Jennifer was down to only one sock. With perfect balance, she raised her heel and plucked off the sock and let it drop. Aaron tossed his own jacket towards the chair as he went to her.
“You’re so beautiful.”
“Is that the only reason you married me?”
“It’s the top four reasons,” he said.
As he cradled her head and kissed her, she unbuttoned his shirt. In a few quick moments, they were between the sheets again.
# # #
Amber sat up straight and looked at the clock. It felt like she had just closed her eyes, but the clock read 3am. The stake was next to her in bed. She gripped it as she slipped her legs out from under the covers. The flashlight was on the nightstand. Pointing it towards the sliding door, she clicked the button. The beam reflected off the glass and an oval of light shone back on the wall.
Amber hopped from the bed as her light examined the scattered sunflower seeds on the carpet. She turned on the balcony lights. There was a dusting of snow on the railing, but none near the door.
“Could have melted,” she whispered. “Or blown away.”
Amber turned in a slow circle. Something was wrong, but she couldn’t put her finger on it.
“What did I hear? What woke me up?” she asked herself.
She froze at a distant sound. It was a thunk—maybe from one of the neighboring rooms.
And then, when she heard the tapping, her blood ran cold.
It was coming from the door.
Amber crept on tiptoes as the sound stopped. She had heard five taps—that was all. If it was one of them, there would be more.
Then, it came again.
This time, she only heard two taps.
“Amber?” a voice asked.
Amber let out a relieved sigh. Through the peephole, she saw two people—Liz Tyler-Harper and her husband.
“Just a second,” she called. She was already pretty-well covered up, but she put on a robe anyway before she opened the door.
“Come in,” she said, ushering them over the scattered seeds.
“Sorry to wake you,” Liz said.
“I was up.”
“I’m the husband,” he said, extending a hand. “Alan.”
They shook.
“You look ready for anything,” Liz said, gesturing at the flashlight and sharpened stake.
“I try to be.”
Liz tried on a smile. It didn’t seem to fit.
“We heard a sound. Normally, I wouldn’t think anything of it. Our house makes that kind of noise when the heat turns on and the pipes warm up.”
“Expansion,” Alan added.
“But after your story tonight, I guess I got spooked,” Liz said.
“And I saw something,” Alan said. “We’re not skittish, usually.”
Liz finished the thought, “But we’ve kept a longstanding pact with each other to not ignore hunches, no matter how outlandish they sound.”
“Not a bad policy,” Amber said. “What did you hear, exactly?”
“It sounded like someone was tapping on the glass door of your balcony,” Liz said.
Amber nodded. “I guess that’s what woke me up.”
“Would you mind talking about it again for a second?”
# # #
“Have a seat,” Amber said, gesturing towards the tiny table near the window. Alan took a chair and angled it, so his back wouldn’t be to the glass. Amber took the corner so she could have the wall behind her.
“I didn’t tell Alan your story,” Liz said. “We don’t keep secrets, but that wasn’t my story to share.”
“She barely tells me anything,” Alan said.
“But I was hoping you would go through it again. I’ve had this feeling ever since we talked that there’s something unfinished there.”
Amber set the flashlight on the table. She kept the stake gripped tight. She had no intention of letting that go.
“And then, when we heard the tapping,” Liz said.
Alan filled the void when Amber didn’t respond immediately.
“She told me that we should take a chance and check in on you. Not that you need rescuing, or whatever, just to be neighborly.”
“No, I appreciate it. Thank you. Honestly, I’ve been thinking that same thing.”
Amber said, and then she pointed to Liz.
“That maybe there’s something unfinished. One of the guests, Aaron and Jennifer’s friend, Riley, disappeared for a while tonight. I went out to look for him and we found him in the woods. He’s at the hospital now, stabilized.”
Alan leaned forward. “Listen—there are some things that you really shouldn’t discuss. Talking about them draws them in. It’s like the words themselves leave a trail.”
Liz covered Alan’s hand with her own.
“I don’t think that’s what’s happening, Alan.”
He turned to her. “But what if it’s similar?” Then, back to Amber, he asked, “What happened with Riley, exactly?”
Amber thought while she looked down at her hand and then glanced to the window.
“I really don’t know.”
“But you have a guess,” Liz said.
“Yeah, I do,” Amber said.
She started with just the facts. The story came out easily when she conveyed only what she had seen and heard. There were a couple of points where Alan and Liz seemed puzzled, or glanced at each other with raised eyebrows, like when Amber mentioned the slimy fluid that Ricky had tracked.
“Were there any injuries on Riley?” Alan asked. “Any missing skin or wounds?”
Amber shook her head.
“Good,” Alan said.
“Now tell us what you really think was going on,” Liz said.
“Yeah, okay,” Amber said. “It’s connected to what I told you earlier, about what happened at my uncle’s house.”
Alan looked between them. “This is that thing you wouldn’t tell me?” he asked Liz.
“It wasn’t my story to tell,” she replied.
“I didn’t tell it all anyway,” Amber said. “I’ll start at the beginning. My uncle died last summer. The last person to see him alive was the only neighbor on the road, a man named John. It was so hot, that John checked in on Uncle Bill to make sure that he was okay. He wasn’t. He was passed out on his floor and dying of a type of anemia. They got him to the hospital, but he didn’t make it. John got my number from Uncle Bill’s address book. Then, at my request, John went back to the house to shut
