“Should I drive?” Sam asked. “I don’t drive like an old lady.”
“No,” I said, shaking my head. “I know the way. It’ll be faster than trying to give you direction.”
I walked around the SUV and climbed into the driver’s seat. Sam scanned the radio stations, trying to find more information as I sped down the road.
My heart was pounding as I zipped down the familiar roads. Everything was different from when I grew up in the area, but it was also the same.
There wasn’t much information on the radio. Much of it was repeated from what we’d heard at the gas station.
Stay inside.
Scientists made a mistake.
The Coronal Mass Ejection will hit Earth.
“I wish they would tell us what’s going to happen,” Sam said.
“Maybe they don’t want people to panic,” I surmised.
“Let’s hope you’re right, but you’d think they want us to be prepared,” Sam mumbled.
The blinker clicked loudly as the orange glow from the lights flashed against the massive bush at the end of my mom’s driveway. I thought I’d feel a wave of relief wash over me, but the dark house hidden in the trees seemed somehow different.
“Is this it?” Sam asked.
“Yeah,” I said, stopping the SUV in front of the garage.
Sam glanced over at me. “It’s really dark out here.”
“This is what it’s like when you don’t have all the lights from a big city lighting everything up,” I said, cutting the engine but leaving the headlights on. “Wait here. I’ll go turn on the lights.”
“Gladly,” Sam muttered as she hugged herself and slouched down in the seat.
I turned on my phone’s flashlight and ran to the front door, squeezing my keys in my hand. Just because it was the house I grew up in, didn’t mean I didn’t have an eerie feeling of being watched.
The key slid into the lock and the doorknob opened with a familiar squeak. The noisy door was one of the many reasons I always got caught sneaking in after curfew. My mom’s house was old. It squeaked, creaked, moaned, and groaned.
I reached inside and turned on the entrance and outside lights before running back to Sam. She opened the door and handed me my medication.
“Maybe I should take one of these,” she grumbled. “I wasn’t expecting to stay in a haunted house.”
“I did warn you it wasn’t going to be pretty,” I said, opening the back of the SUV to get our things.
“Yes, I remember the warning, however, you left out the part about it being haunted,” Sam said, glancing over her shoulder. “If I have to run for my life, which is the best way to go?”
I jerked my thumb to the left. “West will get you to the bay. That’s practically a dead-end unless you want to swim.”
“So, I go east?” Sam asked as she reached in for her bag.
“I guess, but if you go far enough in that direction, you’ll hit Lake Michigan,” I said, biting my lip. I bumped my shoulder into hers. “You’ll be fine. I lived here for years and never was chased by anyone with a chainsaw.”
Sam grimaced. “Don’t give the creeps listening in any ideas.”
“You’ll want to go south,” I said as I led her toward the house. “Back to the gas station.”
“That’s probably the guy who’ll come out here with a chainsaw.”
I shook my head. “You have quite the imagination.”
I stepped inside the home and sighed. The mess was overwhelming, and the spiderwebs gobbed up on the ceiling made me want to drive back home.
“Okay,” Sam said, closing the door. “Um, where should I put my things?”
“Wherever you want.”
The house wasn’t much different from when I stopped by after my mom’s funeral. It was cold, damp, and empty. The warmth from my mother was gone, making the place feel completely different from the home I’d grown up in.
The living room couch piled with blankets on one end looked the same, but it didn’t seem like the same couch. I sat down, resting my face on my closed fists.
“Are you okay?” Sam asked.
“It’s just weird, you know?”
“Unfortunately, I don’t.” Sam frowned. “Can I do anything to help?”
I shook my head. “It feels like I don’t belong here. Like this place belongs to a stranger.”
“Yeah, that creeper from the gas station has probably been squatting here, and when he gets back, he’s going to get his revenge for us poking around,” Sam said with a smile.
She was trying to lighten the mood, but I didn’t have it in me to even force a smile. I stood and cleaned the folded blankets and clothing off the couch.
“You can sleep here,” I said.
“By the door?” Sam asked, picking at her fingernails.
“Fine, you can take my old bedroom,” I said.
Sam smiled sweetly. “Do you think the internet works out here?”
“It should. I didn’t cancel it,” I said.
Sam crouched down and dug out her laptop from her bag. “I need to video chat with Dott.”
“Oh, sure. No problem,” I said, looking around. “I’m just going to check out the house and heat up some food.”
“Make me something too?” Sam said, blinking her beautiful lashes.
“That doesn’t work on me,” I said with a raised brow. “But sure. I can do that.”
Sam gingerly sat down on the couch. “Guess it does work on you, huh?”
The living room was a large square room that blended into the dining room. A wooden table was hidden under the boxes and piles of God-knows-what, but it hadn’t been used in years. Only one of the chairs was empty… the one my mom would sit on when she had company.
Behind the table was the sliding glass door that led to the patio. I walked over and checked to make sure
