Page 32 of Ghosts of Halloween

I shudder with relief when there’s nothing, only cobwebs and a broken lamp hanging precariously on its cable. As I look up, waves of relief coursing through me, something cold and wet presses to my knee and slides up my thigh.

I shriek and jump away, looking around at the floor, but again, I can’t see anything.

What is going on?!

I need a weapon. I try to spot where my frying pan went, but it’s nowhere to be seen, and the best I can do is an empty beer bottle. I pick it up, eyes glancing nervously around, trying to see everything around me at once.

I want to stand with my back to the wall, but what if whatever is here corners me? I look left and right, eyes searching for movement, ears trying to hear past my terrified breathing.

Silence. Nothing moves.

Eerie, distorted laughter drifts in from another room. I look in that direction, whimpering from fear. The sound’s getting closer.

I don’t wait for whatever it is to reach me. I turn around and run in the opposite direction, flying through the dark house. Something brushes over my cheek, probably a cobweb, but I’m so crazy with fear, I cry out, sobbing.

I should have never come here.

As soon as I go through a door, it slams shut behind me, and I shriek, tearing ahead in frantic terror. Stairs! I take them, going up two steps at a time, my mind drawn to the memory of light from the room upstairs. Light means safety.

The stairs thud and creak under my feet, and before I even reach the landing, my heart sinks. I can’t see the candle glow. The door to that room is open, and it’s dark inside, the faintest smell of a blown-out candle in the air.

I whimper and pivot, thinking I should get back downstairs. I will have a better chance to escape there. The windows are too high up on the second floor.

But a horrible crash comes from below, followed by two unhinged voices laughing, and I turn around, trying to find a way out up here.

And stop.

Someone is in front of me. A tall, dark shadow, blocking my way. I take a step back, breath hitching, and my foot lands on nothing.

I was standing on top of the stairs, and now I fall back. Everything slows as I take in the ceiling and walls rushing past me, as my mouth opens in a silent scream, as my hands fumble, trying to catch on to something, to arrest my fall…

There’s a flurry of movement, air whipping around me, and suddenly, I’m in someone’s arms. I hear a grunt, and Groomer’s scent envelops me. I’m pressed to his chest, warm, strong body surrounding me, and I sob with relief.

I’ll take him over the nameless terrors. Over everything.

But he doesn’t hold on. Doesn’t say anything. He just puts me down by the wall opposite the staircase and disappears while I’m busy catching my balance.

He was here and now he’s not. I don’t understand how it’s possible.

I’m dizzy, my head swimming, and I’m not sure what’s real anymore. My body and mind are playing tricks on me. I need to ground myself, so I focus on the pain. The itching in my missing hand, the soreness in my muscles, the throbbing in my pussy—that’s all real.

And that means, everything else is, too.

I slowly raise my head, sensing rather than hearing that something’s in front of me.

The same shadow from before, a tall, dark silhouette of a man, hangs over the stairs. I blink, double-checking to see that his feet are not on the steps.

They aren’t. They hover in the air.

My voice is paralyzed in my throat, and I can’t utter a sound. I can’t move, frozen to the floor, my body in shock. And then, a narrow beam of white light falls on the man’s feet, confirming what I knew.

They aren’t touching the floor.

The beam travels up, revealing jeans… Groomer’s jeans. His belt. His lean, athletic body. The metal bracelet on his wrist. The tattoos on his arms…

When it’s about to reveal his face, the beam of light stops, focusing on his chest, and I swallow, suddenly knowing without a shadow of a doubt what I’ll see. It somehow seems I knew all along. A part of me knew who he was… but it’s impossible.

Impossible, ridiculous, and why am I suddenly bursting with hope and choking on tears?

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