CHAPTER ONE: THE DOCTOR IS IN

"Thank you for calling Brockport Swim Club, how can I help you?" The voice of Sydney Harper drilled through Diana Carpenter's head.

"No, sorry, we don't open until one," Sydney talked on the phone. Diana was busy deep cleaning the front desk area. It hasn't been cleaned in what looked like years. She had to use mostly Goof-Off to get the gunk out. She knew it damaged the paint, but she really hoped it did because the whole front desk needed a new paint job.

"I dunno, Marcy, we just do," Sydney harped at the poor woman over the phone. Diana gave Sydney a dark look and threw her rag down, grabbing the phone out of her hands whislt locking her jaw in anger.

"Hi Marcy, this is Diana, we close from twelve to one for clean up and lunch," Diana spoke sweetly. Sydney crossed her arms and rolled her eyes, turning away to text someone on her phone. "Alright. Bye-bye."

"This job is such a drag," Sydney huffed as she slipped a sip of beer under the counter.

"It wouldn't be if you did your job correctly." The shy-looking brunette gave the popular girl another dark look, but then looked curious as to who she was texting. "Who are you texting?"

"Shh!" Sydney hid her flip phone under the counter in fear of one of the managers coming out. "I'm texting some friends. Don't worry about it."

Diana shook her head and gave her a look again and decided that she needed fresh air from the girl. Beside the counter was a basket full of used towels that she had to throw into the washing machine. What better time to do that than now?

Diana rounded the counter and walked through the lounging area, into the back hallway. The light above her flickered on when she flipped the chipped switch. It glowed an unsettling yellow, barely illuminating her path to the laundry room.

Once she was there after passing two bathrooms, Diana made a right into the dark, wet room that had piles of towels stacked high from the ground and boxes of detergent that had been overturned or used and never thrown out.

It wasn't too bad; sure it was a bit too dark and cold with the walls being made of cement, but at least it was a bit cleaner than the rest of the rooms.

Diana set the basket on the ground and started pulling the towels out and into the machine. Once it was filled and couldn't accommodate more towels, she shut the door and filled the machine with detergent, setting the timer for forty-five minutes.

When she turned around, she was caught in an embrace by none other than her boyfriend, Noah Cromwell. At least, she thinks he's her boyfriend. They never had the talk so she didn't know where they stood.

"Jesus, Noah, you scared me!" Diana laughed as he hugged her tighter, lifting her up and spinning her around.

"Sorry, but I missed you too much," Noah kissed her cheek. He soon moved over to her lips but she giggled and he retracted.

"You just saw me five minutes ago when I did the towel run," Diana ran her fingers through his curly hair that was done in a mullet. She usually wouldn't like a mullet, but he pulled off really well. And she meant really well.

"Yeah but I couldn't get off the lifeguard chair until now," Noah went back to peppering Diana with kisses and she soon melted into them, not hearing the shuffling of feet behind them.

A cough interrupted their session and Diana peered over Noah's broad shoulders to see the small, meek girl named Zara standing awkwardly in the middle of the room.

"Oh, Zara, sorry I didn't see you there," Diana patted Noah's arm to get down. She fixed her shirt that had rode up a bit and Zara just stared at them. Diana just walked past her quickly, getting creeped out by the girl.

Noah walked by slowly, though, watching Zara stare at him with menacing eyes. He wasn't too freaked out, only because Zara was a couple years younger than him and a few feet shorter.

Out in the front desk, Diana leaned on the counter as she let Sydney help the members at the window.

"You know, you could actually help me," Sydney guffawed. Diana shrugged.

"I know, but since I've done all of the work for.. the past year, I figured it's only fair for you to do an hour of work by yourself." Sydney gave her a snide look and an incoherent noise and Diana mimicked her.

"Ladies, ladies, elegance please?" Noah playfully intruded. Sydney glared at him with as much hate as she could muster up.

"Fuck you, Noah," Sydney bit. Diana's vision turned red and she locked her jaw again in anger.

"Back off, bitch," Diana bit. Sydney laughed at the angry girl, envisioning a small, yapping chihuahua. Noah shook his head and dropped an arm over Diana, pulling her away before she could attack her.

Outside, Diana passed Sierra and Teddy taking photos together. Teddy struck ridiculous poses next to a jasmine bush outside one of the weight rooms.

"If Therese catches you guys, you are gonna be so fired!" Diana laughed as Teddy threw her a middle finger.

"Shut up, bitch! This is for my portfolio," Teddy put his hands over his face and stared off to the distance.

"Stop doing that thing with your mouth, you look like a guppy," Sierra set her camera down for a minute.

"You don't know anything about modeling," Teddy snapped. He huffed out a sigh and returned to his original pose.

"He's such a fucking diva," Sierra told Diana and Noah. Teddy glared at them.

"I heard that!"

"Shut up, you didn't hear anything!" The pair went back to taking photos and Diana and Noah moved on, watching the members of the club swim or float around in the water.

The sun was setting now, giving the club a nice glow. Diana loved working the night shift for this reason. The club was beautiful and it felt like home. It felt safe.

"Di," Evanora Berry pulled at the girl's arm and whispered to her. "I have your stuff. Just talk to me after work."

"Okay, thanks Nora," Diana nodded.

"No problem. I'm off to tell Teddy that I got his million-dollar blunts."

Diana laughed at her and watched as she danced off to the Asian boy with glee. Right behind Diana was Max Hall, the horror fanatic and geek.

"Hey, Diana," Max said.

"Hey, Dork," Noah ruffled the boy's hair playfully. Max swatted him away and fixed his hair.

"Hey, man, not cool." Max glanced over at Evanora talking to Teddy. Diana felt her heart melt as Max blushed when Evanora waved at him.

"When are you going to ask her out, dude?" Diana asked him. His eyes widened and he shushed her frantically.

"Shh! She thinks I have a girlfriend. The timing isn't right," Max said.

"The one from Canada?"

"Uh huh."

"No one believes that, Max," Diana quirked a brow. Max just glared at her and rolled his eyes, choosing to ignore her.

Noah and Diana walked further away from the front office, over to the roped-off playground. The top of a pole that covered the sharp end recently fell and the club decided that it was best to just close it off from the children to prevent them from falling on it.

But, behind the play structure, Stevie and Jackson were skateboarding and doing tricks along the curb of the sidewalk. They usually went out here to do that since Stevie really wanted to learn and Jackson had nothing better to do since his job here was only to pick up towels and wash them.

Behind them, further out from the club was Selene Dallas. She leaned against a tree and smoked a cigarette, watching Stevie. As soon as she saw that Diana was looking at her, she grimaced at her and turned away.

Selene didn't get along with anybody, really. Only Sydney but that was expected, bitches stick with other bitches.

"Geez, won't they get together already?" Diana's eyebrows creased with confusion.

"But Selene hates her."

"What? No, Stevie and Jackson," Noah explained. Diana looked at the redhead and shaggy blond and shook her head.

"Stevie's pan," Diana said. "But leans more towards girls."

"What's pan?"

"Pansexual. Open to all genders and sexualites. They don't care about all that, they just love personalities and souls."

"Oh," Noah simply said. He didn't have a closed-off mind, it was just hard to keep track of what was what. Doesn't mean he'll treat anyone any different, though.

"All staff members please meet in the community hall," a voice spoke over the loudspeaker. Diana instantly recognized it as Sierra's voice. Her message was followed by a loud and obnoxious moan.

"Teddy, shut up!" Sierra's voice carried throughout the club and members looked confused. The loud speaker clicked off.

"I guess that's for us?" Diana held onto Noah's hand and dragged him to the community hall. It was more of a room than a hall that was next to the small weight room. It held all of the workout equipment that they weren't using but it was also a party room. It had the far wall covered in a large mirror and the left side with a large fireplace.

Everyone piled into the room. Diana, Noah, Max, Teddy, Sierra, Selene (oddly), Evanora, Jackson, Leland (a boy that was in charge of the workout equipment), Zara and Stevie were all looking at each other with confused looks. Only Sierra and Teddy knew what was going on.

"Alright guys, pack together," Sierra waved her hands at the group. When they realized what was happening, they all stood together awkwardly as Sierra set up her camera on a stack of books and pressed the timer. She ran back and everyone tried their best to flash a smile.

After the camera flash died down, Diana asked, "What is this for?"

"Therese wanted a staff photo for the Christmas card this year," Sierra looked at her camera and studied the photo.

"Weird, that's so far away," Diana stuck her hands in her back jeans pocket.

"Hey, Di, can you go and get Sydney? She's not here." Sierra asked without looking up.

"Okay," Diana sighed as she left the group. She walked out of the community hall and outside. It had turned dark and all of the members and rest of the staff had gone home. The fluorescent light from the front office glowed bright like a beacon as Diana tried to open the door closest to her.

It seemed locked but Sydney didn't pay attention to her, she was busy on her phone. Diana rolled her eyes and went to the other door that was by the entrance of the club. She tried to open it but it was locked too.

Diana knocked on it, saying, "Sydney, can you unlock the door?"

"What did you do? I didn't lock it." Sydney set her phone down on the counter and tried to jiggle the handle.

"You must've 'cause i didn't lock it. Stop trying to jiggle it, it's locked." Sydney scoffed and rolled her eyes.

"I know that, the little turny thingy won't turn!" Sydney whined. Diana sighed and squeezed the bridge of her nose in annoyance. When she looked back up, Sydney was still trying to get the door open, but a black cloaked figure was behind her.

"Sydney, hurry up!" Diana started to freak out when she saw the plague doctor mask and the shiny kitchen knife.

"I'm trying!"

"No, Sydney, behind you! Watch out behind you!" Diana pointed as she started to cry.

"Stop it, Diana. That's not fucking funny," Sydney rolled her eyes. The masked killer stalked further, raising the knife above Sydney's head.

"No! Sydney!" Diana screamed. Sydney finally turned around to see what was behind her.

"Oh, Sydney," the metallic voice cooed. "Don't you know that drinking is bad for you?"

Sydney's eyes glanced over to the empty beer bottles that littered the floor of the office behind the counter. Before she could respond, the masked killer plunged the knife over her head.

Sydney screamed out in pain as the blood trickled down her perfect, black curls and down her face. The killer stared at their work, watching as the fear settled in Sydney's eyes and life slipped away. Sydney began to cry. It wasn't much of a cry, more of like a few tears slipping down her scrunched face.

The cloaked assailant twisted the knife, digging it deeper into her skull. Diana stared in horror, her hands still on the door handle. She tried to scream, she tried to cry. The girl before her fell to her knees and the killer yanked the knife out. It was covered in blood and pieces of Sydney's brain.

The killer wrapped their gloved fingers around the blade and wiped it clean, wiping the blood on the glass of the door, making an X while staring at Diana.

She finally screamed as she ran away. "Help! Help!" Diana screamed as loud as she could, she felt her vocal cords strain and her throat soon ran dry. She made her way to the community hall and saw everyone standing together, mingling like nothing happened.

"Help!" Diana tripped into the room and threw herself into Noah who caught her. "Sydney! She's— she's— "

"She's what?" Selene stepped out from the crowd. Sydney's only friend.

"Dead!"

a/n who do you think the killer is? happy halloween!

also, there is no set date for the book. clothing and music will vary from 70s-90s (mostly 80s), music will vary from 70s-80s, technology will be mostly 90s and references will be all over the place. some may be recent!