Innocence

IX

I texted my mum and told her I was at Calum's even though I knew she'd be annoyed. For some reason, she seemed to have something against Calum that she wasn't letting me in on.

"Can we play hide and seek?" Zoe asked and I nearly gasped. I hadn't played hide and seek in so long.

I looked at Calum hopefully, praying he'd say yes so I didn't have to.

"Sure," Calum shrugged. "You're counting first because you suggested it."

"But then when I find you you're gonna tell me we're not playing anymore and I won't be able to hide!" Zoe protested.

"I promise I won't," Calum mumbled.

"That's what you say every time," she grumbled, turning to face the wall. "One, two, three..."

I looked at Calum and he ran up the stairs, beckoning for me to follow him. I managed my way up the creaky stairs and I looked from left to right in the hallway. He pointed left and I followed him hopelessly, having no real idea as to where I was going.

This house was huge and I would probably get lost if I didn't have Calum as a guide.

Calum ducked into a doorway and I followed him, recognising the room as a bathroom.

"Are we hiding in here?" I whispered and Calum nodded, pulling open the curtain to the bathtub and letting me hop in first before he joined me in the tub.

Once we were in, he moved the curtain around the bathtub so no one could see us from the outside.

"Twenty-two, twenty-three, twenty-four..."

"This is oddly comfortable," I murmured quietly and Calum chuckled. He brought his legs up to his chest and I did the same, so we could sit next to each other.

"Thanks for letting me hide with you."

"No worries."

"Ready or not, here I come!"

I bit my tongue, trying to hide my excitement. I shifted a little, before finally settling in a spot.

"This house is huge," I whispered.

"The owners sold it really cheap because apparently it's haunted. But I love old houses and I don't believe in ghosts."

"You don't believe in ghosts? Really?" I was a little surprised at this. Considering what we'd both been through with the dreams, ghosts wouldn't be the weirdest thing that's happened. "I think ghosts exist somewhere, whether they walk the earth or not."

"Funny you say that, my girlfriend used to say basically the same thing," he admitted, shaking his head.

"What happened to her?" I asked him, hoping I'd get an answer but I knew damn well I wouldn't.

"It's complicated. One day she was there, the next she wasn't."

"She ran away?" I guessed.

"It sure felt like it," Calum laughed bitterly.

"What about on the phone? What'd she say to you?" I asked.