Page 107 of Meet Cute Reboot

At the bottom of the stairs, I swing around and head toward Luke’s room. There are no nightlights here. He must have installed them upstairs for my sake.

A couple weeks ago, Luke was a no-go. Off-limits. Nuh uh. Not him again. And now I’m sneaking to his room.

Pastor Ellis’s voice rings in my ear. Pastor Ellis who is not afraid to preach about touchy subjects, like obeying God in difficult situations.

Pushing his voice out of my head proves much easier than pushing away my yearning for Luke. I reach his door and rest my hand on the knob. It’s cold under my touch, original to the house no doubt. Antique brass tarnished to a dark brown. It was golden and shiny once, free of the residue of time’s passing. I study the ornate pattern with my thumb, trying to make out the design.

We’re trying to start over, create a new normal, a new future. Kissing him in the privacy of his bedroom could lead to making out, and making out could lead to...

I curse. Then I turn and head back to the staircase.

I only make it a few steps before an otherworldly sound makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up like an angry porcupine’s quills. The eerie groan seems to lack a source, but rather emanates from the surrounding walls, like the woodwork absorbed some tragedy and needs to vent its sorrow.

Poor Betsy and her broken neck. It must have been so traumatic.

The groan tapers and a new utterance fills the hall, higher this time, not quite a screech, but almost. Like Betsy falling down the stairs and crying out in pain.

The skin on my arms breaks out in chilled bumps. I feel someone’s eyes on me. Something’s. The floorboards creak, likelynotdue to the house settling.

I try to calm my pulse and relax my core muscles, which are cinched like a corset, and then I spin to confront Betsy’s ghost. A shadowed form looms over me. Its hands claw my biceps.

“What is wrong with you!” I hiss. Luke releases one of my arms and presses his index finger to his lips.

“Don’t scare Betsy.”

“What do you mean, don’t scare Betsy? You just scared the heck out of me!”

“Sorry,” he says.

Another groan sounds from the walls around us and it sends ice down my veins.

“Youlivewith this?” I whisper.

Luke nods. His features are shrouded by darkness, but I can tell his eyes are open wide. I can also tell he’s not wearing a shirt. “What are you doing down here?”

“I came down to kiss you again.”

The shadowed traces of Luke’s eyebrows inch toward the ceiling. He points to his chest. “Me?”

“Don’t worry. I changed my mind.”

“I wouldn’t have let you kiss me while I’m in my jammies.”

“You wouldn’t have been able to resist.”

“Yes, I would have. I’m a changed man.”

A low growl seeps from the walls, much more menacing than the previous groans. Every hair on my body stands up like quills ready to eject. “I’m not sure Betsy’s friendly.”

Luke clears his throat. “Betsy?” he says tentatively. “Is that you?”

“Don’t try to talk to her,” I warn. “You might upset her.”

“I’m going to tell her to go to the light.”

“I told her that earlier, but she’s still here.” More supernatural groans accompany my hushed tone, and then another sound joins in—the nerve-rattling howl of a feral cat.

“Lou Lou is here now too,” Luke whispers.