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"But no one would say that makes you crazy Just crazy about movies Fascinated by thegled it "--me and fire"

The door at the top of the stairs clicked

"Girls?" Mrs Talbot called "Are you still down there?"

Her footsteps tapped down before we could answer As her shadow rounded the corner, I snatched the matchbook from Rae’s outstretched hand and hid it under the shirt I’d been folding

"Rae?" Mrs Talbot said "Your classes are starting Chloe--"

"I’ll finish here, then come up"

Mrs Talbot left I passed Rae back her matchbook and she mouthed her thanks, then followed the nurse up the stairs And I was left alone in the basement

Seven

I TOSSED A PAIR OF pink underwear uys’ underwear, too? I really hoped not I sifted through the pile, finding only ones for Rae, Liz, and Tori, and exhaled in relief

"Girl…"

A man’s voice overNo one was here Or, if someone was, he wasn’t real This was how I needed to handle it Not juh it out Hear the voices, see the visions, and ignore them

"come here…"

The voice hadirl cotton undies

"over here…"

I tried to focus on how I could get better underwear before anyone else washed noring the voice Just one look Just one--

I glanced across the roo

"door… closed…"

I looked at the closed door The one I’d noticed earlier, which was proof that the voice was really just ination

Why do you need proof? What else would it be?

Great Two voices to ignore

"Open the door… so… show you…"

Ha! Now there was a classic irl I laughed, but the sound quavered, squeaking at the end

Get a grip Toughen up or they’ll never let you out

My gaze snuck to the door It looked like an ordinary closet If I really believed the voice was init?

I strode to the door, forcingif I stopped, I’d lose rasped the doorknob, the ers

"open…"

I turned the handle slowly It went a quarter turn, then stopped I jiggled it

"Locked" My voice echoed through the laundry rooain, then twisted sharply The door didn’t budge

"Keyfindunlock…"

I pressed oing upstairs," I answered

As I turned, I smacked into a wall of solid flesh and for the second tiirlie yelp I looked up to see the same face that had made me shriek the last time

I stuht behind me Derek made no move to catch me, just stood there, hands in his pockets as I recovered

"Who were you talking to?" he asked

"Myself"

"Huh"

"Now, if you’ll excuse et around hihost, didn’t you?" he said

To h "Hate to break it to you, but there’s no such thing as ghosts"

"Huh"

His gaze traveled around the laundry roo for an escaped convict When he turned that piercing look on me, its intensity sucked the backbone out of me

"What do you see, Chloe?"

"I--I--I don’t s-​s-​s--"

"Slon" He snapped the words, impatient "What do they look like? Do they talk to you?"

"You really want to know?"

"Yeah"

I chewed my lip, then lifted onto my tiptoes He bent to listen

"They hite sheets with big eye holes And they say ’Boo!’ " I glowered up at hiet out of my way"

I expected hiirl

His lips twitched and I steeledat me

He stepped aside I swept past hi rodent nose and bulging ratlike eyes that studied me as if I were the rat--one whose every twitch had to be scribbled into her notebook I’d had therapists before Two of them, both after my mom died I’d hated the first one, an old man with bad breath who’d closed his eyes when I talked, like he was taking a nap When I coht red hair who’d joked with et on with my life After ten minutes with Dr Gill, I knew she fell soh, and listened carefully, but she wasn’t going to start cracking jokes anyti; what I thought of the others; and,here I lied about the last I wasn’t stupid If I wanted to get out, I couldn’tor complain that someone made a horrible mistake

So I said that I knewet better, whatever it took