Penelope Haggerty

The year is 2028, you’ve come back to the home you grew up in. Note in the door reads: Condemned. Unsafe to Enter. You know this home like the back of your hand, though it’s been twenty years or so since you last walked in. You find the back door. Stepping easily, softly, you test the floor boards. They seem fine. Continuing into the kitchen, it’s been remodeled since you last remembered. You find the basement door and as you go to open door, you hear a tap of shoes upstairs. You freeze. Is someone else here? You carefully walk up the stairs, taking slow deliberate steps. You heard a shuffling sound in the this above. It could just be a raccoon or a squirrel. But your curiosity gets the best of you. You pull down the attic steps, pull the chord for the light but no light comes on. You ascend the steps, cautiously listening. Silence.