The Wish (Nightmare Hall) Read Free

structure.
    “Wow,” Julie breathed as she steered around debris, “Mother Nature really went on a rampage tonight. I’m glad we were inside, and safe.”
    Alex’s immediate, unspoken response was, How safe were we, really? And then she wondered why she’d thought it.
    Probably because of the electricity going out. She hated darkness. She didn’t find it romantic or comforting, the way some people did. She had brought a night light with her to college, a pretty, softly glowing crystal hummingbird that plugged into an electrical outlet. The twins had never mentioned it, for which Alex was grateful.
    No, she didn’t like being in the dark, not at all. Darkness didn’t seem…kind.
    Now, Alex watched the road carefully, peering out over the front seat through the mist-moistened windshield, watching for objects in the road. Julie was talking to Gabe about the new fortune-telling booth, and she occasionally glanced in his direction. Alex didn’t think that was such a hot idea. With all that stuff on the road, Julie should be watching every single second.
    “Well,” Julie said, steering carefully around a broken tree limb lying in the highway, “The Wizard didn’t promise to make me beautiful this time, but there’s always a next time. If at first you don’t succeed….”
    “I think he’s creepy,” Alex said, not taking her eyes off the highway for a second. “Those eyes give me the chills.”
    “Everything gives you the chills,” Jenny said. “You still sleep with a nightlight.”
    Alex was caught completely off guard. She couldn’t believe Jenny had revealed to everyone in the car, including Marty, that she was afraid of the dark. Well…not afraid of…not really. Uncomfortable with, was a better way of putting it. She wasn’t comfortable in total darkness, that was all.
    So what? Julie was terrified of spiders, and Kyle was afraid of heights. It was all the same thing. Still, it wasn’t the kind of thing a college freshman wanted to advertise.
    Shrugging, Alex returned her attention to the highway stretched out like a long gray ribbon in front of Julie’s headlights. They were closer to campus now, and there seemed to be less debris.
    She couldn’t wait to get back to the safety and comfort of their dorm room. Thanks to Jenny’s creativity, Julie’s efficiency, and Alex’s generous stepfather, it was one of the prettiest and nicest rooms in Lester. Alex’s favorite thing in the room was the huge rainbow they’d painted on one of the walls one Saturday, each girl painting a different color: salmon-pink, turquoise, and yellow.
    That rainbow was beckoning to her now, calling her back to safety and comfort.
    “Almost there,” Julie said cheerfully, turning her head slightly toward the passengers in the backseat. Her attention was away from the road for only a second, but that was a second too long.
    Alex saw the tree before anyone else did.
    Too late, she screamed a warning.
    Julie gasped and slammed on the brakes. In vain.
    The car plowed into the upper half of a mammoth old tree lying across the road, a thick black barrier. Its fat, leafless branches reached up and out like grasping hands. Just before impact, one of the branches punched its way through the windshield, showering the car’s interior with glass.
    Julie cried out, her hands flying to her face.
    Then they hit, hard.
    The impact flung the upper part of Julie’s body forward. Her head slammed into the steering wheel, bounced back against the seat, and ricocheted forward a second time. Then she lay still, her arms hanging limply at her sides, her bloodied face resting against the steering wheel.
    At the same moment, the front of the car crumpled inward like an accordion, driving twisted metal backward, straight into Gabe’s legs. He screamed just once before passing out, his head flopping loosely against the back of the seat.
    The passengers in the backseat were flung forward, too, in spite of their seat belts. Their faces slammed