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I’m halfway across the living room to go check on Hannah, when a high-pitched scream breaks the patter of the rain on the roof.
Adrenaline bursts through my body. I sprint down the hallway and kick open the bedroom door.
It’s too dark to make anything out, but I grab my phone out of my pocket and switch on the flashlight. The beam cuts through the blackness.
Hannah’s frozen next to the bed, her hands out at her sides, staring out of the window into the backyard.
I scan the room, but apart from her, it’s empty.
“Hannah,” I say.
She spins toward me, hands up, terror on her face, and I want to tear the world apart again.
“What’s wrong?” I cross the distance between us. “What happened?”
“I—The power went out. The lightning. There’s someone out there.”
“Where?”
“There.” She points out of the bedroom window. “I swear, there was someone standing there, looking in. I swear. I’m not imagining?—”
I take her by the arms. “Take a breath. In through your nose, out through your mouth. Nice and slow and deep.”
She nods and does what I tell her to.
I can’t follow the advice because I’m already shaking with anger. I can’t go out there and hunt this motherfucker down, because if I do, she’ll be exposed. I don’t have eyes on the threat. The house is secure, but I don’t have a backup generator installed yet, so my cameras are out.
My laptop might have caught footage of whoever came up to the window before the cameras died, though.
I walk to the chest at the end of my bed then grab a taser from within. I hand it to Hannah. “Here,” I say. “You used one of these before?”
“No.”
I stand beside her, place my hand over hers, dwarfing her fingers with mine. “See this slide?” I click it back. “That’s the safety. You pull it back, aim, and then you click this button here. You aim for center mass. Failing that, neck or groin.”
“Groin?”
“Hit the fucker in the nutsack.”
Her lips tip up the corners for a second.
Smile for me, Princess. Show me you’re okay.
“You’re not going to leave, are you?”
“No,” I say. “I’m going to stay right here with you.” I walk to the curtains and shut them. I find her phone on the bedside table and hand it to her.
Hannah unlocks the screen with trembling fingers, but she’s freaking out so much she can’t get the flashlight app to work.
I take the phone from her, switch on the flashlight, and then guide her to the bed. “Sit down. I’ll be right back. I’m not leaving the house. Got it?”
“Okay.”
I move through the darkened hall with my cell phone. I grab my laptop from the coffee table, the pillow and the blanket, and then I return to the room. I dump the blanket and pillow on the hardwood floor at the foot of the bed.
“What are you doing?” Hannah’s got the taser in one hand and her phone in the other, and she’s sitting upright on the bed, eyes wide.
“Stay out of line of the windows,” I say, and lock the bedroom door. I lift the armchair from the corner of the room and place it in front of the bed, between the windows.
