Free Possessions by Nancy Holder

bedroom-tousled, his eyes deep-set in a tanned face. He was cut—broad chest and muscular shoulders encased in a hoodie that read LAKEWOOD.
    I stared at him for another heart-stopping moment. He was hot. He was rock-solid, wearing faded jeans that molded to long legs and athletic thighs. As the organ music tumbled note over note over note, I thought he was staring at me, too. Then he stepped back into the shadows.
    “Guys,” I said. “There was a—”
    “I heard Alis and Sangeeta have to get to the bell tower and flash their flashlights on and off in Morse code,” Claire said, “to spell out ‘come to me’ five times.”
    “ . . . Meeeee,” Rose finished.
    “No!” Ida cried, batting Rose’s arm.
    “Listen, there’s a guy here,” I said.
    Ida and Claire turned to look. “A guy? Like that guy from last night? That diver guy?” Claire asked. “Corbin Bleu looka like? He thinks Julie’s cute.”
    “A different guy,” I replied.
    “Ooh. Does he have a chainsaw?” Claire asked.
    “You’re evil,” Ida said.
    Claire struck a pose. “That’s why you love me.”
    Sangeeta appeared in the bell tower. Alis popped up next. A cheer rose up from the spectators as the two girls hopped around in a victory dance, then pointed their flashlights down as Mandy strode stick-legged out of the house and turned around and faced them. Kiyoko appeared in a white hospital nightgown, and Lara still had on her hood.
    “We did it!” Sangeeta declared. Her voice echoed; it was very cultured British. “Might we come down now?”
    “You need to do the code!” Lara called back, lifting her hood up from her mouth. “Flash us, honey!”
    “Please! We are freaking out!” Sangeeta protested, swirling her flashlight overhead.
    “Do the code!” Kiyoko shouted.
    “Do the code! Do the code!” The chant was taken up.
    They flicked their flashlights in a rhythmic pattern.
    “Come to me,” Mandy called through her microphone.
    They did it again.
    “Come to me.” Lara and Kiyoko sang along with Mandy.
    The flashlights went on, off, on, off, on, off.
    “ Come to me. ” The girls around me took up the chant. Rose rocked back on the log and pounded it with her open palms. I couldn’t bring myself to join in.
    “ Come to me, come to me! ”
    And that strange coldness crept into my head again. I jerked and touched the back of my neck. Was it wet?
    “Okay, you can come down,” Mandy informed Alis and Sangeeta.
    They cheered and disappeared down some stairs. “Hey,” I said to Rose, “is my neck wet?”
    “Huh?” She got up to check, pulling down my jacket and my sweater. “Ewww.”
    “Ewww what?” I cried.
    She snickered. “Oh my God, you’re easy. There is nothing on your neck.”
    “Here they come,” Mandy announced. A cheer rose up as Alis and Sangeeta barreled out of the house just as Headless Julie ran up behind them. Mandy, Kiyoko, and Lara threw their arms around Alis and Sangeeta. They turned to the rest of us and bowed. People started applauding and cheering. Then they moved to the right, into the shadows. Around me, the girls started heading out, in a rush to sneak back into their dorms. The lights in the house went off. Poof, just like that.
    Julie swayed forward, then stopped. She looked confused.
    “Hey, Julie,” I shouted, waving my hands.
    “Ju-lie! Ju-lie!” Ida and Claire chanted.
    Julie started toward us. The stump and the torso shifted forward, throwing her off balance, and she stumbled, ran-walked, and stumbled again.
    Then Julie tripped on something. She flew forward and landed in a ball-gown heap on the ground.
    I got up and hurried to her. Rose, Ida, and Claire jogged behind me. Julie looked pretty bizarre, headless and all, as the last of her fake blood poured onto the ground. Rose and Ida started pulling apart the Velcro strips that held her neck-stump together. It split down the middle like she was hatching her own head. She was sweaty and flushed.
    “I—I tripped on something.”