Mason by Thomas Pendleton Page B

think I’m near the Hollow. Can you meet me at the Hollow? Please?”
    Seeing a chance to finally talk some sense into her friend, Rene agreed. “I can meet you. Cassie and I are at Frank’s, so it will take us a while to get there.”
    â€œYou can’t bring Cassie,” Lara said quickly. “Please? The last thing I need is her acting like Miss Southern Perfection right now. I just need to talk to you. Please?”
    â€œOkay. I’ll be there. Just calm down.”
    â€œHurry,” Lara said.
    â€œI will.”
    Â 
    Rene walked along the wooded stretch of road. Alone.
    Eric Crawford was more than enough to keep Cassie occupied for an hour. So Rene had lied and said she had to run home for something.
    Cassie had said, “I’ll be here.”
    Rene made a right onto a dark trail that wound through the pines and dogwoods. The trees fell behind her, so tall they blocked out the sky and the stars. She stepped over a fallen branch and felt a tingling current of fear run down her spine. What had Hunter done to Lara, she wondered? Not knowing made it all the worse. Rene imagined terrible things. Had he freaked on her? Beaten her? Raped her? Rene trembled. It could have been anything. And worse, Hunter might havefollowed Lara into the woods. Even now he might be prowling the darkness with his gun. Sweat erupted on Rene’s neck as she picked her way along the trail.
    Farther down the path, she heard movement in the woods. She thought to call out for Lara, but what if it wasn’t her? Rene kept walking, her eyes slowly adjusting to the gloom. Finally the tight row of trees opened up into a rounded patch of beaten-down dirt, which appeared a shade lighter than the cloying darkness surrounding it.
    The Hollow was an old campground, long since deserted by families for afternoon outings. Now the area was reserved for high-school parties and burners who wanted to get wasted amid the glory of nature. Rene remembered the fire pit in the middle of the clearing and made sure to walk around it.
    â€œRene?” Lara whispered from across the clearing.
    Rene squinted but couldn’t see her friend through the darkness. She remembered an old picnic bench on the far side of the clearing, imagined that was where Lara would be, and made her way toward it.
    Movement in the bushes at her back startled her. Hunter? Rene jumped and spun around, but the oppressive night hid whatever had made the noise. A branch snapped to her right.
    â€œLara?” Rene said. “Where are you?”
    â€œOver here,” her friend whispered.
    Just then a flashlight beam broke the darkness. She’d been right: Lara was at the picnic bench. Though she couldn’t see her friend well with the glare of light beaming out at her, Rene walked toward it, covering her eyes with one hand.
    Rene didn’t even think to wonder how Lara had come across a flashlight while fleeing Hunter’s house.
    A can crunched under her foot, and Rene leaped forward.
    â€œAre you okay?” she asked, moving quickly toward the picnic bench.
    â€œI’m fine,” Lara said.
    Rene paused. Something in her friend’s voice—humor?—made her stop.
    â€œWhat’s going on?” Rene asked.
    â€œThis!” Lara said.
    The flashlight jumped as if yanked high by a cord. Then, Rene felt something cold hit her face and hair and neck. She heard a hissing like the sound of a snake and felt long thin trails wrapping around her. Lara’s giggles filled the Hollow as the flashlight’s beam danced against the darkness.
    Rene backed away with a yelp, and saw the long slender ropes leaping at her through the night. Only then, with her heart thundering in her chest, did Rene understand what was covering her.
    Silly String?
    â€œI don’t believe this!” Rene shouted, already trying to pick the stuff from her hair. “You brought me all the way out here for some childish