Chapter 38: Ivan’s News“Daddy, I’m home!”
I shut the diary and thrust it under my mattress.
Clara communed with the dead.
“Dad?”
Antonia communes with Chester.
My guts turned cold. “Upstairs…Don’t yell.”
I changed my bandage.
“Is it okay if I go over to Elilise’s?”
I met her at the bottom of the stairs. “I said don’t yell.”
“Can I? Her mom said it was okay and we’re going to make Halloween masks.”
“You want a snack first?”
She followed me to the kitchen. I grabbed a box of cinnamon graham crackers from the cabinet. “Cinnamon,” I said, bumping the box jokingly on her head.
“Dad!”
“All right, go. Take these with you to share.” I handed her the box, lowered my cheek for a kiss then she was gone.
From the kitchen window I watched as she ran next door.
My phone buzzed.
It was Iv
