The Darkness Within by Taylor Henderson Page A

bit. I shivered at the thought of Ben handing Adrianna the heart. He always had a crooked smile on his face that made his expression seem haunting.
    “Is there anything you want to talk about?” Adrianna asked.
    I hesitated for a moment. “Well, since we were already on the topic of people who make us uncomfortable...can we talk about David?”
    Her response was immediate. “Oh my gosh, seriously, Claire?”
    “Seriously!” I retorted. “How come you get to be unnerved by Ben, but I can’t be suspicious of David?”
    “Um, maybe because David hasn’t done anything to justify your feelings toward him! Can't you just give the poor guy a break? So he likes your mom, that's not a crime! She’s gorgeous.”
    “It’s not that,” I said, feeling frustrated that no one else saw how strange he was. How was I the only one picking up on his odd behavior?
    “Then what is it?” she questioned. I could just imagine her with one eyebrow raised and her mouth pinched in the way she does when she's waiting impatiently for something.
    I dropped the cord from my hand and held the phone between my shoulder and my ear as I reached up and shut my window. I didn't want anyone overhearing this conversation. Call me paranoid, but I know when something doesn't click. “I still don't think he checks out. I went over there today, and we were talking, and everything was fine until something fell over in the basement.”
    “What do you mean?”
    “I mean, one minute we were having a good conversation, and the next he was all angry and rushing me out of his house. He slammed the door on my face and everything.” I stood up, pacing my room as I thought about earlier. “It was so weird, Ade. It was as if someone flipped a switch and all of his anger hit him at once.”
    Adrianna was silent for a second, probably taking in everything I just said and trying to find a logical explanation for it. “Did he give you a reason for rushing you out?”
    “Raccoons.”
    “Raccoons?” she repeated.
    “Yeah, he said that they keep getting in his house.” I walked back toward my window, staring down at the house again. It was like I was drawn to it or something.
    “Hold on a sec.” She yelled down to her parents in Spanish before returning. “Okay, I'm back. Maybe raccoons do keep getting in. His house is pretty shitty.”
    I let out a breath of laughter at her words. “Maybe, but something feels off. First it was the chains, then it was him fighting with his daughter, and now there’s the crashes from the basement. It’s all too much. I didn't even tell you about the bite marks on his arm yet.”
    “The bite marks?” she questioned, her words coming out slowly.
    “Yeah. I think his daughter bit him.”
    “That’s really strange.”
    “I know.” I stepped away from my window again, this time closing the curtains. If I stared at the house any longer I would undoubtedly have nightmares about it.
    Adrianna breathed into the phone. “Okay, maybe the basement stuff is really just raccoons, and the thing you saw the other night was even more exaggerated because your sleepy mind warped it into something more than it was.”
    I frowned, furrowing my eyebrows deeply even though she couldn't see me. “I know what I saw.”
    “Yeah, yeah, it was just an idea. Hold on.” She began yelling in Spanish again, and this time I heard my name. When she returned, she said, “Okay, I'm coming over. Be there in ten. We can look into David and see if there are any red flags.” She didn't even say bye before she hung up.
    I placed my phone down on the receiver and cleaned my room up a little before she got here. By the time I had straightened up and went to the kitchen to get us some cheese and crackers to snack on, she was here. The doorbell rang and without waiting for me to answer, Adrianna pushed the door open and came inside. Whenever I knew she was coming over I would leave the door unlocked for her, and when she got here she would ring the bell