Damn, what was the matter with her? So what if he was the sexiest man she’d seen in ages. Getting all hot and bothered over him was not part of the game plan, no matter how much her body might wish otherwise. She snuck another look his way, and noticed the corner of his mouth twitching. Quickly averting her eyes, she stared blindly at the screen.
A moment later, she felt Ryne leaning towards her. Out of the corner of his mouth, he whispered to her. “See anything you like?” Her audible gasp caused him to chuckle darkly. Crossing her arms, she compressed her lips and studiously ignored him. Thankfully, the closing musical score was now playing. The camera zoomed in on a particularly gruesome corpse as a background for the credits and she shuddered in distaste. Sensing Ryne looking her way, she pasted a nonchalant expression on her face. There was no way she’d let him know the contents of the movie bothered her; she’d never hear the end of it.
The other two stood, and between yawns, carried on a discussion about the special effects they’d just seen.
“Oh man, when that body ripped open—have you ever seen such realistic looking organs?” Bryan enthused as he gathered the empty popcorn bowls.
“Yeah and that zombie was awesome. The makeup was so real. I wonder how they got the rotting flesh to just sort of hang there.” Daniel followed Bryan’s lead, gathering the pop cans and then heading into the kitchen. Mel gulped, forcing herself to not think about rotting flesh and realistic organs. She got to her feet and hesitated as to what to say.
Ryne was placing the DVD back in its case. He looked over his shoulder at her. “You okay?”
“Sure. Never better.” Mel put on her perkiest attitude and snatched up the pillow he’d set out for her earlier. “Can’t wait to go to bed and get a good night’s sleep.”
She was sure she saw a smirk pass over Ryne’s face before he nodded. “All right. If you need anything, you know where I am.”
Mel hugged the pillow and waggled her fingers at him. With one more assessing look her way, he left the room.
*****
Sometime during the night, Mel woke with a start, her heart pounding. She lay there, trying to separate dream from reality, to convince herself that she was awake and no longer running through the woods being chased by a pack of wolves. What was it with wolves lately? Wolves had never figured prominently in her life before. Now they were in pictures, walking around her cabin, cornering her in the woods and even chasing her in her sleep.
She withdrew her arm from under the blanket and brushed her hair from her sweaty forehead. Her hand was shaking with leftover fear. Pushing herself upright, she hugged her knees to her chest and tried to calm down. The room was cool and she shivered slightly, pulling the blanket closer. Ryne’s t-shirt was long enough to cover her adequately, but not overly warm. For a moment, she considered putting her jeans on again, but decided against it; they fit too tightly to make for comfortable sleepwear.
The house was still; everyone apparently asleep, except for herself. Rain beat down outside, tapping on the windows. An occasional flash of light and a slight rumbling of thunder let her know that Ryne had been right. A storm had rolled in.
As it got closer, lightning flashes would briefly illuminate the room, casting weird shadows on the wall. Mel shivered again, but this time due to nerves. There was nothing in the room with her, she knew that, but she’d never liked shadows. They always took on ominous shapes, turning harmless daytime bits of furniture into scary creatures of the night.
A tapping sound began to make itself noticed and she stiffened, trying to locate its source. It seemed to be coming from the window. Carefully, and oh so slowly, she moved her head in that direction, wondering what she would see. Of course, there was nothing there, but still the tapping continued. Her overactive imagination began to kick-in and Mel sought to suppress it with the weight of logic.
The house was quite old. It probably shifted and groaned all the time, the noises actually becoming comforting to those who dwelled within. She speculated how many people had lived—and died—within the walls. Had they been happy? Or had tragedy touched their lives? She amused herself for a moment, populating the house with servants and children, husbands and wives. Did the spirits of the people remain, watching over the next generation?
Mel was never really sure what she believed when it came to spirits and ghosts. Logically, she knew they didn’t exist, but sometimes she’d read something and wonder. Right now, she was wondering. It was a perfect night for that line of thought, after all. Storms and ghosts seemed to go together. In fact, this was very similar to the movie they’d watched tonight.