The Private Club 3(9)

“Enjoy yourself,” a smooth voice suddenly spoke into the room, and the lights dimmed.

I froze as I waited for Greyson to come into the room. I turned around and stared at the door, anticipating his entrance.

“Relax,” the voice said again, and it was then that I noticed the glittering lights in the corner.

I walked over to see what was flashing and realized that it was a sound system. I pressed play and pulsing trance music blasted out of the speakers. I quickly turned it off and walked back to the table to see if there was anything I had missed.

I must have stood in the room doing nothing for about twenty minutes before the lights came back on and the voice said, “Testing done.” I opened the door, feeling slightly disappointed that Greyson hadn’t come to visit me. I’d been hoping that he would come and see me, that he would show me that he was thinking of me, despite what he had said.

I exited the room, but there was no Greyson and no Patsy waiting for me. I ran to the bathroom then so that I could read some more of Nancy’s journal before my next testing. I let out a sigh of relief as I walked in and saw that the bathroom was empty. I entered the stall and pulled back the top of the toilet. Then I took the plastic bag out eagerly and quickly removed the diary, flicking through it until I reached the last entry I had read.





“I heard Maria crying last night. She was sobbing and I didn’t know what to say to her. I’ve never seen her like that before. Not even when she broke up with Ryan. She was banging the walls hard with her fist. I was scared she was going to punch a hole in the walls. I went to her room to say something, but I saw her boyfriend in there with her. He was just staring at her, not doing anything. I know he saw me because he frowned as he made eye contact with me. I was scared when he looked at me. But then he turned away and walked over to Maria. All he kept saying was “I’m sorry, but this was a mistake, I don’t love you.” That only made it worse. Maria grabbed a lamp and tried to hit him. I saw him get angry. I should have done something. I wish I’d done something now. If I had done something, maybe she wouldn’t have died. But today she was all smiles to the parents. And so was he.”





I stilled as I read the passage. Something was off, but I wasn’t sure exactly what it was. I reread it again and tried to figure it out and then I realized it was the tense. I reread the sentence “If I had done something, maybe she wouldn’t have died” again. From all accounts, Maria was still alive the day after Nancy had seen her crying. So if this had been a true entry or recounting from the past, that would never have been written. She wouldn’t have known that Maria was going to die.

The passage confirmed my earlier thoughts. These entries had been written recently, and I was almost positive that they’d been written by Nancy. That meant she had written and left this for me deliberately. It also made me think that there was a possibility that she hadn’t disappeared when I thought she had disappeared. What if she had left this in the room when I was in Greyson’s office with Brandon and Katie? But why would she have just disappeared and not told me or David? I sighed and opened the diary again.





“Brandon Hastings is Maria’s boyfriend’s name. He’s not a good man. He is evil. Yes, I said it. He broke Maria until there was nothing left. But she always chose bad men. Really bad men. I don’t want anyone else to get hurt. I’m scared he’s going to kill someone for revenge. He doesn’t know everything. He doesn’t understand. He hates the big boss. The real club owner. There was really only ever one. He wants to hurt him. He knows his weakness. I’m scared that this time. It’s going to be bloody. He’s not right in the head. He’s not the man you think he is. He’ll murder. Maria loved Brandon, but Greyson held her heart. That’s why he’s really mad.”





I dropped the diary on the ground and sat back. My head was pounding. I grabbed the diary up again and read the last sentence again. Had Maria dated Greyson as well? Was that why Brandon and Greyson’s friendship had disintegrated? Was that why Greyson accepted responsibility for everything that had gone down? Was Greyson the one who’d caused Maria’s death?

I reread the entry again and my brain started throbbing. I wasn’t really sure what Nancy was trying to tell me. The more I read it, the more it seemed that Brandon was the bad one. It was oddly written, and I couldn’t tell if she was trying to tell me if Brandon or Greyson was the angry one. The more I read it, the more I was convinced that it was actually Brandon who was the evil one.