Lewis pulled me out to the lobby. The skinny guy in the red blazer had a broom and dustpan in his hands. He stared at me blankly.
“I . . . saw us,” I told Lewis, my whole body trembling. “I saw us—on the screen.”
He put his arm around me and guided me out the glass doors.
“Anything wrong?” I heard the red-blazer guy call before the door swung shut.
My friends came bursting out after us. Shark carried his huge bucket of popcorn. Dana grabbed my hand. “Jamie, you’re shaking. What happened?”
“I . . . I’m not crazy,” I stammered. “But I saw Lewis and me on the screen. Angelica Fear, too.”
I stopped there. Shark, Nikki, and Clark didn’t know anything about Angelica Fear possessing me, forcing me to do those murders. And I didn’t want them to know.
Dana squeezed my hand between both of hers. “Jamie, your eyes were closed,” she said. “I saw you sleeping. Really. It was a dream.”
I shook my head. “No. I was awake. I know I was.”
Lewis had his arm around me. The others stared at me as if I were crazy.
Shark stuffed a handful of popcorn into his mouth. “You freaked us all out,” he said, chewing. “It had to be a nightmare. I didn’t see you up on the screen!”
“I’ve been having nightmares too,” Nikki muttered.
“Sometimes they’re, like, totally real,” Clark said. “Because you remember them more than good dreams. One night I had this nightmare I couldn’t jump off the floor to make a layup. My shoes were suddenly too heavy and—”
“I . . . just want to go home,” I said, unable to shake off the feeling of terror. “Sorry I ruined the movie for everyone.”
“You didn’t ruin it. Adam Sandler ruined it!” Shark joked. I knew he was trying to snap me out of it, but it wasn’t working.
Lewis offered to drive me home. But I didn’t want to explain any more to him, either. I kissed him on the cheek. Then I said good night to everyone, apologized again, and hurried off with Dana to my dad’s car.
We drove home in silence. I stared out at the dark houses and empty yards.
It was late. After midnight. My parents had gone to bed. Dana followed me into my room. Sighing, I pulled off my sneakers and dropped onto my bed.
Dana slid the desk chair over and sat down. Her normally pale cheeks were flushed from the cold. Her eyes kept studying me. “Feeling better?”
I shrugged. “I feel like such a jerk,” I said. “Everyone was having a good time. Lewis is in such a good mood. And what do I do? I bring everyone down.”
Dana smoothed a strand of wavy black hair off her forehead. “They don’t know what you’ve been through,” she said softly.
“Do you really think it was a dream?” I asked. “I thought I was awake. It seemed so real. It made sense. It didn’t jump all over the place like a dream.”
“I saw your eyes close,” she replied. She frowned at me. “Listen, Jamie, I know what happened to you. I was there. I saw how totally horrifying it was. I still dream about it too, you know?”
“I didn’t know that,” I said. “I guess—”
“But you’ve got to put it behind you,” Dana said. “We all have to put the bad things behind us. I mean, everything is cool now. Jamie, you should be able to relax. You’re totally back to normal. Look at you—you’re not even limping anymore!”
She was right. Suddenly, about a month ago, I woke up and discovered my hip didn’t hurt anymore. I could walk normally.
“A miracle recovery”—that’s what my mom called it.
I wasn’t sure how it had happened. I didn’t want to think about it.
“Ever since we killed off Angelica Fear, things have been going great for everybody,” Dana said. “I can’t believe I won the Collingsworth Prize! Now I can afford college. I’m so happy.”
She stood up and pumped her fist in the air. “I’m so happy,” she repeated. “I never wanted anything so much in my life.” Her cheeks were still red. Her dark eyes flashed with excitement.
Dana turned back to me. “Things are going well for you, too. You should be able to relax now, Jamie.”
“I know,” I said, biting my bottom lip. “But I can’t. I know it’s been four months since you destroyed Angelica. Four months that I’ve been free of her. But . . .”
My words caught in my throat. I took a deep breath. “But I keep thinking she’s still around,” I choked out. “I just have this feeling. That she’s coming back . . . to possess me again. I . . . I can’t stop thinking about it.”
Dana sighed. The light faded in her eyes. “You’ve got to,” she said softly. “You’ve got to put it behind you, Jamie. This is your senior year of high school. You want to enjoy the rest of it, don’t you?”
I nodded. “Of course. But—”
“So you’ve got to tell yourself it’s over and done. She went up in a fume of green gas. She’s gone, Jamie. And she isn’t coming back.”
I opened my mouth to reply, but I didn’t get the words out.
The window rattled.
I saw a hand reach in from outside.
A dark figure pushing against the glass.
“It’s her!” I screamed. “It’s Angelica Fear!”