Point Horror: Nightmare Hall #12: The Whisperer (Diane Hoh)

Shea did a really, really bad thing. She stole a copy of her upcoming test from her professor’s office. When the book opens, she’s sitting with her roommate Tandy, friend Diane and Diane’s boyfriend Sid. They introduce her to a new guy Coop and they hit it off right away. Professor Stark is nearby and they all talk about how much they hate her. Shea gets a mysterious phone call at the restaurant from someone warning her that they know her secret.

At the end of their next class, Professor Stark announces that someone stole a copy of her test. She has proof because she had a camera recording the room. She decides to show the tape at their next class. Shea decides to just admit that she stole the copy and goes to her office. She finds the teacher face down on the floor and runs off in fear.

Apparently someone hit her over the back of the head and took off. The teacher is paralyzed and can’t move her legs. Shea freaks out, wondering if she left behind fingerprints or other evidence that links her to the room. Then she gets several phone calls from the whisperer, warning her that they know her secret. The whisperer asks her to meet him in the woods behind Nightmare Hall.

Shea goes and gets weirded out because the voice stays in the shadows and doesn’t give her any information. She starts suspecting everyone around her, especially Sid. He sucks major ass and treats Diane like crap, but she keeps going back for more. The voice tells her that it wants her to pull a prank. She has to sneak into the animal lab, steal a snake and drop it in a dorm room.

Shea refuses to do it, but the voice tells her it will turn over the video of her in the teacher’s office to the cops. She finally does it, but one of the girls in the room has a heart problem and almost dies. Shea feels terrible, but the voice leaves her the tape. When she plays it, it’s nothing. The voice wants her to do more and wants her to cut off her vain roommate’s hair. Shea refuses to do it because Tandy loves her hair.

The next morning, Tandy wakes up, looks in the mirror and screams. Someone snuck into the room and chopped off all of her hair. She and Diane both think she’s behind it because her scissors were in the bed. They aren’t sure about her, but still agree to go to a party with her at Nightmare Hall. The voice tells her that it left the real tape in the off campus dorm.

Shea manages to find the tape, which was hidden in the VCR. She asks Diane about finding a VCR to watch it and she tells her to go the library. As soon as she puts it in, Diane shows up. It turns out that the tape shows Diane stealing the test. Apparently Sid taught Diane how to steal and cheat, instead of studying. Now he keeps threatening to turn her in if she tries to breakup with him. I guess she thinks he can prove that she cheated in school for years and at two different campuses.

Diane thinks Sid is behind the calls, but someone comes in and hits her over the head. Shea runs off and the voice follows. The voice finally steps out of the shadows and it’s Professor Stark! Frankly it’s kind of boring and makes no sense, but she’s crazy. Her mom bred into her that it wasn’t right to cheat and so she trapped her students. She hit her own head and then stalked Shea. She had her help her “punish” the bad students. Diane calls the cops and they arrive before Shea can get hurt.

The book ends with the whole group going out to dinner. Diane finally broke up with Sid and is now dating a new guy. Shea and Coop are a happy couple and Tandy has adjusted to her new short haircut. They have a new professor and Stark is getting the help she needs.