Sienna

The old floorboard by the window creaked, the one I’d been staring at for what felt like hours. My heart, already thumping a frantic rhythm against my ribs, leapt into my throat. That wasn’t me.

The house had been silent for a while like a tomb holding the slumbering forms of my mother, my stepmother, and her twin sister. Everyone was in their own rooms, doors shut. Everyone except…

My doorknob turned with a whisper-soft click.

I held my breath, the sheet clutched tight under my chin. The door edged open, a sliver of shadow darker than the rest of the moonlit room, and then he slipped inside, closing...