Samantha The house was still lit when I arrived, every window looked like accusatory eyes staring at me. Mom and Dad should have been asleep by now, since it was well past ten, and Dad always turned in early in times like this when he took patrol shifts.

But it was obvious that they were both awake. This was bad.

I paused at the edge of the tree line, debating whether I should wait a bit longer, maybe circle around and pretend I'd been somewhere else entirely. But the longer I delayed, the ...