Chapter 30: Yearbook

“Dad?” Christina turned in surprise watching her father walking behind a small group of other men towards the Campus Assembly room. “Daddy!” She rushed forward and threw her arms around his neck hugging him tight enough to make him choke and pull away.

“Hello Angel missed me did you?” Freddy Samuels smiled returning the embrace and ending with a quick peck to her forehead. “You look great Chrissy! It’s nice to know you’re getting along so well here.”

“Yeah it’s been alright but things have been happening lately that…”

“Freddy you coming?” one of the men yelled from the door.

“Yeah Pat I’ll be right there!” He waved the man off and turned back towards his daughter. “An old friend of mine.”

Christina tilted her head to the side and peered through the small window beside the door. Three men sat inside near the fireplace with liquor provided on the table. One of them had his head down and appeared to be mourning and she felt saddened by his expression. Taking one step closer to get a better look she thought the man looked familiar and turned back to her father in question. “Who is he?” she asked pointing towards the man cradling himself on the couch.

“That’s Mike Andrews. He’s a friend of mine also from my time here at Cyprus. Why?”

“He looks…I thought maybe I’ve seen him somewhere before.”

“Well that’s not impossible he used to come up to the house a few times a year to see me. I didn’t think you’d remember that though, you were just a little girl then. We mostly stayed in contact over the phone when his son started high school. He just started coming back around again. Also he was the Running Back for the Championship team; my team maybe you’ve seen a picture or something around the school,” he smiled brightly. “We almost had an undefeated season that year…” he looked sorrowful and glanced back towards the door catching a quick glimpse of his friends.

“Oh I see.” She smiled at the guilty look on his face and moved a step closer towards her father. “Dad what are you doing here? You didn’t come to check up on me did you? Did Mom send you?”

“No Sweetheart,” he laughed shaking his head. “Although she asked me to poke my head in your door and ensure you were behaving she did not send me to spy on you. Believe it or not we do actually trust you to make sound decisions on your own Chrissy. I received an invitation for the Memorial service.” 

“They invited the ‘91 All-stars out to speak over both Myers and Franklin. Bobby, Pat, Mike and myself, though Mike is a little out of it considering he just lost his son. The guys and I thought that since we were out here we should try and get his mind off of it a little and not to mention what happened to poor Skip.”

“Wait a second, Andrews? As in Donovan? He’s Donovan’s father?” Freddy shook his head in confirmation and watched as the lights went on behind his daughter’s eyes. “Do you know what’s going on here Dad? The murders?” 

“Chrissy, what I know is that a lot of people are losing their lives to some monster stalking the campus and I would feel better if you got yourself indoors somewhere and stayed safe. I don’t even want to think about something happening to you.”

“Wait, no you know more that you’re not saying.”

“Christina please.”

“No you need to tell me what’s going on. My friends are dying here! You can’t expect that I’d believe that story the police are telling everyone; that this is the work of some wild animal or something! This is way more calculated and organized than any animal could manage. What the hell is going on Dad?”

“I wouldn’t even know where to start.” He sighed and paced a few steps away from her and rubbed his hand over his neck as he kicked imaginary rocks at his feet. “Fine.” Realizing she wasn’t going to let this go he pulled her away from the Assembly room towards a bench near the pay phones and motioned for her to sit. “Look Chrissy what I’m about to tell you is just the stupid antics of a bunch of kids. But what we did went far beyond a foolish hazing prank. It was Hell Week, 1991. A bunch of us from the Fraternity were fooling around going through the pledge lists checking out who put in bids to become a Brother of Alpha Sigma Rho.” 

“There was this one kid, Salvatore Pinozzi. Despite his heavily thuggish sounding name he was the average bookworm type. You know always early to class, staying late for extra credit, setting the curve then throwing everyone else off. Everyone hated him because he always made it hard on the rest of us you know? Well trying to change his image I guess and prove he was ‘one of the guys’ he decided to pledge Alpha Sig! Now normally we’d have just marked him off as a GDI and rejected his bid but this one really got under a few of the guys’ skin. Skip, Pat, Tommy and Bobby wanted to really make him quit on his own; let the hazing kick his ass until he just walked away. It was to teach him a lesson about fucking with the Brothers and making it harder on us to continue playing ball.”

“But Salvatore was there to prove he was one of us. No matter what we threw at him he just kept going and going and begging for more. Finally Skip suggested we get him liquored up and make him Frost Dip down at Crescent Bay. Pat made him strip down to his underwear, drink a gallon of ice cold water and we watched him tread into the near freezing waters of the lake. We stood a good distance up on the shore and waited for him to complete his lap but the minute he got in the water he wanted to stop. It was below freezing outside and he was wasted, we all were. But instead of listening to him and helping him from the water we taunted him; called him a wimp, a wuss, a quitter and so he had to prove us wrong.”

“We were young; impetuous. We had no idea what we were doing. We could have stopped at any time, should have but Tommy, Patrick and Bobby kept pushing, kept goading him until he got too deep. Fatigue started setting in and his body stopped responding as quickly as it should have. Mixed with the alcohol he just dropped. He started to sink to the bottom of the bay and screaming for us to help him. Mike and I hit the water hard both of us pumping our legs as fast as we could to get to him; save him. But by the time we got him out of there it was too late.”

“Jesus.” Christina gasped.

“I tried CPR but he didn’t respond to anything I did. He was carted off to the hospital and pronounced dead on arrival and the football team was placed on probation for what happened. After that the University went into defense mode and started working on covering everything up. I never forgave myself for what happened. I’ve had nightmares ever since.”

Christina breathed heavily after her father finished recounting his memory. “Is that why you wouldn’t teach me how to swim? You always acted so afraid of the water like it was something out to get you and I never understood why.”

“Yes Chrissy. My guilt had a lot to do with it. It’s why the moment I had the chance I moved us out of here. I didn’t want you to have to grow up with that shadow hanging over your head. It’s why I hated the idea of you wanting to attend CG and come back here around all my old skeletons. If it wasn’t for that damned scholarship and open invitation I would have kept you away from this place forever.”

“Yeah, it was a blessing in disguise,” she sighed bleakly. “Hey Dad, what was your other friend’s name? You said Skip; would that be the same guy from the news? The one that went missing?”

“Yes that’s right,” he exhaled noisily and pulled up from the bench. 

“So now you know. I wouldn’t be surprised if this animal wasn’t Salvatore’s ghost coming back to clean up after us. Anyway, you should get home, please.” He added and gave her a stern fatherly glower. “I’m gonna head inside and I want to hear you tell me the same.” She nodded and he again kissed her forehead and smiled. “I love you Chrissy. Call your Mother when you get in, I’m sure she’d love to hear from you.” 

“I will, I love you too Dad.” She watched him enter the Assembly Room and chewed on the inside of her cheek. Something about what he said seemed strange and she thought a bit more research would help her uncover what was really happening on campus; she owed it to Donovan. She turned up the path leading towards the campus library increasing her steps as a distinct feeling of dread washed over her. It was almost nine now but if she hurried she could make it there before they closed.

“Twenty minutes,” Mrs. Cranston grinned from above her location as she heard the bell sound and watched Christina enter towards the old index reference station.

“Well I hope I’m not long I just wanted to check on something. Actually maybe you can help me. I’m interested in any information concerning the 1991 Cyprus-Gray football team where would I find that?”

“Oh that was this school’s best offensive team! We went undefeated that year you know?”

“You were here?” Christina asked with an inflection in her voice. “Would you happen to know the names of the players on the starting lineup?”

“Well of course I do! That’s like asking me to tell you the names and birthdays of each of my 23 grandkids Baby it’s something you can never forget!” She laughed merrily and climbed down from her desk perched above the entrance and started towards Christina. ‘Now let’s see, you want to check out this section right here.” Marking an index card with the news articles that would interest Christina’s search she smiled and began rattling off the names of the offensive line up for the Cyprus-Gray Wolves ’91 season.

Glancing up at the clock Mrs. Cranston motioned towards Christina and pushed the paper into her hand. “You’ll want to hurry up so I can get you checked out Sweetie. There’s still a curfew in effect you know?”

Christina rushed towards the back wall and pulled out the Daily Gazette albums for newspapers dating back over twenty years ago. Dropping them to a nearby table she quickly immersed herself in the articles dated around fall 1991. “Cyprus-Gray Wolves, can they make it to another undefeated season?” she read aloud pulling newer pages from the books. “Why is this blacked out?” She growled in annoyance and dropped her head in frustration.

Several of the news clippings dated during the ‘91 championship had large black strikes across whole sentences, names and locations. References to a court case caught her attention and she scanned the other pages for information regarding an incident that stirred a controversy.

Sighing once more as she noticed pertinent information removed from the archives she slammed her hand against the book and a small plastic disk fell from between the pages and hit the floor with a clink. “Hmm.” Leaving her desk, she hurried down towards the microfiche machine. 

Inserting the disk, she turned on the monitor and quickly sifted through the information on screen until she came back to the dates with the erased data but this time finding unedited articles. “‘Championship Team Suspended Indefinitely’.” She printed out the first three documents and waited on three different machines to make her duplicates as she continued skimming through the same paper.

“Oh I remember that,” Mrs. Cranston pouted stepping up behind Christina as she closed down the other machines in the room and ensured the back doors were all locked tight. “Such a terrible thing to happen to everyone. We were sure to win another title if it had not been for such an overzealous group of fans. And that poor family; I still often wonder what became of them.”

“What do you mean?” Christina tried scanning the article quickly to try and reference where the librarian was headed and a few names jumped up at her, “Patrick, Bobby and Tommy?”

“Well now I’m sure that paper will tell you everything you need to know but some tragedies are better left at rest if you understand what I mean.” She started back towards her desk and Christina rushed after her. The machines beeped drawing her attention and she pulled her copies off and hurried the albums back to their locations before tracking Mrs. Cranston up to where she sat.

“What tragedies are you referring to?” Noticing the slight hesitation in the woman’s gesture she smiled encouragingly and took a seat beside her. “Please? It could mean the difference between life and death. Something is happening on this campus and I have a feeling it is directly related to these events.”

“Now why would you ever think such a thing Sweetheart? There’s barely anyone around that actually knows the circumstances surrounding that particular incident and the ones that do never really confessed to the full details of the crime. But these things have a way of coming out, the truth is funny like that.”

“Yes and I think that truth is starting to hurt my friends! This man,” she sighed pointing towards Tommy Turner in one of the shots on the pages in her hand. “He was recently found dead in his bathroom from electrocution. And this one,” she pointed towards Skip Larsen in another shot. “He has been reported missing. Both of these men lost their children who coincidentally both attended Cyprus-Gray. There’s a connection here and I just need to know what it is and maybe get to the bottom of what’s going on, please.”

Mrs. Cranston blew out a long and frustrated breath before readjusting in her seat. “Well I honestly can’t see how this will make a bit of difference to you but alright. The tragedy I’m referring to happened shortly after a hazing incident gone terribly, terribly wrong. Well the wife of the fellow who lost his life sued the University for allowing the hazing practices to take place and she won. The fraternity in question lost their charter for a year and the people involved were all suspended. For those that were on the football team that meant sitting out for the upcoming Championship which meant the track for the 2^nd year in a row for undefeated games came to an end.”

“The people were furious, riots broke out everywhere. There was talk of getting even and hurting the family of that young man because of what she allowed the school to suffer by suing and all. I thought it was all talk and ignored it for the most part but…not even a week had passed after that trial concluded that mob made good on their threats.”

“One night in October they trudge up to the widow’s door and dragged her from out of her bed. Seven of them held her down, took their turns on her, listened to her crying and suffering; begging those men for mercy but they were relentless. The others watched and cheered them on. One man had brought with him a pack of fight dogs he bred mean; vicious.”

“And that poor boy,” Mrs. Cranston sighed as she slowly stirred her spoon within her cup. “He shouldn’t have had to see his mother dragged away like that and then on top of that he heard what those men were doing to her in that shed.” She shook her head and blew on the liquid before taking a sip of the piping hot drink and returning it to its saucer. “Tragic. He tried to stop them but he was nothing more than maybe five, six years old. Wasn’t much he could do against a group of grown men but cry for her. And even then it only made them turn their attentions to him.”

“What happened to them?”

“They moved away. Who would want to remain here after something like that? She would have to look her attackers in the face everyday knowing that justice would never be served. And that little boy, he went through countless surgeries to fix the numerous injuries he suffered during that brutal attack. Those hounds, those large, vicious, feral dogs tore and ripped his tiny, little body until he was a sopping, bleeding mess. It’s a miracle he even survived. I tried to keep in touch with them but…you know how that goes.”

“And what about the men that were involved? Were they ever captured? Punished?”

“Of  course not. The school, the D.A’s office all the way up to the judge covered it all up. Wrote it off as some crazy old widow seeking attention and trying to start trouble but everyone knew; they were just too powerful to be touched. And the town locked it away like it was a dirty little secret and no one’s dared speak that family’s name out loud ever since.”

The clock tower sounded and jolted Christina upright. Mrs. Cranston smiled tenderly at the fright it caused her and drew from her seat. “It’s now closing time my dear and you’d better get yourself indoors somewhere before the Dean or campus security finds you out and about past curfew.”

She led Christina down to the door and prepared to lock it as she turned back with one last question. “Mrs. Cranston, do you have any idea where they are now? That family.”

“None. Last I heard the mother was living with her sister up in Connecticut still working on her doctorate. She was attending here to become a teacher you know? But her son, Lord knows what happened to him. I wouldn’t blame him if he became a shut-in. After the way he appeared from the assault, he would be hurt by the ridicule he’d suffer…he never looked the same again.” She thanked the woman for her time and quickly started back towards her dorm.

“Skip?” Patrick squinted his eyes and looked towards the stadium doors at a man walking near the main entrance as the group stumbled and teetered on wobbly legs exiting the Assembly hall. “Hey! Skip! Over here!”

Michael and Freddy turned to peer in the direction Patrick faced and noticed their friend wearing his letterman’s jacket and rushing wordlessly to the back of the stadium. “Skip!” Bobby joined in calling for the friend they believed still missing.

“What the hell is he doing here?” Freddy asked and pulled Michael higher up his shoulder. “He’s still listed as a missing persons right?”

“Yeah, yeah, last I heard his disappearance raised questions shortly after University President Andre Franklin was murdered. He had been making noise about ‘getting revenge’ and coupled with the fact that no evidence of foul play surfaced in the car he was driving police believed he just took off. In fact he is now wanted for questioning in the Dean’s murder too,” Bobby informed them.

“Lesh shee wat he’s doin’,” Michael slurred and tried pulling away from Freddy to walk under his own strength. Nearly toppling to the ground, Freddy laughed and clutched him back around his waist.

“You’re not going anywhere but to your hotel room. You’re too drunk to even stand.”

“Wat? Ahm finnne! Jush a lil’ tipshee s’all.” He pushed away from Freddy again and started moving under his own volition towards the stadium. For every step he took forward, he took three back in his stagger.

“Mikey you’re an idiot! You never could hold your liquor!” Patrick laughed and lodged a can at his back and the others followed behind him to catch up to their old friend and see what he was doing on campus. 

“Over here,” Bobby called noticing the track marks stop just at the back door maintenance area. “Why the hell is he in there?”

“Maybe he’s making good on his threats, in which case I think it’s best we contact the authorities,” Freddy advised and grabbed Michael once more before he plummeted face first to the ground.

“Ah com’mon itsh jush Schkip. He would…would…wouldn’t hurt a flower,” he laughed and burped loudly in Freddy’s face. “Flower? Flyer…fly…flick. Boop!” He flicked Freddy’s nose and instantly passed out in his arms snoring loud enough to wake the dead.

“Mike’s right. If it is him, don’t you think we owe to him to at least talk him out of whatever he’s up to? If he goes to prison, I don’t know…the guy has already had it hard enough.” Patrick glanced down the stairs through the basement doors and started forward. Peering through the pitch black darkness of the narrow tunnel he placed his hand on the wall to guide himself forward. “Come on guys it’s not that far up to the main room.”

“This is stupid. It’s too dark down there you might trip and hurt yourself and then what? I’m not carrying both you and Mike.”

“Hmm? Wha? I don’t need tahbe carried,” he growled waking to his name. He pushed away from Freddy again and lowered himself down the ladder. Patrick helped him stand once he made it inside and he slumped against the wall waiting on Bobby and Freddy to make the climb.

“You guys coming or what?” Bobby turned and shrugged at Freddy and entered into the cramped space with the others.

Sighing in defeat Freddy turned shaking his head and started after them. “This is a bad idea.”

“Yeah but what’s one last adventure with your friends? It’s not like we’ll ever get the chance to explore these schools again anyway. If it is Skip plotting his revenge he’s most likely about to blow this place to smithereens,” Bobby chuckled and took control of Mike. “That boy always was into explosives and shit.”

The group trekked deeper down the winding maintenance tunnel until they came to a small metal door. It had rusted on its hinges and in the center there was an indecipherable sign indicating it was once the room used for disposal of some kind. Patrick pressed forward, pushing the door opened with one hand and keeping a firm grip on the lighter with the other. The creaking sound of its old bones echoed through the empty space and he choked up a breath as he inhaled the moldy air that had hidden within the confines of the room for who knows how long. “I think I’m writing a strong worded letter to the administration. Whoever is on cleanup duty for this place should be fired,” he joked and ushered the others in behind him.

Locating a small oil lamp on the door beside a rusted shelf, he shook it to moisten the ends of the wick and lit it. The room was instantly bathed in a soft orange glow allowing the men for the first time to see where they were. “Oh shit, what the hell is this?” Looking around the men noticed they were standing in an old bomb shelter of sorts.

Crates and crates of unused and old ammo lined the walls behind thick layers of dust and Spiderwebs. Sandbags pushed up against another area filled with grenades and ammo packs that rested in delicate states near what appeared to be leaky packages of dynamite sticks. “Why would the University house an old weapons cache?” Before any of the guys could offer their opinion to Freddy’s question the door slammed shut locking them inside.

“Shit!” Patrick rushed towards it and began pounding his fist into the barrier yelling as loud as he could for someone to open it. “Hey! We’re still in here!” He pushed at the metal wall with all his might, jamming his shoulder into it but it wouldn’t budge. “What the hell are we going to do now?”

“I don’t have a signal,” Freddy growled seeing the bars on his cell phone completely empty. “What about you guys?” Everyone checked their phones including the steadily sobering Michael and nodded their heads negatively. “Perfect! We’re stuck in a fucking bomb shelter that no one probably knows about without a way to contact anyone. Are you enjoying your adventure now?” He placed his hands on his sides as he scowled towards his friend.

Pacing the area, Bobby tried to think of a way out of the building. The small window near the ceiling was too small to squeeze through and the glass was too thick to break and call for help. Michael slumped against the wall laughing at himself and their current situation as Patrick continued trying to dial out on his phone. Freddy moved beside him and tried the door again. Hearing movement just on the other side he shouted and the other men moved forward doing the same. “We’re inside! Open the door!”

A small puff of smoke started seeping beneath the door and the men stepped back quickly as it pumped faster and faster through every crack found within the walls. “What the hell is going on!” Freddy coughed and beat his hand harder against the door shouting louder.

“You don’t think that animal thing…”

“No!” Michael jumped to his feet and tried the window once more. But the smoke quickly filled the small space and the men fell to the floor choking on the thick clouds and found themselves easily succumbing to the silent killer.

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