There's something outside I've got to show you that will scare the pants off Hailey Bond," Jessica Logue told Lucy Pickett as they entered the house.
"Are you sure it's okay?"
"Of course it's not okay, Lucy."
They smiled at each other.
Because Jessica's parents weren't yet home from work, Jessica and Lucy dropped their backpacks in the living room and went straight through the house toward the back door. Lucy heard the sound of a television from the darkened family room, and as they passed by she saw the blue glow from the screen.
"Jessica, honey," someone called.
"Hi, Grandma," Jessica said but didn't slow her stride.
"Come in here so we can see you. Who is your friend?"
Jessica stopped abruptly, then turned to Lucy and rolled her eyes. She led Lucy into the dark room.
It took a moment for Lucy's eyes to adjust to the darkness. When she could see, she could make out two people in the gloom. They were lit softly by the light of the television, which reflected in two pairs of old- fashioned, metal-framed eyeglasses.
"Lucy, this is Grandma and Grandpa Logue."
"Hi," Lucy said. Jessica's grandparents were small, thin people. Her grandmother wore an oversized sweatshirt with a heart embroidered across the front of it. Her hair was dull gray and cropped close. Jessica's grandfather looked like something out of an old movie about farmers: flannel shirt buttoned to his chin, wide suspenders, baggy, stained trousers, and heavy work shoes. They were watching a talk show about bad families.
Lucy saw that Jessica's grandmother had a pile of knitting on her lap, and could see the glint from the metal knitting needles. How could she even see what she was doing?
"Why don't you have the lights on?" Lucy asked.
"Why waste electricity?" Jessica's grandmother asked back.
"We don't waste electricity in our family," Jessica's grandfather said with a high twang. "Don't waste water, either."
Lucy didn't know what to say to that.
"We're going to play," Jessica said, and Lucy was grateful to her changing the subject.
"You be careful," Jessica's grandmother cautioned. "Stay close to the house. Nice to meet you, little girl."
"Nice to meet you too," Lucy said. utside, Jessica widened her eyes and gestured "follow me." They were in the heavy trees behind the house. It was cool and still, and the curled cottonwood leaves crunched beneath their feet. Lucy was glad to be outside, away from Jessica's grandparents.
Lucy thought how old Jessica's grandparents seemed to be, especially compared to Grandmother Missy, who was now out on that ranch. Grandmother Missy seemed years younger. Lucy sometimes wished she was more like a real grandmother, but Jessica's grandparents took being old a little too far, she thought.
They were a long way from the house.
"Jessica…"
"I know. We'll take a look at it and get right back to the house before my mom and dad get home."
Lucy nodded. What, she wondered, was "it"? She was frightened, but a little thrilled. She reached between the buttons of her jacket with the palm of her hand, to see if she could feel her heart beating. She could.
"Now, whatever you do, don't look up…" Jessica whispered. Both girls laughed, and it broke the tension for a moment. "Don't look up" had become a comic mantra at school ever since the news of the mutilations had come out. Sixth-graders, some from Sheridan's class, said it to scare the little kids on the playground. When the kids did look up, usually with a fleeting, half-terrified glance, the sixth-graders would lunge forward and either tickle the youngsters or push them backward over a coconspirator who was on their hands and knees behind them.
The funniest thing to have happened so far though was when two boys in their class had started selling foil-covered baseball caps for seven dollars apiece. One of the boys had stolen the caps from his father's collection, and the other had borrowed a large roll of aluminum foil from his own mother.
"Why get mutilated?" They cried out like carnival barkers. "Protect yourself with these babies… only seven dollars each or two for twelve dollars…"
H ow much farther?" Lucy asked. They must be near the edge of the property, she thought. They had never been this far from the house before.
"It's right up here," Jessica said. "Man, wait until the next time Hailey comes over. We'll ditch her right here. It'll serve her right for always trying to scare us."
Nervous, but giggling, they ducked under a low-hanging branch and pushed through tall, dried brush. Lucy froze when she saw the dark building in front of her. She looked it over. It wasn't as large as she initially thought it was. In fact, it was more of a shack. It was old, unpainted, with one window that still had glass in it. The other front windows were boarded up. There was a sagging porch with missing slats where yellowed grass had grown through and died. The roof was uneven, and an old, tin chimney was black with age.
"Wow," Lucy said. "When did you find this?"
"Yesterday," Jessica said.
Lucy looked over at her friend. Jessica smiled and raised her eyebrows expectantly. Lucy wasn't sure she liked this, even a bit.
"You want to look inside?" Jessica asked.
"Maybe we should go back now."
"Don't you want to know what's inside?"
Lucy folded her arms across her coat. "I'm not going inside of that place."
Jessica looked disappointed, but not as disappointed as she could have looked. This made Lucy feel a little better, knowing that Jessica was scared too.
"How about if we just look in the window?" Jessica said.
Lucy weighed the idea. Her first impulse was to go back to the house. But she didn't want to show she was afraid and give Jessica something to tease her about later.
Lucy quickly nodded yes. She chose not to speak, because she was worried her voice would betray her fright.
The two girls walked tentatively to the shack. Lucy could see that the window would be too high to look in without standing on her tiptoes. Jessica was an inch or two taller, maybe tall enough that she could see into the window without extra effort. Lucy wished it wasn't overcast, and thought that everything might feel different if the sun was out.
They approached the window silently. The bottom sill was gray and warped, and Lucy reached up and closed her fingers around it to help her stretch higher. Lucy strained, balanced on the toes of her shoes, and pulled herself up so her nose touched the top of the sill. There was just enough light inside the building that they could see. They both suddenly gasped. What terrified them wasn't the pile of dirty bedding, or the opened food cans and cartons, or the pile of books on the floor. It was the sound of rustling from somewhere in the shadows out of view, and the thump of a footfall as if something was trying to get away. They ran back to the house, screaming all the way.