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MOMMY FORGOT TO WARN the new babysitter about the basement

Chloe teetered on the top step, chubby hands reaching up to clutch both railings, her ars shook, too, the Scooby Doo heads on her slippers bobbing Even her breath shook, puffing like she’d been running

"Chloe?" Emily’s muffled voice drifted up from the dark basement "Your mom said the Coke’s in the cold cellar, but I can’t find it Can you come down and help me?"

Mommy said she’d told Emily about the baseht hard Before Mo in the TV room Mommy had called, and Chloe had run into the front hall where Mo when Chloe’s doll poked her eye

"I see you’re playing with Princess--I mean, Pirate Jasenie yet?"

Chloe shook her head, then whispered, "Did you tell Emily about the basement?"

"I most certainly did No basements for Miss Chloe That door stays closed" When Daddy came around the corner, Mo, Steve"

"Say the word and the sign goes up" Daddy ruffled Chloe’s hair "Be good for Eone

"Chloe, I know you can hear ers fro and stuck them in her ears

"Chloe!"

"I c-​can’t go in the basement," Chloe called "I-​I’e and I say you are You’re a big girl"

Chloe made her feetlooked fuzzy, like she was going to cry

"Chloe Saunders, you have five seconds or I’ll drag you down here and lock the door"

Chloe raced down the steps so fast her feet tangled and she tu She lay there, ankle throbbing, tears burning her eyes as she peered into the basement, with its creaks and smells and shadows And Mrs Hobb

There’d been others, before Mrs Hobb scared them away Like old Mrs Miller, who’d play peek-​a-​boo with Chloe and call her Mary And Mr Drake, who’d ask weird questions, like whether anyone lived on the moon yet, and most times Chloe didn’t know the answer, but he’d still sirl

She used to like co to the people All she had to do was not look behind the furnace, where a , his face all purple and puffy He never said anything, but seeing him always made Chloe’s tummy hurt

"Chloe?" E?"

Moood parts, not the bad" So as Chloe walked down the last three steps, she remembered Mrs Miller and Mr Drake and she didn’t think about Mrs Hobb at all… or not very much

At the bottohts were on, the ones Mo she didn’t want to go downstairs and Moht she was afraid of the dark, which she was, a little, but only because the dark meant Mrs Hobb could sneak up on her

Chloe could see the cold cellar door, though, so she kept her eyes on that and walked as fast as she could When so, but it was only the hangingfrom behind the furnace as he swayed

She ran to the cold cellar door and yanked it open Inside, it was pitch black

"Chloe?" Emily called from the darkness

Chloe clenched her fists Now E on her--

Footsteps pattered overhead Mommy? Home already?

"Come on, Chloe You aren’t afraid of the dark, are you?" Euess you’re still a little baby after all"

Chloe scowled Eirl Chloe would get her Coke, then run upstairs and tell Moain

She leaned into the tiny roo to remember where Mommy kept the Coke That was it on the shelf, wasn’t it? She darted over and stood on her tiptoes Her fingers closed around a cool metal can

"Chloe? Chloe!" It was Emily’s voice, but far away, shrill Footsteps pounded across the floor overhead "Chloe, where are you?"

Chloe dropped the can It hit the concrete with a crack, then rolled against her foot, hissing and spitting, soda pooling around her slippers

"Chloe, Chloe, where are you?" mimicked a voice behind her, like Emily’s, but not quite

Chloe turned slowly

In the doorway stood an old wo in the dark Mrs Hobb Chloe wanted to squeeze her eyes shut, but she didn’t dare because it onlyworse

Mrs Hobb’s skin rippled and squirs in a ca onto the floor Her hair sizzled and burned away And then there was nothing left but a skull dotted with scraps of blackened flesh The jaws opened, the teeth still glittering

"Welcome back, Chloe"

One

I BOLTED UP IN BED, one hand clutching led to recapture wisps of the drea about a base a basement--we’d always lived in condo apart scary… weren’t base about them, dark and damp and empty But this one hadn’t been empty There’d beenI couldn’t re at my bedroom door made me jump

"Chloe!" Annette shrieked "Why hasn’t your alarone off? I’ain, I’ your father"

As threats went, this wasn’t exactly the stuff of nightet hold of my dad in Berlin, he’d just pretend to listen, eyes on his BlackBerry, attention riveted to so more iue "Yes, I’ll see to it when I get back" and forget all aboutup

I turned on my radio, cranked it up, and crawled out of bed

A half hour later, I was inready for school