Something was wrong.

The moment Stephanie walked into the house she knew something was wrong.

She could smell it, feel it…taste it. It aded the air. It raised a stench and bristled like a scouring pad over her senses. It was intrusive and vulgar, barraging her with its unwelcome presence.

Something was wrong.

Stephanie’s first instinct was unnatural. It told her not to make a noise, to make herself scarce and press her vulnerable backside to a solid surface. It told her to take the time to take off her shoes and socks, both for the sake of maintaining the eerie silence and traction. It told her to swivel her head all directions to catch any traces of breathing, of life. It told her that whatever was waiting for her…it was upstairs.

Stephanie crept along, fighting the urge to run screaming around for her sister and her brother. But an uncanny feeling told her that her brother was not here. Someone else was here in his place.

She didn’t know what made her do it, but as she passed by dad’s golf bag by the door, she grabbed the nine iron and hefted it experimentally in the air. She hadn’t been able to bring herself to put the golf bag away and it had stayed there by the door, collecting dust. And now she was thankful for her inability to let go.

Stephanie knew every nook and crevice of the stairs that would creak from all her games of Nerf warfare with Jaxon and Dominic when he was still based at home. She made not one sound as she slinking up the stairs, the golf club balanced and raised, poised and ready for a danger she didn’t understand but could feel ading her bones.

At the top of the stairs, she stopped and stood there, listening.

There was nothing for the longest time and Stephanie wanted to just rush things a little and make a move against the shrouded threat…but Tiffany held her back.

Though only making herself known in small intervals, Tiffany had started to become a part of Stephanie’s life after that night of the car crash. The young girl was not consciously aware of Tiffany’s stronger and hardier presence, but she perceived that ‘Tiffany’ had kept her sane, kept her going, kept her…Stephanie…somehow. It didn’t really make a whole lot of rational sense, but the bits of Tiffany that were showing through was allowing for the continued existence of Stephanie. And right now, Tiffany was busting through the cracks and Stephanie was pushed into a safe haven deep inside. Stephanie had never been so aware of Tiffany until now, and…she embraced Tiffany like a long lost sister.

Tiffany would take care of this, whatever it was.

Tiffany would make it a little less than ok.

So now, it was Tiffany who stood stock-still by the stairs, straining her ears to get a hint of something…anything.

And then there it was.

A slight whimper.

Barely audible.

Squeezed though something pressed hard against it.

Tiffany moved forwards, eyes never stopping longer than a few seconds in one place, head swiveling in constant vigil for whatever it was that was making the house stink of despair.

She walked past Lexi-belle’s room and heard the slightest rustle, a slight creaking and the light unconscious shuffle of a body held too long in one position.

Tiffany took one stilled breath and opened the door, already swinging the nine iron in the direction of where she had heard the shuffling.

…

…

…

But turns out, there was no need.

He was on the floor. On his knees, blood dripping in sinister veins down one arm, down his fingertips, staining the baby blue carpet in specks of crimson, some already browning with oxidization. His eyes were open and staring lifelessly into the ground in front of him.

He didn’t even look up when Tiffany entered, almost like he was shut-off from the world. Or perhaps even dead to it.

Tiffany scanned the room quickly and almost missed the small slender fingers peeking out from underneath the bed, clutching onto the wooden frame. Never turning her back on Dominic and keeping an eye for any movement from his corner, Tiffany quickly crouched down beside the bed and pulled Lexi out from underneath.

Stephanie would have freaked out.

Stephanie would have cried and not been even half as calm.

Stephanie would have been at a loss as to what to do about the pitiful shaking girl in front of her. Duct tape over , tears down her face.

But Tiffany made everything a little less than ok.

Without another word, Tiffany carried Lexi-belle from the room and down the stairs to the kitchen, leaning the nine iron against the countertop. Just in case.

She retrieved the first-aid kit mom always kept on the side drawer and threw it onto the marble countertop. Then she moved towards her baby sister.

“Hey…Stephie is going to take that nasty tape off your mouth ok? It will hurt a little, but only for a very very short time ok Lexi-belle? Lexi? Babygirl can you look at me? It’s just me. Stephie. Everything’s ok now hmm? Ok…here I go…” Tiffany slowly, slowly, slowly peeled off the duct tape, wincing a little when she saw the tape tug at Lexi’s baby-soft skin and leaving it red and irritated. She was almost halfway when Lexi reached one hand up and ripped the rest of it off.

Lexi yelped like a wounded puppy and smashed her face into the cotton of Tiffany’s shirt, trying not to make any sounds louder than necessary.

Stephanie would have simply thought that action as one for comfort, but Tiffany knew better. Tiffany knew Lexi was somehow afraid of making noise, making noise that would anger a certain person in the house. She had seen the look of fear in Lexi’s eyes when she pulled her out from under the bed. She had seen how her sister kept her sobbing to herself when she entered the room.

Lexi was five.

Five-year-old children do not understand to keep quiet when they are crying. When they cry, they feel the need to alert the world of their displeasure. But Lexi seemed afraid to express her distress. Dom had scared her into silence.

Tiffany let her sister cry into her chest, her shirt getting wet with tears and mucus and saliva. After a while, the restrained crying stopped and Lexi finally looked up at her.

“He scares me Stephie,” she stated simply.

There was no hint of a lie there. No trace of adult falseness and ornate cover-ups for something that should be laid out, simple and bare. Children usually state what is on their mind. Up front. Straight out. And children are creatures of fact. They don’t understand that adults sometimes do and say things that they don’t mean. They simply process what has been done and said and act upon that.

Dominic had done something to scare Lexi.

And Lexi had every reason to be afraid.

Lexi coughed and Tiffany suddenly remembered that her baby sister was sick.

“Did he give you medicine?”

A tearful shake of the head.

Tiffany quickly got the medicine down from the cup