Something Old - Dianne L. Christner [61]
With crossed arms, she went over their argument, even embellishing it with what she should have said but hadn’t. But as much as she tried to justify herself and her anger, Lil’s barbs kept darting back. Especially the idea that Katy wasn’t honest or real.
Slowly, she came to realize that Lil hadn’t been referring to her actions, but her feelings. And specifically her feelings toward Jake. As much as she tried to cover her pining for him, Lil had easily read her. As Katy sat with clenched hands, she allowed the enormity of what had just transpired to flood over her.
Had she really shouted that living together wasn’t going to work? Where had that come from? Some hidden fear? She hadn’t planned to say any such thing. She thought about all the hateful things that had spewed from her mouth like an uncontrollable and unrecognizable force. She couldn’t erase the image of Lil’s shocked, pale face.
She sat for a very long time in her desperation. The timbers of the old house began to creak. She felt alone. And just as that angry force had come unbidden earlier, so did another intruder. Fear. She’d known this enemy all her life, the fear of darkness.
Katy heard another bump, and jerked her glance over her shoulder. Though it was the wee hours of the morning, she would never be able to sleep if she went to bed. Miserable, she rose and put a kettle of water on the stove. Lil’s stove. She waited for the whistle, blinking back her tears. When the tea was ready, she flicked off the kitchen lights and hurried through the dark hall to the bedroom. The thought shot through her mind that something invisible followed her, but she didn’t look back. Heart racing, she shut her bedroom door. The house became a silent, lurking monster that she tried to ignore.
She flicked on her bedside lamp and set her tea on the nightstand. She pulled the drapes and tamped back her panic. Sitting on the edge of her bed, she removed the pins from her covering and placed them on her nightstand. Lil’s messy bedcovers flagged her attention, and she couldn’t look away.
Calmly she padded across the floor and made Lil’s bed. When the last wrinkle was smoothed away, she sat on her own bed again and sipped her tea. What would happen to the doddy-house dream now? She hadn’t considered Megan’s feelings at all.
Eerie shadows danced in the closet. Strange house noises emphasized her loneliness. Would she have to slink home and admit to her dad she wasn’t ready to live on her own?
CHAPTER 16
The next morning upon awakening, Katy groaned and pulled the twisted bedcovers over her tangled locks and bleary eyes, trying to dispel her fragmented dreams and the reality of the mess she’d created. During the night, she’d not only dreamed but woken to fits of unreasonable panic over every creak and moan of the doddy’s ancient timbers. Though daylight brought relief in that respect, the promise of future terrifying nights stole from the welcome respite.
Lonely and somewhat isolated, the doddy house was located down a long lane on a rural road, yet received a fair amount of morning work traffic with men gunning their trucks to punch in their time card at Ranco Incorporated or yellow school buses screeching their brakes and picking up students. Most of this noise passed unnoticed by Katy, but one clunker didn’t, causing her to throw off her covers at its faintest din before it even rumbled into the Millers’ drive.
Thank You, God! She hit the bare floorboards running and fumbled with the dead bolt. She swiped a matted clump of hair from her face, the entire black bramble bush tumbling over her shoulders and tickling her waist. She peered through the frosty window, quickly rubbing a visible circle with her palm. Sure enough, there was Lil stepping out of her Blazer. She had her head bowed and her coat pulled tight. Lil walked toward the doddy house!
Every nerve at alert, Katy turned to face the entryway, waiting for Lil just as she had the previous evening, only her emotions came from a different place now. The door cracked open, and Lil