Don't Go in the Attic

Friday

Friday couldn't have come quicker for Alex.  The day she dreaded the most came the quickest.  Why is it that you have to wait for something good to happen to you but bad things just happen whenever they want?  Alex couldn't focus at school that day.  She was late for Math!  She knew her parents would be hearing about that.  Maybe they would punish her for being late and not let her go to babysit Megan and Riley.  Probably not.  When she arrived to math class, a couple minutes late, she grabbed a seat next to her friend Emma.  "Why are you late?  Math is your favourite, isn't it?"  Emma asked.

"I'm really unfocused today," Alex responded, "that's all.  Don't worry."  Alex stared aimlessly as she spoke.  Her blue eyes not blinking.

"I'm going to worry because you look like a zombie!"  Emma whispered poking Alex's face.

Alex slapped Emma's hand away and turned to face her.  "I've been thinking too much about things.  That's all."

"What were you thinking about?"  Emma said, her green eyes twinkling, "The guy in your science class?"  she said with a grin.  

"No I wasn't thinking about that!  I never do!"

"Sure you don't," Emma said giggling to herself.

"I'll tell you what I'm thinking about after class," Alex said tugging on Emma's long brown hair.  Just then the teacher looked over at them and the girls got back to work.

About an hour later, class was over.  "Are you gonna tell me now?"  Emma yelled.

"Shut up!  You're too loud," Alex responded with a laugh.

"OK Sorry.  Now tell me."

"Fine.  I went to babysit these kids on Friday and everything has been really odd ever since."

"Like, what was happening?"

"There was drugs in their cabinets."

"Prescription drugs or drugs drugs?"

"The kind of drugs that knock you out.  You tell me if that's prescription."

"What the heck?  Are you serious?"  Emma screamed.  Alex slapped her hand against Emma's mouth.  

"Shush!"  She said, "or I won't tell you."  The girls were making a massive scene in the hallway.  "OK but they also said there was a skeleton man in the attic.  Do you have any idea what that means?"

"Maybe they have a skeleton of a man in their attic?  Go up and see."

"I can't.  The house's biggest rule is to not go into the attic."

"Forget it, you're not going back to that house anyways."

"I am though."  Alex gave Emma a look saying, "Not another word, you're too loud," and they walked on through the hallways talking about something else instead.  Emma seemed to like to talk about the guy in Alex's science class.

After school, Alex walked home.  She'd be home for about an hour and a half before Ally got home so that gave her a lot of time to do homework.  On her way home, Alex started whistling the song poster of a girl.     She felt like something was wrong, very wrong.  She turned around to see someone way behind her.  "I'm just paranoid," she decided, "this man is not following you."  She was the only kid walking home down this street.  She could hear the crunching of the dead leaves under her feet.  She could also hear the sound of the man's feet behind her.  She kept whistling and walking as the leaves crunched.  The crunching from the man's feet.  She stopped and pretended to fix her shoe.  The man had stopped walking too!  Alex quickly stood up and continued walking.  As much as she wanted to look back at the man, or woman, she didn't.  It would slow her down.  The person was walking at the same pace as her.  Alex thought, "If I speed up and he speeds up then I know he is following me."