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Her heels tap up the cracked front sidewalk. After only a few knocks, the front door swings open. A little girl no older than seven stands barefoot in the doorway. Her dirty hair is falling out of a lopsided braid.
Piper bends down to the girl's level, shakes her hand, and then steps inside.
Staying out here was the right call, I tell myself. I don’t want to play any role in what those kids are going through. I’m the lead figure in many people’s nightmares, I know that, but I’m not going to unintentionally terrorize a bunch of kids.
I’m outside for a few minutes when I hear a raised voice.
It’s male.
Coming from inside the house.
Andangry.
53
TIMOFEY
I hop off my bike, jog up to the front door, and shove it open without knocking.
“You tricked a little girl into letting you inside!” the male voice screams. “I never would have opened the door for you. You’re not welcome here! We don’t need you!”
“I’m sorry you feel that way,” Piper says calmly. “That’s actually what I’m here to determine. I need to speak to your mom. She scheduled this meeting.”
The living room is small and square, with a sagging plaid sofa under the window and an ancient television sitting on the floor in the corner. Toys and blankets cover the scratched hardwood floor. I can smell the spoiled food in the dishes stacked on the table. The sickly sweet scent of rot is strong.
“She isn’t here!” the voice barks back. “So leave and never come back.”
“I can’t do that,” Piper says.
I follow the sound of her voice to the hallway just behind the living room wall. Piper is standing in the middle of it, her foot wedged into a wooden door.
The yelling kid can’t be older than fourteen, but he’s standing in the middle of his room with his arms crossed and a scowl that makes him look a decade older than he has any right to look.
His eyes skirt past Piper and land on me. His expression hardens. “You can’t threaten us to do anything. This is private property.”
Piper looks back at me and then gives all of her attention to the kid once again. “He isn’t here to threaten you. I’m just here to talk to your mom.”
“She isn’t home. I already told you.”
I know Piper can hear the television playing low from the closed bedroom at the end of the hall just as well as I can. It’s coming from the same room with the aluminum foil on the windows.
I glance that way, and the kid doesn’t miss a thing. He can’t. Because he may only be a teenager, but he’s running this entire house. It’s all up to him.
“There’s no one back there,” he says quickly. “The baby sleeps with the TV on for white noise. That’s all.”
“The baby is in the dining room.” I can see the bassinet from here. The little girl who opened the door for Piper is sitting on the floor next to it, her legs tucked into her chest.
“Right.” His eyes dart around. He’s panicking. “I left it on… from earlier. It’s nothing. Come back later.”
Piper takes a half step forward. “Grant, listen… I’m not here to punish you. I just need to talk to your mom and see how she’s doing.”
“She’s great,” Grant says. “She has a job now. That’s where she is right now. At work.”
He’s lying through his teeth. It’s confirmed when the little girl walks in front of me and pulls on Piper’s dress. “Mama is sleeping.”
Piper points at the door at the end of the hall. “Is she in there?”
The girl nods, and Grant’s face turns red. “Leave her alone, you…you bitch!”
