Kayla pressed her back against the wall, her breath caught somewhere between her ribs and her throat. The house was supposed to be empty. Sabrina had texted that morning saying she had Tommy with her. But now, standing in the quiet hallway, Kayla could hear it clearly: a faint, unmistakable shuffle from the floor above her. Not pipes. Not the wind. A footstep.
Her hands trembled as she reached for her phone, eyes locked on the stairwell. She’d walked into the house only minutes ago. Everything had been still and ordinary, until the slow creak of a floorboard froze her in place. Someone was up there. Someone who wasn’t supposed to be.
Kayla swallowed hard, pulse thudding against her ears, every instinct telling her not to climb those stairs. She didn’t know who to call first or what she should even say. All she knew was that she needed to get out, and that whatever had made that sound had been waiting in the quiet of the Reynolds’ home long before she arrived.