Fire Spirit by Graham Masterton

Mommy!’ said Amelia. ‘This is a really funny bit!’
    Ruth continued to stare back at the boy. He was only about twelve years old, and very thin, but for some reason he made her feel deeply unsettled.
    â€˜Mommy?’ said Amelia, and then, ‘What are you looking at?’
    â€˜It’s that boy,’ Ruth told her. ‘That boy you saw yesterday evening. He’s come back.’
    Amelia stood up and looked out of the window. ‘I wonder what he’s doing here. He looks like he wants something, doesn’t he?’
    â€˜Yes, he does. Let’s go ask him, shall we?’
    â€˜I don’t know. Maybe we shouldn’t.’
    â€˜Ammy, he’s only a boy.’
    â€˜I know he is, but he makes me feel scared.’
    â€˜Oh, come on. Why does he make you feel scared?’
    â€˜I don’t know. But it feels like the door’s open. It feels like they’re all trying to come through.’
    â€˜Well, you stay here and I’ll go,’ said Ruth. ‘He could be lost, or maybe he’s run away from home. He’s still wearing the same clothes as yesterday, isn’t he?’
    â€˜Mommy, don’t .’
    Ruth laid her hands on Amelia’s shoulders and gave her a reassuring squeeze. ‘Don’t worry, honestly. I’m sure that he’s perfectly harmless. We can’t leave him standing outside like that, can we, if he doesn’t have anyplace to go? We’ll have to call Children’s Services, so that somebody can take care of him.’
    She opened the front door, but as she did so, Amelia let out a peculiar little moan of dread. Ruth turned back. Amelia was standing in the hallway with her face cupped in her hands, her eyes wide, like Edvard Munch’s painting of The Scream .
    Ruth went back and gave her a hug. ‘Sweetheart, there’s no need for you to be scared of him. He’s only a boy.’
    Amelia looked up at her. ‘Don’t let him come close to you,’ she said.
    â€˜Why not?’
    â€˜ Please, Mommy, just don’t.’
    â€˜OK, if you don’t want me to, I won’t.’
    â€˜He doesn’t know who you are. That’s why he’s come here. He thinks you’re somebody else.’
    â€˜Who? And how do you know that?’
    â€˜I don’t know. But he wouldn’t be here, otherwise.’
    â€˜OK, then. I promise you I won’t let him come close. Now you just stay there, if he scares you so much. I won’t be a minute.’
    With that, Ruth opened the door and stepped out. The sun was shining and the front yard was so bright that at first she had to shield her eyes with her hand. The boy had been standing right beside the trunk of the basswood tree, but now that she was outside she couldn’t see him.
    She crossed the lawn until she reached the tree, but the boy had gone. She went further, on to the sidewalk, but there was no sign of him, not in either direction. She looked back toward the house. The front door was open, and Amelia was peering out apprehensively, but the boy had completely disappeared, as if he had been nothing but a trick of the mid-morning shadows.
    She was still standing on the sidewalk when she saw Craig’s silver Explorer coming along the road. He turned into the driveway and parked behind her Ford.
    â€˜Hey, you waiting for me?’ he asked her as he climbed out.
    Ruth shook her head. ‘There was a boy here . . . standing outside the house.’
    Craig looked up and down the street. ‘I don’t see any boy. What did he look like?’
    â€˜Dark hair, very pale face. He was wearing a black T-shirt and red jeans. The funny thing is, he was out here last night, too, and I saw him in the crowd outside that house on South McCann Street – you know, where we found that burned body on the mattress.’
    â€˜Maybe he’s stalking you,’ said Craig.
    â€˜Why would he be stalking