Pauline squealed, holding the camera up as she rushed into the living room. She ran her fingers along the elegant coffee table, then flopped onto the plush sofa.
"It's so pretty!"
My dad had specially installed a projector on the ceiling. The moment the lights came on, it would cast a starry sky across the walls.
I threw myself at Allan, begging him to make her leave.
"Get out! You're not welcome here!"
A sharp crack pierced my ears. I spun around.
Pauline stuck her tongue out playfully, pointing at the shattered ceramic on the floor.
"Sorry. I bumped into it by accident."
My mind went blank.
I dropped to my knees, fingers trembling as I tried to piece the broken ceramic doll back together.
My mother had made it with me and my dad the day before she died.
She told me the ceramic doll would stay with me forever in her place.
Tears burst from me like a dam breaking. I cradled the fragments and sobbed until no sound came out.
Allan glanced at the mess on the floor, barely sparing it a look, and swept every last piece into the trash.
"No..."
But he couldn't hear me.
Even if he could, he wouldn't have cared.
I sat slumped on the floor, eyes hollow, wishing I could dissolve into nothing right then and there — so I could find my mother and tell her I was sorry.
I didn't protect the one thing she left me…
The next second, a phone rang, sharp and insistent.
Allan glanced at the glowing screen. His spine went rigid.
He motioned for Pauline to keep quiet, then pressed the answer button.
"Mom, what's going on?"
Frances Fox's anxious voice poured through the speaker.
"Allan, where are you and Olivia?"
"Her father just called me. Her health-monitor watch sent out an SOS alert."
I drifted close to the speaker and screamed with every ounce of strength I had left.
"Mrs. Fox, Allan locked me inside the haunted house!"
"Please come get me, please. I'm so scared…"
Allan's gaze drifted toward where I hovered, as though he'd sensed something. His brow furrowed tight.
His fingers clenched around the phone until his knuckles turned white. He forced his voice to stay calm.
"Mom, Olivia's with me. We're on a date."
"Tell Mr. Young not to worry. I'll take care of her."
My heart split open like a raw wound.
I grabbed at Allan's collar, sobbing, my vision blurred with tears as I demanded answers.
"Why are you lying? Tell them the truth!"
"My dad will worry himself sick. I'm all he has left…"