Page 55 of Between Us

“WhatdoyoumeanZippy is missing?” I slowly ask the three young boys who are all grinning from ear to ear.

Mikey—the oldest and the mastermind behind every prank—shrugs, but the challenging glint in his eye tells me everything I need to know…

These little shits hid the dog.

I’m sure that they wouldn’t have purposefully put Zippy in danger, however Mikey’s only eleven. So I can’t say he, or his younger brothers, make the most informed decisions either. Not to mention, their dear, sweet mother Erica loves this dog more than anything. Arguably more than her own children, but that’s just my own assumption based on the fact that they’re terrible.

“We don’t know where he is,” Mikey states, his voice dripping with faux innocence. “We were looking for something in the shed and he must have followed us out there.”

Narrowing my eyes at them, I do my best to hide the sense of satisfaction I feel when his younger brothers, Shawn and Luke, take a step behind him. “What were you looking for in the shed, Mikey?”

That makes the boy show actual fear for the first time, because we both know exactly what they were looking for.

Christmas presents.

It doesn’t matter that we’re still about two weeks out from Halloween. He knows his parents start buying the presents as early as July, even if he doesn’t fully understand the financial situation, or why they start so early. And I know as well as he does that Erica is going to be pissed if he finds their hiding spot for the third year in a row.

“Uh…” He scrunches his face, trying to think of any possible excuse. “We were… looking for… Zippy!” Rolling his eyes at me, as if I’m the idiot here, he adds, “Obviously.”

Bending down to look him straight in the eye, I switch to my ‘stern voice,’ as the youngest, Luke, likes to call it. It’s the only way they know I mean fucking business. “If Zippy slipped past you out the door, why would you have been out there looking for him?”

His mouth slams shut for a long second before he lets out an exasperated sigh. “Can you please just go find him?In the shed?”

“I swear to God, Mik—”

“You shouldn’t use God’s name in vain,” Mikey scolds, shaking his head at me like a disappointed Sunday school teacher.

Taking a deep breath and closing my eyes, I count to ten. My family isn’t particularly religious, outside of my maternal grandmother, but the Paulson family are active members of their church. I do my best to be respectful when I’m in their home, but it’s hard when you’re dealing with a little gremlin. Looking at the three of them, I offer an apologetic smile. “You’re right, Mikey. I shouldn’t have said that, and I’m sorry. If you have something planned in the shed—something sticky, or dangerous, or just plain stupid—you’re going to be in a lot of trouble. I’ve always had a lot of patience with you three, but including an animal in your pranks is not okay.”

With another eye roll, Mikey just demands again, “Go to the shed.”

“Fine,” I snap, catching the youngest child Luke’s guilty smile before I turn toward the door that leads to the backyard. I’m suddenly concerned about what these little shits planned this time.

As soon as I step into the dark space, Mikey slams the door shut behind me. I whip around but can’t see anything in the pitch black. I only know it’s him because he’s at the age where his voice is starting to crack—or in this case, his laugh.Poor kid.

That sympathy is short lived though. It dies a fiery death in my soul as soon as I jiggle the knob only to find that the door is jammed by something on the other side and Mikey yells, “Find Zippy!”

“I’m going to kill him,” I mutter and twirl around.

Using the flashlight on my phone, I tentatively begin to look around. It goes without saying that Zippy is more than likely not in here, but Mikey’s a tenacious kid. He’s not going to let me out of here. I could call their parents. Though it’s been a few months since Kevin and Erica have been able to afford a date night, so I don’t want to ruin that for them.

And it can’t be that bad, right?

Without really thinking about it, I take a step forward and call out, “Zippy?” Immediately, I regret my choice to just play along when my foot lands on something. “What the fu—ahhh!”

Someone jumps up from behind me and grabs onto my shoulders. A high-pitched scream rips out of me as I try to untangle myself. “Let! Me! Go!” I helplessly scream, before I trip over myself and crash to the ground. Reaching for my phone that slid across the floor, I wince in pain when I try to scoot myself closer.

The pain is bad enough that I temporarily forget about being attacked. Using my other leg, I push myself close enough to grab my phone. As soon as I do, I shine the light at my ankle, and tears fill my eyes when I see the golf ball sized lump already growing on the side. As the first tear slips over and the pain starts to throb, I raise my camera light to the giant skeleton standing at about seven feet tall.

I recognize that damn thing instantly. Anyone who’s ever been to the haunted house the construction company hosts every October would recognize that decoration. Kevin’s worked there as long as I can remember, and I guess he’s also the keeper of haunted props.

“Oh my God,” I quietly seethe. Swallowing down the tears, I start to dial before I think about what I’m doing. “Mikey! Get your ass in here now!”

The door flies open, presenting three startled boyish faces. “Blake, are you okay?” Shawn starts walking toward me. He’s easily the sweetest of the three, but as the middle child, he’s usually outvoted.

As he kneels next to me with tears in his eyes another voice pulls me back to what I’m doing. “Hey, Storm Cloud,” Adrian easily greets. “How’s babysitting? I’m just getting home from the gym, but I thought you’d be busy for a wh—”

“Blake?” Shawn asks again, this time his voice is watery.

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