Annabelle sighed, brushing a strand of hair from her face as she stared at her phone. The screen lit up with yet another notification, but she didn’t bother to check it. “Whatever it is, it can wait,” she muttered under her breath. She had a feeling it was one of her so-called bullies who was pranking her or something. She wasn’t in the mood to give anyone the satisfaction of a response. Not tonight.
She tossed her phone onto the bed, the soft thud barely audible over the hum of the ceiling fan. The room felt stuffy, the air thick with the kind of tension that made her skin crawl. A cold shower would help, she decided. Something to wash away the unease that had been clinging to her all day.
As she turned toward the bathroom, something caught her eye—a flicker of movement, a shadow dartin
