Haunted Savannah

Chapter Six: Ding Dong Ditch

Savannah spent the rest of her day in classes, and finally returned to her apartment in the evening after stopping by the Bean for an evening coffee. Mario wasn’t there; since he usually worked in the mornings Savannah assumed that his classes were in the afternoons and evenings. She was actually a little relieved that she didn’t have to worry about any more awkward flirtations.

It took almost until she walked through the gate of the low picket fence for her to shake off the flustered feeling she’d been carrying with her since leaving the Gryphon. Once inside her flat, she set down the heavy book bag and with it the stress of the day, and got to painting.

After a long day of book learning, she was ready to turn her mind to her own creative passions. Although she preferred the paint at the easel in the afternoons when the light shone warm and golden through the large windows of her apartment, in the evenings she was teaching herself to paint in the computer instead. She had both a small tablet that she used for classes, and fiddled around with while watching true crime documentaries in the middle of the night, and a more powerful desktop computer that she paired with a larger, more powerful tablet geared specifically for digital painting.

A few hours into the night, Savannah was plopped into her computer chair,  curled up under a fluffy blanket, scribbling away at the tablet on the desk in front of her when the power suddenly died. She squawked a bit when she was ripped from the details of the humongous candy-colored fantastical landscape painting that she’d been plugging away at, and her eyes were forced to try and adjust to the sudden dark.

She groaned, uncurling from the terrible ball she always became when she was working at the computer, despite trying her best to be mindful of her posture. When the doorbell sounded, it only served to hasten her from the chair. She glanced down at her phone, noting it was nearly ten, and wondered who could be ringing her door at this late hour - especially without calling first.

There was only one person in Savannah’s life who had the gall to show up unannounced, and well… it couldn’t be him. It just couldn’t be. Savannah might be a ghost guide, but she didn’t believe in ghosts.

Years earlier, another door bell in a small town in Florida rang unexpectedly. Savannah was completely engrossed in a painting she was trying to finish for a school assignment when the door to her bedroom popped open, and Shane poked his head in. 

“Savannah, did you forget about the party today?” Shane spouted at her, before shaking his head at her disheveled appearance. By contrast, he was neatly dressed in a pair of loose fitting khaki shorts, high top sneakers that were his most recent fashion obsession, and an aqua blue collared shirt with an oversized horse embroidered in yellow on the left breast. The color of the shirt really brought out the blue in his eyes, which contrasted with his black hair. Unlike his brother, he didn’t wear glasses - his vanity making him choose contacts instead.

Savannah had been wearing the same pajamas all day, and had barely taken the time to shower and sweep her damp hair back into a ponytail before settling herself in front of the easel after scarfing down a poptart. She usually stopped painting once it was dark, but she’d been struggling - and refused to stop painting until she achieved her goal. Unfortunately, it wasn’t happening, and her head had even started hurting from the extended effort. Or, maybe that was caused by the dehydration that she was only just noticing.

“Er… Oh yeah, the party?” Savannah said, her voice turning up at the end to make it a question. She had the distinct feeling that she should have looked at her phone at some point today. 

“I told you about it a week ago, at my house? My parents are gone?” Shane said, tone exasperated. After she gave him nothing more than a blank look in response, he sighed and continued, “Come on. Get dressed. You’re not staying here painting all night long. You’re a high school senior, you should go to at least one party.”

“Fine, fine, I’ll go.” Savannah groaned, allowing herself to be tugged from her stool. Shane rifled through her closet, holding different items of clothing up to her and discarding unwanted options by tossing them onto the floor.

“Hey, hey, hey! Those are clean, at least put them back up.” Savannah protested, grabbing the discards up from the floor and depositing them onto her bed.

“You should really toss those anyway, they’re all covered in paint.” Shane said, snorting a bit before finally selecting a fitted top with a bit of a low cut, which she bought but had never worn, and a pair of fairly standard jeans. “Here. This will work.”

“Can’t I just wear a t-shirt?” Savannah grumbled as she fingered the top, which was a lovely deep green color, and ruched down one side.

“Since I probably won’t be convincing you to go to any other parties between now and the Prom, no… You ought to dress up at least a little. If not for yourself, then for my sake.” Shane said, giving her a piteous look. 

“Oh, don’t be ridiculous. Fine. Now get out so I can change.” Savannah snorted, shoving his shoulder a bit.

Shane lifted an eyebrow at her, mischief in his blue eyes as he gave her an intentionally lascivious look. “I could help you change… I mean, I already picked out your outfit.”

“Out!” Savannah nearly shouted, her face coloring right up as Shane laughed and fled from her hands, which were smacking mercilessly at his shoulder.

“Ok, ok, I’m leaving…” Shane said, giving her an odd look just as the door shut. She thought, for just a moment, that the look had just a touch of longing to it.

Savannah emerged from her bedroom a few minutes later, tucking the strap of her bra out of view. She brushed her hair and even applied a little bit of blush and color to her lips. 

Shane, who had been leaning against the wall, pushed off the wall and gave her a charming smile as he said, “That’s more like it, Anna.”

Savannah returned his smile with a shy one, perking up a bit at the complimentary tone in his voice.

“Come on, let’s get going.” Shane said, walking down the hall with his usual long, loping strides.

Savannah followed along after him and soon they were walking the scant few blocks down the street to Shane’s family home. It was a warm, humid evening, the hot summer sun having bore down on the paved earth of their bit of north Florida the whole day long. 

“Have you decided what colleges you’re going to apply for?” Savannah asked, fanning herself a bit. 

She herself had only applied to the one, even though she’d been advised it was best to have a couple back ups. She figured if she failed to get into the Savannah University of the Arts she’d just take a gap year and reapply with an improved portfolio, or do her first two years at community college instead. After a short tour of the school that her mother took her on, in the off chance that Savannah might enjoy her namesake city, she found herself drawn back.

“I don’t think I’m going to. Apply for any schools, I mean. I like working at the Crane’s. Maybe I’ll do trade school instead.” Shane said, shrugging a bit. 

He’d been working at Crane’s, the autobody shop across from the school, since he was fourteen and developed a passion for cars - which explained the beaters that sat in the side driveway for the past few years. Aside from his shiny red convertible, Shane had a few ‘project’ cars which had thus far done nothing more than continue developing new shades of rust.

“That’s not a bad idea. Maybe then you’ll actually devote some time to your expanding collection of rust buckets.” Savannah said, laughing lightly as they walked up the narrow walk to the front door. 

From the foyer where she deposited her shoes, Savannah could hear the music booming from the living room where half a dozen kids were dancing, red solo cups in hand. The sliding glass door that led from the living room to the patio was open, and more party goers had spilled onto the patio for a game of beer pong.

Shane skirted around the tipsy revelers and headed into the kitchen instead. He motioned her to follow and said, “Let’s get you something to drink.”

The wide array of drinks, mixers, and sodas that were spread across the kitchen table was impressive to her inexperienced eye - though most of the bottles were half-finished ones swiped from parents liquor cabinets. She’d tried wine and champagne before under the watchful eye of her parents, but had yet to try other boozy concoctions.

“Here, try this jello shot and I’ll make something you’ll like.” Shane said, handing her a small plastic shot glass full of bright red jiggly jello. 

It was slightly melted, having been left out for a bit, and Savannah eyed the shot a moment before tipping her head back and letting the slightly sour chilled substance slide down her throat. She smiled, and smacked her lips a bit. It wasn’t bad.

She grabbed a second jello shot from the tray on the table, and was tossing it back when Shane approached her with two red solo cups in hand. Savannah took the drink, and sniffed it a bit trying to get an idea of what it might taste like. It smelled mostly like ginger ale, but had a bit of a red tint. 

“It’s got grenadine, cherry vodka, and some candied lime peel.” Shane said, before taking a sip of his own drink. “Think of it as a grown up Shirley Temple.”

Savannah grinned at this; she loved Shirley Temples. She swirled the cup a bit in her hand, then took a sip. It was good. Soon, they joined the rest of the party, and Savannah relaxed a bit as Shane chatted away with various little groups of people. The alcohol helped her along, and soon she was making her own quips and adding bits to their conversations. 

By the time she’d emptied her second cup, her cheeks had grown flushed and she was dancing with Shane and one of the other girls, who she’d become fast friends with - a busty brunette called Caroline. Caroline was behind her, resting an arm on her shoulder, and Shane was in front of her, bent over and twerking - which both girls laughed at uproariously as the song playing did not suit his wild dancing in the slightest. Savannah gave his rump a smack, and Shane hopped up, giving her a faux-scandalized look, one hand raised to his wide open mouth.

Caroline erupted into a peel of laughter, and stumbled back a bit. She caught herself on Savannah, who wobbled a bit as well. Once she’d regained her balance, Caroline shook her head a bit and said, “Oooh, I think I need some air.”

“Are you going to leave me alone with her? She spanked me!” Shane said, giving Caroline a ridiculous pout.

Caroline rolled her eyes in response, “I’m sure you’ll survive.”

Savannah snorted a bit, and looked up at Shane as Caroline went through the patio and out the door into the back yard. Some of the kids had gone outside to get some air, but when they ended up in the pool, most of the other kids joined them. Presently, it was just the two of them in the living room. 

Shane smiled hazily down at her, and reached hand up to brush a stray strand of hair behind her ear. Then, she felt his hand had come to rest on the small of her back, pulling her close - too close. When his lips brushed against hers, she reacted instinctively, her hands raising to his chest to shove him back.

Shane took a step back at the weak push, the haze dissipating from his gaze as surprise widened his eyes. 

“I… I think… you’ve had too much.” Savannah said, licking her lips, her eyes sliding away from his. Why did she feel guilty when he was the one that tried to pull a move on her? Did she want that kiss after all? It’s not like he was unattractive. It was just… so weird.

“You’re right.” Shane said, his voice full of the regret that she was starting to rise up in Savannah’s chest. “I’m going to cool off in the pool.”

Before Savannah could stop him, Shane shuffled through the patio and into the backyard, where he greeted the rest of the partiers with a shout as he cannonballed fully clothed into the pool. Savannah shook her head, trying to ease the tightness in her chest with a few deep breaths. It was then that one of the doors in the nearby hallway creaked open. She turned, and saw Cory peeking out from his room. He spotted Savannah looking at him, and froze.

Savannah also froze, and they stared at each other for a long, awkward moment before Savannah giggled at their joint ridiculousness. Cory’s lips turned up at one corner and he stepped out of his room.

“I was just going to grab a slice before the pizza disappeared entirely.” Cory said, his voice just a touch deeper than his twin’s, though perhaps that was due to the lack of inflection. Shane was very expressive in comparison.

“I didn’t even know you were here…” Savannah said, then realized that probably came out wrong. “Er, I mean… I just…”

Shane chuckled lightly and replied, “You wouldn’t have. I haven’t left my room all night.”

“I spent most of the day in my room. Shane had to physically drag me out.” Savannah said with a bit of a sigh.

“He’s good at that.” Cory said, settling onto the sofa. He leaned forward and grabbed a plate from the coffee table, on which several boxes of pizza had been stacked. He rummaged around, grabbing a few stray pieces for himself. “Dragging people out of their shells.”

As she watched him load up his plate, her own stomach rumbled - and she realized she hadn’t had anything to eat yet herself. Cory looked up at this, quirking an eyebrow at her.

“I haven’t had anything to eat yet, either.” Savannah said, laughing lightly as she took a seat next to him.

“Oof. Drinking on an empty stomach?” Cory asked as he handed her a paper plate and slid two of the pieces from his plate on to hers.

“Is that bad?” Savannah asked, looking a little concerned.

“Well...you don’t sound trashed, but you’ll get a hangover if you don’t get some food and water in you.” Cory explained, shaking his head a bit in disapproval.

“Ah, I see… well, that’s good to know.” Savannah said, turning her attention to her pizza. 

She was always curious about Cory; she knew very little about him, despite spending so much time with his twin. Shane rarely talked about his brother, though she didn’t think they had any animosity toward each other. They were just different people. 

She glanced at Cory a few times from the side of her eye. He was wearing a fitted black shirt and loose grey sweatpants. He smelled faintly of smoke, and his black hair was long enough that its natural waves were evident. He also wore a lot of jewelry; a couple different chains hung around his neck, and he wore a few thick silver rings on his right hand. She thought he had a tongue piercing as well, but it was hard to tell without actually giving him a proper look.

Savannah’s impression was that while Shane was a partier, he was rather clean cut compared to his cigarette smoking, motorcycle riding, bad boy brother.

They ate in mildly awkward silence as shouts, screams, splashes and laughter floated in from the outside, and the base thudded from the electronic mix that was still spilling from the wireless speakers. Cory finished eating first, and got up from the sofa, causing Savannah to shift a bit. 

He gave her a small, crooked smile and said, “Make sure you drink some water, all right?”

“Will do.” Savannah said, returning his smile with a faint one of her own. “Thanks.”

In the present time, Savannah went to the door of her apartment and peeked out through the peephole. She saw nothing through it, and went to the window beside the door instead, not wanting to open it when it might just be ding dong ditchers dicking around in the night. It didn’t look like anyone was there, so she shrugged, and decided she might as well turn in early. Then, her stomach grumbled - complaining loudly that she had, once again, forgotten to eat.

Savannah sighed deeply, and set about getting herself a snack.