Page 56 of Ghost in the Night

I take a deep breath. “I’m … going in a haunted house.”

“Ooooh, I didn’t know they had parks down there?” Kiki says.

“Nah, y’all. A real haunted house.”

The girls stare for so long I think the phone is frozen.

“Yo, what?” Truth shouts. “NAHHHH! This ain’t a good look.”

“Y’all don’t get it,” I say, my voice cracking. “If I get this proof about ghosts, then everyone will believe me about what I saw that day and y’all will stop thinking I’m being weird.”

“Girl, we believe you! Who cares about everybody else?” Kiki says.

“And so what if you being weird?” Truth adds. “People be weird every day, don’t mean we don’t call your weird butt every day.”

They’re just trying to talk me out of this. I shake my head.

“I have to do this, y’all. If I can’t help Grandma get out of our apartment, after everything I’ve learned, then maybe I can help this ghost go to heaven.”

Kiki gasps. “Is that what you’ve been doing all this for?”

I realize it’s the first time I’ve said this aloud to them or anyone.

Truth stops walking, staring into the phone with a long sigh. “Yo, just … be careful. Like your grandma would say, ‘Trust your instincts.’?”

I smile. Grandma would say that.

Kiki shakes her head. “Aight. Fine. But if you don’t call us back in thirty minutes, I’m calling my moms to call Ms. Peggy to call your daddy to come and get you!”

“Aight. Call you in an hour.”

“Nah, I said—”

I click off the phone before I lose my nerve and turn back around, finding Myah staring at me.

“Okay,” I say, tipping up my chin. “Let’s go.”

She looks like she wants to say something but stops herself.

We slip under the chain, wade through the tall weeds, and make it to the back door. The plywood is loose enough to tilt it to the side. I take a flashlight out of my bag and hand it to Myah. We both step inside and immediately fall into darkness.

Myah clicks the flashlight, scanning the space. The basement is made of old stones with a dirt floor. It smells moist and moldy. I take a step forward and kick a can at my foot.

“Ah! What is that?”

Myah whips the light to the floor, where there’s a bunch of candy wrappers, empty takeout boxes, and soda cans. I crouch down to examine the cans.

“These are kinda new,” I say, noticing there’s no sign of rust or rotting. “Someone may be in here. Like a homeless person. We need to be careful.”

Myah bites her lips like she’s holding in a scream and nods. “The … the stairs should be this way. Come on.”

We shuffle farther through the basement, keeping close together. Above us are small random pockets of light, where you can look up through the floorboards into the rooms. My heart is pounding as we reach the stairs. Myah stumbles with a shriek, reaching her hand out to grab me and stop herself from tripping over the first step.

We’ve got to get it together. If we jump at every little thing, we’ll be here all night.

At the top of the basement stairs, we can see the door iscracked open, with a little light leaking in, probably from the streetlights outside. I tap my foot on the first step, giving it a test, then the second.

“Seem sturdy enough,” I whisper. Not sure why I’m whispering.