Page 155 of Property of Bob

Ramona caught me staring at her while she watched McKayla try to scare Pearl. “What?” she asked me.

“Nothing.”

“You’re doing that thing again where you look at me and then pretend you weren’t.”

“I wasn’t pretending.”

Her mouth curved.

I put my hand against the small of her back and guided her forward. “Keep moving, doll.”

We entered the next section.

This one was darker even with the work lights on. Black walls, narrow hallway, fake cobwebs, and a row of doors that opened into different rooms.

Ramona slowed.

“Still not scary?” I asked.

“Nope.”

“Good.”

She looked suspiciously at me.

I kept my face straight.

We walked another ten feet, and I knew exactly what was coming.

Ramona didn’t.

Her foot hit the pressure plate and a hand shot out from beneath the wall and grabbed her ankle.

Ramona screamed.

Not a little scream. A full fucking scream.

She launched sideways and slammed directly into me.

I caught her, and she screamed, “What the fuck!” She clutched the front of my shirt and looked down. The rubber hand disappeared back beneath the wall. “What the fuck was that?”

“Hand.”

“I know it was a hand!” she hissed.

“Then why’d you ask?”

She smacked my chest. “You knew that was going to happen! You asshole.”

“You said it wasn’t scary. It touched me!”

I shrugged. “Fake hand.”

“I don’t give a shit if it was Mickey Mouse. It touched my ankle!”

Pearl was laughing while Shay was bent over trying to catch her breath. Even McKayla had a hand over her mouth.

Ramona pointed at all of them. “Fuck every single one of you.”