Rancor: Sinister Attachments, Book 1 (Haunted)

SIX

Jess had already showered and dressed by the time Maggie got up. She walked into the kitchen where Jess was finishing a cup of coffee.

"It's been a blast, Maggie," Jess said, sarcastically. "But I need to get out of here. Do you want to come with me?" 

Maggie laughed. "There has to be a logical explanation for what happened last night."

"Like what?"

"Like maybe Debbie came home drunk and forgot which apartment was hers."

Jess sat her cup in the sink. "Terrible explanation, I don't buy it. What else do you have?"

Maggie filled her cup with coffee and looked at Jess. "Your imagination ran away with you? You know how you think this place is haunted, and every little thing is a ghost."

"Nope, that's not it," Jess said, shaking her head. She picked up her purse and walked toward the couch still blocking the door. "It's quite possible there are crazy people living in this place; you said they seemed a little odd."

Maggie helped Jess move the sofa so she could escape, pushing the old heavy piece of furniture across the carpet with a dull rumble.

"You babysit tonight?" Jess asked as she walked toward the door.

"Yep," Maggie said, rolling her eyes. "I can't believe I got myself into that one."

"I'd get out of it if I were you," Jess said. She looked toward the living room windows. "You might consider locking your windows because that porch is right there. Anyone could walk right up to them and get inside."

Maggie looked at the windows and then back at Jess. "I'll suffocate. There's no air conditioning."

Jess's hand rested on the doorknob. "Don't take any more babysitting jobs. That Debbie seems a little weird to me, and I haven't even met her."

Maggie sighed.

"I think you should go back to your house. I know you don't want to live there because of the suicide, but at least it's safe." Jess opened the door and stepped over the threshold. Even though the sun outside was bright, its yellow rays turned a murky gray as they formed shadows against the walls. She shivered. "I'll call you tomorrow."

Maggie closed and locked the door. Jess was right; this place was creepy, but not creepy enough to move.

She walked to the kitchen and refilled her coffee cup. Outside, the calm lake reflected the blue sky and appeared refreshing. But inside Maggie's apartment it felt damp, and the air smelled musty. She opened a window to let in the clean air. A fan would help circulate the air, she thought. She would have to get one the next time she went to town.

Maggie walked out of her apartment and around the hall corner to the door leading out to the second-floor wraparound porch. She put her coffee cup in the other hand and pushed down the French door handle to open it. The door was stuck. Not necessarily from swollen, summer wood, but more likely from not having been opened in a while.