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“All six feet?” Gesturing to the nearby cabin as I stepped from the truck, I snickered.
“I’ll make sure the vents aren’t fanning feathers or rocking chairs.” He gave me a half-smile.
“Suit yourself.” Shrugging, I pressed the keypad and opened the door.
The dog scrambled across the gray-slate floor, chasing the red ball. After retrieving it, he padded back to the rocking chair, dropped it, and woofed, as if urging an unseen person to toss it.
No one near the chair, it rocked back and forth: squeak…squeak…squeak…
“Is it my imagination, or did Teddy just fetch that ball?” Luke’s back stiffened.
“That’s how it looked…” Goosebumps broke out along my arms.
“No matter what’s causing the chair to rock, I have to admit this is weird.” He crossed to the rocker and stopped its movement. “Newton’s first law of motion. An object at rest tends to remain at rest, but…” He glanced at the overhead vent. “How ’bout I take it to my place? Then we’ll know for sure whether the forced air makes it rock.”
Good riddance. I breathed a sigh of relief. “I’ll get the door—got to let the pup out, anyway.”
He hoisted the rocker and, as he passed, leaned toward me in a goodnight kiss.
I tucked in my chin. “Let’s not start that again…”
“Right.” He swallowed a sigh. “Night.”
“See you in the morning.” I lingered on the porch, musing as the dog finished his business. Is that rocker haunted? I recalled Luke’s idea of restless spirits attaching themselves to objects.
After bolting the door, I searched online. What makes inanimate objects move? One article suggested telekinesis. I shook my head, dismissing that idea. I don’t have any psychic abilities. Another article proposed poltergeists. Farfetched, but now that the rocker’s gone, will the incidents stop?
“Hope so.” I pet the puppy and set its ball on the chest, out of reach. “Time for you to sleep.” Then I turned on the shower and undressed while the bathroom steamed.
Just as I was about to step in, a THUMP…Thump…thump sounded as the ball bounced into the room, followed by the puppy.
“You little stinker, how’d you reach this?” I put the dog in the main room, shut the bathroom door, and set the ball on the shelf.
Five minutes later, I stepped from the shower and yelped.
The puppy lay on the bathroom rug, asleep next to the ball.
That’s weird. Maybe Teddy nosed the door open. I checked the door’s latch. Maybe I didn’t close it completely. But what about the ball? Maybe it rolled off the shelf…I took a deep breath to steady my nerves. That’s what I’ll tell myself, anyway.
“Come on, puppy. You can sleep with me tonight.” I carried him to bed and turned off the lights. Then just as I began drifting off, a blast of frigid air coursed over my body.
The bathroom door slammed shut like a gun shot.
My pulse racing, I turned on the lights and bolted upright. “Who’s there?”
****
The next morning, Luke opened his door before I knocked. “Saw you coming.” He glanced at my face and took a deep breath. “Okay, what now?”
I recounted the gust of air, bathroom door, and rubber ball. “I’m beginning to think it wasn’t the chair, but the cabin that’s haunted.”
“Listen to yourself.” He cocked his head. “Blasts of air, doors shutting, and a ball rolling off…you’re describing changes in air pressure. I bet you a dollar it’s the air vents again.”
“No, it’s more unsettling than atmospheric pressure.” I shook my head as I helped myself to coffee. “Why would the temperature be freezing with the furnace set to heat? If warm air blew out of the air ducts, you might convince me, but this draft was frigid.”
“I’ll check the heating system’s vents today.” He shrugged. “Maybe it’s as simple a fix as changing a setting.”
“Would you mind checking now?” I gestured toward the cabin with my chin. “Sorry, I don’t mean to nag, but with all these unexplained incidents, it’s getting so I dread going in there.”
