Chapter 7

That night, Kimberly slept in her parents’ bed with Ashley in the middle. Kimberly had refused to sleep alone in her bedroom until someone took the “monster” out of the attic. Sam had argued with her, explaining that he hadn’t meant that it was a real monster, just a wild animal, but Ashley took her daughter’s side. After all, it was only for one more night.

The next day went as planned. Ashley drove Sam to work and then registered Kimberly in school. When Kimberly was introduced to her new fourth grade classmates, Ashley watched with trepidation. How would they receive the outsider? To her relief, there didn’t seem to be a problem. Maybe Sam was right all along and she was simply fighting the change.

She drove home.

Ashley couldn’t wait to get rid of the animal in the attic. It amazed her how much trouble that rascal had caused. Her daughter had been terrified and she had fought with her husband. She couldn’t remember the last time she and Sam had a fight. She felt foolish. She was a grown woman afraid of house noises. With Halloween only a day away, she chuckled thinking how much Sam would have teased her if she had acted like that on Halloween. Thank goodness the animal would be gone before Halloween.

Ashley went to Kimberly’s bedroom to check on the chest of drawers. About to enter, she froze. Her heart pounded in her chest, ready to explode. She remembered holding her terrified daughter who had trembled so much. Kimberly had been scared to death. Could someone really die of fright? While she had held her trembling daughter, she had thought so. Kimberly couldn’t even speak most of the time. She had simply whimpered, sounding like a hurt animal. Lingering outside the bedroom, it all came back to Ashley. The noises had terrified her too. If her motherly instincts hadn’t kicked in to protect her daughter, she might have been the one cowering underneath the blanket.

Ashley sucked in a lungful of air and released it. Only then did she enter the bedroom. Her eyes shot up to the ceiling and she felt a knot in her stomach. It had all seemed so real. Ashley shivered once and then shrugged before walking up to the chest of drawers that Sam had stood up. She placed a hand on the top and shook it. It didn’t budge. Didn’t wiggle at all. How could it have fallen over? Then she remembered what Sam had said. Ashley dropped to her knees to see if Sam had wedged something under the front feet.

BANG!

Ashley’s head shot up. Her breath caught. Her eyes bored through the ceiling.

BANG!

Ashley leapt to her feet and bolted from the room. One thing was for certain. Even after the animal was gone, there was no way in hell she would ever go into the attic.

Ashley wandered around the house. There was nothing for her to do. The unpacking was done, the house was clean, and Kimberly was in school. She was thrilled when her cellphone rang and saw that it was Sam.

“The man’s coming after lunch,” Sam said.

“What man?”

“To get the animal out of the attic. Oh, and I got great news. A car comes with the job. I guess house calls are part of the job. Seems a lot of people get hurt on their farms and I need to get to them. It’s a four-wheel drive because some of the roads aren’t paved. Yesterday I had my own car so no one mentioned it.”