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Turning on the T.V., she found a Christmas movie. Yes, Christmas had been and gone a few weeks ago. But she loved Christmas movies. And Christmas music. Sometimes, when she was feeling down, she’d turn on some Christmas music and dance around to it.
These next few nights were going to be so much fun. Sure, she would miss Trent. But she got to do whatever she wanted whenever she wanted without Daddy scolding her, putting her in the corner, or spanking her bottom.
Yep. Perfect.
* * *
April hid under the covers with Scruffy Dog, who let out a small whimper.
Okay, that might actually have come from her.
“What’s that noise, Scruffy Dog? Is someone out there? Oh my God!”
How had she ever thought it would be fun to stay in the house alone? Without Trent here, who would protect her? How had she never noticed how noisy it was at night? How isolated she was up here? The closest neighbors were miles away. It was just her, the trees, and Scruffy Dog who wasn’t much of a guard dog.
Oh, and the bogeyman, the ghosts, the zombies, and just your plain old robbers and murderers.
The wind whistled through the trees and rattled the windows. She let out a small scream and buried her head under her arms.
This was ridiculous. She couldn’t spend all night under the covers, waiting for the bogeyman to get her.
“We have to fight back, Scruffy Dog. We can’t just hide here, waiting for the bogeyman to attack.”
Scruffy Dog didn’t seem convinced, but April had an idea.
* * *
“All right, my legion of warriors. This is the plan.” April marched up and down the living room as she stared at her army of toys. She’d laid out every stuffed toy she owned.
There was actually a lot of them. She hadn’t realized how much Trent spoiled her.
“You are going to be the first line of defense against the bogeyman and all the other scary things out there trying to eat me. I know . . . it’s risky. I won’t lie, some of you may lose your lives. So if anyone wants to back out, then now is the time to do it.”
She studied them. No one even flinched.
“Good. That’s good. Now, Scruffy Dog is your commander, understand? Do what he says. We’re going to put some of you at the front door and some at the back. Then more at the bottom of the stairs and the top. Hopefully, that’s enough to keep the bogeyman at bay. The ghosts are another story . . .”
After positioning all the toys, she rubbed a hand over her face. She was so tired, but she had no idea how she was going to get to sleep.
She sat back in bed, turning the TV up loud to drown out the noise of the wind outside. It wasn’t working. She was never going to sleep.
Perhaps she shouldn’t even try. Maybe what she needed was a distraction. Once the wind went down, then she could sleep.
She had a lot of work to do. Perhaps she and Scruffy Dog should go into her studio. It was a bedroom that Trent had converted for her when her jewelry business had taken off. There were no markets for another month, but her online orders had really taken off lately.
Grabbing Scruffy Dog, she headed downstairs to get an energy drink and some more potato chips.
It was going to be a long night.
* * *
The phone ringing woke her. Sitting up, April looked around in confusion. Why was she sitting at her desk? Had she fallen asleep here?
She groaned. God, her back hurt.
The phone stopped ringing, and she stood and stretched, glancing over at Scruffy Dog who sat on her work table.
“I feel like crap.” With a yawn, she sat back in the chair. Last night had been horrid. The wind had finally let up at around three in the morning, but she’d been in the middle of making a necklace so she’d decided to push through.
