Tagline: N/A
Back tagline: Help wanted. No experience required
Summary: It’s been a year Laura Walcutt would it just as soon forget—especially since she broke up with her boyfriend and lost her lifeguard job at the Springwood municipal pool…. Great. No boyfriend. And now no job. Luckily, Laura bumps into a classmate who works at the local hospital, and he thinks he can arrange an interview for Laura. The boy is new in town, and Laura likes his easy smile and dark eyes. Best of all, he isn’t anything like her ex-boyfriend Chester. He seems to like her, too. Laura realizes that it may not be such a bad summer after all.
But when a killer goes on a bloody rampage, Laura must confront her worst fears and suspicions about the new boy in town. Is he Laura’s dream come true? Or is he her worst nightmare?
First Impressions: I’ve liked each Tale of Terror so far so hopefully this continues that trend, although like I said in my previous recap, the books are starting to drag because it takes half the book before the real mystery starts unfolding. Coverwise, I like the colour scheme here. It’s all dark and broody. I’m very keen to know what our heroine’s looking at here; she’s clearly on the inside of the building (although my mind goes straight to phone booth for some reason?) so would presumably be safe, right?
Storywise, I have moderate-to-high hopes. It’s promising a bloody rampage, so let’s see if it actually delivers!
Recap
Meet the gang:
Laura – Our job-searching who finds herself the subject of several boys’ affections.
Chester – Laura’s arrogant and jealous ex-boyfriend.
Buck – The new boy in town who takes a very strong liking to Laura.
Doug – Laura’s best friend who’s got a girlfriend he doesn’t like.
Rayne – Doug’s annoying, possessive girlfriend.
Shelby – Laura’s younger sister who’s not all she seems.
Allison – A bitchy assistant manager at a store Laura would like to work at.
Warner – An old man who causes a car crash then mysteriously disappears from hospital.
The prologue begins with us meeting Freddy for a job opening in the boiler room because he’s always looking for new blood! He’s after a killer who likes to work with their hands, and maybe a weapon as well, hopefully with some experience already, although on-the-job training is available. The newcomer will be be dealing with a lot of dead meat, so he recommends wearing clothes that we don’t mind getting soiled. He also warns that competition in the workplace is fierce and there’s a lot of backstabbing, the kind done with actual knives!
Onto the main story, and Laura Walcutt has just rocked up to Springwood General to enquire about the Help Wanted ad in yesterday’s paper. She hates hospitals but needs a job real bad, so she reluctantly approaches the front desk and rings the bell for assistance. To her pleasant surprise, a cute boy around her age exits the backroom, and she’s speechless for a few moments. He’s quite thin but holds himself like a heavier guy, with an easy smile and thick, jet-black hair. The guy introduces himself as Buck Lochner, and Laura gives her name and explains why she’s here. The position has been filled already, though, and Buck seems genuinely apologetic about it. Then he seems to recognise her from the pool, and Laura bitterly explains that budget cuts got her laid off from her lifeguard role, so now she has to run all over town looking for a new job. The only other place that seems to be hiring is a store in the mall called Fair Warning, but Laura will never get that because she doesn’t get along with the assistant manager. [Oooh, what’s the goss? 👀]
Buck notices how anxious she is to get a job and asks if she’s saving up for school or something, but senses how reluctant she is to answer the question and quickly apologises for being nosy. He breaks the awkward silence by informing her he’s just moved to town and is living on Elm Street. Laura hopes he’s not too close to the old Thompson house, [I wonder why they call it the Thompson House and not the Krueger house? He lived there first] but Buck doesn’t seem concerned by the horror stories he’s already heard. [Big mistake. Huge] Buck will be a senior just like Laura when school starts back up in the fall, but he hasn’t met anyone yet because he didn’t arrive until after school ended. Laura’s happy to introduce him to people, but he’s only interested if they’re as cool as Laura. [Gag me with a spoon] Laura doesn’t know if that’s possible, [Oh, please. Shut up] but her friends go alright. In fact, her best friend Doug is actually having a party tonight, and Buck is welcome to come if he wants!
Buck seems excited, but then stops short and asks if Doug is her boyfriend. Laura assures him that Doug is just a friend, and she’s happily unattached. [You’re in, Buck!] Buck offers to pick her up so they can go together, which sounds great to Laura, as long as he doesn’t mind her little sister tagging along. Despite only being 14, Shelby’s pretty cool and more like a best friend than a sister. She’s more of a bookworm, so Laura’s been trying to get her to be more social over the summer. Laura scribbles down her number and hands it to Buck so he can call her after work, then heads off feeling unusually calm after the tough week she’s had.
Once Laura’s gone, Buck returns to the administrative office behind the front desk and stares at the spot where Laura had just been standing, as if in a trance. The rest of the day is going to be unbearable now — though he’d tried to hide his feelings, it was love at first sight when he’d first seen Laura at the pool, and it broke his heart to have to tell her there’s no job available. He’d love nothing more than to be her co-worker, and soon the wheels are turning in his head as he presumably starts formulating a plan to keep her close… [Ooh, I like that we’re getting his perspective too]
At home a short time later, Shelby’s looking over her stamp collection when Laura comes in and complaining about not finding a job. Shelby suggests she just enjoy her summer like everyone else, especially because Mum’s doing well enough financially now, but Laura feels the need to be help out nonetheless. Shelby was probably too young to remember how hard it was when Dad left, but Laura remembers all to well. He’d run off with his buxom secretary when Laura was nine, [So Shelby was seven? That’s not too young to remember] and stay-at-home, devoted housewife Mum was suddenly confronted with no job, no income and no marketable skills, which led to a few tough years. She eventually got a low-paying job and earned enough to put herself through college while the girls had to learn to take care of themselves and each other. Mum drilled into them the importance of an education and encourages the girls to never allow themselves to rely on another person for their livelihood. Mum now has her own travel agency and her income rivals what Dad had made, so now they live quite comfortably. [What a lovely, strong female figure! It sucks that so many women are manipulated into into depending on their partner financially, then have no career skills once they’re inevitably divorced]
Laura questions if a summer job really is as important as she thinks, but decides she’d get too bored and doesn’t want to lose the self-reliance she’s established. [Smart girl!] Besides, working with people is fun, as long as your jealous boyfriend isn’t a co-worker. [Oooh, more tea?] After rattling off the three places she had gone today searching for a job, [Just three, Laura? Can’t be searching that hard] Laura tells Shelby about Buck and the party tonight. Shelby’s excited that her sister has a new love interest but isn’t keen on the party, so Laura tickles her until she agrees to come.
Buck calls while the girls make dinner and, amongst Laura’s flirting, agrees to pick the girls up at 9pm. After eating, the girls pick out outfits for the party, and Shelby notices that Laura wants to look her best not just for Buck, but because her ex-boyfriend Chester Carter will be there. What better revenge than to show up looking hot af with a new hunk on your arm? Shelby doesn’t see the point in getting too dressed up herself because boys don’t like bookworms, but Laura manages to get her into a nice outfit just as the doorbell rings. Shelby instructs Laura to wait five minutes so she doesn’t seem too keen and heads down to answer the door herself. Eager beaver Laura only manages to wait four minutes before rushing down to greet Buck in the living room. He looks super handsome in his worn-out Levis and purple oxford shirt, and he thinks she looks beautiful too. Shelby appears with a vase of flowers that Buck had brought, [He’d even brought some for Shelby, too! I’d say it’s cute, but we already know he’s a bit deranged] and Laura gives him a kiss on the cheek to say thanks.
The trio gets to know each other more on the car ride over to the party, with Laura explaining her family situation and Buck revealing that his mother died when he was quite young. His dad lost his job recently but found a new one here in Springwood, hence the move. He wishes there was something he could do to help Laura find a job, [I’m sure you’ll think of something] then briefly disappears into his own thoughts. He’s sure something will open up because a lot of the places she’s applied for have a high turnover, [How would you know, you only just moved here?] but Laura’s less optimistic. Buck tells her to just wait and see, ‘the wheels in his mind spinning faster and faster.’
At the party, Laura introduces best friend Doug to new friend Buck, the latter of which seems ‘strangely bewildered.’ [Jealous at first sight!] Doug hurries off to find his girlfriend, Rayne Wilcox, who’s apparently on the warpath, and Buck notices that he doesn’t seem to like her much. Laura and Shelby confirm this, explaining they went on one date and Rayne decided they were a couple. Doug just rolled with it, and the situation was working out at first, but now he’s too scared to break things off. Laura spots Allison Heath, Fair Warning’s assistant manager that doesn’t like her, and decides to suss out the vacant job while Shelby and Buck head to the kitchen for a drink. Allison feigns sympathy as she tells Laura that the managers decided on another applicant, and just to make it seem like she didn’t come over purely about the job, Laura asks who she came to the party with. Allison’s eyebrow arches evilly as she reveals she came with Chester, Laura’s ex, but Laura isn’t the least bit bothered because ‘if anyone deserved a creep like Chester, it was Allison.’ Laura assures her she’s totally fine with it and heads off to find Chester, because she apparently needs to talk to him anyway.
She passes Buck, who’s trapped in a conversation with Rayne, ‘Doug’s erstwhile girlfriend,’ [Erstwhile means former… did they break up in the last two minutes?] and considers joining in the conversation to clue Buck in on her, but anyone who spends a few minutes in Rayne’s presence can tell she’s a super jealous girlfriend guarding her territory. On her search for Chester, Laura ends up alone in the backyard where she’s practically assaulted by Chester, who grabs her from behind. He’s heard she was looking for him and thinks she wants to kiss and make up, but Laura’s no longer interested in his muscly body, especially when he reeks of beer and cigarettes. It turns out Chester, who’s nickname is ‘The Chest’, [Lol] is head lifeguard at the pool and, due to his irrational jealousy, used the pool’s budget cuts to give Laura an ultimatum – one lifeguard needed to go, and it would either be her or Doug. Evidently this wasn’t smart on The Chest’s part, because Laura chose to leave the job and him. [Laura’s a queen for putting her friend first like that and knowing her worth!]
Chester thinks he did no wrong since it was ultimately Laura’s decision, but she reckons she should report him for what he did. He doesn’t take too kindly to that and grabs her shoulder hard, but Buck suddenly appears and saves her from The Chest. Chester threatens to crush him, but Buck isn’t intimidated whatsoever and tells him to make his move of piss off. Chester is shocked, then apologises and starts toward the house. As he’s passing Buck, though, The Chest sends a powerful fist heading towards his face. Buck’s got quick reflexes, and dodges the attack before elbowing Chester hard in the stomach and kicking him behind the knee, sending the big oaf to the ground. Buck takes Laura’s hand to lead her back to the house as party guests come out to see what’s going on, and a girl shouts a warning that Chester is getting up! The pair turn just in time to see Chester launching himself at them, but Buck manages to put him down in a way I don’t think has ever happened in real life:
Pushing Laura out of the way, Buck met Chester, grabbing his outstretched arms. Rolling onto his back, Buck lifted his legs and pressed his feet against Chester’s midsection. Continuing the roll, Buck pushed, launching Chester into the air. Chester landed on his back on the concrete patio. Buck, meanwhile, rolled deftly onto his feet, preparing for a counterattack. From the way Chester curled up into a ball on the patio, an attack was unlikely at best.
Regardless if Buck was defending Laura or not, Doug doesn’t like fighting at his house under any circumstances and kicks him and Laura out. They collect Shelby and head to Buck’s car, while Doug decides he’ll drive Chester and Allison home in Chester’s car, with Rayne unhappily coming along for the ride. The Chest lives in the same direction as Laura, so they’ll be following behind for a few blocks. As they drive down Elm Street, Laura and Buck spot an oncoming car in the distance swerving all over the road before heading straight towards them. Buck jumps the curb to avoid it, and as Laura turns to make sure Shelby’s OK in the back, she gets a glimpse of the other car as it speeds past, a Cadillac being driven by an elderly man who’s clutching his chest with one hand and clawing at the wheel with the other. [Poor guy :(] She watches helplessly as the Cadillac collides head-on with Chester’s car.
Everyone is taken to hospital, and Laura’s managed to come out relatively unscathed, with barely a bruise. Buck, Allison and Doug are released after being treated for minor cuts and bruises, while Chester’s got a serious concussion and some deep cuts on his head and will be in hospital for a few days. Shelby’s also concussed after hitting her head on the roof of Buck’s car and will be staying at the hospital overnight as a precaution, and for whatever reason there’s no mention of Rayne or her injuries. The last Laura heard of the old man in the other car, he was barely alive in the cardiac care unit.
That night, Laura struggles to sleep, reliving the crash over and over in her dreams. By the fourth re-enactment, the driver of the Cadillac is a horribly scarred man who smiles at Laura on his way past, relishing the havoc he’s about to cause. The impact in this nightmare is followed by an explosion and Laura is somehow transported into the inferno, watching as Doug, Chester, Rayne and Allison are roasted to death. [Oof]
In the morning, Laura heads to the hospital to visit Shelby, but it’s too early for visitors so she decides to see if Buck is in yet. He is, and seems just as tired as he assures her Shelby’s OK and will be discharged later today. Laura asks about the old man, and we learn his name is Warner Holbert, who coincidentally has a career as a headhunter, finding people jobs — ‘”If he lives, and he’s not too pissed about the accident, maybe he can help you.”‘ Laura’s shocked at Buck’s opportunism and he quickly apologises, then takes Laura to Shelby’s room so she can take a quick look. The sleeping Shelby is sharing a room with Chester, who sports a blood-soaked bandage around his head and is also either asleep or unconscious. Laura wants to see Warner Holbert, who’s connected to all kinds of machines and equipment, and Laura feels super bad for him. Buck instructs Laura to go home and get some rest, but come back at 12:30 so he can take her out to lunch. By the time they get back, the doctors should be ready to release Shelby. Laura’s worried that something could go wrong while she’s gone, but Buck asks the fate-testing question, ‘”What could go wrong?”‘ [A lot, Buck!]
At home, Laura passes on the news about Shelby to her mother, who seems blasé about the whole thing, then manages to sleep until her bedside phone rings. It’s Doug, who’s just checking up on her. She tells him about Shelby and Chester, and admits she doesn’t feel too bad for The Chest because he was such a dick last night and somehow, it all seems like his fault. Then she notices that it’s 12:15 quickly ends the conversation because she’s late to meet Buck for lunch. Doug doesn’t seem to like that she’s seeing him again, but Laura assures him that it was Chester who started the trouble last night and she can explain it all better later.
Laura doesn’t reach the hospital until 12:47, and Buck is upset. She apologises profusely, but Buck says it’s fine and agrees to make a quick stop by Shelby’s room. Shelby’s awake this time, picking at a tray of hospital food, and thanks Laura for taking her out because this is the most excitement she’s ever had! I thought she was being sarcastic, but she’s 100% serious; Shelby’s never almost been killed before and ‘”It makes living that much more exciting!”‘ [Shelby, plz] Chester’s out having tests done and Shelby reveals the first thing he did when he woke up was hit on her, prompting her to gag until he got embarrassed and closed the curtain separating their beds.
A short time later in the car, Buck suggests they get some food from Big Game Burger, but Laura shoots that down because Rayne works there and she’s bound to blame Laura for the accident — ‘”Rayne can be that unreasonably spiteful, especially toward me.”‘ [Rayne seems sooooooo annoying] They head for the mall instead where they’ll be spoilt for choice, and Buck seems quiet on the way there. He eventually speaks up, disclosing that the hospital lost Warner Holbert this morning after she’d left. He didn’t pass away; the hospital literally lost him. A nurse went to check on him, but the bed was empty. Warner Holbert has vanished! [Have we found Freddy’s new host body, or is this too obvious?] He’d never regained consciousness so there’s no way he got up and walked away, and the tangle of wires and tubes on the bed make it seem he left or was taken from the room in a hurry. His relatives have been told by now and if the old man isn’t found soon, there’s sure to be a major lawsuit.
After lunch, they take a leisurely stroll around the mall and pass Fair Warning, where it appears sophomore Beth Reed is the new hire. She basically worships Allison, so it’s really no surprise. Beth spots them and rushes over, having heard from Allison about the accident and wanting to know how Laura’s doing. We learnt that Beth only started yesterday, and much to Laura’s frustration, she hadn’t even applied — she’d been shopping in here a few days ago when Allison dragged her over to the manager, who hired her on the spot since she’d been having trouble finding someone.
Beth is shocked when Laura informs her she applied a week ago. Despite Laura’s objection, Buck insists Beth look for Laura’s application in the back so she can update it, but Beth returns empty-handed, unable to find it anywhere. Laura is devastated that she wasn’t even in the running, and Beth apologetically suggests she fill out another application. Buck barks that it’s too late for that and angrily asks when Allison’s in next, instructing Beth to let her know that he and Laura will be in tomorrow night to discuss Laura’s missing application with her and the manager.
Laura’s not impressed with Buck’s bullying behaviour as they walk back to the car, but Buck points out that Allison obviously removed Laura’s application. He considers his actions towards Beth negative reinforcement, hopeful she’ll realise what kind of person her friend Allison is. Allison will be worrying that they’re gonna cause trouble for her now, so maybe she’ll think twice before screwing the next person over. Laura doesn’t respond, finding his pleasure in intimidation, revenge and manipulation disgusting, and Buck admits that he’s learned you have to defend yourself over the years. Laura’s not doing that, so he’s trying to help. He knows she didn’t ask him to defend her, but he wants to because he likes her. Laura admits she likes him too, but Chester was a bully and she’s not interested in being around another one. She’s already forgiven Buck though, deciding he just got carried away. In a quiet, sweet voice like a child wanting to do good, he promises not to do it again because he wants her to like him, and it’s ‘this little-boy quality that Laura found attractive in Buck.’ [Uhh… excuse me?!?]
She gives him a peck on the cheek to show her appreciation, and soon they’re back at the hospital. Mrs. Walcutt is there signing the release papers when Laura reaches Shelby’s room, and as they’re leaving, Chester gets Laura’s attention. She tells her mum and sister to go on without her while she goes over to Chester’s bed and asks how the tests went. He seems worried as he tells her the doctors found some weird spots and think he might have a blood clot or something. Laura sympathetically places a hand on his shoulder, only to have him clamp one of his own on top of it. The sweet act is over as he warns her that Buck should watch his back when Chester gets out of here — ‘”just because he’s new in town doesn’t mean he can make moves on the first girl he sees.” Laura breaks free and backs away as Chester complains that he doesn’t appreciate being made a fool of in front of his friends, and Allison dumped him because he embarrassed her. Laura agrees with Allison for once and orders The Chest to leave her and Buck alone. Chester basically implies that he’ll just date Shelby instead, and after telling him to stay away from her too, [I’m sure Shelby knows better] Laura flees the room, overcome by the feeling that if she stays here a second longer, she’d kill Chester and enjoy doing it. [Naughty, naughty!]
Laura’s flustered on the way home and decides to drive around the block so her family don’t see her like this. When she’s finally home, no-one’s there there, and she gets upset that they’ve excluded her from whatever they’re doing. [Girl, you chose not to go home when you knew they were there, you can’t get upset] She contemplates calling Buck but decides she’ll seem high-maintenance if she dumps all her troubles on him this early, so settles for Doug instead. Strangely, the phone doesn’t ring, but he seems to pick up as soon as she’s finished dialling his number. [This seems like it’ll be important later] She tells him about her run-in with Chester and his threats towards Buck, and that he seems to like Shelby. This final point worries Laura the most, because Shelby’s got no dating experience so could easily get caught up. Laura has dated before and even she was taken in; his good looks can blind you to everything else that’s wrong with him, ‘”which is, in fact, everything else.”‘ [Hahahaha] Doug suggests she just warn Shelby, but Laura’s not sure about that because the sisters have never discussed the idea of Shelby dating. [Shelby doesn’t seem the type to date her sister’s ex-boyfriend, I’m sure it’ll be fine]
Doug changes the subject to himself, revealing he finally broke up with Rayne, who naturally didn’t take it very well, so they’ll both need to steer clear of her jealous ass for a while. Doug then asks how things are with Buck, but just as she’s about to get into it, she hears footsteps and turns to see Shelby in the doorway. She ends the conversation with Doug, and Shelby explains that Mum went out while she’d stayed behind to nap. Buck then calls as Laura’s telling Shelby about Doug’s relationship status, and his cheerfulness seems forced as he comments that her phone’s been busy forever. He can’t mask the suspicion in his voice as he wonders who she was talking to, and she simply tells him a friend called because even though there’s no reason to lie, it really is none of his business. [Amen!] He asks if it’s anyone he knows, and now she does lie that it was an out-of-town friend, slightly annoyed by his questions because he’s coming off as a jealous boyfriend.
Buck asks her to the movie tonight, but Laura wants to check if Shelby wants to do something since she’s out of the hospital now. Buck offers for her to come too, but Laura is still unsure because it may be a girls-only kind of night. Buck complains that Shelby gets to see her every night, and Laura realises that Buck’s definitely miles ahead of her in the relationship department. She decides to be upfront so that a relationship might develop naturally over time, and informs him that she’d like to go out again, but she’s not looking for a boyfriend right now because she’s got too many things going on. Buck takes the rejection surprisingly well and apologises for being overeager, explaining she’s the first person he’s met and she just seems really nice. He asks to call her tonight just to talk, or tomorrow if she’d prefer, and Laura tells him of course he can call, apologising for being resistant, but he assures her he understands. [Do you, Buck?]
While making dinner, Laura fills Shelby in on her encounter with Chester and to her relief, Shelby is 100% not interested. They then discuss the party, the accident, Warner Holbert’s disappearance, and finally Buck. Shelby agrees that he has a huge crush on Laura and wonders if he may try to win her over. He seems to be a man of action, so he’ll probably do some grand gesture to sweep her off her feet, but Laura hopes he won’t try too hard because it will probably ruin any chance he has with her.
Mum comes home and after dinner, the three women settle down in the living room to watch a Brad Pitt movie. Buck calls twice during the movie — the first time, Laura cuts the conversation short because she doesn’t want to miss a second of dreamy Brad, and the second time the family lets the machine answer, and Buck anxiously asks Laura to call him. She’d rather watch another movie first, though, solo this time since her mum and sister go to bed, and ends up falling asleep on the couch. She dreams that Buck and Chester are preparing for a cowboy-style pistol duel to win her affections, but she’d secretly rigged their guns to explode, killing them both, and then rides off into the sunset with Brad Pitt. [Hahaha love it]
We jump over to the mall now, which is closed, but Allison hasn’t left Fair Warning yet. [It seems like it’s the same night, but Beth had said earlier that Allison wouldn’t be in until the following night, so maybe it’s tomorrow??] She often stays after hours, especially when a shipment of new clothes has come in, because she likes to wind down but trying on all the amazing new arrivals. As she’s trying stuff on, she thinks about Buck, who actually paid her a visit here earlier. She hadn’t known what to think when Beth had told her about the situation; he was totally right about her throwing Laura’s application away, but she couldn’t let management see it! Laura would have been hired instantly, and Beth isn’t turning out to be very good at the job. Buck had turned up about 10 minutes before closing and just glared at her, but smiled and walked off just as she was about to pick up the phone to call security. She wonders if he’s waiting for her by her car or something, but he’ll be out there a while because there’s lots of clothes to try on!
Anyway, Allison’s saved the best for last, a sleek black dress perfect for clubbing. Stepping in front of the three-way mirror, she gasps and a hand flies to her mouth in shock because ‘she looked ten times sexier than she had expected.’ [Hahaha imagine gasping over how good you look] As she’s admiring the view, she sees a shape rise up behind her in the mirror and spins around. Before she can say much, the person [We’re not given any distinguishable features, but I feel like Buck’s probably a red herring and this is Freddy in Warner’s body or something, maybe? But that could be too obvious too] wraps a belt around her neck, eventually lifting her up and wrapping the end of the belt around the light fixture before stepping back. As she awaits her inevitable death, she thinks about her parents and how she’s such a bitch to everyone, as well as school and hotels and chicken wings. [Okeh]
Her oxygen-starved brain was shutting down. Her vision was dimming. During one revolution, she caught sight of herself in a mirror and her last thought was of how hot she looked in black velvet.
[Hahahaha conceited girl] Laura’s first thought upon hearing about Allison’s untimely death is that there’s now a job opening at Fair Warning. [Hahahahahaha bless. Also, Allison was an assistant manager, they don’t just hand out that role to anyone…] She’s then appalled with herself and struggles internally with those evil thoughts, which isn’t helped when Buck calls that evening and jokes ‘”I know you thought that job was to die for, but to kill for?”‘ Laura’s all sensitive so he immediately apologises and hopes she doesn’t think he’s responsible for the murder after what he’d said previously. Of course she doesn’t, and he quite easily manipulates his way into a movie date with her tonight and hangs up before she even knows what’s going on. Going out is the last thing she wants to do but she decides to go anyway, feeling more calm than she had earlier that day.
As she heads upstairs to change, her mind drifts back to Shelby’s words about Buck finding a way to prove himself to her. Murder wouldn’t be on the cards, right? He’d seemed relieved when she said she didn’t suspect him, but was that relief because he was innocent, or because he was guilty and was making sure ‘the only person who would know he had a motive was on his side?’ [The fact that she’s suspecting him makes me think he’s not our bad guy. He’s definitely a secondary antagonist, though. Since Warner Holbert was in a coma and has somehow vanished, my theory right now is that he’s possessed by Freddy and on a new rampage, but it just seems so obvious] Laura scolds herself for being so arrogant as to think Buck would murder over of a little crush, but she can’t completely shake off the suspicion. The phone ring again and Laura and Shelby simultaneously answer it from different rooms, but the caller quickly hangs up. Shelby notes this is the third time that’s happened today, but Laura shrugs it off as wrong number.
The phone rings a third time, and Laura answers it alone to find Doug on the other end. He tells her Chester was released from the hospital and taken in for questioning after the police received a tip-off he’d had a huge fight with Allison recently. Doug wonders if Laura had anything to do with it, and takes Laura’s stunned silence as an admission of guilt, which she quickly dismisses. He doesn’t sound like he fully believes her, though, [Wow, some best friend] and asks if they can meet to discuss something in person. He seems disappointed that she can’t meet because of her plans with Buck, but doesn’t want her to cancel and agrees to meet tomorrow to talk. After the call, Shelby enters the room and goes a bit weird when she learns Doug had called. [Oooh, maybe Doug and Shelby are seeing each other and she got weird because he didn’t call to speak to her?] Laura asks if she’s OK, but Shelby apparently just feels a bit crummy and suspects she has a cold coming on, then heads off to lie down.
Buck picks Laura up at 8pm and they head to the Big Game Burger drive-through for a bite to eat before hitting up the cinema. Rayne hands them their combos at the service window and is all friendly smiles as she asks what they’re up to tonight. She clearly approves of Laura’s potential new beau, and Laura’s sure it’s because in Rayne’s mind, it keeps her away from Doug. The pair unwrap their burgers as they head off, but just as Laura’s about to take a bite, she spots a live cockroach inside! After throwing the burger at the windscreen and dry heaving out the window, Laura laughs at Rayne’s cheeky prank, realising she must blame her for the break-up with Doug. Buck, on the other hand, is positively livid and makes a dangerous U-turn so they can go confront Rayne, accusing Laura of letting herself be bullied again when she protests. Laura firmly tells him she won’t be bullied by Rayne or him, and although he’s clearly not happy about it, he drops the subjects and does a legal U-turn to head back towards the movies.
She’s brave enough to comment on his temper, and Buck explains he takes after his dad, but Laura manages to keep him in line, unlike his mother with his father. He explains that any other girl would have let him go back and make trouble, something that’s happened before apparently, but Laura’s not like that which is just another reason he likes her — ‘”You shame me into behaving.”‘ [This guy is a walking red flag even if he’s not our bad guy] She returns his smile with a forced one of her own, having come to a conclusion that there’s no way she’s gonna let anything progress past a friendship with Buck; [Good girl] he’s way too volatile and taming him would be too big a responsibility. What if things didn’t work out between them and he became even worse?
Walking back to the car after seeing an action flick, Laura’s discomfort is obvious when Buck puts his arm around her shoulders, then moves his hand down to hers and interlocks his fingers with hers. She tries to let him down gently, but he immediately cuts her off, telling her in a creepy tone that somehow transfixes her, ‘”I’m yours, if you want me. I’d do anything for you.”‘ He’s confident the next time those words are spoken, it’ll be her saying it to him, so he’s happy to drop the whole thing and leave the ball in her court now. Until then, they’re buddies, which Laura agrees to, knowing she’ll never actually say the words he thinks he’ll eventually hear.
As they reach the car, Buck notices that all his tyres are flat and heads off to call Triple-A. Before hurrying after him, Laura spots Chester’s class ring beneath the car and quickly pockets it before Buck sees. It takes forever for Tripe-A to arrive and reinflate the tyres, and when Buck finally drops her home, he tells Laura he hopes he never finds out who’s responsible and that person better hope the same thing. Laura optimistically points out that at least they weren’t slashed, [So Chester just let the air out? Boring. Not really making much of a statement there] which was apparently the worst possible thing she could say right now:
“It’s one thing for you to sit back and let people trash you,” he practically roared at her. “But I’m not gonna take it. I’d fight your battles if you’d let me. But I’m not gonna run away from my battles for you.”
Laura was pressed against her door in fear. “Okay, okay,” she said quickly. “I’m not telling you what to do.”
“Good,” he said ominously.
[Snappy Tom!] Buck quickly apologises for being so angry tonight, and Laura lies that it’s OK because that will get her into her house faster. She thanks him for a fun evening and scampers inside, where she calls Chester. He boasts that he knew she’d call sooner or later, and when she confirms she didn’t tell Buck who was responsible for his tyres, The Chest tells her she can keep the ring so ‘”we’ll be going steady and can live happily ever after. If you want Bucky boy to live at all.”‘ [Laura really attracts the flogs, doesn’t she?] Laura insists that if he cares that much about her he’d leave her alone, then tries to dismiss his behaviour as being upset about Allison. This tickles The Chest, who scoffs that Allison got what she deserved, [Oop] which absolutely shocks Laura. He hangs up after telling Laura he wants and needs her, and Laura checks the locks in the house, no longer feeling safe in her own home.
The next morning, Laura visits her sister’s room to see how she’s feeling, but poor Shelby’s still feeling crook. She asks about Laura’s date with Buck, so Laura relates last night’s events from start to finish. On top of all that, Doug wants to talk about who knows what, but it’s probably not good, and she needs to put on a happy face today while she’s pounding the pavement in search of a job. Shelby evilly jokes ‘”I know a place at the mall that’s got an opening,”‘ [Hahahaha] which angers Laura because it’s not like her sister to be so unsavoury. [Ooooooh, maybe Freddy’s possessed Shelby!] All is forgiven pretty quickly, and Laura heads off.
Today’s job search is as disappointing as every other day and Laura eventually finds herself at the mall to apply at Fair Warning. It’s closed due to the murder investigation, but apparently they haven’t blocked it off too well because Laura’s able to see smears of dried blood on the three-way mirror that she’d heard Allison was hung on front of. [Blood?? From a hanging? That doesn’t make sense] Laura heads home, feeling ashamed for being ready to take advantage of Allison’s death. Shelby’s gone out, leaving a note behind saying she’s feeling better so decided to get some air. The note also informs her that along with another round of strange hang-up calls, Buck phoned several times from the hospital and wants Laura to call him back asap, and Doug called once to let her know she won’t be able to reach him until later because he’s working at the Appleby mansion. [A new setting we’ve never heard of!]
As Laura wonders if Chester’s behind the mysterious hang-up calls just to further harass her, the phone rings and Buck tells her why he’s been trying to reach her all day. It turns out the police did a blood test on Chester when they brought him in for questioning to see if it matched some blood they found at the scene of Allison’s murder, which must be the killer’s blood because Allison’s cause of death wouldn’t cause bleeding. Buck isn’t sure if Chester’s blood was a match. [If Chester is being framed, Buck and Shelby both had easy access to his unconscious body in the hospital to steal a blood-soaked bandage or something. So would a Freddy-possessed Warner Holbert, but he’s a bit harder to believe because surely he wouldn’t have gone unnoticed being up and about] There’s also two rumours swirling around the hospital: one, that the killer left a message in blood at the crime scene, but what it said hasn’t been revealed, and two, that the still-missing Warner Holbert’s records were checked for his blood type too. [Ooh, there we go]
Laura asks what Buck’s friends from his old town think of all this excitement in Springwood, but he tells her he doesn’t have many old friends, which seems to Laura like he’s challenging her to pry into his life further. She doesn’t take the bait and after some awkward silence, Buck questions whether she’d tell him if one of her friends was behind his deflated tyres. Sensing a trap, Laura tells him none of her friends would do something like that, but he wants to know if it was one of her friends, ‘”would you protect him?”‘ As she’s trying to think of what to say, he suddenly asks if Doug’s responsible, and a shocked Laura insists Doug isn’t that kind of person. Buck’s not so sure because apparently he’s heard some things, although he doesn’t elaborate what. Laura just laughs at him and almost reveals who really sabotaged his wheels, but is so infuriated by his senseless accusation that she decides he can figure it out for himself. She emphasises that Doug is one of her real friends, hoping Buck will take the hint that he can’t just presume to be that important to her, but Buck insists he’s very good at reading people and even if he wasn’t involved, ‘”I don’t think Doug is quite who you think.”‘ Laura’s understandably fed up now and doesn’t hide her attitude as she tells him she needs to go, agreeing when he asks if he blew it.
As expected, the phone rings several times in the next few minutes, but the caller, who she assumes is Buck, hangs up when it goes to the answering machine. Buck finally leaves a whiny, apologetic message explaining that he really values her friendship because she’s one of the only people that have been nice to him since moving here. He’s worked hard to get to this point and he’ll work even harder to get her back. [Thank god this isn’t a Fear Street book and our heroine actually has some self-respect, otherwise she’d be putty in his hands every time he apologises] Laura erases the message because even though he sounds sincere, a few days of silence should teach him that he can’t just act or talk before thinking and then justify his questionable actions. [Seriously, I can’t remember the last time we had a protagonist this great!]
Laura starts to worry when Shelby still hasn’t returned by dinnertime because she usually says where she’s going in her notes, but didn’t mention it in today’s one. Doug calls and invites her out to dinner, so Laura leaves her own note for Shelby and is soon picked up by her friend. Doug seems quite nervous for some reason and won’t tell her where he’s taking her because it’s a surprise. Laura grows nervous as the suburban streets give way to an almost rural part of town, and she soon realises they’re nowhere near any restaurants, or even other people. And with Doug acting so strangely, her paranoia returns, thinking back to how Buck had said Doug wasn’t who she thought. But what could Buck know? He’s the stranger, not Doug. The paranoia conquers the voice of reason as Laura notices bandage on Doug’s index finger and remembers Allison’s murderer had left a message written in his [Or her] own blood. [You think a measly cut on a finger is going to produce enough blood to write a message?]
Noticing her silence, Doug assures her they’re almost there, and Laura asks about his finger. He tells her it’s a papercut, and now they’ve finally reached their secret destination — the beautiful Appleby mansion, where Doug’s been working as a painter three days a week. Laura’s in awe over it’s beauty, but that soon gives way to surprise when Doug leads hers up the scaffolding to the third level where he’s set up a beautiful candlelit picnic with a stunning view of the sun setting over the nearby woods. Handing her a rose, Doug explains that he’s wanted to ask her out for a long while, but they’d never been single at the same time. The stars are aligned now, though, and he’s ready to be together. Laura is stunned [And so am I because this really does seem to come out of nowhere based on the limited interactions she’s had with Doug] and turns him down gently; there’s a lot going on right now and she needs him more as a friend to help her through it.
She tries to make him feel less awkward by suggesting they take the picnic home and eat it there, with Shelby if she’s home, but Doug reckons Shelby’s boyfriend probably bought her dinner already. Laura can’t even begin to comprehend the idea of Shelby keeping secrets from her, like a boyfriend, and Doug explains that the other day when Laura called him and it didn’t even ring on his end, it was because he was talking to Shelby already, telling her to stay away from Chester. [Woooooooooooooow, Shelby. I guess she doesn’t know better and is the type to date her sister’s ex-boyfriend] Doug’s taking this way too far so Laura demands to be taken home, and he continues to plead his case as they head back to the car. According to Doug, Chester had charmed Shelby while in hospital and after seeing them out a few nights ago, Doug called Shelby to warn that Chester is probably just using her to get back at Laura. Shelby then went ballistic and ‘”told me that if I spilled the beans, I’d be sorry.”‘ [So Shelby’s an idiot. OK] All of this is extremely uncharacteristic of Shelby so Laura stupidly believes that Doug’s telling lies because he’s angry she rejected him. She refuses to hear more of this blasphemy and they drive off, completely unaware of someone in the forest who’d been eavesdropping. ‘With a smile, the lurker returned to a car hidden just off the road, anxious to report what had just transpired.’ [Report to who?! And who’s this lurker?!]
Back home, Laura storms into the house and up to Shelby’s room to tell her all about Doug’s allegations, but she’s nowhere to be found. According to Mum, Shelby went to the mall with some friends, and Laura is stunned once again because Shelby never goes to the mall! When Shelby’s still not home an hour after the mall is due to close, Mum points out that if Shelby’s with friends, they probably went somewhere else to hang out afterwards. Laura wants to know what friends, but Mum isn’t sure and doesn’t seem to care; ‘”isn’t it nice that she has some now?””
Laura ends up falling asleep in her room while waiting for her sister, and the next morning she heads for Shelby’s room to see if she even came home and finds her in a deep sleep in bed. This is weird, because Shelby’s usually an early bird. Even more unusual is the clothes draped over Shelby’s vanity that she clearly wore last night — Laura’s clothes. Not the sweaters and jeans Shelby usually borrows, but party attire, certainly not mall wear. Holding up the burgundy blouse she’d snagged from Fair Warning as soon as it hit the shelves, Laura realises that it’s not just any blouse, but Chester’s favourite! Laura fights the urge to wake Shelby up and leaves the room, scolding herself for doubting her sister because of Doug’s words. [Laura, plz, the evidence is all there, even if it is circumstantial] Collecting the paper from the porch, Laura’s met with a gasp-inducing sight on the street:
A painted white line ran a twisted course up part of the driveway, onto the sidewalk and to the front walk, where it continued on, ending in a large arrowhead pointing straight at the Walcutts’ front door. In the street, at the end opposite the arrow, were painted the words:
Shelby and Chester sitting in a tree,
K – I – S – S – I – N – G
[I just know she’s going to assume Doug did this to further his “lies”] She wakes Doug up with an angry phone call and orders him to get over here and clean up his mess, then takes the phone off the hook so he’ll be forced into action. He appears shocked at the paint job upon arrival and insists it’s not his artwork, but knows it’ll take heavy-duty solvents and scrubbers to remove it. Shelby appears from behind Laura and her fuzzy, sleepy demeanour becomes suddenly cold and alert when she lays eyes on Doug. Upon seeing the paint, Shelby’s eyes widen for a second, but then she laughs and seems to be excited that a rumour’s being spread about her. [????? Girl, what?] There’s a bit of back and forth between Doug and Shelby as he urges her to tell the truth and she continuously (and smugly towards the end) denies it. She even tells Laura to ask Chester herself, ‘”though the way he is these days, who knows what he’ll say.”‘ [Wow, what a little mole]
Because Laura’s an idiot who can’t read body language and refuses to believe her sister would keep a secret from her, she tells Doug to piss off and the girls go inside. [Remember a few paragraphs ago I was gushing about how great Laura is? I take it back] She apologises for the paint, but Shelby isn’t bothered one bit because she’s actually enjoying ‘”the idea of having rumours spread about me. It’s fun!” [Shelby, stfu] The girls briefly discuss how weird everyone has been lately and agree not to dob on Doug, claiming to their mother they have no idea who’s responsible.
Buck calls, more livid than Laura’s heard him before, because someone threw paint all over his car! He’s sure Chester’s responsible and vows to teach him another lesson, but Laura suggests it may have been a random attack; he does live on Elm Street, after all. Changing the subject, she invites him to join her and Shelby at the pool tomorrow. She knows The Chest might be working, but she’s not gonna let that asshole stop her from doing things she enjoys. Afterwards, she calls Doug to blame him for Buck’s car too, and we learn that some paint was stolen from the Appleby mansion last night. They’d called Doug because he’d been there earlier in the evening with Laura, emphatically pointing out that they believed him when he denied doing anything wrong. He’s hurt that Laura would think he’d lie to her and regrets the timing of telling her about Shelby and Chester, because now he’s seemingly being framed for things he didn’t do and Rayne also won’t leave him alone. [Maybe Rayne was the lurker in the woods, and she did the paint stuff to drive a bigger wedge between Doug and Laura, knowing he’d cop the blame!] He dramatically declares that if he went back to Rayne, it would be with an axe. Laura points out that he doesn’t really mean that, but he cryptically tells her ‘”Yeah, well, I’m a vandal, why not a murderer?”‘ and hangs up, ignoring the phone when she tries to call back seconds later, worrying her.
That night, Shelby heads out with her “friends” [Chester] while Laura stays home watching a movie, feeling glad that Shelby’s finally got a social life. [You’ll be eating those words soon, Laura!] Rayne’s feeling particularly ecstatic tonight because her plan to drive a wedge between Doug and Laura and send him running back to her is going well, far beyond her expectations. She’s had some help from Buck, of course; she could tell his is possessiveness and jealousy rivalled her own as soon as she laid eyes on him, and he’d been very receptive to her warnings about Laura’s friendship with Doug at the party. He didn’t need any convincing to join her plan to split them apart, but she was pleasantly surprised at how far he was willing to go. He’d caught the cockroach that Rayne placed in Laura’s burger, and upon her orders, he’d followed Laura and Doug to the Appleby mansion to snoop, even going so far as to steal the paint and trash his own car with it. Rayne had been the one behind the hang-up phone calls, but Buck is doing most of the dirty work.
Rayne doesn’t acknowledge the back door opening, assuming it’s fry cook Billy returning for his watch that he always leaves behind, [Bye, Rayne] and drops a single frozen french fry into the fryer, her nightly ritual when she closes. Mesmerised, she watches as the fry goes ‘from white, to light brown, to dark brown, and finally became a blackened, crispy thing.’ [An obvious foreshadowing to her soon-to-come death, but I love it!] The next thing she knows, someone’s forcing her head down towards the bubbling hot oil in the fryer as she struggles uselessly to break free, finding herself unable to scream:
The tip of her nose touched the oil and began to sizzle immediately. The pain was so intense and concentrated on a small area. Now, suddenly, she was able to scream.
But it was too late.
Rayne’s entire head was suddenly plunged into the boiling grease. Her last sensation was of being stung in the face by a million, billion wasps.
The hand held Rayne in the grease until her struggling ceased. When she was let go, Rayne’s body slumped backwards and onto the floor.
Her face had become a blackened, crispy thing.
[I think we’ve found my favourite death in the series! Possibly out of anything I’ve recapped, even! ] The next morning, Laura’s horrified to learn of Rayne’s death in the newspaper, her body being found at 2am by a fry cook who’d returned to the store for his forgotten watch. [Good old Billy!] Strangely, written in blood on the counter had been the words ‘Help Wanted’, which we also learn here was the message left with Allison’s corpse too. [You’ll have your pick of the pack for jobs soon, Laura] Buck calls to see if she wants to cancel their pool day, but Laura needs to be around people so they agree to go. Laura heads up to Shelby’s room to tell her the news, and she’s just as shocked about the death. She also looks quite pale and suspects the cold is coming back, so she bows out of their pool day. [Surely Shelby’s possessed by Freddy]
Laura picks up Buck, who admits to being affected by Rayne’s death because she’d been so nice to him at the party. He also reveals the blood used to write messages at the crime scenes has been confirmed as Warner Holbert’s, so he’s the main suspect. The police aren’t going public with it yet, but their theory is that due to brain damage, he escaped the hospital and is murdering the teens he deems responsible for the crash, even thought he technically caused it with a medical episode. According to this theory, the ‘Help Wanted’ messages left at the crime scenes are due to his job as a headhunter. Laura realises that they’re all in danger, including Shelby, Doug and Chester, but tries to convince herself the whole thing is ridiculous. Buck also doesn’t believe it, but it’s the only lead the police have, and they’re apparently searching the Thompson house because, as Buck puts it, ‘”If you were a crazed child killer, where would you hide out?”‘ [Probably not at the house of a previous child murderer… unless I was possessed by Freddy! Warner Holbert is just too obvious though, right? Shelby seems to be the least likely, so she’s my prime suspect at this point]
At the pool there’s no sign of Chester, but Doug is on duty, slouched in his lifeguard chair with a blank stare, zombie-like. Buck still thinks that Doug could be the murderer because of his alleged sixth sense, and also suspects Doug threw the paint on his car too. He hasn’t been too friendly so far, and maybe he sees Buck as a threat to his relationship with Laura. The cut on his finger, which is no longer bandaged, is also a red flag, which Laura agrees with. [But how does Buck even know about the cut? He’s not wearing a bandaid anymore, and I doubt he’s been hanging around with Doug to be able to notice it… Use your brain, Laura! He’s a stalker]
The Chest suddenly appears out of nowhere and shoves Buck in the pool, then dunks his head under several times. He fake apologises, claiming he slipped and then was just trying to help, then announces that Buck isn’t welcome here before walking off. Laura wants to go get him fired, but a furious Buck insists she let him take care of it. Laura doesn’t bother protesting this time, deciding that however Buck wants to handle it is fine with her because Chester needs to be put in his place. They leave the pool and while dropping him home later, Laura tells Buck about finding Chester’s class ring under his car the night his tyres were deflated. She apologises for not telling him sooner, but Buck is surprisingly calm and relaxed; it doesn’t matter to him either way if it was Doug or Chester who did it. [Okeh]
Late that night, Chester sneaks into the pool with his hot date, Shelby, [!!!!!] who he’s 100% secretly dating as revenge on Laura and plans to “accidentally” reveal the relationship at some point soon. He suspects Shelby doesn’t want to hurt Laura, but she’s too wrapped up in the excitement of her new, exciting life to fully understand what she’s doing. Shelby isn’t ready for a swim yet, so The Chest jumps in alone, all the while thinking about how great and hot he is. Eventually he calls out for Shelby to come on in, but she’s nowhere to be seen. He becomes worried when she doesn’t answer his calls, but not for her safety — ‘what would happen to him if something had happened to her?’ [Wtf did Laura ever see in this guy lol] He starts to climb out of the pool, but suddenly a dark shape emerges from the shadows and two strong hands clamp down on Chester’s shoulders, forcing him beneath the water. He tries to break free but the grip is too strong, and The Chest drowns while thinking about how he has ‘a life of beaches, babes and bodybuilding to live.’ [This makes it seem obvious that Shelby’s the killer, so maybe she’s a red herring after all? I’m out of suspects now, though]
Laura’s woken by her mother around 3am and bundled into the car to go to hospital. All Mum knows is that Chester’s been murdered and Shelby’s suffered some sort of seizure, but they get the full story from an officer at the hospital. The police had answered a call about intruders at the pool and discovered Chester floating facedown in the water. Warner Holbert was found deceased at the edge of the pool, ‘Help Wanted’ scrawled in his blood next to his body. Shelby was located unconscious near the locker room, her face covered in blood. They’d thought she was dead at first, but rushed her to hospital when they saw she was still breathing. They believe she had a previously undiscovered injury from the recent crash, which caused a seizure and brought on a nosebleed. As far as the police can work out, Shelby collapsed without Chester knowing and before Warner showed up, and the killer never noticed her. [OK, I’m suss on Shelby again. Maybe Freddy is body hopping between her and Warner? Or if he wasn’t already, maybe he’s now hopped from him to her] They haven’t worked out Warner’s cause of death, but suspect it was a heart attack. Laura and Mum visit Shelby’s room, where she’s in a coma and hooked up to much more machines than she was in her last visit, looking agonised rather than peaceful.
Laura returns to the hospital the next morning hoping that Shelby’s able to justify her sneaking around when she wakes up. She’s taking her sweet ass time too regain consciousness though, so Laura tries to think of how to begin apologising to Doug for not believing him. Buck comes to the hospital room and pulls Laura into the hallway to tell her some top secret information he’s heard — Warner Holbert couldn’t have been the killer because an autopsy has shown he’s been dead for several days! The going theory is he died in hospital the night of the crash, but the real killer took his body and a bottle of blood to frame him for the murders. [I can’t decide whether Freddy killing everyone as Warner Holbert, and has now jumped over to Shelby’s body, or if he was possessing Shelby the whole time] Warner’s body probably got too stinky, so the killer dumped it at the pool.
Doug suddenly appears and wraps Laura in a hug, much to Buck’s chagrin. Laura’s grateful Doug isn’t mad at her, but Buck urges her to remember what he did to both of them. Laura’s on Doug’s side now, however, so Buck blabs on about how Doug’s jealously trying to drive a wedge between them. Doug implies that it’s Buck who’s trying to get between him and Laura, and the tension is so palpable you could cut it with a scalpel. Buck reminds Laura of the cut on Doug’s finger and thinks he’s probably obtained some oil burns too, and Doug throws a punch his way. Buck easily dodges it and counters with a blow to the stomach before Laura steps between them, suddenly realising something. ‘”How did you know about the cut on Doug’s finger?”‘ she warily asks, [At least she realised eventually, I guess], pointing out that they never got close enough to Doug at the pool to see the cut. And since Buck no doubt didn’t see Doug the day before, that means one thing: Buck followed them to the mansion, stole paint and did all those things to frame Doug!
She realises with horror that Buck probably killed Allison, Rayne and Chester to prove himself to her and demands to know what he’s done. Buck recoils ‘like a vampire from a cross’ [Hahaha love it] but then straightens up with a dark smile, telling her to pray she never finds out before scurrying off. Doug assures Laura Buck’s just bluffing [He probably is, but I don’t know why Doug would think that] and tells her he probably wants her to make a fool of herself by going to the police. Laura thinks Doug might be wrong, but she owes him her trust after the last few days.
Doug stays by Laura’s side all day to keep her company, but Laura doesn’t tell him the real reason she refuses to leave Shelby alone — Buck knows his way around here and now that she’s actually rejected him, who knows what he’d do to get back at her? She begins to see the stark contrasts between Buck and Doug and by the end of the day, the planets are finally aligned and Laura’s on the same page as her bestie. ‘And best of all, neither had to say a word. It was simply understood.’ [Cheers to the happy couple!]
When Laura finally goes home for the night, Doug follows and they watch a movie in the living room while holding hands. The phone eventually rings, and it’s Buck on the other end, sounding a bit drunk. He denies it, instead revealing he decided not to take the medication that keeps his mood stabalised. [Did you stop taking them before today, Buck? You haven’t been very level-headed] He’s decided to go visit a friend in hospital and suggests they make a game of it: ‘”I’ll race you to your sister’s room. Winner takes all.”‘ Before hanging up, he tells her he’s already on his way before reminding her how long 911 calls take to make [Do they take that long??] and that hospital phones ring forever, and Laura and Doug quickly race out the door.
Over to Buck now, who’s climbing the back stairway at the hospital after phoning Laura from a payphone just outside. He knows Laura will never make it in time, but in time for what exactly? That’s the ‘$64,000 question,’ [I googled this because it’s clearly a reference; it’s referring to a ’50s game show] and it’s for him to know and Laura to find out. Buck stealthily sneaks through the hospital to Shelby’s room, where she lays unconscious, and waits for Laura to arrive. In the meantime, there’s one thing left to do, and he grins as he whips a straight razor out of his pocket…
Arriving at the hospital, Laura orders Doug to get security while she heads up to Shelby’s room alone, hoping that might prevent Buck from doing something crazy. Laura scampers up to the third-floor room and bursts in, only to find a dead body in Shelby’s bed, connected to all sorts of tubing that rather than pumping liquids in, is siphoning blood out. [Oof] It’s not Shelby’s corpse, though, but Buck! Unearthly laughter fills the room now, and Laura whirls upon hearing a deadbolt slide into place [Why would a hospital bed have a dead bolt on the inside of a patient room??? That seems like a silly safety hazard. Is that a real thing?] and comes face to face with Shelby in a bloody hospital gown thanks to twin streams of blood gushing from her nostrils. In a voice that sounds like Shelby’s doubled with something evil, Laura’s introduced to Freddy Krueger, who explains that he’s been creating job opportunities for her because she’s that desperate to find one.
Realising her sister’s possessed and has been used as a vessel to carry out the murders, Laura orders Freddy to leave Shelby alone. Shelby’s proved to be a valuable employee, though, so Freddy ain’t firing her anytime soon. Gesturing towards Buck, Freddy admits that he was going to kill himself anyway, planning to slit his own wrists so Laura would find him beside Shelby. [Oof, that’s dark for this kind of book] Freddy offers Laura a job — ‘”You set ’em up, and me and your sister will, as they say, knock ’em dead!”‘ — revealing she’s already been inadvertently helping him anyway. He saw in her dreams how badly she wanted a job, [So if you can still visit people’s dreams, why aren’t you murdering people in them, like the whole premise of your character?] so he used that to create some job openings for her. [He says that by filling out job applications, she was actually singing death warrants, but that doesn’t make much sense because she didn’t apply at Big Game Burger and hadn’t applied at the pool] The pay for working for Freddy is pretty good, too — ‘”You and your sister will live.”‘ If Laura refuses this amazing opportunity, Freddy will see to it that Shelby dies of a brain haemorrhage tonight, and Laura will also be killed.
Laura bravely demands he give Shelby back and piss off to where he came from, ‘”And this time, flush it!”‘ [Is this a ’90s slang I’ve never heard of? I like it!] Freddy just moves towards her, and Laura immediately resigns herself to death. [Girl, what?] But when Freddy reveals he’ll make her a lifeguard at his pool, she remembers how this whole recent chapter of her life has turned to shit; Chester fired her, Shelby lied to her, and Buck had waltz into her life and tried to control it for his own need. Now here’s Freddy trying to do the same thing, and she’s not about to let that happen! [I’m getting whiplash from these 180s she’s doing] Realising she’s got nothing to lose since he’ll kill Shelby anyway, she grabs a nearby metal bedpan and hurls it at Shelby’s head. Safe inside Shelby’s body, Freddy just laughs and continues forward, leaving Laura desperately searching for a new weapon. She dashes to the defibrillator and flips it on, then advances on her sister as it charges:
Shelby attacked with outstretched arms. Laura dodged them. Freddy was moving clumsily, it now seemed. Was Shelby in there, trying to fight Freddy? Laura couldn’t think about that. She only acted, bringing the paddles down on Shelby’s chest. For kicks, she yelled, “Clear!”
The paddles never touched Shelby, but a jolt sent her flying backward. At the same time, a shape materialized briefly around Shelby’s form. Laura saw it for a flashing moment: a burned, gnarled creature, with eyes of pure evil. A tattered green and red sweater covered livid flesh. Then he blinked off as if someone had pulled the plug on a gruesome Christmas tree.
“Thought you’d get a charge out of that,” Laura said after she recovered from the amazing glimpse of Freddy. It was the same scarred creature who had appeared as Warner Holbert in her nightmare.
Still possessed, Shelby stumbles towards her once more, and Laura again clears her with the defib, this time sending her sprawling backwards into a water cooler, which topples over. As water spreads all over the floor around Shelby, Laura can hear Doug and some hospital staff banging on the door, trying to unlock it. Unable to move forward with the paddles because their wires are connected to the wall, Laura drops to the ground and plunges them into the water, the edge of which is just in front of her. As he’s electrocuted, Freddy’s form flickers in front of Shelby several times until he materialises completely, writhing in agony. The lights also begin to flash until the power in the hospital completely shuts down, leaving Laura standing in a dark silence. She hears a key turning in the lock and looks at the door [Wasn’t it deadbolted? You can’t unlock that with a key] just as the emergency generators kick in, bathing the room in an eerie glow. Several doctors and security staff stand with Doug in the doorway, taking in the chaos before rushing inside.
Shelby is still alive, and Laura is escorted to a waiting area to talk with police, Doug by her side. [So Freddy just disappeared in the darkness? Lame] She explains everything to Detective Farthing, including Buck’s shenanigans and his mood-levelling medication, and Farthing proposes an alternate explanation for the murders: ‘”it appears to me that Buck stopped taking his medication, became more unstable, took the lives of your schoolmates, then his own life. It’s very simple.”‘ Laura protests, but he insists this version of events is cleaner and better for everyone involved, especially Laura and Shelby. Realising he believes her but knows no-one else will, Laura agrees with his conclusion, and so does Doug because ‘”cleanliness is next to godliness”‘ [And managerliness!]
Concluding the story, we learn that Laura and Doug officially become an item after she finds herself telling him these words: ‘”I’m yours, if you want me. I’d do anything for you.” [Buck is absolutely rolling in his grave right now] Shelby wakes up the next day and is released from hospital with no remaining trauma from the accident. She apologises to Laura for being a sneaky little snake, admitting as much as she’d like to blame that behaviour on Freddy, it was all her. Laura instantly forgives her and wonders if Freddy could still be around somehow, and while Shelby’s hopeful they got rid of him for good, the main story ends with Laura thinking that’s too good to be true.
Time for the epilogue now, and Freddy’s quite content with the new recruits for the boiler room. Allison’s been hired to try on all the latest boiler room fashions, but unfortunately for her they’re all made of asbestos. [Hahahaha] Chester’s working as a beach model, just like he’s always wanted, except he’s a weakling who gets sand kicked in his face, and Buck’s the one doing the kicking! The bad news is that sand can’t really be kept in a boiler room because it’ll just turn to glass, so Freddy’s substituted it with lava instead. Along with a hot foot, Buck’s got that tacky-ass Rayne to deal with, who’s even tackier after her accident with the deep fryer. She and Buck are literally joined at the hip, with her flesh melted into his, so he has a permanent escort everywhere he goes. Isn’t he lucky to get so up close and personal with her charred flesh? These four may complain about their jobs, but who else has job security like they do?
Since each one is consigned to the boiler room for eternity, they can never be fired!
On the other hand, since they are in a boiler room, they will be “fired” repeatedly throughout their never-ending careers.
Too bad I haven’t installed a water cooler yet.
heh heh heh …
Final thoughts
Another quality Tale of Terror, and this time the title actually makes sense! As usual, the cover image isn’t actually in the story, but oh well. I thought Laura was great for the most part, but she definitely lost me towards the end with the whole not believing Doug thing. Although we spent little time with most of the side characters, each one felt quite distinct and had their own traits. I liked that most of them were antagonists in some way too, which made it harder to guess who was doing the murdering. That’s always a good thing, because after reading so many of these sort of books I can usually spot the bad guy quite quickly, and I like a bit of mystery.
There wasn’t many deaths on show here, but the ones we did get were enjoyable, especially Rayne’s, which was pretty brutal. I think this might be the first one where I wasn’t surprised by anyone who died, but I guess that’s a surprise in itself because I was fully expecting Doug to get the chop at some point, or maybe even Shelby. We did have the best-friend-in-love-with-protagonist trope here that was also in the previous one, but at least it wasn’t a huge part of the story again.
Honestly, I’ve enjoyed every book in this series so far, which I wasn’t expecting. Of course, they’re nothing like the movies, so you have to take them for what they are rather than expecting it to feel anything like A Nightmare on Elm Street, but I definitely think they’re worth reading for fans of ’90s YA horror, if you can get your hands on them.
109 extremely clingy guys you’ve just met out of 151!
Check out my recaps for the rest of this series here or by clicking the corresponding tag to the right.
