“I don’t know, Stassi.”
Her head lifted when I answered her question.
“I don’t know why I don’t like him. I don’t know him. There’s something about him. It just . . . I can’t figure it out.”
I picked up the ice cream and spoon and scooped out one more bite before I replaced the lid. I began walking back toward the freezer.
“Do you trust me?” she asked.
“Of course I do.” I turned around to face my daughter.
“Then you’ll believe me when I say, he’s an okay guy?”
She put on her puppy dog face.
I breathed in and smiled. “I guess.”
I returned the ice cream to the freezer and walked back over near Stassi.
“Well, you know what I’m going to ask,” I stated.
“We’re going to the small taco joint in town and I’ll be home around nine.”
I looked down at my watch. It was 5:30.
“Okay.”
Stassi ran over toward me and embraced me in a short-lived hug before the doorbell rang. I followed behind Stassi as she went to get it. She opened the door without hesitation and standing on my front step was Jeremy. He smiled when he saw Stassi. The smile continued as he darted his eyes to meet mine.
As soon as the smile dissipated from his lips, a door across the street slammed shut. I quickly looked up, desperately trying to figure out who resided in that house. The house. It looked just as it had this morning when I watched it while I drank my morning cup of coffee. There was no one there. There was nothing happening.
My heart was rattling within the confines of my chest.
“Mom?” Her voice pulled me back into reality.
I looked at Stassi. She was smiling. He had his hand at the small of her back and was watching me intently.
“I’ll be back around nine, okay?”
She stepped toward me and placed a small peck on my cheek before turning around and walking toward Jeremy’s car. I looked at him. He winked and smiled then turned to face the same direction as Stassi.
He opened the passenger side door for her and watched her get in before he shut the door. He walked over to his side of the car and after giving me that haunting wave, drove down the street.
• • •
The thumping started off quietly. It slowly began growing louder as I turned the page of the book in my lap. When the music got as loud as I thought it possibly could, my ears started rattling and my body began to ache. I closed my eyes as I shut the book, my head throbbing from the sound. I stood from the couch and walked toward the front window. I peeked through the blinds and saw complete darkness outside.
The air was still and there was an emptiness to the street in my view. The music was sounding into the quiet night. It was coming from the house.
That house.
I watched for shadows, for movement, for anything to come into view. Of course, there was nothing. No one.
I quickly shut the blinds and was about to walk to the front door and go outside when I stopped. Stopped by the stillness, darkness in my own home. The lamp in the living room had been on. That’s how I’d been able to read the book that lay on the couch where I left it. The stove light had been on as well. But now the kitchen was pitch black too.
The idea of loneliness threatened to consume my thoughts. I was alone. Except for Tux. He was here. Somewhere. I yelped when I felt something wet touch my shin. I quickly covered my open mouth and looked down. Tux was sitting next to my legs, tail wagging. He licked my leg again. I removed my shaking hand from my face and bent down to pet him. Air refilled my lungs as I stood back up.
I dug into my pocket to find my cell phone. I turned on the flashlight and made my way down to the basement just as I had the night before. I flipped the breaker and walked back up the stairs. The lights were still off. The music was softening, but it was still playing.
A door creaked open inside of my house, near where I stood, before slamming shut. It sounded like it could have been the front door. My heart almost jumped out of my chest. I stood still. My body was numb and I felt as if my feet were too heavy to be lifted from the floor.
“Mom?!”
A calmness swept over my body.
“Mom?”
The music cut off as Stassi called out my name yet again. I swallowed the spit that had built in my mouth. Tux ran past me with Stassi close behind him.
“What are you doing?” Her voice sounded less strained than it had seconds before.
“Did you hear the music?” My voice was quivering.
Stassi’s brows furrowed. She looked me over once before speaking.
“What are you talking about, Mom?”
“The music coming from the house across the street?” I was breathing heavily. The words barely escaped my lips.
Stassi turned and looked toward the window then back toward me and placed her hand on my shoulder.
“Are you okay, Mom?”
“Did you hear it?” I asked more sternly this time. The words came out more clearly, less garbled.
She removed her hand from my shoulder. “No. Mom, there was no music coming from that house. I’m pretty sure no one lives there.” Stassi began looking around. “Why are you standing here in the dark?”
“The breaker flipped.”
“Did you go check it downstairs?” she asked.
“Yeah. I flipped it back.” I crossed my arms and shuddered. A coldness skated across my skin.
“Well, wouldn’t the lights have turned back on then?” Stassi began walking toward the living room. She looked down at the book on the couch. “Were you in here?”
“Yeah, I had the lamp on.”
Stassi’s thin fingers reached under the lamp shade and pulled on the string. Soft light filled the room. She turned to face me. Her eyes questioned the validity of what I had just told her.
“The lamp was on.”
I knew it had been.
“It was on . . .” I whispered to myself.
Stassi simply shrugged. “Okay, Mom.”
She bent down and picked up Tux. She walked over to the couch and sat down, Tux happy in her lap. I moved my heavy feet to join her.
“How was your date?” I asked, changing the subject.
“Date?” A smile grew on her lips.
“Isn’t that what it was or do you kids call it something else these days?”
“It was just dinner . . . for now . . .” Stassi blushed.
“Oh. Okay.” I couldn’t help but smile along with her. I didn’t want to press the issue.
I sat back into the cushions of the couch, petting Tux as he sat content in Stassi’s lap. I furrowed my brows, wondering if I had just made up the tunes that had entered my home.
The music began softly playing again. I looked over at Stassi. There was a small smile sitting on her lips, but it was like she wasn’t hearing anything at all.
“Do you hear that?” My words were barely audible.
• • •
The creaking outside of my room woke me again. I rolled over and forced my heavy eyelids open. My whole body felt like it was stuck to the cool sheets of my bed.
3:07 am.
I closed my eyes and breathed in a deep breath then sat up and rubbed my eyes. The hall light was on. I continued staring at the light as it seeped beneath the bottom of my door and the floor. The shadow ran across the gap again. I couldn’t jump out of my bed fast enough. I swung the door open and ran into the hallway. Into darkness. The hall light wasn’t on.