Kayleigh looked out over the square and immediately felt relaxed. The old city hall sat right across the street, surrounded by a grass lawn and a covered bandstand. A towering oak, rumored to be a hanging tree of old, stood off to one side, its branches reaching out but never quite coming into contact with the red bricks of city hall. A newly married couple stood on the steps of the bandstand, the flashes from the photographer’s camera cutting through the shadows cast by the setting sun. It was, in her mind, the perfect place to relax.
“You guys made it. Great to see you all. What can I get you?’
Plucked out of her happy place for a moment, Kayleigh turned to see Adam standing at their table. Dressed like a bartender at some thirties’ speakeasy, Adam wore a tweed vest over a black dress shirt with the sleeves rolled up to the elbow. His immaculately groomed brown beard was long enough to cover the bowtie that completed the ensemble. He was a man out of time, but also the coolest person that they knew. Kayleigh had been on a couple of dates with Adam, but they had both agreed that they were better off as friends. “I’ll have a rum and Coke, please.”
“You got it. What about you two?” Adam asked, turning to face April and Sean.
“I’ll have the best IPA you have on tap,” Sean said through a cloud of vapor.
“I’ll have what Kayleigh’s having,” April said, giving her stock response.
“Can we do thirty wings, too, Adam? Medium sauce.”
While they waited for their food order to arrive, Kayleigh filled her friends in on her ordeal at the movie theater. She could see the funny side of it now and wasn’t at all annoyed when Sean almost choked on his pint while laughing during the retelling.
“That story may very well have made my day,” Sean said, wiping tears away from his eyes. “I haven’t laughed that hard in forever.”
While April was typically empathetic in such situations, Kayleigh could tell that she was trying not to make eye contact and could see her lips pursing and going back to normal, as though going through a duck face routine. “What’s so interesting over in the corner, sweetie?” Kayleigh asked.
“Oh nothing, Just watching the guitar player set up.”
“I think you are struggling not to laugh at my misery. Could that be it?” Kayleigh asked, reaching across the table and playfully poking her friend on the arm.
“I would never...” Before she could finish the sentence, April cracked and began to laugh, grabbing onto Sean’s arm for support as she bent over the table, howling. “That’s just...just too funny. I’m...sorry.”
That was too much for Kayleigh, who joined in the laughter, stomping her feet on the patio deck. The table wobbled, and for a moment, she thought her drink was going to fall into her lap. Snatching up the glass, she took a slug of the rum and almost choked on it as a second wave of laughter hit her hard.
By the time the trio got themselves under control, the wings had arrived, and the second round of drinks sat on the table. The conversation died as they tore into the food and listened to the singer launch into a slowed-down acoustic version of “Toxic” by Britney Spears that sounded fantastic in his falsetto. They ate and listened until the end of the first set, which was when Kayleigh decided to deliver the big news of the day.
“I have some potentially massive news to share with you both, so you may want to load up on your drinks before I tell you,” Kayleigh said.
“You cannot beat the spilled drink story. Good luck topping that,” Sean said sarcastically.
“I beg to differ.” Kayleigh placed her purse on the table and pulled out the contract, which she smoothed out as much as possible and laid on the table.
“What’s that?” April asked, wiping wing sauce off her fingers before reaching for the document.
“That may well be the break that we have been waiting for, kids. We are about to play a game that could turn the CreepyKaylz page into a major horror influencer.”
Sean eyed his friend suspiciously, waiting for some kind of punchline. When she failed to deliver one, he asked, “When and how did this all come about?”
Kayleigh recounted her meeting with Terry, going into detail about the nature of the game and how it might lead to a business arrangement with the group that created it. Normally calm, cool, and collected, Kayleigh babbled, waving her arms and gesticulating wildly the deeper she got into the story.
When she finished, she looked at April, whose wing sauce ringed mouth was hanging open in shock. “What does the contract say?” she managed to blurt out.
“I honestly don’t know. I just signed it without reading?”
“Are you mental?” Sean said, snatching up the paper before April could get her hands on them. “You could have agreed to just about anything. Why didn’t you wait?”
“I know it’s crazy, Sean, but this was a limited time offer. I couldn’t have someone else take this opportunity away from us.”
Holding up a hand, Sean scanned through the papers, flipping back and forth between the pages a few times as though clarifying some detail in his mind. “Did you sign it in blood?” he asked, daintily holding the papers between his thumb and forefinger as he handed them back.
“I cut myself on my cracked screen, doofus,” Kayleigh laughed. “What does it say?”
Sean sighed. “ I don’t talk that lawyer jargon, but it seems like a pretty basic contract. Lot’s of chatter about non-disclosure and such, but it also looks as though you have basically permitted them to use your info in any way they choose.”
“What does that mean?” Kyleigh asked, heart thumping in her chest.
“It could mean lots of things. I’m guessing that it’ll be for promotional stuff if the game goes to market, but who knows.”
Reaching for her glass with a trembling hand, Kayleigh drowned the remaining contents of the rum and Coke, then waved the empty glass at Adam, who stood behind the tiki bar at the far end of the patio. He gave her a wave and immediately turned to start pouring another.
“Are you okay, Kaylz,” April asked, a look of concern etched across her face.
“Why did I sign that stupid thing? Why didn’t I just wait?”
“It’ll be fine. Sean and I will help, won’t we, babe?”
“Of course,” Sean said. “Listen. Let’s have a couple more drinks then get home. I’ll get up early and get started with installing the cameras. It’s a bit of a one-person job anyway. You two can get some beauty rest while I work. How does that sound?”
Kayleigh nodded. “You guys are the best. What would I do without you?”
A SOUND LIKE A SWARM of bees buzzed through Kayleigh’s head. Opening her eyes, she sat up in bed and looked around her room. Everything was as it should be, save for the trail of clothes running from the bedroom door to the foot of the bed. Kayleigh was something of a neat freak, so not having those dirty clothes in the laundry hamper was a sure sign that she had drunk a little too much the night before. Just as she was about to chalk up the buzzing sound to a hangover, Kayleigh recognized that the sound was coming from the hallway.
She jumped out of bed and tossed yesterday’s clothes into the hamper before turning back and quickly making up the bed. Kayleigh pulled open the bedroom door and almost walked into a step ladder. Sean was perched halfway up the ladder, drilling a bracket into the wall, which she assumed would hold one of the cameras.