The Nightmare Next Door by Joel A. Sutherland

Author:Joel A. Sutherland
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Sourcebooks
Published: 2020-05-21T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 14

Sophie offered to let me sleep in her room for the night. I waved her off and told her I’d be fine. She left.

I closed my bedroom door and turned off the light. I ran across my room and jumped into bed, afraid something might reach out from beneath it and grab my foot. I hadn’t done that since I was six years old.

I pulled my duvet up to my chin and stared at the ceiling, the wall, the window…anywhere but the closet. I closed my eyes, but all I could see was the horse crushing Sophie and me into a bloody pulp.

I opened my eyes.

I ran quietly down the hall to my sister’s bedroom.

• • •

Light streamed in through Sophie’s window the next morning and shined in my eyes. I sat up groggily, rubbed my face, yawned, and slowly took in my surroundings. I was on the floor next to Sophie’s bed, a duvet balled up at my feet. Sophie was lying in her bed, her back to me.

I hadn’t slept well, and my brain took a little longer than usual to warm up.

“Sophie,” I whispered. “Wake up.”

She rolled over immediately and faced me. “I’ve been awake for a while.”

“Oh, okay. Listen, I think we should do a little digging, see what we can find out about Danny and the Creightons. It might help us deal with them both. Grab your phone.”

She raised her phone in the air. “Way ahead of you, big brother. Check this out.” She handed me her phone.

On the screen was a newspaper article from twenty-three years earlier. The headline read, “Parents of Slain Twin Brothers Main Suspects in Double Homicide.”

I read the article to myself while my sister sat and watched me.

“Huh,” I said.

“Yup,” Sophie said.

“So the police thought their parents killed them since there was no sign of anyone else breaking into their house.”

Sophie nodded gravely. “Ghosts don’t need to break in, do they?”

“The parents must have been a mess. Not only did they lose both their kids, but they were blamed for the murders.”

“If it makes you feel any better, I read another article that said they weren’t convicted since there wasn’t enough evidence against them.”

“A little, I guess.”

Sophie shrugged, then pointed at the phone still in my hand. “Swipe right and read the next article I found.”

It was Mr. Creighton’s obituary, published a week before the article about Danny and Jack. The main points jumped out at me as I raced to the end. He had died of a heart attack, and the article said he was to be buried beside his wife, Hazel, in a local cemetery. It was a short article that wasn’t too revealing. Until, that is, I reached the final sentence.

I looked at Sophie, then back at her phone. I reread the sentence to myself, then read it again aloud.

“‘Ernest is survived by his daughter, Clara.’”

“Yeah,” Sophie said, taking her phone back. “Which kinda raises a question.”

I nodded. “Where is Clara now?”

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