Nikki wanted to play with her brother, Jeremiah. But Jeremiah wanted to play with his friends.
“Your friends aren’t here yet,” Nikki said. “Please, just one game before they come?”
Jeremiah gave in. “Okay. One game. You hide and I’ll seek.” He covered his eyes and counted out loud.
Nikki ran into the cornfield. She ran past rows and rows of corn, until she reached the edge of the field. She ducked between two round bales of hay that were almost taller than she was. She crouched and held as still as she could. She waited to be found.
But Jeremiah did not find her.
Nikki listened for her brother’s footsteps, or for the two-note whistle—one high and one low—that would signal he’d given up and she’d won. She heard only the wind in the cornstalks.
It’s a trick, she thought. He’s not coming.
She sank to the ground. He thinks he can just not play and get away with it. Well, I’ll show him. I’m not moving until he finds me. She leaned against a hay bale, and settled in for a nap.
When Nikki opened her eyes, the sun beat down from straight overhead. It was close to high noon. She must have slept for at least an hour. Nikki blinked and stretched. She reached for the sky, and heard a sound that made her freeze. It was her brother’s whistle: one high note, one low. It sounded nearby.
Carefully, so he wouldn’t hear her, Nikki peeked around the hay bales. The whistle came again: one high note, one low. Nikki pursed her lips to whistle the response—one low note, one high—to give Jeremiah a clue. But before she could blow, she spotted something strange: a man in a red plaid shirt.
The man turned toward Nikki, and she dropped down fast to her hiding spot. She held her breath, and waited for the man’s approach. But he hadn’t seen her. He retreated into the rows of corn.
Nikki’s heart hammered her rib cage. Stranger Danger pulsed in her veins. She hoped Jeremiah would find her soon, before the unfamiliar man came back. She didn’t dare whistle their signal or leave her hiding spot, in case the man was still there.
She would wait for her brother to rescue her. Once she saw him, she was certain she’d feel safe.
She waited.
And waited.
And waited, until she slept.
When Nikki opened her eyes, it was dusk. The wind in the corn was the only sound . . . until she heard it: Jeremiah’s whistle. One high note, one low. Her chest filled with cautious hope.
Nikki peered around the hay bales, praying not to see the strange man. She didn’t. But she didn’t see her brother, either.
At first, Nikki saw no one. But the notes of the whistle sounded again, the leaves rustled, and an old man emerged from the rows of tall corn.
The man walked slowly, his back hunched over a cane. He seemed to be using the cane as much for sight as for balance. He felt his way past the large bales of hay, but did not see Nikki between them.
Nikki watched him retreat in the direction she longed to run—back through the cornfield, toward her house, where surely her brother and supper were waiting. But between here and there were likely two strangers. Nikki still didn’t dare leave her hiding place.
Jeremiah will come soon. He’ll bring the dogs. We’ll all be safe, she assured herself.
She tried and tried to believe it. She hoped so hard, she wore herself out.
When Nikki woke up the third time, a full moon shone above. She heard the call of her brother’s whistle, and almost mistook it for the wind. But the notes came again—one high, one low—and she knew it was finally him.
Nikki stepped out from between the hay bales, and jumped at what she saw. A pale, shimmering ghost wove in and out of the rows of corn. It was as bright and untouchable as moonlight, but as real as the terror that filled Nikki’s lungs and drowned out her scream. The ghost floated away, and the whistle floated behind it. The sound jolted Nikki back to life.
She ran. She ran faster and harder than she’d ever run before—around the ghost, through the corn, over the hill, and toward home. She didn’t look back to see if the ghost followed. She looked only forward, but her vision was blurred with tears. She saw nothing until she reached for the doorknob to her house, and saw it wasn’t there.
Nikki gasped. The house was gone. The entire thing. Only a crumbled foundation was left in the place where her home had once been.
She wanted to sink to the ground, let the ghost and fear consume her. ...
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