Patapsco River Horror Story

Chapter 9

When Debbie and Amanda finally fought their way through the crowd to the table they were sitting no more then an hour ago, they found it was empty, no Adam or Jack to be found. They were still out getting the scoop on the fight the four of them had seen before the girls retired to the ladies room. Debbie could not wait for the guys to get back so they could hear about the things her and Amanda had seen. Amanda sat across the table from Debbie with a far off look on her face. Debbie could see Amanda was still in shock.

Debbie barely noticed the people around her and the loud music playing in the background. The events of the evening were still going through her head. She could not control them. Debbie was confused by all the images bouncing around inside her head. She looked over at Amanda once more and saw she still had than "Far off look" in her eyes.

"Amanda are you alright?" Debbie asked.

Amanda did not reply. She just sat there motionless. Debbie reached a cross the table and put her hand on top of Amanda's hand. Her hand felt cold and clammy to Debbie. She looked a cross the table in to Amanda's eyes. Amanda was off in another world somewhere.

"Amanda snap out of it." Debbie said as she slapped Amanda's hand.

"What?" Amanda replied as if she had just woken up from a deep sleep.

Amanda tried to focus her eyes on Debbie, a cross the table from her. Debbie smile at Amanda as she patted Amanda's hand. Amanda tried to get her head together, looked around at the crowd of teens on all sides of her. Debbie noticed the she had a confused look on her face. Amanda looked like she didn't know where she was.

"The guys should be back soon," Debbie said to Amanda.

"I hope so," Amanda said as she looked down at the table.

The girls sat there for a moment in silence. Both of them were trying to figure out what they just experienced. How they would explain it to Adam and Jack. Would the guys believe the story, if they could explain it to them? Amanda did not want to experience it again.

Debbie remembered looking through the windows outside the station and not seeing any of her friends or anyone else that was at the party. Now she looks around her and sees over a hundred people in the station.

"Where were they when we looked through the windows, just a little while ago?" She asked herself.

"Where could they be?" Debbie asked herself as she thought about Adam and Jack.

"Maybe we should go and look for them?" Amanda said to Debbie.

"No, they will be back soon. Besides, what if they come back to the table while we are out looking for them?" Debbie Replied.

Amanda looked around the station to see if she could see Adam and Jack. Then she got up and stood on her chair. She found it hard to see over all the people in the room. Amanda tried to get up on her toes to get a better view. Then the chair started to shack.

"Get down off that chair Amanda before you break your neck." Debbie said as she looked up at Amanda.

Amanda stepped down off the chair and said, "I think I saw the guys over by the door near the platform."

After waiting a good fifteen minutes they realized it wasn't the guys. After what they had seen and what they had been through the night started to wear on them. Debbie and Amanda started to get hungry.

"Let's go to the concession stand and get something to eat." Debbie said. This would also give her a chance to possibly run into the girl they saw in the hallway.

"We will have to push our way through all those people." Amanda said as she scanned the crowed for an easy way to the concession stand.

Amanda grabbed Debbie's hand and Amanda lead the way through the crowd. Debbie could feel the bodies of people rubbing up against her. They had to duck under arms of couples on the crowded dance floor. Someone spilled some soda on Amanda's shoulder. She could feel the cold wetness soaked through her blouse and on to her skin.

When the girls got to the line at the concession stand, they could see it was ten to twelve people deep. The concession stand was to the left of the DJ stand. The girl could barely speak to one another because the music was so loud there. There were too many people in front of Debbie for her to see who was working the concessions. She wanted to see if it was the girl that they saw in the hallway.

The line was moving so slowly. Debbie was becoming impatient. Amanda was looking behind to see if she could find Adam and Jack. On several occasions she thought she saw them but her eyes were wrong. She watched the dance floor for a moment as the kids moved in unison with the beat.

Finally Amanda tapped Debbie, who was standing in front of her in line, and said. "Look, is that them?"

Debbie turn and looked into the crowd on the dance floor to where Amanda was pointing. She tried to focus in on the two guys Amanda was pointing at. Her vision kept getting blocked by people walking in front of them or people on the dance floor. The guys Amanda was pointing to were some distance away from them. Debbie was having a hard time getting a good look at them.

Debbie felt someone put their hand on her back as she was looking the other way. She could see both of Amanda's hands as Amanda was pointing at the dance floor with one. Debbie turned to see who it was. She was surprised to see that it was Frank Sooter who was behind her. Frank was tall almost six feet; he had wavy light brown hair and blue eyes.

"Hey Debbie, Hey Amanda, What's going on," Frank said.

"Hi Frank," Debbie and Amanda replied.

"I just saw Adam and Jack, I told them their maybe a party after this party, down on the river bank and you all are invited."

"Thanks for inviting us Frank," Debbie Replied.

"Yea, that was nice of you," Amanda said.

"Hope to see you all there later, I got to go," Frank said as he walked towards the dance floor.

"Well, are we going down to the river afterwards?" Amanda happily asked Debbie.

"I'm not sure; I didn't tell my Dad anything about a party afterwards." Debbie replied as she thought about what her father and mother would think.


Amanda scanned the crowd as she said to Debbie. "You're Dads cool, he won't care. I wonder who else Frank will invite."

With her hand under her chin and her elbow resting on her other arm, Debbie replied. "I don't know my Dad can freak out at times and I know Mom wouldn't like it at all."

"Ok, lets see what the guys think when they get back." Amanda said.

Debbie noticed that Amanda had emerged from her state of shock. Instead of thinking about what they had experience Amanda was thinking about the party down on the river bank. Debbie didn't want to bring Amanda back down emotionally so she didn't discuss her observations with Amanda. She also noticed the line they were in at the concession stand was starting to move. Amanda seemed happier as she scanned the crowd for the guys.

"I know its them this time, I know it is." She said.

Debbie laughed as she said to Amanda. "Are you sure Amanda, you've said that several times now and you have been wrong."

"Really, well not this time, look over there." Amanda shoot back.

Debbie's eyes followed Amanda's hand as it pointed over all the couples on the dance floor. Adam and Jack were talking to some people at a table on the other side of the dance floor. The two guys Amanda was pointing at did look like Adam and Jack. Debbie could not see who they were talking to because the people were behind the guys. Amanda waved to try and get the guys attention but had no success.

"Should we go over their so they know we are back?" Amanda asked.

"No, I want to get a soda, I am thirsty they'll be over soon." Debbie replied.

They watched Adam and Jack work their way through the crowd of people. To Debbie it was like the guys were running for political office. They were walking through the crowd shaking hands with their friends and other members of the lacrosse team and talking to people on the dance floor. Debbie was very impressed by the way Adam carried himself. He was so mature for his age.

Finally it was the girls turn at the concession stand. They ordered two sodas for themselves and two for Adam and Jack. Debbie looked around for the girl she saw in the hallway but did not see her. Their were other girls working now. She was going to ask the girls behind the counter about her but she didn't know the girls name.

"Was there a girl working here a little while ago, wearing what looked like a eighteenth century dress?" Debbie said to the two girls working the counter.

The two girls looked at each other strangely. One of the girls looked around behind her, as if she was looking for the girl Debbie was asking about. The other girl just stared at Debbie for a moment.

Once she stirred herself from her stare she said, "There's been no one working here but us two all night."

Debbie and Amanda each picked up two sodas and slowly started to work there way through the crowd. Not wanting to spill the sodas, they said nothing to one another until they got back to the table. On one occasion Amanda almost dropped one of her sodas, when a couple coming off the dance floor walked into her. The young man grabbed one of the sodas to help steady it. Amanda's knees were shaking from the incident, after she made it back to the table.

"That guy almost knocked you to the floor and spilled your drinks." Debbie said as she placed the two sodas she was carrying on the table.

"Yeah, he was cute though, he had deep blue eyes. I think I have seen him in school." Amanda replied as she took a sip from her soda.

"Oh look, he is talking to Adam and Jack." Debbie said as she waves at them.

Adam returned a wave to Debbie as he continues his conversation with the young man and Jack. The young man had his back to the table where the girls were standing. Debbie can't hear what he was saying to Adam and Jack but she could see them laughing. He shook Adam's hand then Jacks, and then walked off following the girl he was with. Adam and Jack started walking towards the table where Debbie and Amanda were standing.

"Hey girls, what did you get for us?" Adam said as he hugged Debbie and gave her a kiss.

"Thanks for getting the sodas girls. Jack said as he starred into Amanda's eyes.

"Say, what did you guys fine out?" Debbie asked.

"The fight was over a girl named Annie; I think she is the weird girl that works the refreshment counter." Adam said as he reached for his soda.

"What did you two do while we were gone?" Jack asked.

Debbie and Amanda nervously looked at each other. There was a moment of silence. Amanda finally replied. "Well, we had a little adventure."

Amanda looked down at the table trying not to make eye contact with Jack or Adam. Debbie ran her finger around the top of her plastic cup as she starred at it. The girls were hoping the guy would not want to know more information about what happened to them earlier that night.