#hear a huge boom walking home from dinner - it was half a tree falling on our neighbors' car

[fresh-bag-of-ham]

ok this is comically bad weather

[valentines-in-london]

I Need Fire (Part 18)

Authors Note:  Please I encourage you to listen to Send Her My Love by Journey while reading the beginning of this chapter followed by Faithfully by Journey, both songs were huge inspirations for this chapter!  I hope this chapter makes up for the last few!!  As always any and all feedback is more than welcome<3 Word Count: 3,898 Warnings: a bit of angst and fluff Taglist:   @freddiessmallnipples @triplehaitches @samanthadegaro @lauravic @oh-well1 @la-sorciere-fleur @anxious-diabetic @xdeath-soulx  @fanofnightz If you’d like to be added please let me know!

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Chapter 18 December 23rd

One week, seven days, one hundred and sixty eight hours, ten thousand and eighty minutes. That’s how long Tommy had been gone.  Rayne had tried everything to find out where he was, to no avail, so either he really was MIA or people were covering up for him.  She was sure Doc was covering up for him, he claimed to have no idea when she called. Nikki was out of his mind on drugs but claimed to have no idea.  It was frustrating and she was close to giving up.  Rayne had fallen asleep outside on the back patio night after night on one of the lounge chairs.  She would wrap herself in an oversized blanket and the brisk cool California air and the sound of waves swirled around her lulling her to sleep.

She’d been spending a lot of time outside for the past week, she felt such emptiness when she stayed in the house.  So she would choose the chill of the outside world, than the emptiness of the home she lived in.  It hurt too much to see the Christmas tree and the decorations around the house that they had put up when they first got back.  Rayne hadn’t even turned on any of the Christmas lights all month, which usually symbolized such joy for her.  To top it all off she wasn't even sure if her Christmas plans were still happening.  She and Tommy talked about hosting Christmas Eve dinner and Christmas dinner with his family at their new home.  She'd went out and bought all the food one day after work that week, she just hoped she had someone to feed it to.

There was some good news however, Rayne had gone to the doctor for a follow up and he said she was healing very well.  She could go back to taking baths and more strenuous exercise.  Rayne had gone to a kickboxing class every day since the check up.  It was practically therapy going to the classes, which is why she always loved kick boxing.  Her doctor also told her she could resume normal sexual activity which she did everything she could to not let out a laugh at that statement.  She couldn’t even if she wanted to.  But tonight she was going to go out and have fun.  Journey was playing a show at the Forum and she was always in love with Steve Perry’s voice.  Tommy and her had planned to go but since he was MIA she wasn’t going to miss out.

Rayne stood in front of the full length mirror in the bedroom.  She wore a ripped up black denim skirt, black stockings, a leopard print top with her signature leather jacket and boots.  Jo had always given her shit for liking Journey, saying that they were “corporate rock” whatever the hell that meant. And she knew she might look a bit out of place but she didn’t care.  With a few tweaks to her hair and makeup Rayne was ready to head over to LA for the night.

When she got to the Forum, Rayne made her way through the sea of people tailgating. She always loved the atmosphere of the tailgate, the energy was always buzzing with excitement of fans before they saw a band they loved.  Rayne headed to a bar down the street to grab a quick drink before show time. Of course since a show was in town was bar was booming.  Rayne made her way to the bar sliding in to order a whisky neat.  Once she paid for her drink she found a vacant space against a pillar.  It was at that moment that she saw Doc sitting in a booth with a guy Rayne did not recognize.  Doc locked eyes with her and waved her over.

“Hey Rayne, didn’t expect seeing you here.”  Doc smiled up at her.  As soon as she approached the table she could feel the other man's eyes on her.

“Yeah, I am going to the Journey show tonight and figured I’d grab a drink beforehand.” She replied looking over to the man in the booth, he was awfully handsome.  Rayne extended her hand to him.  “Hi by the way, I’m Rayne.”

The man took her hand and flashed a million dollar smile.  “I’m Jon, nice to meet you Rayne.”

“Take a seat Rayne.”  Doc offered.

“Oh I don’t want to impose.”

“You’re not, please sit.”  Doc encouraged and Rayne took a seat across from Doc and next to Jon.  “Jon’s a new signing of mine and his band is about to do some press and shows over in Japan so we made a stop in LA, he’s from the east coast.  Which you’re from also right Rayne?���

“Yeah I’m from Jersey.”

“No shit so am I.”  Jon smiled turning in the booth to face her.

“Really? Huh, small world.”  Rayne chuckled.  She was about to ask him where in New Jersey he grew up but Doc quickly spoke up.

“Is Tommy with you?”  Doc interjected. Snapping Rayne out of whatever was going on with her and Jon.

“No.” Rayne sighed.  “He’s still no where to be found.  I kinda thought you might have been covering for him.”

“I’m not, I honestly have no idea.”  Doc said honestly.  Rayne shook her head, how could Doc not even know where he was?  Rayne simply finished her glass of whisky before pushing it to the center of the table.

“Well it was good seeing you, I’m going to head back I want to catch Bryan Adams, he’s opening and I’ve heard good things.”  Rayne smiled pushing herself out of the booth.  “It was nice meeting you Jon, good luck with everything.”

“Bye.” Jon said softly watching as Rayne made her way through the crowd of people and out of the bar.

What she had heard was true Bryan Adams.  He definitely wasn’t as hard rocking as what Rayne usually liked but his lyrics were amazing and his energy as a solo artist was great.  You could tell that he was still learning about himself on stage and commanding a large crowd, but he had incredible potential. Once he had left the stage Rayne walked up to the concession stands to grab a beer, not her favorite but it would do.  When she returned to her aisle seat the lights went down and the crowd erupted.

When Journey came on she was transfixed, they were just absolutely incredible musicians and Steve Perry’s voice soared throughout the arena.

Early on in the set the keyboard notes of one of Rayne’s favorite songs off the new record started emitting an excited squeal from her.

It's been so long Since I've seen her face You say she's doing fine

Rayne sang along to the words loving hearing the crowd sing the words back to the band. She hoped one day that would be what Motley Crue received every night on stage.  They had been the opener for the tour with Ozzy and the crowds knew some of their more popular songs but she knew one day they’d be the headliner and the crowd would drown them out during every song.

I still recall A sad cafe How it hurt so bad to see her cry I didn't want to say good-bye

There was something about the way Steve sung the lyrics that night, it went straight to her heart.  She felt the tears start to sting, it all just hit too close to home.

Send her my love, memories remain Send her my love, roses never fade Send her my love

The same hotel, the same old room I'm on the road again She needed so much more Than I could give

Rayne almost jumped out of her skin when she felt someone grab her hand.  She turned ready to punch whoever it was that thought they could grab her. But was shocked as hell to see Tommy standing sheepishly next to her.

We knew our love could not pretend Broken hearts can always mend

Half of her was elated, and the other half was seething.  Did he seriously think he could just show back up and be affectionate?  Rayne unlaced their fingers and watched as Tommy silently mouthed, “I’m sorry.”  She didn’t respond, simply turned her attention to the stage and the electrifying band on it.

The last song before the encore that night was Faithfully, and honestly the lyrics and song were completely too much for Rayne, halfway through the song she pushed past Tommy and began climbing the stairs up to the concourse.  Rayne kept her head down, her hands furiously wiping tears away from her cheeks.

“Rayne! Rayne wait!”  She nearly stilled at the sound of Tommy’s voice but kept moving through the arena.  She was forced to stop walking when Tommy grabbed her hand and spun her towards him.  “Rayne, hear me out.”

“What’s there to hear Tommy?”  Rayne raised her voice.  “You bail on me for a week and then you just fucking show up here and act like everything is okay?”

Slipping her hand out of his grasp Rayne turned on her heel and walked towards one of the arena doors.  The crisp December air was a welcome feeling against her hot skin.  “Rayne!  I’m not trying to act like everything is okay.  Just, talk to me!”

“I’m going home.”  Rayne said as she reached her car.  “So if you want to talk, that’s where I’ll be.  If you can even remember how to get there.”

Tommy opened the passenger side door and slipped into the seat causing Rayne to lean down inside the car looking at him in shock, “What the hell are you doing?”

“I’m going home with you.”  Tommy said simply.  Rayne sighed getting behind the wheel.

“I’m not saying a word until we get home.  You just fucked with me seeing a band I really love.”  Rayne said pointedly at Tommy turning the key in the ignition and cranking up the volume on her cassette player.  Malibu wasn’t extremely close to Los Angeles and Rayne was seething behind the wheel.  Eventually they pulled into the driveway and Rayne turned the car off and silently walked into her home with Tommy falling behind her.  Rayne put her bag down on the kitchen counter and turned to Tommy, “You wanted to talk.  So talk.”

“Rayne, I’m sorry.  I completely reacted the wrong way.  I should never have left that day, and I should’ve come back before tonight. I just, I didn’t know what to do, or what to say.”  Tommy admitted.  “So I’ll start with the beginning.”

Rayne crossed her arms and was all ears.

“When you told me about the baby, everything in my brain started to misfire.  It was a lot to take in, I was excited to think we were pregnant, and then to hear that we lost the baby was heartbreaking. And then it was earth shattering to hear that you thought you had to bear the grief on your own to not hurt me.”  Tommy’s words were coming out rapid fire, Rayne knew he was nervous.  “I could only imagine what you were going through.  And it made complete sense why you pulled away. But on top of all of that, I was still hurt.”

“You shouted at me Tommy.”  Rayne said sadly.  “You have never raised your voice to me the entire time we’ve been together.”

“I regret that as much as disappearing.  I never should have done that, there’s no excuse for that.  No matter how angry or hurt I was feeling, I should never have raised my voice.  That’s not me.”

Rayne heavily sighed and looked down to the floor.  “Where do we go from here?”

“We talk about how we’re feeling.  What happened is no small thing baby.  And this is the first time either of us have been able to talk about it with a cool head.”

“You hurt me Tommy.  Do you remember what you said to me before you walked out?”  Rayne couldn’t even look at him.

“I-I’m sorry I don’t.”  Tommy said sadly.

“You said ‘it looks like you failed at that too,’ and you know that cuts me to the bone. When we talked about a family I told you my biggest fear would be that I would fail them.  And I was already beating myself up about doing exactly that.  So for you to say that to me…” Rayne began to get choked up.  “It broke my heart Tommy.”

“Baby, I’m so sorry.  I shouldn’t have said that.  Even in anger that is below the belt.”  Tommy apologized.  “How can we fix this?  I know we can get through this as long as we’re together.”

Rayne looked up at Tommy with tears in her eyes, “Just get over here and hold me.”

Tommy let out a sigh he didn’t know he had been holding and rushed toward Rayne and tightly wrapped his arms around her, lifting her ever so slightly off the ground.  Rayne wrapped her hands around Tommy’s neck burying her face in his hair, breathing in his scent. Tommy whispered in her ear, “I missed you so much baby.  I love you.  I love you so much.”

Smiling softly Rayne began to cry.  It felt so good simply to have his arms wrapped around her.  It was the first time since the accident that they had really touched or showed any physical affection to the other. “I’m so sorry Tommy.”

“What? Baby you have nothing to be sorry for.”  Tommy pulled his head back in order to look at Rayne.  Rayne just nodded her head.

“I do, I’m sorry I didn’t tell you.  I should have.  And I’m so sorry I was caught up with the craziness of life and completely unaware of the fact that I was pregnant.  If I’d have know I’d have been more cautious.”  

“No, baby. No.  Do not apologize for any of that.  You had no idea, and I think for anyone, not actively trying, that is probably normal to not know.  Maybe we just have to trust in that everything does happen for a reason.” Tommy said softly, gently caressing Rayne’s face.  “You are perfect, and you’re going to be a great mom, when the time is right. And I’m here for you Rayne, truly, I am here.”

Smiling softly at his words Rayne leaned in a kissed his lips tentatively. "I've been an emotional wreck for weeks Tommy.  Just because you and I are alright it doesn't change that fact."

"I'm here for you baby, no matter what.  My only ask is don't hide what you're going through from me.  If you're hit with a wave of sadness I want you to come to me for support okay?"  Rayne nodded her head.  "I'll always be here to support you baby."

Rayne knew he was telling the truth.  She knew he would support her through not only the emotions that may come up but also through life in general.  Happy that they put that on the table Rayne asked another question that had been bugging her all week.  “Where exactly did you go anyway?”

“I crashed at Mick’s house much to his dismay.”  Tommy gave a light chuckle.

“Oh I’m sure he absolutely loved that.”

“I got a lot of shit thrown at me all week.”  Tommy nodded.  “So am I forgiven?”

“Am I forgiven?”  Rayne asked for herself.

“There’s nothing to forgive baby.”  Tommy kissed her.

“Ditto.” Rayne smiled.  “Can we go to bed now?  I’m exhausted.”

Holding his hand out for her to take Rayne gladly did and allowed Tommy to lead her upstairs to bed.  Tommy took off his shirt as Rayne walked into the bathroom to take her makeup off and wash her face. Rayne looked at herself in the mirror to see she looked like a hot mess, mascara stains had run down her cheeks from her tears.  “Jeeze Tommy, you could’ve told me I looked insane.”

“You don’t look insane, you look beautiful.”  Tommy spoke from the bedroom.  Rayne popped her head out of the bathroom to look at him.

“I love you babe, but I look like a crazy person.”  Rayne chuckled taking a makeup wipe to her face and walking back into the bathroom.  After washing her face, moisturizing her skin and pulling her hair up in a pony tail Rayne padded into the bedroom.  She opened one of her drawers and grabbed an oversized t-shirt. She walked over to the bed, throwing the t-shirt on the mattress and began to undress.  Of course Tommy rolled over on his side to admire his girlfriend.

“You are truly the most beautiful woman in the world.”  Tommy said softly just before Rayne took off her bra, she playfully threw it at him.  Grabbing it from the air Tommy smiled, “What?  It’s true!”

Slipping her t-shirt over her head Rayne placed her clothes in the laundry basket. When she walked back to the bed Tommy threw the comforter and sheets down for Rayne to slip under. Rayne turned off the light next to the bed and slipped under the sheets, immediately Tommy wrapped his arms around Rayne pulling her close.  He was home, not only in his physical home, Rayne was also his home.  “It’s good to be home.”

“It’s good to have you home.  Goodnight Tommy.”  Rayne gave Tommy’s arm a squeeze.

“Goodnight baby.”

The next day Rayne woke up to the smell of something cooking in the kitchen. She rolled over to wake Tommy up only to be greeted with cold sheets.  She sat up in bed rubbing the sleep from her eyes before pushing the covers off her to go downstairs.  What she saw in the kitchen shocked her.  Tommy was standing over the stove cooking, actually cooking.  "What are you making?"

Startled Tommy turned to look at Rayne.  "Well you're always feeding me so I wanted to treat you to some french toast."

"Tommy it smells amazing."  Rayne said appreciatively taking a deep breath in.  "Since when do you cook?"

"I mean, I wouldn't consider following the receipe anything special but my mom taught me a few things in the kitchen."  He grinned shyly.  "And besides I know you're going to be cooking a lot today, which I'll also gladly help with.  But I figured one thing you didn't have to worry about would be helpful. Now sit down."

Rayne smiled at the gentle command and took a seat at the kitchen table watching Tommy work his magic.  The food did really smell amazing and she hadn't eaten french toast in forever.  "So everything is still going as planned for tonight and tomorrow?"

"Yeah. My mom is so excited to see you and the house and have your cooking."  Tommy said enthusiastically while bringing a plate over setting it in front of Rayne.  He then quickly returned back with a cup of coffee.

"Well I'm glad I did my shopping this week.  I didn't know what would be happening, what with everything that was happening."  Rayne teased Tommy, he took it well.  "Anyway I hope you like seafood because there's going to be lots of it tonight."

Rayne's grandmother had passed down many Italian traditions to her, one of the ones the older woman was most passionate about was the Christmas Eve meal of the seven fishes.  She had never really had the opportunity to do it on her own because it was usually just her and Jo, and Jo wasn't much a fan of seafood.

"I love me some seafood and anything that you cook.  You know my mother is going to be flying around trying to help you right?"

“And I will gladly welcome the help.”  Rayne took a sip of her coffee.  “Also I’m just saying, if your cooking for other things is as good as your French toast, I’m gonna have to go to have to work harder at kickboxing class. Because food this good will make me fat.”

Tommy laughed and took a bite of French toast for himself.  “I’m glad you like it.  You always cook so much for me, I figured it was only right to return the favor.”

Rayne simply tapped her index finger against her pursed lips and Tommy happily pushed his chair back and leaned over the table to kiss Rayne’s lips.  She tasted like maple syrup and cinnamon she was sugar and spice incarnate.  When Tommy pulled away from her lips he couldn’t help how his heart soared. She was his person, she was his forever.  He stood up straight and started to make his way up the stairs.  Rayne called after him playfully, “Tommy where are you going?”

“Just, stay. Right there.”  Tommy said enthusiastically as he disappeared into their bedroom.  Shrugging her shoulders Rayne took one last bite of French toast before pushing the dish away from her and grabbing a strawberry to nibble on.  Rayne heard him shuffling around before he rushed back down the steps until he stood tall in front of Rayne.

“Tommy, what are y…” she couldn’t even finish her sentence Tommy was down on one knee.

“Rayne Sykes, I love you more than I’ve ever loved anything in my whole life.  You make me so happy, and if you’ll allow me I’ll spend my entire life trying to make you as happy as you make me. Everything good that has happened to me and all the good that is yet to come, it all means nothing unless you are right next to me to experience for it.  I wanted to propose at the perfect moment, I wanted everything to be perfect.  But what I was blind to was that every moment with you is perfection.”  Tommy spoke with a heartfelt passion and pulled out a red velvet box opening it to reveal a sparkling diamond ring.  Rayne gasped when she saw it.  “Rayne Sykes, will you marry me?”

Rayne was genuinely shocked.  She knew Tommy had wanted to propose to her the night of the accident, but she didn’t expect him to choose this moment to do it.  His words were beautiful and from the heart, everything Tommy did was from the heart.  She didn’t know what she did to deserve the man kneeling in front of her but she would be happy to be his forever, and she would be happy to have him forever. Rayne began to frantically nod her head smiling wide before she happily replied, “Yes.”

Tommy took the ring out of the box and slipped it onto Rayne’s ring finger before standing up smiling down at her.  Rayne stood up and onto her tippy toes to bring her lips to Tommy’s. Pulling away she looked down at the sparkling ring on her finger which the diamond itself was large but the band was also completely adorned with smaller diamonds.  It was just completely stunning.  “Do you like it?”

“Tommy it’s beautiful.”  Rayne exclaimed breathlessly before meeting his gaze and giggling.  “Holy shit, did we just get engaged?”

“We’re engaged baby.”  Tommy smiled leaning in to kiss Rayne once more.

It was not how Rayne expected the day to begin, but it was a welcomed surprise.  She knew she had to shower and get ready for the day and Tommy’s family but right now she wanted to stay in this little bubble that was just the two of them as long as she possibly could.

Take me to the next chapter....

---

Did I make up for making you all suffer the last few chapters?  It’s not the end of angst in this story but for now we’ll live in the bubble of happiness.  Did you listen to the songs while reading?  What did you think?  Any favorite parts of this chapter?  Anything you’d like to see moving forward?  Let me know!

[redditnosleep]

Do Not Pass Go, Do Not Collect $200, and Whatever You Do, Do Not Let Her Inside

by AllDreamNoDrive

I walked through death on my way to Cam’s house.

Above me, skeletal trees lined the road, reaching their crooked branches towards the dark, wet sky. Their green leaves had already turned red, then yellow, before falling about the street in piles. It was almost winter. Whatever the wind hadn’t blown away rotted on the sidewalk, squishing under my sneakers.

I pulled my jacket over my head. We had some nasty weather recently, but this was by far the worst. The kind of night that caused accidents, flooded rivers and threw trees onto telephone wires. There was no doubt in my mind— bad things happened on nights like these.

Thankfully, Cam only lived seven houses down from mine. I knocked on his front door.

A few seconds later, I heard his muffled voice on the other side. “Who is it?”

“Uh, it’s Matt,” I said. “Open the door! It’s freezing out here.”

The lock clicked and the door swung wide, revealing Cam’s apologetic face. “Sorry,” he said, “I guess our neighbor saw somebody prowling around the neighborhood. My mom’s freaked. She’s making me ask ‘who is it’ every time somebody comes to the door. So annoying.”

“How do you guys have a mail slot but not a spy hole?”

“I dunno, it’s retarded. C’mon, I’m almost done setting up.”

Inside, a Monopoly board lay open on the dining room table, stacks of multicolor banknotes stuffed under the edges. I could smell melted cheese coming from the steaming pizza box on the counter. Rain pitter-pattered on the kitchen skylight. Cam’s mom hurried around the house, late for her work function. Between fixing earrings and stumbling into her shoes, she thanked me for coming over and told us not to do anything stupid. “And make sure the doors and windows are locked,” she said before leaving. “You know Delores saw a strange person standing in her front yard last week.”

“Yeah well, Mrs. Delores believes in mermaids, Mom!” Cam shouted towards the back door. He waited for the mechanic hum of the garage door shutting. “I think my mom’s been watching too much Criminal Minds,” he said. “She even tried calling my sister’s friend to come babysit.”

“... Katie?” I asked, hopefully.

“Really?” Cam rolled his eyes. “One: she’s way older than you, and two: she didn’t answer anyways.” We sat down at the table. “I mean, we’re thirteen. Not like we need protecting, right?”

I shrugged. “I’m ok with it. Especially if it’s Katie.”

Cam shook his head. “Gross dude. Delores is actually crazy though,” he added. “I bring in her garbage can every week. Once she told me that her grandma is a bloodsucking alien.” He chuckled and dumped out a bunch of silver tokens on the table. “Let me guess. You’re gonna be the thimble.”

“Got me,” I said, grabbing the piece and placing it on the board.

As Cam sifted through the pile of tokens, I looked around at the walls around the kitchen. Several huge Alaskan crabs were pinned up on plaques, arms outstretched like giant armored spiders. I always thought it was kind of bizarre, but Cam’s dad was a career fisherman and liked his trophies. My attention returned to the table as Cam slammed down the silver scottie dog token onto the board. He crossed his eyes. “Toto, I don’t think we’re in Kansas anymore,” he said in a mock Dorothy voice.

It was about an hour after we started playing and the game was heating up. Cam had just landed in jail, when somebody knocked on the front door. It wasn’t a normal knock. More like a heavy pounding— slow, calculated. From where I was sitting at the dining room table, I could see the door. The knock came again.

Boom. Boom. Boom.

Me and Cam looked at each other with wide eyes. We thought it was the cops.

But after a few seconds and still nobody called Police!, we got up hesitantly and tiptoed towards the door. Cam put his ear against the wood and listened. He must not have heard much of anything, because a moment later he asked, “Who is it?” Pause.

“It’s me,” came the eerie voice from the other side.

If our eyes were wide before, now they were dinner plates. Me and Cam just looked at each other, unsure of what to do. “Who?” Cam asked again, shakily.

“It’s me. Your mom. Open the door.”

The voice was strange and halting. Like the body it belonged to hadn’t breathed enough air to speak, but still tore the words from their lungs. I couldn’t even tell if it was actually a woman. For that matter, I couldn’t even tell if it was... human. Whoever was on the other side of the door, it wasn’t Cam’s mom.

Cam backed away from the door. “You’re not my mom.”

“Yes. Yes I am. Open up.” The door handle wriggled.

I put a hand to my chest— my heart was thumping a million miles a minute. By the sound of Cam’s voice, so was his. He spoke loudly, trying to hide the tremble in his words. “Go away. You better leave now, we’re calling the cops!”

We stood there, still as statues. Silence.

“Check the window,” Cam hissed, after a few minutes.

I looked at him bug eyed. “You go check the window!”

“I can’t hear anything. I think she’s gone. Go check.” Cam gave me a little shove. “Don’t be a pussy,” he added.

I slapped away his hand and gave him a scathing look, but still got down on my hands and knees, crawling towards the bay window. The wooden floor felt cold on my palms. As I neared the window, Cam flicked off the lights. Reaching up, I pulled aside a corner of the pale muslin curtain and peeked outside… at first, I didn’t notice anything.

But then—

There, at the corner of the driveway. A figure. Barely illuminated by the yellow glow of the light above the garage. It stood so still that I almost mistook it for a shadow. I squinted, but the harder I looked, the more its shape seemed to waver in the rain. I couldn’t see a face, but I could just make out a mess of long, black hair. All of the sudden, it turned around and walked away.

“See anyone?” Cam whispered. He had crept up to the window.

“Somebody at the end of your driveway. They walked down that way.”

“Fricken’ wierdos in this neighborhood, I swear.”

“We should call the cops,” I said. I was honestly shaken.

Cam protested immediately. “No way. It was probably nothing,” he said, trying to brush it off. “The cops would come, ask a bunch of questions, call my mom. Can you imagine? She wouldn’t let me leave the house for the rest of the year. Besides, it was just a joke— did you hear that voice? Think about it. Nobody talks like that.”

“Yeah, exactly. You were scared too.”

“What, do you think it was… a zombie? A phantom?” Cam stretched his arms and pretended to be a ghost. “OooOOooooO… let me in child, I must suck on your brain!” He laughed. “Don’t be dumb. Let’s finish the game. I just bought Boardwalk. I bet you just don’t wanna play ‘cause you know you’re gonna lose.”

Well, he was partly right. I really hated losing.

Soon enough, we were back into Monopoly and had nearly forgotten about the whole incident. Still, I kept peeking at the door, half expecting to hear the loud knocks at any minute… but they never came again. Towards the end of the game, I was pretty much convinced that the person I saw was just another neighborhood prankster.

As it turns out, I ended up winning. Cam was livid. The entire time we spent putting the game back into the box, he couldn’t stop talking about how “cheap and unfair” it was. I just laughed. We were just about to fold up the board, when I happened to glance at the front door again—

And dropped everything I was holding. I stumbled back into the table.

“What is it?” I heard Cam ask, urgently. He sounded far away.

A set of scrawny fingers had opened the mail slot in Cam’s front door. They rested on the inside, holding ajar the small brass cover. Through the tiny rectangular slot, a face looked into the house. It was smiling. It was looking straight at me.

I tried to scream but the sound caught deep in my throat. I flailed a pointing finger towards the door. Cam rushed over, just in time to see the face and fingers retreat out of the mail slot. He ran over to the window and peeked outside. I crawled into the kitchen and hid behind the countertop. A moment later Cam crouched next to me.

“Ok, that was really creepy,” he said. “I didn’t see anyone out there.”

“I’m calling the police, Cam.”

“Yeah, alright. Yeah. Good idea. You call, my phone made it into the laundry, remember? ”

I pulled out my phone and put it on speaker. It rang twice before the operator picked up.

911, what is your emergency?

I talked as fast as I could. “Hi, um, we think somebody is trying to break into the house, we’re alone, can you send somebody quick?”

Who is in the home with you?

“It’s just me and my friend Cam, it’s his house, we’re both thirteen, his parents are out working, can you hurry please?”

Are you at 1408 Berryrock Road?

I looked at Cam. “Yeah, that’s it,” he said out loud.

Ok. I’m going to give you some directions, please listen very carefully. Are the doors and all the windows locked?

“Yes, we think so,” I said.

Ok. Unlock the front door.

I hesitated. This seemed like an odd request. Cam gave me a quizzical look. “Um, what?” I asked, tentatively.

Unlock the front door.

Cam piped up. “What? No way, I don’t see any cop lights out there yet. We’re not gonna do that.”

Do it. Open the door.

“Who is this?” Cam demanded. “We called 911, who is this?”

It’s me. It’s your mother. Open up now, sweetie. Open the door.

I smashed my phone against the floor and threw it over the counter. I’m not ashamed to say I felt like crying. What was going on? I was sure I dialed 911. How was this possible? Cam rubbed his face in his hands. He was just as rattled. “Ok, ok, ok. What do we do, what do we do?” he said to himself.

“When is your mom supposed to get back?” I asked.

“I dunno, I dunno… she said late. What is happening? I am seriously freaked out right now.”

“What about your dad’s gun cabinet?”

“It’s locked. I don’t know where the key is. He hides it somewhere. We could look for it in his room…” Cam wrinkled his brow and looked around. “Hey, do you hear that?”

“Huh?” I held my breath and listened. The wind blowing, creaking the beams of the house. The throbbing, heavy rain. And something else, slightly louder. A slow tapping. Sharp, like a fingernail against glass. It came from the ceiling. I looked up.

Above us, a woman crouched over the skylight, face against the glass. At least, I think it was a woman. Her black hair lay splayed out, writhing across the window. Her cheeks gaunt, eyes sunken far back into her skull. Her fingers tapped on the window. She smiled. She licked the glass. She didn’t look real. I thought I was hallucinating.

But Cam saw her too. He screamed.

The next thing I knew, we were running down Cam’s hallway. We burst into his room, slamming and locking the door behind us. I was trying to calm my breath. I could feel my asthma acting up and I didn’t bring my inhaler. Cam started pacing back and forth. “Holy shit, holy shit, holy shit,” he said, over and over again. “Oh my god.”

We barely had time to catch our breath before we heard the tapping again. Closer this time. On Cam’s bedroom window. The blinds were closed, but somehow she still knew we were in there. Tap, tap, tap, tap. Lightning flashed outside. For a second, her grotesque silhouette spread across the window.

“Here.” Cam was pushing something into my hands. A bat. “We need to get away from the windows,” he said. He was holding a knife, the blade gleaming red in the light of his oozing lava lamp. “Hurry!”

Cam ran into the hallway. I followed him into the bathroom at the end of the hall. It didn’t have any windows. He turned off the light and locked the door. We both crouched in the long tub, hiding behind the curtain. The baseball bat shook in my grip.

“I don’t think she can get inside unless we let her,” Cam said. “Right? Otherwise she would’ve already broken through window, right?”

I nodded numbly— I couldn’t say anything. I was too scared. But I hoped he was right. At least we couldn’t hear the tapping anymore.

For a long while we crouched there. I don’t know exactly how long. It’s hard to get a sense of time, when you’re terrified and all you have to count is your breath. It could’ve been minutes or hours, but at some point, we heard the front door creak open and swing shut. Slowly.

Footsteps throughout the house. Cam and I tried to be quiet, tried to slow our breathing. The footsteps came closer, and closer, until they stopped right outside the bathroom. The door jiggled. A moment later, the lock clicked. I held the baseball bat as tight as I could. The light flicked on.

“Cameron?” came a female voice.

I got ready to swing. My muscles tensed. Cam raised his knife.

A hand pulled aside the shower curtain.

It was Katie.

We almost beat up Katie.

“Jesus!” she shouted, taking a step back. “Holy shit, are you guys ok? What’s going on?”

“Katie,” Cam said frantically, “how did you get in? Did you lock the door? Please tell me you locked the door!”

“Calm down, I locked the door. I used the key your mom gave me. Sorry, she left a voicemail asking me to keep an eye on you tonight. I just got it and came over to check. What’s the matter? Your neighbor said that she heard screaming.”

“Oh my god, somebody’s been trying to break in, we called the cops but…” Cam began to say, before pausing. “Wait, our neighbor heard us screaming? Which neighbor?”

“Your new neighbor. She was standing outside when I pulled up. Came over to check on you too.”

“Wait Katie, wait. Our new neighbor? We’ve had the same neighbors since I was six.”

“Oh, really? You should ask her yourself then.” Katie opened the bathroom door completely and looked out into the hallway. She seemed confused.

“Hmm, that’s strange,” Katie said, “she was just behind me…”