After Steve and Lucy said good night and left, we went back inside the house. The lights stayed on, there were no creaky noises, and the kitchen was spick-and-span again, as if nothing had happened.
“Thanks for being nice to my friends,” I said.
Katie gave me a strange look and then laughed. “Why shouldn’t I be nice? I’m a nice person, even if certain kids try to take advantage.”
I sighed. She was just never going to believe I wasn’t causing all the trouble!
Sally had been quiet all evening—her eyes were already half closed and I knew she was ready for bed. I took one hand and Katie took the other and we walked her upstairs to her bedroom. Katie helped her into her pajamas and for a little while she seemed happy and friendly, as if she was glad to have Katie around.
“When are Mommy and Daddy coming home?” Sally asked as she got into bed.
“In a few days,” Katie promised. “Until then, we’re going to have lots and lots of fun, okay?”
“Okay,” Sally said.
Then the smile froze on her face and her eyes grew round. “Where’s Winky?” she wailed. “I want my rabbit!”
Her stuffed toy with the floppy ears. She’d left it down on the porch.
“I’ll get it,” I volunteered.
As I ran down the stairs I noticed something strange. The lights were out downstairs. And I distinctly remembered that they’d been left on.
It was so dark. And the tall grandfather clock jumped out at me from the shadowy hallway. Not really, but that’s how it looked.
It was only a broken clock but it gave me the creeps. As if it was watching me from behind the clock face.
Go for it, I urged myself.
I ran past the clock and out the door to the porch.
The porch light was out, too. The wind was sighing through the grass, and the lawn looked pale and silvery in the moonlight.
Something moved.
Creak creak creak.
The porch rocker was moving. Creaking back and forth. The rocker where Sally had been sitting.
More than anything, I wanted to run back inside and lock the door. Let Sally cry herself to sleep—was that such a big deal?
But I couldn’t do that. I had to get Winky or my little sister would keep us awake all night.
The chair stopped rocking. The way the shadows fell across the porch, I couldn’t tell if Winky was in the chair where Sally had left it. But something was there, that was for sure.
I took a deep breath, gritted my teeth, and ran up to the chair.
The shadows shifted and there it was.
Winky. It was just a stuffed toy, but it looked almost like it was alive.
I grabbed it, half expecting it to sink fangs into my hand, but nothing happened. It flopped around in my hand, totally harmless.
Letting out my breath, I ran back into the house and flipped on the hall lights.
I tucked it under my arm and ran up the stairs two at a time.
Sally was sitting up in bed, holding out her arms. “Winky!” she cried.
“Not a minute too soon,” said Katie with a sigh.
Sally’s anxious look disappeared when I gave her the bunny. She snuggled back under the covers and I tucked Winky in beside her. “My bunny,” she said contentedly.
As I started to leave, Katie leaned over the bed. “Can I give you a good-night kiss?” she asked, smoothing the hair off Sally’s forehead.
I looked back. Just in time to see Sally’s face change.
Suddenly her cheeks bunched and went bright red.
Her eyes seemed to shoot sparks. Her forehead bulged.
“No!” she spat, in the same strange, rough voice that had come out of her when Mom and Dad drove away. “I hate you!” she screamed at Katie. “I hate you!”
Katie backed away, totally at a loss.
“Go away,” the ghostly voice shouted through Sally’s wide-straining mouth. “Get out of my house!”
10
My little sister was snarling like an animal.
I tapped Katie on the arm and said, “You better leave!”
Katie looked scared, but she wasn’t ready to give up. “No way!” she said, turning to me with a scowl. “I’m not leaving, no matter how hard you try!”
All I wanted to do was protect her from the ghost, but she thought I was trying to chase her out of the house.
“Please,” I begged her, “wait out in the hall, or downstairs. Let me try and get Sally calmed down.”
Katie wasn’t convinced, but Sally was getting more and more frantic, so she finally left the room.
As soon as she was out of sight, Sally’s body seemed to deflate. I dropped to my knees beside the bed and gripped her shoulders. “Sally!” I demanded. “Sally, I know you’re in there! Talk to me!”
The blaze died out of Sally’s eyes and they returned to their normal little-girl blue.
“Sally?” I said softly.
She rubbed her eyes with the back of a small fist. “I didn’t know Bobby was going to do that,” she said in a small, troubled voice. “Bobby’s a bad boy, isn’t he?”
I hugged her to me, feeling my heart thumping. What were we going to do?
“It’s all right now, Sally,” I said. “He’s gone.”
“Bobby doesn’t like baby-sitters,” said Sally, yawning.
When I set her head back on the pillow, she was already asleep.
Outside in the hallway, Katie waited, looking worried.
“It’s all right,” I said. “Sally’s herself again.”
“She was like a totally different person,” Katie said shakily.
“That’s Bobby,” I explained. Maybe Katie would believe me now. I could certainly use her help.
But Katie put her hands on her hips and frowned at me. “I don’t know what you think you’re up to,” she said, “but getting your little sister to play along with your jokes is really sick.”
My heart sank—she still thought it was my fault. “It wasn’t me,” I said. “You’ve got to believe me. It’s the
