Pretty Please (Nightmare Hall) Read Online Free Page B

looked around at the collages of high school mementoes over each bed, the brightly colored plastic trays of accessories, the collection of patchwork-quilted toss pillows Kelly had bought at the mall.
    The knowledge that someone had been in there, someone who clearly wasn’t a friend, someone who had no right to be in their room, that changed everything.
    Violated, Jo thought angrily, I feel violated. Even though whoever it was hadn’t touched anything except the mirrors….They hadn’t, had they? Jo glanced around the room again quickly, looking for opened drawers or suspicious disarray. No, they hadn’t touched anything else as far as she could tell.
    Nevertheless, they had been in there. She hated that.
    She made sure the door was locked before taking her pill and climbing into bed. In the bathroom, as she filled a glass of water, she bent low over the sink to avoid meeting her own eyes in the mirror. The mirror…how could she ever look at that mirror again without remembering the black shroud draped over it?
    Maybe, she thought despairingly as the pill began to take hold, maybe I won’t ever want to look in a mirror again.
    Because in spite of what the doctor and her friends had said to reassure her, there was someone on campus who thought she looked so awful, she shouldn’t even think about looking into mirrors.
    What if that person was right?
    When Jo finally drifted off to sleep, she dreamed that she was receiving her degree at a graduation ceremony outside on the Commons on a beautiful, sunny, blue-skied day in June.
    But when she went up on stage to receive the rolled scroll tied with a ribbon, and turned to smile at the audience seated on folding chairs, she had no face.
    There was only a blank oval where her features should have been.

Chapter 5
    S HE’LL NEVER BE THE same. Never.
    She was so pretty. Beautiful, really. Although she didn’t even seem to realize it. She had a flawless face. Flawless.
    But not anymore.
    Now there’s no choice. Can’t have her running around in public scaring people. Even when the bandages come off, she’ll have those horrible black stitches running up and down her face. And the scars. Gives me the creeps just thinking about it.
    This is going to be hard, though. I wouldn’t mind so much if Johanna were ordinary. But she’s not. She’s different. Special. The minute I saw her, I knew I had to get to know her. Too bad. Too, too bad.
    Can’t help it. Not her fault, not my fault, it’s just the way it is. I can’t ignore my mission. That would be wrong.
    I don’t have to do it immediately. If only she’ll keep her face covered so no one can see it. I can wait.
    But if she doesn’t, I’ll have no choice.

Chapter 6
    J O WENT TO HER classes on Monday. People stared and murmured or whispered behind their hands each time she walked into a lecture hall. She had tried to prepare herself for the attention, but soon found that it wasn’t that easy. Maybe her friends were too kind to be honest with her about how bad she really looked.
    She had looked in the mirror half a dozen times that morning while dressing. Slipped carefully into a cranberry turtleneck sweater, mindful of her bandages…and looked in the dresser mirror. Told herself she didn’t look that bad. Pulled on a pair of jeans, zipped the zipper, slid a leather belt into the loops…and looked in the mirror. Tried to tell herself she’d seen worse. Pushed her feet into black suede boots, fastened a gold chain around her neck…and looked in the mirror. Hoping, as she had each time before, that her appearance would miraculously have changed…improved…the cuts and bandages gone, her skin smooth and clear again.
    Didn’t happen.
    So she had taken a deep breath, brushed her thick, wavy hair away from her face, carefully applied mascara, picked up her books, slipped into a jacket, and left the room, giving her bed one last, longing glance as she closed the door. Staying in bed one more day would give her