Page 38 of Willowbrooke
Where was he?
It was getting dark out, and he’d been gone for hours.
Holding the journal tightly, I ventured out of the library, back into the living room. “Val?” I called, but nobody responded. It would have been unlike her to stay on that late anyway. But if Val was gone, that meant I was alone in the house.
Feeling suddenly exposed, as if the house knew I was aware of some long-forgotten secrets that nobody was meant to discover, I double-checked that the front door was locked before sprinting up to the pink room and locking myselfinside.
I texted Leo, telling him I was worried about him and that I needed to talk to him. I hoped that when he turned his phone on again, he’d see the text and get ahold of me.
Sitting in the room by myself, every noise, every shadow, every movement out of the corner of my eye unnerved me. Even with the new sheets, rearranged floor plan, and different smell, thanks to the newly sealed flooring, the room still felt off. But I didn’t know where else to go.
Well, there was one other place, but if Leo found me in his room uninvited, even if I felt safer there…I didn’t want another reaction like what had happened when he’d discovered me in the solarium. It wasn’t worth the potential respite.
I turned off the lights, thinking that maybe if I couldn’t see anything, it would calm my nerves. And perhaps it worked a little too well. Coming down from the adrenaline, I fell fast asleep, clutching the journal to my chest.
CHAPTER 8
Shadows
Iawoke with a start; it was still dark outside.
Briefly, I wondered if the regular 2:13 a.m. thump had jostled me from sleep, or perhaps Leo had finally returned home and forgotten that any noise he made in the kitchen echoed throughout the house like a cavern.
But then I heard what had pulled me from slumber. The scraping noises had returned, and they were coming from the corner of the room where a dark shadow loomed. Feeling my heart racing, I panicked, trying to figure out what to do.
I could run.
I could yell.
I could throw something at theshadow.
I ran through a list of items before realizing that something was missing.
The journal.
I knew I’d gone to sleep with it, but it was gone.
I patted around the bed, but there was nothing.
It could have fallen on the ground, but if a small scratching noise had woken me up, I assumed the thud of the journal on the hardwood would have as well.
The scratching continued, and I began to feel lightheaded as hyperventilation sunk in.
So I made the choice to run.
And I ran fast.
Skittering down the stairs, I almost ran straight into Leo, who was just as alarmed with my sudden appearance as I was to see him.
“Where were you!?” I cried; the terror of the shadow figure in the corner was still seeping into me.
“Whoa—slow down—what happened?”
“There was someone—something in my room.” I shuddered.
Leo’s face paled.
“It’s okay—I’ll check it out.” He darted into the kitchen and grabbed a large knife from the butcher block. “You want to stay down here?” he asked, trying to stay calm, despite the tremble to his voice.
