Part 138 (1/2)

”I was in bed,” she said flatly. ”Something woke me up. The music. I

thought it was the music. I couldn't really hear it, but I could feel

it. The ba.s.s vibrating. I tried to guess what the song was, and what

people were doing. I couldn't wait until I was old enough to stay up

for the parties. I heard something. Something,” she murmured, rubbing

an annoyed hand on the headache that was building behind her temple. ”I

don't know what. But I-footsteps,” she remembered abruptly,

and her heart began to thud against her ribs. ”I heard someone coming

down the hall. I wanted it to be Dad or Bev. I wanted them to talk to

me for a while. Maybe I could con them into letting me go downstairs.

But it wasn't Dad or Bev.”

”Easy.” He could see the sweat heading on her brow, and rubbed her hand

between both of his. ”Just take it slow.”

”Darren was crying. I heard him crying. I know it. It wasn't a dream.

I heard him crying. I got tip. Alice had told me not to take Charlie

in, but Darren liked to sleep with Charlie, and he was crying. I was

going to take Charlie into Darren and talk to him for a while until he

slept again. But the hall was dark.”

She looked around now, with the sunlight creeping into it from the

bedroom windows. ”It was dark, but it wasn't supposed to be. They

always left a light on for me. I'm so afraid of the dark. There are

things in the dark.”

”Things?” he repeated, his brows drawing together.

”I didn't want to go out in the hall, in the dark. But he kept crying.

I could hear the music now, as I stepped into the hall, into the dark.

It was loud, and I was frightened.”