The Night the Lights Went Out at Pepperdine, Installment Four

"The Pengilly ghost?"
"Sure, Joseph Pengilly. He donated a bunch of money to Pepperdine a long time ago. There's a residence hall named after him, but they closed it this year, after the accident."
Scottie could dimly see Sabrina's face and smiled to himself. He'd always been an excellent storyteller. He had a knack for details and a penchant for making the close reality mysterious. His mother had pushed him to be an English major and be a writer, but that seemed like too much work. And he knew Englsih majors were weird; they all had a huge secret to hide.
"I know about Pengilly, but I've never heard about a ghost," Cedar said incredulously.
"Really? You mean, nobody told you about the accident?"
"I'm a senior," Cedar said. "I think I would've known about an accident if it happened while I was here. You're what, a freshman?"
"I'm not saying that you have to believe me. I don't care what you believe. But I blame Pengilly for locking us in this damn building. Especially after what I've heard."  He knew a little reverse psychology could go a long way, especially with Sabrina. She was the only one he really cared about scaring.
"What happened?" Sabrina asked, just as he'd known she would.
"Nothing major. Nobody died, not really, anyway."
"What do you mean, 'not really'?" Joy piped up.
"Well, the boy, he's still alive, physically. But mentally? He's gone."
"So what happened to him?" Joy asked.
"Oh, it doesn't matter. I shouldn't scare you." He smirked to himself.
"Dammit, tell us! What happened?" Sabrina demanded.
"A group of kids last Halloween decided to try to contact the spirit of Joseph Pengilly, and they succeeded. Four of them came out of it just fine, but the last one, I believe his name was Tommy, was never quite right again. They say that something terrible happened to her, but nobody talks about the details. They're too terrible. They say that those kids set the spirit of Joseph Pengilly free that night, a year ago. And I've heard that on Halloween night, when the curtain between reality and the spirit realm is the thinnest, he will now be able to roam freely. And I'm guessing he isn't happy. I sure as hell wouldn't be."
"Cut it out, you're just scaring everyone," Todd said, not feeling shaken himself, but knowing that this short little ghost story had affected Joy.
"The truth is a scary thing, my friend," Scottie said, extra cocky.
"So maybe this is because of some ghost, I don't care. What are we going to do about it?" Cedar asked curtly.
"What can we do?" Joy asked.
"Who has a cell phone?"
Scottie's had been smashed in the hallway, Cedar's was in the locked studio, and Joy and Todd never brought anything to distract from the music. They all looked hopefully to Sabrina, who only looked down at the ground.
"I don't have pockets in this outfit. My purse is in the theater."
"This is great. Just great." Scottie said, still thinking about the party he was missing. It was fun to scare the others, but not nearly as fun as tipsy girls in Halloween costumes. That was where he should have been, except that he wasn't. He was locked inside a damn building with four people he either barely knew or didn't like, as part of life's cruel, ironic karmic balance.
"We might as well get comfortable," Todd said, his right hand holding the flashlight, and his left hand trying (and failing) to touch Joy's shoulder affectionately.
"I'm hungry," Cedar said, looking around for a nonexistant vending machine.
"There are a few offices. Maybe there's some food in a mini-fridge." Scottie knew a lot about three things: storytelling, women, and food.
The first office was meticulously clean and didn't have a crumb of food left in it, so they moved onto the second one. It did happen to have a mini-fridge, but all they found was a half-melted stick of butter and an empty can of Sprite. The third office had a bit better prospect: inside the mini-fridge, they found two pies, still wrapped in Saran Wrap, with a note that said, "Sorry we missed you at Pie w/ the Pi Phis, Dr. B. Enjoy. -Jess"
Pies from a sorority - it doesn't get much better than that. Todd grabbed both of them and led the others into the bigger classroom on the island, next to the room he and Joy had been practicing in.
"How are we going to cut them?" Cedar asked, and Scottie laughed.
"We're just going to have to eat them." Todd set the flashlight down and tried to break a piece off for everyone. One of the pies was really sticky and didn't have a crust. He guessed it was pecan, and he started with that one. He handed the first piece to Joy, then Cedar and Scottie. Sabrina declined.
"I'm sorry, I just really hate pie."
"How can you hate pie?" Scottie asked, sounding shocked.
"I've just never liked it. Besides, I don't feel like eating. I just want out of here."
"That's not really an option. We're all stuck here, so you might as well eat something."
"I'm okay. Really."
Todd handed her a piece anyway, pushing it into her hand. She complained about it being on her hands.
"Just take a bite. We'll all do it together. One, two, three!"
They all took a bite, and Sabrina moaned quietly. It was amazing.
"Wow," was all she could say.
"It's good, isn't it?"
"Oh my God, I can't believe I thought I hated pie for so long. This is literally the best thing I've ever eaten."
"Told you so," Scottie said.
"What kind of pie was that? Hand me another piece. God, it's so good."
"It's pecan."
"Um, Todd?" Joy said, looking scared. Todd wondered if she'd heard something and bought into Scottie's ridiculous ghost story that wasn't really even a story.
"Yes?"
"I'm allergic to pecans."