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“Me, too—”
Caw.
I dropped the flower in my hand and glanced around the yard.
Caw.
In one of the low-hanging limbs of the magnolia tree sat a crow. I knew it was the same one. There was something different about it. It was cautious. Curious. It looked intelligent in its eyes.
“Those dang crows. Shoo!” my mother shouted, sitting up to her knees. “Get out of here, you wicked thing. I hate crows,” she said. “They give me the creeps.”
I was glad I wasn’t the only one.
The crow flew off toward the woods, leaving a chill against my skin. “Did you feel that?” I asked.
Mom looked up at me. “Feel what, honey?”
I swallowed the deep lump forming in my throat and shook my head. “Never mind.”
***
After dinner, while Dad fell asleep in his recliner and Mom scrolled through her phone, I slipped upstairs to my room.
Jenny was currently staying at the house for a few days while my parents had her house redecorated for her birthday.
The door to the guest room was cracked when I knocked.
Her soft footsteps drew near, and she opened the door. She’d stripped out of her makeup and changed into her pajamas. “Josie, is something wrong?”
“No,” I said. “I just wanted to ask if you’d seen anything different around the house lately.”
She tilted her head and opened her door wider. “Come on inside.”
She shut the door behind us while I took a seat at her desk chair, and she plopped down on her bed. “What do you mean? Different like how?"
I began to swing my feet with nerves. “A draft in the house? Chills? The feeling of someone watching your every move?"
She pursed her lip. “No, I can’t say I have. Is something the matter? Does someone feel off to you?”
“Yes,” I said exasperatedly. “Mom thinks it’s because of Jacob, but I don’t think that’s it. I feel like someone is following me around the house.”
She moved around until she sat cross-legged on the bed. “Oh, have you talked to your Dad or Miranda about it?”
I leaned my elbow against the desk and shook my head. “No. I know I sound crazy, but I can’t shake it. It seems to be getting worse."
“Have you thought about seeing a psychic?”
I cringed. “You know I don’t believe in that stuff, Jenny. I don’t want to worsen my situation and bring in the dead.”
“Well, it sounds like you already have that problem to me.”
“I don’t think so,” I said. "I don't think it's a ghost. I can't explain it, really."
Jenny sighed. “I think you should consider it if it continues. Your mother could be right. It may be stress from the Jacob situation. That's a lot to handle."
I smiled, though I knew that wasn’t it then I stood up and walked over to give her a hug.
“Keep me updated,” she said.
