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The Gnashing — 8: Planning a Break-In
“I think it’s spreading to anyone who’s been in this house,” he said.
Melanie opened the door when she heard Gavin’s knock. They stood facing each other awkwardly for a moment, then he brushed past her into the living room and turned back toward her. She closed the door and watched him cock his head to listen.
“I don’t hear it,” he said.
Melanie paused and cocked an ear. It was loud a moment before.
“It quit,” she said. “Just as you came in.” She reached up and removed her earplugs.
“So tell me, what the…” He stopped in mid-sentence. “What is happening here?”
“I don’t know,” Melanie said. “Should we be scared, or what? So far, it hasn’t hurt me or anything.”
“Well, I’m glad to hear that. That doesn’t mean it can’t.”
He was right. Maybe she should move back in with her father. But what if it started up there, too?
“If it followed you home, it can’t be just me then. Right? And it’s not just this place.”
“You think it’s spreading out to other places?”
Melanie paused to think. “No, I think that first it was this place, then it was me, and now it spreads to either people who have been…
