Haunting the Night by Mara Purnhagen Page B

hour. I stayed after school today and got a ride over. I figured you were at Avery’s.”
    “You should have come over.”
    He shook his head. “And interrupt girl time? No chance.”
    “I could have used you.” I snuggled closer to him and he draped an arm around me. “She’s really pushing the Prom thing.”
    “Yeah, she’s been after me, too. She thinks I can convince you to go.”
    I looked at him, my eyes immediately finding the small bruise on his neck. I was waiting for it to fade and disappear, but the reminder of the attack we endured four weeks earlier was still there.
    “If it matters to you, I’ll go.”
    He kissed my forehead. “What matters to me is that you’re okay.”
    I reached for the remote and turned on the TV. As I settled back into Noah, I heard his stomach growl. “I forgot about dinner,” I said. “You want to order something?”
    “Sure. Anything but pizza.”
    I was sick of pizza, as well. Neither my dad nor I were very good in the kitchen, and we ended up eating pizza three times a week. Noah and I decided on Chinese food. He placed the order while I called to check in on Dad.
    “I think I’m going to stay here tonight.” His voice was laced with exhaustion. “We’re trying out some new medication and I want to be here.”
    “Okay.”
    “Shane will be over soon to stay with you. Have you had dinner yet?”
    I looked over to the kitchen, where Noah was on the phone. “We’re ordering it now. What about you? Have you eaten?”
    I worried about my dad, who seemed to exist solely on coffee and stale sandwiches from the hospital cafeteria. He’d lost weight over the past month. His face was leaner and he always wore a belt now.
    “I’ll get something from the vending machine,” Dad said.
    “You can’t live on candy bars. I’m going to start packing you a lunch.”
    “Sounds good. I have to go, Charlotte. The doctor’s here.”
    I hung up, wondering if he’d really heard me. When Noah came back into the room, I told him about my concerns. He agreed that my dad needed to eat better and offered to recruit his mom to help. “She loves cooking for you guys.”
    “She’s already done so much for us,” I protested. “I can’t ask her for any more. Besides, I need to take care of my dad. It’s not your mom’s responsibility.”
    “And it’s not yours, either.” Noah pulled me into a hug. “You have enough going on as it is. Let people help you. They want to.”
    I reluctantly agreed. We watched TV as we waited for our food to arrive, flipping between the news and a comedy special. The doorbell rang while Noah was in the bathroom. I grabbed some money from my purse and opened the door, where I was greeted with a man holding two brown paper bags of food. The scent of garlic chicken made my mouth water. I paid the delivery guy and took the bags, then set them on the hallway table so I could shut the door. When I turned around, the delivery guy was gone.
    But the shadow creature was there, sitting across the street.
    It was now the size of a German shepherd. My hand felt frozen to the doorknob as I stared at the thing. I could make out two distinctive legs. The shape resembled a man crouching, and although I could not see a clear face, I knew in my terrified gut that it was looking directly at me.
    Noah came out of the bathroom. “Smells great,” he said as he approached me. “Charlotte? Are you okay?”
    I couldn’t respond. I couldn’t do anything but gaze across the street. The shadow creature was slowly becoming lighter, melting into the night. By the time Noah stood beside me to also look across the street, it was gone.
    I let go of the doorknob and stepped back. “It was there,” I whispered. “It was just there.”
    Noah stepped onto the porch and scanned up and down the street. Then he came back inside and shut the door. “Come on, let’s eat.”
    I nodded, grateful that he didn’t state the obvious: there was nothing there. But it had been there,