Summer of Night (Seasons of Horror, #1)

by Dan Simmons

Old Central School still stood upright, holding its secrets and silences firmly within.

First line

Nothing was as simple as stupid people assumed it to be. Duane wondered if this was a basic law of the universe. If so, it made him tired to think of all the years ahead of him trying to unlearn before he could begin learning.

The priest called them metaphors; Mike called it dodging the question.

some sort of mechanical muscle-relaxer thing,

Totally a vibrator lol