Page 81 of Serenity Falls

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Sadie wakes sweating, despite the aircon. She’s hugging Zelda tightly. Only it’s not Zelda. It’s just her smooth white skull. Her lovely precious bones. She must have been dreaming, a nightmare perhaps. She doesn’t remember.

She puts Zelda to one side, props herself up on her elbow and reaches for her phone on the bedside table. It isn’t there. She looks around. It’s on the floor. And now she remembers. The ice-cream van. The men in hazmat suits. The phone call.

Was any of that real? She reaches down and grabs her phone. She opens recent calls. Unknown number: 2.03 a.m. So, the call was real. Does that mean the rest of it was too? It might be easier to dismiss it as a dream, but in her gut, she knows the difference.

She’s about to put the phone down when she realizes she has a message, from Ellis:

Fairground tonite. 7.30. See ya, Cemetery Grl. X

Cemetery Grl. And a kiss. Did that mean anything? She knew some people signed off every message with an ‘x’, so maybe not. Or maybe?

She chucks the phone down on the bed, trying not to overthink it. Above her, the ceiling fan whirrs gently. For some reason, the sound aggravates her. Reluctantly, she hauls herself out of bed and uses the bathroom. She peers at herself in the mirror while she washes her hands. Her hair is tangled and there are dark circles under her eyes. She dries her hands then grabs an old T-shirt and shorts from her suitcase (still not fully unpacked), slips them on, and pads out on to the landing.

Downstairs, she can hear voices. She remembers that Dad said something about a man coming to look at the security camera. She pauses at the top of the stairs. She can see the top of Dad’s head and another man in the hallway.

‘I’d advise you to keep a record of any other problems with the cameras,’ the man says. ‘I’ve reinstalled everything and done a security reset. I’ll also check in at the Hub.’

‘Can you find out if someone hacked the app?’

Hacked the app? What is Dad talking about?

‘The security reset should prevent any future issues, sir. It could still just be a software glitch. I’m sure everything will be okey-dokey now.’

‘Is that a technical term?’

‘Haha. It is, indeed, sir.’

‘Like it’s a PIC problem?’

‘I’m sorry?’

‘Person In Chair problem.’

‘Oh, very good.’ The man laughs weakly. ‘Anyhow, any more issues, please don’t hesitate to call. But I’m sure you’ll be just fine.’

Sadie watches as her dad walks the man to the door and sees him out. Then he shuts it, frowning. ‘Glitch, my arse,’ he mutters.

She waits a moment and then clears her throat noisily and starts down the stairs.

Her dad glances up. ‘Oh, hey. You’re up.’

‘Yeah. Who was that – the security guy?’

‘Yeah, he’s reset all the cameras.’

‘What exactly was wrong with them?’

‘They weren’t working properly.’

‘I thought I heard you say something about them being hacked?’

Her dad’s face falters. ‘Oh. No. I was just making sure they were secure.’

‘Why would someone hack our security cameras?’

‘They wouldn’t. I was being paranoid. Ignore me.’