Wednesday - Work in Progress (excerpt)

The candle cast flickering shapes down the hall. Cool. She tried to remember which drug Jason gave her last. She paused at the new girl’s room. A quick check of the door and she knew that Benny boy had helped new girl with a lock. Cori cursed aloud. She set the candle on the floor and dug through her pockets. She had nothing that would work. She went to her own room and looked around. Her head began to nod in mock anticipation as she picked up a wire clothes hanger from the floor and bent the rounded end into a sharper angle.

Slowly, quietly she opened Megan’s door the allowed eighth of an inch. She slipped the wire through and lifted up. The hanger caught the latch and she unhooked it in seconds. Her short black-polished nail tapped the door the rest of the way.

The candle still flickered from its spot on the floor. The tiny light made Megan’s shape loom larger and higher on the wall.

Cori fell against the door frame, grabbed it for balance. This could not be. The new girl was floating at least half-way between the floor and the ceiling.

Cori strained her eyes, grabbed for the candle. She burned her palm and thumb and swore again, stumbling backward. The candle went out, the hanger struck the floor and Cori backed away. She damned Jason for giving her something weird; she damned the new girl; she damned the candle.