She wasn’t even supposed to be here. Her father was still in the hospital; Julie and her mom were staying in Malden. She told her mom she was going to the Meadow Glen drive-in in Medford to see a double feature with her cousins but had already made plans with Dale to come get her. God, she was going to be in trouble.
Dale again reached for her ass and she again knocked his hand away.
He and his friends just laughed it off. “Come on, baby, I thought you loved it,” cooed Crawford. He reached for her breast and this time instead of his hand, she slapped his face. His hand instinctively went up to his stinging cheek, to the same spot the scar from the gas nozzle was. Then his eyes narrowed and his anger started to boil over, and he raised his hand to strike back. But Julie was too fast and too angry herself. She stepped closer to him, waving her finger in front of his face.
“Don’t even think about it, you piece of shit! Just ’cause your friend knocked up Cheryl, don’t even think you’re going to come close enough to me to make that happen. And don’t ever raise your hand to me!”
She’d had enough. Even before tonight she was tired of Dale and his friends. Always drinking and fighting and getting into trouble. And getting her into trouble with them. She was finished with them. She missed her old friends and how she used to get along with her family and her teachers at school. How had she gotten herself into this, she wondered. She wanted to be “cool” that’s how. She’d decided her friends were too boring, too goody-goody for her, and she started hanging with Dale and his gang. Sure it had been fun for a while. Edgy, dangerous, all of the things she wasn’t. She tried cigarettes and drinking, even smoked pot a few times. Then the newness wore off and she realized she was wasting her time, hell, wasting her life, with a bunch of small-town losers. She’d decided a while ago to break it off with Dale and ditch him and his friends and his stupid lifestyle. She was just waiting for the right time, and Dale had been good enough to supply all the reason she would need tonight. She had certainly been willing enough to experiment with booze and the rest, but getting felt up by some drunk yahoo police-chief’s son was not her idea of trying something new. The new Julie was going to do her best to mend some fences and be the old Julie—starting now.
As good as it sounded, it wasn’t going to be that easy. Dale’s strong hands were suddenly pinning her arms to her sides and he was grinding himself against her. For the first time, Julie realized she may have gotten into something she couldn’t handle. Dale backed her around the corner of one of the tents and his gang followed, glancing around to make sure nobody noticed them. He pressed his lips to her ear, darting his tongue in and out quickly before speaking. “You uppity little bitch, I knew you weren’t one of us. But I figured I’d play things out with you until I got in your pants. I know it’s what you want and tonight, you’ll get what you want and so will I.” She squirmed in an attempt to break free, feeling nauseous from both the stink of his breath on her and the situation she was in. “Guys, take a walk, come back in ten for sloppies.” His crew snickered and disappeared around the corner, back to the lights of the carnival.
One thought overtook all of her reasoning: He’s going to rape me. Him and maybe all the rest of them, too. Anger and fear battled for control of her next action. Rational thought was not an option. It was fight or flight. She was a Cummings, she chose fight. She brought her knee up as hard and fast as she could just as Dale had started kissing her neck. She heard the air burst from his lungs and felt the grip on her arms loosen. She was vaguely aware of a sense of satisfaction as he struggled to get a breath. “Bitch,” He gasped.
Before he could utter another word, her knee shot forward again as she tried to jam his balls up into his throat. This time he went down to his knees before collapsing into a fetal position on the ground. Julie could feel the adrenaline ripping through her veins. She wanted to stay and tell him how dumb she felt. How she’d made a fool of herself to everyone she truly cared about for the last several months by being seen with him. But she knew better. She knew those apes wouldn’t wait ten minutes, they’d come back in five hoping to get a glimpse of her ass. Choking back bile but not able to stop the tears from streaming down her face, she turned and ran. Back to her old life if it would still have her.
Julie felt better out in the bright lights and movement of people on the midway. That feeling was short-lived when the realization that she had no way to get back to Malden hit her like a hammer. Despite the crowds around her, she suddenly felt more alone than she ever had before. Loud voices from behind galvanized her into action. She didn’t even bother to see if it was Crawford’s gang or not; she began to run through the crowd with no destination in mind. She exited the fairgrounds and slowed to a walk on the deserted streets of Haven. Normally there’d be people out walking dogs or people congregating on someone’s porch to collectively escape the heat of being indoors. Tonight, there was no one. The Butcher had everyone too scared to be out. Not only were they inside, thought Julie, but no doubt their doors were locked too.
The thought of the Butcher should have scared Julie, walking alone through the dark empty streets, but it didn’t. Since Greymore’s return to Haven, Julie had heard nothing but horror stories from everyone in town—except her family. Her father led the charge and Mom and Billy were right behind defending Greymore whenever the name came up. Christ, even Denny O’Brien wasn’t afraid of the guy.
The first night he’d come over to visit her dad, Julie had been a little unnerved. As the night went on, she began to sense there was more to Greymore than meets the eye. Despite his scarred face and the muscles that bulged beneath his shirt, there was a quiet gentleness, a kindness that Julie picked up on. And a sense of humor that had survived everything he’d been through. And all she did was treat the guy like shit. She felt smaller for that than she did for being Dale’s girl. Judging people was something the old Julie was good at. And the old Julie was back. Her ability to see people for what they are made her behavior for the past several months even more embarrassing. What had she been thinking?
As she walked through the quiet streets, unaware that she was already heading in the direction of her house, her thoughts returned to Greymore and what Crawford and his thug friends had said. That they were going to “take care of business” and “get him.” Tonight. She knew what she had to do. She quickened her pace; feeling a sense of resolve, she began to run.
(66)
As Julie rounded the corner and started up Hillview Street, her resolve began to ebb. She was physically tired, emotionally spent, and starting to get freaked out. The stifling heat and eerie quiet had teamed up to unravel the last of Julie’s fraying nerves. As she approached her house, the temptation to slide into bed, turn the fan on and deal with life tomorrow was almost overwhelming. Her heart leaped with hope when she saw her dad’s car in the driveway, then she remembered her mom saying it had been towed from the Witch’s Hat to have the tire changed and the garage would drop it here.
“I thought we’d have a little fun before me and the boys take care of a little business later.”
“Guys, take a walk, come back in ten for sloppies.”
Thinking of it, of those words, brought the anger back. She resisted the pull of her own empty house and continued up Hillview Street toward Paul’s. Without warning, a memory so vivid and so real, she actually shivered. Someone just walked over your grave, her Grammy used to say. More likely it was the silly Ghost Ship ride that brought it back.