Free The Night Walker (Nightmare Hall) by Diane Hoh Page A

administration building.
    If she absolutely had to talk to someone, it might as well be the counselor she’d talked with before. At least she wouldn’t have to start from scratch. The thought of starting from the very beginning was mind-boggling.
    Oh, that’s pretty funny, she thought as she pulled the heavy wooden door open. Like my mind isn’t already boggled to the max. Maybe even beyond repair.
    She was just about to turn a corner when she heard a familiar voice say an even more familiar name. She stopped, remaining safely behind the corner wall.
    “Stop in any time, Tabitha. I’m always here for you, you know that. You mustn’t keep things bottled up inside. It’s not healthy. It can be dangerous. And Tabitha,” said the voice softly, “time really does heal even the worst pain. I promise.”
    The voice that answered quietly, “Thanks a lot, Doctor. See you next week,” was even more recognizable.
    Quinn shrank back against the wall, making herself as small as possible, then breathed a sigh of relief as the footsteps turned in a different direction and faded.
    The voice belonged to her counselor, the one she had confessed to about her sleepwalking. The therapist had said almost the same thing to Quinn. “It’ll get better, Quinn, I promise.” A very optimistic woman.
    The footsteps belonged to Tabitha.
    How many Tabithas could there be on campus? And if there was another, it wouldn’t have that voice, would it? The voice that belonged to Tabitha Thomason.
    Tabitha Thomason, better known to friends and family as Tobie.
    Her roommate Tobie.
    It wasn’t so surprising, after what Quinn had learned about Tobie recently, that her roommate was seeing a counselor. For that matter, even without the horrendous event in Tobie’s past, she could easily have been seeing a counselor because she was homesick, or having a hard time with her studies.
    Lots of people on campus probably talked with the counselors. I was on my way to see one, Quinn told herself. Why shouldn’t Tobie?
    Right. Why shouldn’t Tobie?
    It was at that precise moment that Quinn remembered where she’d seen the bright pink paper like the sheet that Simon had pulled from his wallet.
    On Tobie’s cork bulletin board over her desk.
    Tobie often had trouble concentrating, remembering things, and so she often wrote notes to herself about her schedule or library books to be returned or assignments to finish. She pushpinned the notes to her bulletin board and discarded them when they were no longer needed.
    The pushpins, Quinn remembered, were yellow.
    But the notes were pink. Bright pink. Each and every one of them was the same exact color and texture as the piece of paper telling Simon Kent that Quinn Hadley wasn’t interested in having him in her life anymore.
    The letter to Simon had been written on Tobie’s stationery.

Chapter 14
    T OBIE WASN’T IN THE room when Quinn got back, but she had left a note on her bulletin board. Not on pink stationery but on plain white notepaper.
    Went over to Danny’s, Quinn read. Back later. Have fun with Simon.
    So, Tobie had finally decided to get out of her funk. Talking with the counselor must have made her feel better.
    There were no pieces of bright pink stationery pushpinned to the bulletin board. The other two notes, one a laundry reminder, the other a scribbled phone number, were both on plain white notepaper.
    Had Tobie run out of bright pink? Or … didn’t want to use it for fear Simon had shared his letter with Quinn (as he had) and Quinn would recognize the paper?
    The first moment they were in this room together, just the two of them, Tobie was going to have to explain that letter.
    Pushing the unpleasant matter from her mind, Quinn took a quick shower and got ready for her date with Simon. They were driving into Twin Falls for dinner at Hunan Manor, Quinn’s favorite place to eat, and then taking in a movie. Just the two of them. Quinn’s idea. She had decided they needed to get