Free SHIVER: 13 Sexy Tales of Humor and Horror by C.C. Wood, N.M. Silber, Liv Morris, Belle Aurora, R.S. Grey, Daisy Prescott, Jodie Beau, Z.B. Heller, Penny Reid, Ruth Clampett, Ashley Pullo, L.H. Cosway, Jennie Marts Page B
I knew she felt the same way.
Shauna.
“Yoo-hoo, you two.” Who said yoo-hoo? Really? “We’re about ready to start the first grade treasure hunt. You guys are going to enter, right?”
A treasure hunt? Why was I just now hearing about this?
My competitive blood started to boil immediately. They thought they were competitive. Ha.
It. Was. On.
***
8:00 P.M.
I wish I’d known about this sooner. I would have made us team t-shirts and water bottles.
“Each team will get an envelope,” Mrs. Lewis, one of the first grade teachers explained to all of us. “Inside you will find a list of ten items for you to take pictures of this evening. All pictures must be on the same phone or camera, and each picture must include at least one of your team members. When your team arrives back here with all ten photos, you will receive a map to help you find the treasure chest. Everyone understand?”
We all nodded and Miss Mater, another first grade teacher, started handing out envelopes.
“On the count of one, you may all open your envelopes. Five…”
There were about fifty of us standing in the corner of the gymnasium and we all started shouting the numbers out loud.
“Four, three, two, one!”
“Good luck!” the teachers yelled as the teams tore into our envelopes like animals.
I was glad to see that Cora and Lucie had the same competitive fervor as Olive and me.
I read the list quietly to our team and everyone started shouting out at once.
“The library!”
“The playground!”
“The science lab!”
I put my hand up to silence them. “Wait. We need a plan. We need organization.”
While the other teams scrambled off in chaos, I sat the four of us down at one of the lunch tables and mapped out a plan. We needed to hit many areas of the school, but we were going to do them in geographical order, instead of going back and forth six times. I went to this elementary school. I knew my way around.
“All right, team,” I said, when I was done mapping out our hunt, “we can get some of these done in this room. Like a photo with a skeleton.”
“The science lab upstairs,” Lucie said.
I shook my head and pointed to a skeleton decoration taped to the wall in the gym. “Nope. Right there. Cora, you’ll take the pictures.”
We ran over to the skeleton and took a picture of Lucie standing next to it. We got Olive with a jack-o-lantern near the bowling area, and a picture of both girls wearing witch hats from the pin-the-hat game. I didn’t see any of the other teams in the gym. I had a feeling they were making this harder than it needed to be.
“A book about ghosts,” Cora read over my shoulder. “We need to go to the library.”
The four of us exited the gymnasium doors. I expected to find the other teams scrambling around and tripping over each other out there. There was nothing, no one. We walked from a crowded gym and into a dark and quiet school. Maybe it was the fact that it was Halloween, but it gave me the creeps. I had an eerie feeling as we climbed the marble staircase to get to the library. Where was everyone? There were nine or ten teams in this scavenger hunt. Where were they? And why hadn’t anyone bothered to turn on a light?
We opened the wooden door to the library. It was dark in there, too. The school had moved on from the card catalog system since I’d been there. The monitors of the computer systems glowed in the room. We headed toward them. Cora used the light from her phone to see the keyboard. She typed the word ghosts into the search bar with her free hand.
I was drawn to the way her face was lit by the light of the screen, and I studied her profile. Her little nose, her lips. Then I saw a figure move out of the corner of my eye. We weren’t the only ones in this room.
My skin filled with goose bumps instantly. I knew it was ridiculous for a grown man to be creeped out, but I sort of was. If someone else was here, why were they so quiet? Wouldn’t they be looking for
Shauna.
“Yoo-hoo, you two.” Who said yoo-hoo? Really? “We’re about ready to start the first grade treasure hunt. You guys are going to enter, right?”
A treasure hunt? Why was I just now hearing about this?
My competitive blood started to boil immediately. They thought they were competitive. Ha.
It. Was. On.
***
8:00 P.M.
I wish I’d known about this sooner. I would have made us team t-shirts and water bottles.
“Each team will get an envelope,” Mrs. Lewis, one of the first grade teachers explained to all of us. “Inside you will find a list of ten items for you to take pictures of this evening. All pictures must be on the same phone or camera, and each picture must include at least one of your team members. When your team arrives back here with all ten photos, you will receive a map to help you find the treasure chest. Everyone understand?”
We all nodded and Miss Mater, another first grade teacher, started handing out envelopes.
“On the count of one, you may all open your envelopes. Five…”
There were about fifty of us standing in the corner of the gymnasium and we all started shouting the numbers out loud.
“Four, three, two, one!”
“Good luck!” the teachers yelled as the teams tore into our envelopes like animals.
I was glad to see that Cora and Lucie had the same competitive fervor as Olive and me.
I read the list quietly to our team and everyone started shouting out at once.
“The library!”
“The playground!”
“The science lab!”
I put my hand up to silence them. “Wait. We need a plan. We need organization.”
While the other teams scrambled off in chaos, I sat the four of us down at one of the lunch tables and mapped out a plan. We needed to hit many areas of the school, but we were going to do them in geographical order, instead of going back and forth six times. I went to this elementary school. I knew my way around.
“All right, team,” I said, when I was done mapping out our hunt, “we can get some of these done in this room. Like a photo with a skeleton.”
“The science lab upstairs,” Lucie said.
I shook my head and pointed to a skeleton decoration taped to the wall in the gym. “Nope. Right there. Cora, you’ll take the pictures.”
We ran over to the skeleton and took a picture of Lucie standing next to it. We got Olive with a jack-o-lantern near the bowling area, and a picture of both girls wearing witch hats from the pin-the-hat game. I didn’t see any of the other teams in the gym. I had a feeling they were making this harder than it needed to be.
“A book about ghosts,” Cora read over my shoulder. “We need to go to the library.”
The four of us exited the gymnasium doors. I expected to find the other teams scrambling around and tripping over each other out there. There was nothing, no one. We walked from a crowded gym and into a dark and quiet school. Maybe it was the fact that it was Halloween, but it gave me the creeps. I had an eerie feeling as we climbed the marble staircase to get to the library. Where was everyone? There were nine or ten teams in this scavenger hunt. Where were they? And why hadn’t anyone bothered to turn on a light?
We opened the wooden door to the library. It was dark in there, too. The school had moved on from the card catalog system since I’d been there. The monitors of the computer systems glowed in the room. We headed toward them. Cora used the light from her phone to see the keyboard. She typed the word ghosts into the search bar with her free hand.
I was drawn to the way her face was lit by the light of the screen, and I studied her profile. Her little nose, her lips. Then I saw a figure move out of the corner of my eye. We weren’t the only ones in this room.
My skin filled with goose bumps instantly. I knew it was ridiculous for a grown man to be creeped out, but I sort of was. If someone else was here, why were they so quiet? Wouldn’t they be looking for
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