You didn’t mention Kipp,” Fran said. Kipp was Brenda’s boyfriend. He was also, without
     question, the smartest person in the school.
    Brenda was defensive. “Kipp would never have written something this perverse.”
    “Would Neil or Tony have?” Alison asked. Tony was the school quarterback, all-around
     Mr. Nice Guy, and a fox to boot. She was crazy about him. He hardly knew she was alive.
     Kipp and Neil were two of his best friends. “Brenda, you know them best.”
    “Neil wouldn’t have, that’s for sure,” Fran cut in. She shared Alison’s problem. Fran
     was crazy about Neil and he hardly knew she was alive. It was a mixed-up world.
    Alison had to agree with Fran. Though she had spoken to him only a few times, Neil
     had impressed her as an extremely thoughtful person. Besides Fran, he had been the
     only one who had wanted to go to the police last summer.
    “Yeah,” Brenda agreed. “Neil doesn’t have this kind of imagination.”
    “How about Tony?” Alison asked reluctantly. It would be a shame to learn her latest
     heartthrob was crazy.
    Brenda shook her head. “That guy’s straighter than Steve Garvey. Joan must have sent
     it. She’s such a jerk.”
    As Kipp was the Brain and Tony was the Fox, Joan was the Jerk. Unfortunately, Joan
     was also the unrivaled school beauty, and she was extremely interested in Tony. And Joan knew that Alison also liked Tony. The two of them hadn’t
     been getting along lately. Nevertheless, it was Alison’s turn to shake her head.
    “Joan’s a cool one, but she’s not stupid,” she said. “She knows full well what would
     happen if that night became public knowledge. She wouldn’t hint at it aloud, never
     mind have put it in print.” She drummed her knuckles again. “The only possibility
     left is that one of the seven of us intentionally or unintentionally leaked some or
     all of what happened that night to someone else. And that someone else is out to use
     us.”
    “That makes sense,” Brenda admitted. She glared at Fran. “A lot more sense than a
     vengeful corpse.”
    “I didn’t say that!”
    “Yes, you did!”
    “Shh,” Alison said, her nerves raw. “Do you have a copy of today’s Times , Fran?”
    Fran was anxious. “You don’t think they would have what they want me to do in the
     paper already?”
    “I would just as soon look and see than have to think about it,” Alison said. “Do
     you have the paper?”
    “We get it delivered each morning,” Fran stuttered, getting up slowly. “I’ll check
     in the living room.”
    Fran found the paper and Alison found the proper sectionand a minute later the three of them were staring at a very strange personal ad.
    Fran. Replace the mascot’s head on the school gym with a goat’s head. Use black and
     red paint.
    “Who would want to ruin Teddy?” Brenda asked. They had a koala bear for a school mascot,
     first painted on the basketball gym by Fran, her single claim to fame. Yet, perhaps
     not