I Couldn’t Remember Hearing Anyone Come Back Upstairs

my back against the wall beside the window and said nothing.

Another step on the stairs.

Then another.

“Natalie?”

Closer now.

And there was something wrong with the way she said my name. Not wrong enough to hear if you weren’t scared already. Just… flat. Like she was reading it off a card.

I looked toward the staircase.

I could see only the banister and the continue reading …