[Cormac29Ru]

Hey Folks: here's a story I wrote a while ago. I'm trying to get back into writing and I'm planning on putting up some of my previous stuff here in order to get some feedback.

Part 1

As soon as she heard the rumble of a car coming up the road to their house, Megan called “I’ll get it” from the kitchen with as much cheerfulness as she could muster. As if there was a chance Erin was going to answer the door, she thought sadly. Or the phone. Or her email. Or much of anything.

If she was being honest, Megan had no desire to answer the door either, her own mood just as dark and cold as this house, despite it being a warm and sunny May afternoon. Megan’s guess on who was coming was confirmed by a look out the window: Rebecca, Malachi’s brother, stepped out of her car and surveyed the McDougal family farm house, with a sizeable briefcase slung over her shoulder.

If Megan was being really honest, she would admit that she would have said no to Rebecca’s visit, but Rebecca was more than a bit intimidating by nature. Megan remembered looking down at the text from an unfamiliar number yesterday and opened to read, “It’s Rebecca, Mal’s sis. I’m in town for some business. When are you home? We need to talk.” Not “What’s a good time?” but “We need to talk.” It spoke to her personality. They had met all of three times before this but each time Rebecca struck Megan as charming but absolutely intense. Each time Megan felt like Rebecca was a detective in one of those police shows that’s playing good cop just before she lowered the boom.

Erin sat at the kitchen table, a cup of tea cooling in her hands, looking distracted. People say that talking about things make them easier, but if they’d asked her that, she’d give them a compelling argument against that theory. But she readied herself to talk about it one more time, for the sake of her sister. Erin was acutely aware of how much her sister loved Rebecca’s brother and she didn’t want Rebecca to blame Erin.

Even though Megan and Erin were twins, they’d led very different lives. The fact that they were fraternal made this somewhat easier. There was probably as much similarity of appearance between Rebecca and her brother as between the two sisters.

Ever since they were girls, Megan wanted to be a nurse like their mother was, and went out of state for college to do it. Erin just wanted to live the rural life like their dad. Her dreams didn’t extend much beyond simply making pies for the town carnival.

In high school, she volunteered for every community committee she could think of. After graduation, she got a job with the city in the Parks department. She got to help plan events, work with kids, work with the people at the rest home. It was everything she wanted.

Things started to change about 10 months ago. A new crop of women had been elected to the Town Board. They got very involved in everything they could almost immediately.

Their first outburst was over the town’s annual Halloween celebration. They said it was evil and un-Christian to have children running around like ghouls. The second was a month later, this time with Thanksgiving, saying it was too focused on the Pilgrims. Thanks to some political maneuvering, planning of the Christmas carnival was handed over directly to the Town Board. That disaster was impressive; everyone hated what they did with Christmas, both the religious and non-religious alike. By the time Easter rolled around, the town was considering not doing anything anymore. But that caused another outcry, so the mayor called everyone in, the Parks Department and the Town Board, and announces that they would still be doing Easter, but the elephant in the room was that this would be the Town Board’s last chance.

Erin was privately hopeful, of course, but she couldn’t miss the looks she was getting from the women on the Town Board. So she promised to help them, and for their part they said they couldn’t imagine doing it without her.

The planning was a mess, and a part of Erin wanted to sabotage the whole thing. The Town Board finally decided they didn’t want to do a Bunny or an egg hunt, because that would be too sexual, so they settled on The Rite of Spring. Eyebrows were raised at this. The Town Board made it clear they didn’t want an actual ballet. They wanted a festival in the park, with girls in dance robes, May Poles and things of that ilk.

Two days before the festival was when it happened. The Town Board had given Erin every piece of drudge work they could think of before the event, but she happily complete each one. She had just finished throwing down new mulch and some plants around the gazebo to show off the white bunting she had nailed on this morning when they sent her to pick up some other plants for the walkway. Obviously they were trying to work her to death but Erin was raised on a farm, and enjoyed this sort of work. So she happily sweat in the sun, toiling away.

At noon, Courtney, the new head of the Town Board, ran up to Erin. “I need your help. The newspaper is coming to do promo shots and we’ve got no one here for the dancers. Could you throw on one of the costume and do some poses for them?”
Erin held her hands out. “Well, I’m filthy and soaked with sweat.”

“Can’t you just wash up in one of the park restrooms? We've closed off most of the park to set up. You’ve got a key. Just lock yourself in.”

Erin suppressed a sigh. “Sure thing.”

Moments later, Erin and Courtney were in the restroom. Erin started to wash up and Courtney quickly checked the stalls to make sure the room was empty. Courtney asked, “Hey, what are you wearing underneath that?”

Erin blinked. “Um, a sports bra and shorts.”

“Ohhh, would you mind ditching those? I don’t want the dress to get ruined and someone else will have to wear it. Don’t worry, it’s not see through, we checked.”

As Erin grimaced at that prospect, Courtney piped up. “Well, I’m going to step outside to make some calls and give you some privacy. Be sure to lock yourself in right after I step out. Remember, I don’t have a key.” With that Courtney hung the dress on the side of one of the stalls and walked out. Erin heard the buzz of Courtney’s phone as soon as she stepped outside.

After she was gone, Erin stood looking in the mirror for a moment before peeling off her t-shirt and shorts. She was glad that she was alone. It was already uncomfortable, standing in just a sports bra and boy shorts. Still, she had to admit, she was soaked with sweat. She took a quick breath, planning to rinse herself as quickly as she could and then squeeze into the dress. She pulled off her bra and shorts quickly and took a second to place them carefully on to top of the stall door with her other clothes, carefully away from the dress. She turned to the sink and quickly lathered her hands, face, and ears. The water out of the faucet sounded like a jet stream. Erin stuck her head under it. And that’s when it happened.

The lights went out. All of them. Like most public parks, there were no traditional windows, just a few glass blocks at the far end of the room, which hadn’t been cleaned since they were installed forever ago. The room was almost completely black.

There was a squeak, somewhere in the darkness. Erin stood confused, her eyes trying to adjust to the light. She turned and groped in the darkness, looking for her clothes, or the dress. Her hand slid back and forth along the top, then along the bottom of the floor. Nothing. Her clothes were gone. She looked up at the mirror. She couldn’t make her face out in the darkness, but she was sure her cheeks were blazing red.