Page 38 of A Heart So Haunted
My hair whipped like a snapping flag, my lungs heaved, and I slammed into the door in a flurry of limbs. Pounding, heavy, scraping feet gave chase.
Don’t leave the boy, my conscience urged.Would you have wanted to be forgotten so easily?
I needed to choose me. I needed home. Right now.
I twisted the knob and yanked. I cried out in relief when it popped open. Freedom—home—right there—a familiar hallway beckoning me forward.
I stepped over.
As soon as my foot stepped over the lip of the door, a seed of guilt made me hesitate.
What did that say about me, if I left the child here?
A clawed hand grabbed my shoulder, sliced clean through my sweatshirt. I whirled, elbow first. It didn’t knock away its grip, only pulled my shirt, and in a panic, I bared my teeth at the creature.
“Let go,” I growled, jerking back. It’s clawed hand cut farther down my sleeve and captured my wrist. I teetered—then stilled.
My lips parted. The smell of acrid burnt flesh, curdled blood, hit me next, so strong it made my eyes water. Acid rose at the back of my throat. I was going to throw up, right here, right now. The smell didn’t come from the house, but the creature’s chest.
The way the creature had angled its body before had covered the wound, but now everything was on full display. Its sternum was cracked down the center, ribs broken and brittle over the expanse of its heart. The organ fluttered helplessly beneath. I could have reached out and touched each ventricle, both atriums, even the cushion of its lungs. So many delicate pieces of a body, right there in the open.
“You’re hurt.” My voice sounded strangled.
Whatever flitted across my face set the beast’s mouth into a twisted snarl. “Do not take pity on me,” it growled.
My ears made a loudpop—I couldn’t tell if the creature released me, if I tripped, or if the tug that had brought me to the door tore me back into Harthwait. One moment, the hot feel of the beast’s grip was on my arm, and then it wasn’t.
I landed on my side, in a heap on the floor. My ears roared for a split second before the rushing quieted, replaced with the familiar whisper of AC through the vents. The dainty laughter was gone, thesmell of summer air and daylight and burnt flesh with it. An ache bloomed between my eyes.
I rolled over with a pained hiss, half expecting to find the creature in the doorway, watching me, but it wasn’t. I sat upright, brow furrowed.
There was no door. No hole where Sayer had fallen and broken the sheetrock with his head. I pressed my palm against the smooth finish.
It looked just as it had this morning when I’d gotten up: an unblemished stretch of wall.
The door, and the creature, were gone.
Chapter Eight
Icaught Sayer rubbing the back of his head as we worked to remove the shelf in the bathroom. If I mentioned him falling into the wall, would he remember? What if he didn’t?
He hadn’t mentioned it. Neither had Emma.
I chewed the inside of my cheek. “You okay?” I asked.
He sighed. “Just a headache. I’ll take something for it after lunch.”
My eyes darted to the crown of his head. I tracked his swallow, the way he squinted against the low light. How his jaw worked left and right.
Now was my chance. I needed to bring it up in a way that didn’t sound accusatory—in case he didn’t remember. But if he did, I didn’t want to look stupid.
I shuffled a bit. “It looks like you have a knot on the back of your head.”
He scoffed, then looked at me. “What do you mean?” His left hand searched. “I don’t feel anyth—oh. I must have bumped my head.”
I tried to suppress any recognition—or sudden flush of anticipation—that crept up my neck in pink splotches. If he didn’t remember, why did I? The thought boxed me in, pressed close,causing a shred of worry to claw its way into my neck. “Are you all right?”
He sighed, then wiped the back of his hand over his forehead. “It doesn’t help that it’s hotter than the Devil’s basement in this place.” He wedged the flathead farther between the shelf and the wall, used both hands to push in, then angle it away. Like a lever, it separated the two. Finishing nails released, one by one.
