Several deep breaths later, I pulled the rope and the door creaked open. I reached up a tentative hand and unfolded the ladder. Nothing but inky darkness covered the entrance. Stale hot air wafted from inside with a hint of decay. Something was definitely dead up there, but it could be anything, things worse than what haunted my brain.
Dad came out in shorts and a t-shirt. "Hey. Whoa. I'm climbing up there, remember?"
I glanced up into the black hole, my scalp prickling. No matter how much I didn't want to go up there, no matter how much I didn't want whatever lurked up there to do with me, I wasn't about to let my only parent go up alone.
"I'll go up, too," I said. "You're getting old. I don't want you to hurt yourself."
"I'm not that old," he mumbled.
"It's okay, Dad," I said,
