Tori's+Memoir

Title? The violins play faster and faster like the music from __Psycho.__ A girl paces herself down a long narrow hallway. Doors surround her. Her feet creek against the wooden floor. Her breathing is uneven. Her heartbeat matches the back round music. She frantically looks at each door. The music gets faster. //He could be anywhere.// She clutches the metal bat in her hands tighter as her feet struggle to move forward. She hears something. Her face snaps to attention. She focuses on the door to her right. She waits a moment. //She’s gonna open it.// She changes her stance so that her body aligned with the door. She sucks in some air. Her hand leaves the bat and makes its way toward the handle. Slowly, it turns open. Again, she hesitates. //Don’t do it.// She waits. She just keeps waiting. The music gets faster. She takes a breath and thrusts the door open. All she sees is darkness. An empty room. //Uh, oh.// Her eyes adjust to the sight before her. She stares straight into the darkness. Then she sees something that causes the music to slow. Stairs. She stares at them not knowing what to do. //Whatever you do, don’t go down there.// She hears the noise again. She looks back to the darkness, back to the stairs, then to the bat in her hands. She made her way down the stairs. //Oh my God, you idiot.// She reaches the floor. It’s dark. It’s silent. The music stopped. //Oh crap.// Nothing’s there. The girl loses confidence in her sanity. She heads back up the stairs. She gets halfway. The music starts again. A dark figure emerges out of the darkness. He pulls out a knife. //It’s over.// He grabs her by the ankles. She screams. He smiles. He pulls her down the stairs leaving a trail of blood that leads straight into the darkness… I squeezed the pillow even tighter as I watched the girl get maimed. I looked over at Amber who was watching with her big puppy eyes like it was her favorite bedtime story. I pulled the pillow closer and buried my face until the scene was over. When I surfaced again, Ambers eyes were still glued to the screen. I’ll never understand that. She can watch people get killed and sleep like a baby. Then again, when the first movie you can remember seeing is Jaws, it’s all down hill from there. Me on the other hand, I’m more of a Disney person. Humor, cleverly written stories, and happy endings, there’s not much more you can ask for in a movie. I don’t really remember why I agreed to my idea of modern day torture. I guess I just caved after Amber kept asking all week for a sleepover with Cassie and me (we’re twins, hence the package deal.) The idea of spending the night at Ambers would’ve been fine by me, if there hadn’t been a catch. //There’s always a catch.// The deal was that we’d sleepover, but we had to watch scary movies all night. //Joy.// At first, it wasn’t a big deal. But Amber’s place is a one floor house that’s fifty years old near the woods in the middle of nowhere. By the time I realized what I had gotten myself into, it was too late. Suddenly, I felt my phone vibrate. I jolted up, releasing the pillow. //No!// That was the only thing keeping me from losing my mind watching these scary movies. Now it’s on the floor out of reach. I contemplated my actions. There was no way I could get it without glancing up at the screen it was in front of, I wouldn’t take that risk. Sleeping soundly was far too important, and it was not to be jeopardized. I did the only thing left to do. Reluctantly, I asked Cassie to hand me the pillow. “Get it yourself,” she replied. I hate when she does that. I hesitated for a minute, determining my next move. I decided that it was best to get my phone and see who texted me at the worst possible moment. I reached into my front pocket and pulled out my crappy crazer phone. I flipped it open. 1 NEW MESSAGE 555-673-2018 Ignoring the fact that I didn’t have the number saved to contacts, I opened the message. Figuring that if I kept my mind off of the TV and its goal to scare the living day lights out of me, I wouldn’t have to look like a wuss when I screamed and yelled to turn it off. My master plan to escape the __Psycho__ music was an epic fail. When I opened the text, I expected to see a ‘heyy’ or ‘waz up?’ but that’s not what it said. I rubbed my eyes to make sure they weren’t playing tricks on me. Sure enough, they weren’t. Im in ur house What kind of conversation starter is that? Creeper. Whoever this is seriously lacks people skills. Wait a second how’d the creeper get my number? Unless… //oh shit.// I flashed back to my house, where a group of neighbors occupied the whole first floor of my house. //The phone.// Above the home phone is a list of emergency numbers in case anyone needed to make a quick call. My cell phone number is posted out in the open for anyone to see. And the party consisted of neighbors of all ages… including the guys. //Oh no, not the guys.// But it had to be them. They were the only ones at the party who could operate a cell phone properly. The only other people who have texting were a select group of adults that try and fail to send messages. I pictured each of their faces. There was Jeff, but he’s more like a brother. He wouldn’t do this to me. Next was Garrett, my actual brother, but he never texts me so he’s out. It could be Andrew or Leigh, I wouldn’t put it past them, Danny maybe, Brandon possibly, but only if Garrett was out of sight. But the worst was yet to come. All of them knew we would be watching scary movies at Ambers. And they know I don’t deal with scary movies very well. And they love messing with people. And now they got my number. //Damn it.// I sent a ‘who is this’ reply to the Psycho. I was determined to figure out which guy it was so I could slap him when I got home the next day. My eyes fixed on the screen of my phone. I thought the person would identify themselves after I asked, but my plans always fail. 1 NEW MESSAGE 555-947-3491 A new phone number? //Great.// They’re all in on it. I figured it was just another joke, just another game. Everything was like that to them. Angrily, I clicked open the text deciding the fate of who ever joined in on this madness. A unanimous vote: //Guilty by association.// Hugging u was coolio Alright, that’s just wrong. I read the text message again carefully, looking for context clues as to the identity of my creeper. Something stuck out about it. I looked at it again and realize that this wasn’t just a stupid prank anymore, this is sickening. An unforgivable crime had been committed by the freak on the other end of the line. The word ‘coolio’ was a dead give away. He had been hanging out with my mom. I sent another ‘who is this?’ text. I wasn’t sure how to respond to that. Obviously whatever I said would be reported to my parents, so I would have to keep away from swearing or acting interested. I tried to think of who I hugged before I left my house. I barley hugged any of the guys except for…Danny. But it wasn’t like a real hug anyways. I went around hugging all my relatives and the neighbors. Danny was waiting by the door when we left for Ambers. I didn’t want to be rude, so I gave him a really awkward ‘hug.’ Now he’s using it against me. That is so like him. By the time I snapped out of my flashback, I caught Amber’s attention. “Who is it?” she asked. There was a few ways I could go with that one. A creeper, some Psycho, a deranged lunatic, Danny, all of the above. Any of those would’ve done the job. But I didn’t want to draw attention to myself. She couldn't know that I wasn't watching the movie like I was supposed to. Besides, I didn't know the answer. Not a definite one at least. “Honestly, I have no idea,” I responded. She looked disappointed when I couldn’t tell her. She was about to ask another question about it but the TV started to scream and my phone vibrated at the same time. I almost jumped out of my skin. I opened my phone to see another message waiting for me. 1 NEW MESSAGE 555-634-7268 Again, I thought back to each of the guys' faces. I imagined each of them behind bars and laughed to myself whenever one of them looked at home. I started to think about the Law and Order commercials that are always on. I practically memorized them. I heard the deep narrorator's voice playing in the back of my head. "//Crime has a million faces. And it's always the one you'd least expect."// Im eating ur cake Okay, not exactly helpful. Well, it’s not Brandon. He’s on that diet for baseball. Then again, he doesn’t take it seriously so he’s still a suspect. // What the hell am I doing? // I’m no detective. I can’t even go through a scary movie without acting like a kid who still needs the night light. I tried to contain myself. Who ever this was wanted to scare me. I didn’t want to give them what they wanted, but they were getting it. “What’s going on?” Amber asked. Darn. I didn’t realize that she was reading over my shoulder. “Tori, you look sick,” Cassie laughed. She probably thought that I was grossed out from the movie they put on. I looked up to the TV and saw blood splash across the screen. If I wasn’t sick, I was now. “Well?” Amber asked again. I hesitated. I couldn’t undo the fact that Amber knew about the texts, or that Cassie was getting a kick out of this. May as well… “I’m getting texts from someone at our house. But e-everything’s fine.” Wow I suck at acting. Even I don’t believe myself. “Riiiight, who is it?” Cassie asked. She actually sounded amused that some creepy person has my phone number. //Thanks for backing me up.// Amber seemed to be genuinely concerned, but she was laughing on the inside too. “What are they saying?” Not much. Considering they don’t respond. “I don’t know. Random stuff.” “Like…What?” Amber asked. I blanked. The only thing that came to mind was the last message. “I’m eating your cake,” //how pathetic.// “Wow, Tori. You’re such a baby. Why don’t you just turn your phone off?” Cassie said. She burst out in laughter afterwards and repeated in a spooky voice, “I’m eating your caaake,” she chuckled, “that’s so retarded.” Amber started to laugh too. As they laughed the TV went black at one part in the movie. The TV was the only source of light in the room. //Now// I’m scared. I reached down for the pillow that got me into this mess and held onto it tight. My phone vibrated again. //Uh, leave me alone!// I was about to ignore the message, but I still wanted to know who it was, plus the movie started up with the Psycho music again, so texing it was. I flipped my phone open. 1 NEW MESSAGE 555-348-2187 Im with ur dad. Oh. My. God. 1 NEW MESSAGE 555-763-8904 Wanna go out sometime? What the hell? No one in the neighborhood would ask me that, especially not if they really were with my dad. My big dad who owns power tools. My dad who was not to be messed with, especially not by anyone who could date his daughters. //What’s wrong with you, Psycho?// The texting went on for hours. The messages kept getting weirder as the time went on. U should clean ur room Ur shampoo smells good Ur bball shoes r big My attempts to figure out who was texting me failed. I even tried calling home to see if my parents would be on my side. No such luck. Becca, my little sister picked up and wouldn’t stop laughing at me long enough to give me a straight answer. The only thing useful I learned was that there was only one person texting me on everyone else’s phones. I tried to convince her that I was really scared and pressed her for more information, but she didn’t buy it and hung up. //Thanks so much.// The constant vibration of my phone was hard to ignore and turning it off meant that I would be stuck with the scary movie. That couldn’t happen. By eleven o’ clock, my inbox climbed to 100 messages while my sent messages pathetically stopped at around 50. The person texting me was quick to switch phones. I couldn’t keep up. My phone vibrated again. I felt like a slave as I flipped it open. 1 NEW MESSAGE 555-947-8452 I want another hug I shook my head as if the creeper could see me rejecting him. Amber looked over then down to the phone screen then back to me. I probably looked like a train hit me. Cassie just laughed like the loving sister she’s always been. I wanted to make some snotty comment, but I was frozen. I closed my phone and looked back up to the TV screen. Someone screamed. I looked away. Amber was still looking at me. My phone vibrated again, this time I had no problem ignoring it. It vibrated again a minute later, but I didn’t open it. The messages just kept coming, but I wouldn’t look at them, and I couldn't look at the TV. So I just looked at the floor. Amber wouldn’t take her eyes off me. As if this night wasn’t bad enough, she felt the need to burn through my skull. My phone kept reminding me that someone at my house really hates me. I shook my head again. I was about to cave and read the message when Amber grabbed the phone from my lap and dialed the number that texted me. I looked at her with curiosity. //What are you doing?// All the action caught Cassie’s attention. She turned and gave Amber the same look I was giving her. We were all silent. We heard the phone ring and ring until someone picked up. Then Amber shocked us all. “LEAVE TORI THE F*** ALONE, YOU F***ING PERVERT!” she yelled and then hung up. Cassie and I both let out a loud laugh, and started to roll on the floor. Amber tossed my phone on the couch and joined us. “Poor fella’ didn’t get a fair warning,” Cassie said between laughs. I actually did feel bad for the sucker. He just got his ears blown off. I laughed louder. When things calmed down and we settled back into the scary movie mood, I wore a big smile as the people were chased and killed off. At least the movie was fake and stayed that way. That happiness only lasted a minute or so when my cell phone vibrated again. “Let me at ‘em,” Amber said holding her hand out for the phone like a boxer throwing out the final blow. But it wasn’t a text message. It was a call. From my Godmother. I opened the phone. “Hello?” “Victoria, why did you just curse off your Godfather?” //Oh crap.// My //Godfather?// I thought about all of the messages. //My Godfather?// I thought about what Amber just said to him. My //Godfather?// I froze. //What do you say in response to something like that?// “Wait a second… it was Uncle Greg? The-the whole time?” I asked. Cassie’s laughing mood was over when she learned the identity of the ‘poor fella’ she was just making fun of. Amber caught on too. //“Oh SHIT!”// “Who swore him off?” Aunt Sella asked, changing the subject. “A-amber,” I replied. “Thanks,” she said hitting my arm. I made a face and focused back on the conversation with my Aunt. I asked the basic questions about the night’s events. As it turns out, I wasn’t that far off. My Godfather went around asking for the guy’s phones. The beers must’ve really got to him judging by how easily he was entertained. Amber apologized for her language, although I seriously doubt that he cared about the terms she chose to address the situation. He was more interested in getting a good laugh at a job well done. I was just happy that it was all over, not as planned, of course, but that never works out anyways. Just like my sleeping. That night, I went insane. Every five seconds, like clockwork, I felt my phone vibrate against my leg, but it never //really// did. And when I finally did go to sleep, my phone was all I saw. It kept ringing. Over and over again. And I would open it. Over and over again. Every time I did, I always saw my uncle Greg and his smug little expression. He pulls out a phone. I scream. He laughs. The Psycho music played in every dream. There was no escape from this madness. I kept waking up with my phone in my hand like I was ready to strike. It was the most disturbing sleep I’ve ever had. The next day, Amber, Cassie, and I all looked like hell. By the time we got to bed, no one felt like changing so we slept in our clothes. It was around non when we fully woke up. Mr. Pierdinock (Amber's dad) was in the kitchen. “What happened to you guys last night?” he asked as he reached into the fridge, searching its contents, “I started to think the movies finally got the best of ‘yas.” We just smiled like idiots as he reached into the refrigerator and pulled out a nice, cold beer. He chuckled at his own joke as he took a long sip. He stopped drinking and stared at us. He smiled at Cassie, then Amber, then me. He took another sip of his beer. I turned my phone off.