Narrator

Eric showed her the screen.

Maddie whispered, he wants us to stay another night.

I felt anger flare, hot and clean.

No, I said.

We leave now.

We finished the battery repair enough to get Eric's SUV to start, but it coughed and sputtered, like it didn't want to cooperate.

My tire was changed, but I didn't trust it.

We loaded essentials, wallets, keys, a few bags, the notebook without discussing it because none of us wanted to leave it there, and we got in the vehicles.

As we were about to pull out, the wind chimes on the porch moved again, one slow clang.

There was no wind.

The trees were still.

The sound came from a single tube, as if someone had touched it.

I looked toward the porch.

In the shadow beyond the swing, just at the edge of where the porch boards met darkness, something stood very still.

I could not make out a face.

I could see a shape.

Tall, thin, wrong in the way it held itself.

It was as if it was trying to imitate the posture of a person who stands casually, but it didn't understand what casual is.

Its shoulders were too high, its arms hung too long, and I saw briefly a pale oval where a face should have been turn toward me.

Then it moved.