By late afternoon, the house had fallen into a quiet stillness, almost too still. Tommy dozed on the couch under his dinosaur blanket, and Kayla used the time to tidy up the kitchen, wanting everything to look perfect when the parents returned. It was her first real babysitting shift, and she was determined to make a good impression.
She reached for a cup near the sink when something faint caught her attention, an almost imperceptible sound from upstairs. A soft thump. Not loud, not alarming, but enough to make her glance up toward the ceiling.