19
In the middle of the night, I am awakened by the lights in my room being flipped on. I sit up, blinking, and shade my eyes.
Monster is in the doorway of my room. “Get dressed. Your surprise is waiting for you in the guest bedroom.”
My brain is too sleep-deprived to ask how I should dress. He vanishes down the hallway, and a few seconds later his office door slams. I get out of bed and pull a red silk robe on to cover my nakedness.
I don’t know what my surprise is, but it’s definitely untimely. Rubbing the sleep out of my eyes and stifling a yawn, I pad out of my room and to the door of the guest bedroom.
Gripping the doorknob, I swing it wide open.
And then I freeze.
The room contains a figure lying down on a cot, a thin blanket drawn over their body. Sandy hair on the top of the
