Jasmine appeared at Trevor's window with Miguel and Zach in tow. She danced around in the lightly falling snow and tapped on his window. "It's freezing. So, what are we doing?"
Everyone huddled together on the sidewalk.
"Let walk to the front door," Adam said, "like normal. Then we'll go to the back and get the key."
Zach motioned to the house. "Let's go before the neighbors see us."
The group glanced about and walked nonchalantly toward the porch. Once they neared the steps, they quickly bypassed the porch and headed to the backyard.
At the back door, they clustered together while Adam ran to the garden shed for the key. When he returned, Hailey said, "Everyone hold hands."
"What?" Zach appeared utterly flabbergasted. "Why?"
"I'm going to say a prayer to protect us."
Conner gripped her hand. "No offense, but it's not a long one, is it? I want to get inside where it's warmer."
"If a ten-minute prayer would protect us from the devil, wouldn't you listen to a ten-minute prayer? Jeez. But no, it's not a long one."
The group tightened up and bowed their heads.
"In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, I stand with the power of the Lord God Almighty to bind Satan and protect us from all his evil spirits. I ask the Holy Spirit to fill us with the life and love of our Lord, Jesus Christ. Amen."
Adam turned the key and the door clicked open.
Zach raised his phone, lighting up the kitchen.
Trevor bellowed, "What the hell are you doing?"
"A video."
"Turn it off!" Conner demanded. "Jeez. Don't be stupid."
"Hey!" Zach exclaimed. "This is proof to everyone that we were in the house."
Adam swiped his hand at the phone. "Put it away."
"Fine! Relax, dude."
The group hurried into the moonlit kitchen. The faint aroma of lemon-scented cleaner hovered in the air. The counters were bare, and the room was absent of the furniture that Conner had expected to see. "They definitely moved," he said. "We're not going find anything in here."
Trevor stepped farther into the kitchen. "Does anyone think it feels weird or scary in here?"
"A little bit," Adam said. "Probably because we're thinking about it being scary and weird."
The wind outside created a murmured whoosh that escalated and then decreased in volume. As the group walked along the hall leading from the kitchen to the front of the house, the interior darkened. At the twang of creaking wood upstairs, everyone halted their steps and eyed each other. Jasmine pivoted as if about to flee from the house.
"Calm down," Trevor said. "It's just the wind making the house creak like that. There's no one upstairs."
"The devil's not human," Hailey said.
"I meant, there's nothing up there for us to be scared of."
"We're scaring ourselves," Miguel said. "We're walking around like a demon is gonna grab one of us. We need to walk through the house like everything is normal."
Conner surveyed the empty living room. He recalled the layout of the furniture and how he and his friends used to watch television or hang out talking and laughing. He thought of a night when the four of them were around twelve years old. They'd eaten pizza and snacks while they watched the movie, The Grey, and then they'd fallen asleep, sprawled out on the living room floor. In the morning, Mrs. Smith had served what seemed like an endless supply of pancakes.
The warmth and comfort of the home seemed to have been drained as though it hadn't existed in the recent past. It was literally an empty shell of what it used to be.
"This looks like my house," Jasmine said.
"Yeah, mine too," Zach replied. "All our houses are practically the same, except for the paint color and furniture."
"I don't know about this," Conner said. "What kind of evidence of an exorcism would be here, anyway? And maybe it wasn't even done here. Maybe they did the exorcism at the church."
"Or it's just a stupid rumor," Adam added. "We're probably just wasting our time. The devil was never here."
"Upstairs," Trevor said. "Let's walk around and take a look. Then we're outta here."
Hailey mumbled to herself as she paused at the foot of the stairs.
"What?" Conner asked.
"I was saying a little prayer because I can feel darkness in here," she explained.
"Because it is dark in here," Zach said. "C'mon, let's look around so we can go home. I have things to do."
"More important than this?" she asked.
"Yup."
Adam motioned with his hand like he was jerking off.
"I have a girlfriend," Zach shouted. "You're the one who has to use your hand every night."
"I'm a guy just like you," Adam said. "Don't pretend like you don't lie in bed and stroke—"
"Shut up!" Jasmine shouted. "You guys are being ridiculous."
"And immature," Hailey added. "Why are you guys even talking about that? It's stupid. And gross."
"Boys are stupid," Jasmine commented. "Why are you surprised?"
Adam asked Zach, "Your alleged girlfriend in Farmington? The one no one has ever met?"
Exasperated, Zach replied, "Yes, my girlfriend in Farmington."
"Who no one's met."
Conner nudged Adam in the ribs. "Knock it off."
Zach leaned against the wall and tucked his hands into his pockets. "At least my girlfriend didn't move a thousand miles away because I got her pregnant."
It was as if a great superpower had zapped everyone into silence.
Adam charged toward Zach. "You don't know what the hell you're talking about."
"I think everyone here knows what I'm talking about."
Adam forced Zach against the wall, and Zach instantly retaliated by shoving Adam backward.
"Stop it!" Hailey yelled.
Miguel blocked the girls from potential harm.
Trevor pushed Zach back against the wall while Conner hooked his arms around Adam's torso, yanking him toward the stairs.
"You're such an ass," Adam shouted.
"You started it," Zach said, "by insinuating I have an imaginary girlfriend."
Conner believed very few people knew about Lisa Reynolds, the sixteen-year-old Adam had impregnated the previous year. Even her parents had moved away from town within weeks of Lisa's sudden departure from Newman. By all appearances, it seemed as if the family had
