Page 4 of Daddy's Protection
The mere thought made her shudder. Perhaps she should have taken her friends up on their offer to spend the night.
“You can do this. Just… go inside. Settle in. Go to sleep.”
Drawing a deep breath, she started her car rolling again and drove past the house next to her, turned the corner, and then pulled into the narrow alley that ran behind the row of homes. Coming to the space by her back porch, she parked and hurried inside.
She wasn’t sure why she went so fast, though.
What she feared wasn’t outside.
It was inside her own house.
Sleep didn’t come easily.
Cami had laid awake in bed, tossing and turning, holding her stuffie tight, and trying every trick she could think of to relax.
It was about midnight when she’d finally drifted off to sleep.
That didn’t last long, though.
The clock on her phone showed it was only 12:17 when her eyes popped open.
The laughing that interrupted her slumber was maniacal. A cold wind accompanied it, chilling Cami to the bone.
“What the heck?” she whispered.
Reaching for her phone, her first instinct was to call the police. But would they even come? So, she’d heard laughing. Big deal. It could have come from outside. Angelino Heights was apretty quiet neighborhood. But it was still LA. The town was always busy. Dodger Stadium was just down the street. Maybe folks were walking home after a game or something. It wouldn’t be the first time.
But then she remembered it was late October. Baseball season was over. Anyway, the laughing definitely sounded as if it had come frominsidethe house.
That still wasn’t enough to call the cops. She needed to actually go investigate.
Her body shuddered as the cold, supernatural-feeling wind continued to sweep over her. Perhaps there was a logical explanation. Her house had stood for over a century. Old houses got drafty. Right?
True, it wasn’t outright cold outside. Or particularly windy. But it was autumn. Even in Los Angeles the temperatures could get a little low in the middle of the night, long after the sun had gone down.
That didn’t explain the laughter, though.
Or did it?
What if the wind was getting inside? It might be passing through the beams or cracks in a way thatsoundedlike someone laughing.
Old homes were noisy! They creaked and groaned and… possibly laughed.
She looked at her stuffed bear, Linus. “There’s only one way to find out! I don’t need the police or a Daddy. I’ll go check it out myself. I’m a big girl.”
The irony that she’d said that to her stuffie wasn’t lost on her. But right now, Little or Big or somewhere in between, she couldn’t let fear hold her back. She had to figure out what was going on, one way or another.
The hardwood floor creaked beneath Cami’s bare feet as she padded softly down the long hallway.
The dark corridor seemed to stretch on endlessly. Almost as if it was growing. For a moment, she wondered if she was still asleep and this was just a nightmare.
But the cold she felt reminded her it was all too real.
Hugging herself and rubbing her arms, she continued treading cautiously toward the staircase.
“Is anyone here? I’ve called the police!”
Ghosts don’t care if you’ve called the police, Cami.
