AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I know. She told me we’re allgoing out to dinner for it.”
Decker looked around awkwardly as Zoe continued to watch him.
“You’re really, really big,” she observed.
“Not the first time I’ve heard that.”
“You won’t let any of the bad people hurt Aunt Alex, will you?” she asked, her features and tone suddenly turning anxious.
Decker had been about to take a sip of beer. He slowlylowered the bottle. “No, I won’t. I mean, I’ll do my best never to let that happen,” he added a bit lamely.
There was a low rumble of thunder in the distance.
“I guess a storm is coming,” observed Decker quickly, looking for any way to change the subject.
He glanced at Zoe to find her innocent gaze still uncomfortably on him. He looked away as another guttural growlof thunder was heard.
Summer was over, but the thunderstorms often accompanying the segue into fall appeared to be bearing down on them.
“Definitely getting closer,” said Decker, more to himself than to Zoe.
He looked at the rear yard of the house that backed up to Zoe’s. It seemed an exact copy. Same footprint, same wooden deck off the back. Same patch of yard. Sametype of maple smack in the middle of the wilting grass.
But there was one difference.
The lights in the other house were flickering now. On, then off. On, then off.
Decker looked to the sky. Despite the rumbles of thunder, there wasn’t any lightning yet, at least that he could see. Also, the temperature had dropped some, and there was a low fog building that, alongwith the gathering clouds, obscured the sky even more.
A few moments later, he saw the reflection of red lights zip by overhead. He couldn’t see the plane, but it was no doubt trying to make it in or out before the storm hit full force, he thought.
He glanced back at the house and watched the lights going on and off, almost like Morse code. It might be the humidity, he thought.Damp wiring could cause flickering.
He heard a noise somewhere. Then he heard it again. And another time. The same sound over and over. It was two distinct sounds, actually, one a solid thud and the other like something scraping against something.
Then a car started up. It had to be on the street that fronted the house he was looking at, he concluded. They’d be driving rightinto the gathering storm.
A few minutes passed and then came the initial lightning spear. It seemed to disappear right into the earth directly in front of him. It was followed by a much louder boom of thunder. The sky was growing increasingly black and ominous. The winds were pushing the system swiftly across the area.
“We better go inside,” said Zoe nervously. “Mommy saysthat more people get hit by lightning than you think.”
“Who lives in that house, Zoe?” Decker asked, pointing to the other house.
Zoe had her hand on the door leading back inside. She said, “I don’t know.”
Decker’s gaze focused and then held on a sudden spark of light.
It was inside the other house, behind one of the windows. He didn’t know if it was a lightfrom inside simply reflecting off the glass, or whether the cause might be something more complicated, and potentially dangerous.
He set his beer down and hustled off the deck. But he needed to find out.
“Where are you going?” Zoe cried after him; her voice held a note of panic.
He called over his shoulder, “Go inside, Zoe, I just want to check on something.”
Another crack of lightning was followed by such a deafening explosion of thunder that Zoe bolted inside, while Decker ran the other way.
Despite his bulk, Decker had been an elite athlete for many years. He grabbed the top of the fence separating the two properties, neatly swung over the barrier, and dropped inside the other yard.
