Curiosity Killed the Cat (6 page)

Hannah felt her chest tighten with fear. She recalled Madison’s story about the little boy who had wandered the woods for three days. Hannah’s head began to spin, and she thought she might pass out. She took a deep breath.

“Calm down, Hannah,” she told herself aloud. “This is no big deal.”

She was a pretty experienced hiker, and she hadn’t gone
that
far into the woods. It couldn’t be that difficult to find her way back to the cemetery.

Hannah sat down on a nearby tree stump for a moment to collect her thoughts. She closed her eyes and breathed deeply, getting her nerves under control. The woods were quiet except for the breeze
rustling the trees and the chirping of a few birds. But then Hannah heard something else. It was a soft swishing sound.

A car!
Hannah realized. She jumped up and her eyes flew open. It was the rushing sound of a car on asphalt. A second later, Hannah heard the strains of a faraway police siren. Both sounds were coming from just up ahead. It had to be a road.

Hannah began to move slowly through the woods. Every few steps, the road sounds grew louder and louder. After just a few minutes, she could see the cars through the trees.

“Yes!” Hannah yelled out loud. She pushed aside some vines and squeezed between two small bushes until she was standing on the side of an unfamiliar-looking stretch of road. She didn’t see the cemetery anywhere, and there was only one house within view. Hannah headed toward it. She hoped someone could tell her what street she was on so she could find her way home.

As Hannah walked toward the house, she saw a boy and a girl playing basketball in the driveway.

“No way!” the boy yelled. “You were over the line, Taylor.”

Hannah stopped short. The boy’s voice sounded
familiar. He dribbled the basketball twice and then lobbed it toward the basket. It sliced through the net silently, a perfect shot.

“Yeah!” he yelled as he did a funny jig. “Nothing but net, baby!”

Then he turned and noticed Hannah standing at the end of the driveway. Hannah recognized him immediately. This time, he was the one whose cheeks turned tomato red.

“Oh, hey,” Ryan mumbled. “Did you see that?”

Hannah couldn’t help but smile. “Yeah,” she said. “Nice shot.”

“Er, I meant my victory dance,” he said. Even the tips of his ears were pink.

Hannah laughed. “Yup, saw that, too. It was very, uh, original.”

Ryan laughed. “Have you met my sister, Taylor?” He pointed to the girl who was now holding the basketball. She had short blond hair, a big smile, and she looked a lot like a female version of Ryan.

“Hi,” Hannah said, looking from one to the other. “Are you —”

“Twins?” Taylor finished. “How could you tell?”

Suddenly, Ryan took in Hannah’s scraped palms, skinned knee, and dirty T-shirt.

“Whoa, Hannah, what happened?” he asked, a concerned look on his face. “Are you okay?”

Hannah glanced down at her clothes. Her shirt was torn and muddy, and her palms were speckled with bloody scratches. She suddenly remembered how she had ended up at Ryan and Taylor’s house.

“Oh, yeah,” she replied. “I was just going for a hike behind my house, and I tripped and fell. And I, uh, also got a little turned around. That’s how I ended up here.”

“Do you want to clean your hands and put on some bandages?” Taylor asked. “Our mom’s a nurse, so she’s good at this kind of stuff. Come on.”

Hannah followed Taylor into the house, where Taylor and Ryan’s mom kindly cleaned her palms and knee and put gauze and medical tape over the cuts and scrapes.

“There you go,” Mrs. Walsh said sweetly as she secured the last piece of tape. “Good as new.”

“Thanks so much,” Hannah said. “Do you mind if I use your phone and call my dad? He’s probably wondering where I am.”

“Of course not,” Mrs. Walsh said. “There’s a phone in the kitchen. And when you’re done, you’re welcome to stay for lunch.”

Hannah’s stomach rumbled loudly at the word “lunch.” It seemed like it had been ages since she had packed a sandwich and apple and taken them out into the cemetery that morning. She realized she was ravenous.

“That sounds great,” Hannah agreed.

After a lot of explaining, Hannah hung up with her dad. At first, he had been angry that she had gone for a hike on her own, but she explained that she hadn’t meant to go so far, and she hadn’t meant to get so turned around either. She hadn’t mentioned the cat at all — she knew her dad wouldn’t believe her even if she had. Finally, he had let her go when she promised Taylor or Ryan would walk her home after lunch.

Ryan came into the kitchen just as Hannah was hanging up the phone.

“There’s a peanut butter, banana, and jelly sandwich out on the porch with your name on it,” he told her.

“Mmmm, that sounds so good!” Hannah said as she followed him outside.

Ryan poured her a glass of lemonade and handed her a plate with a sandwich and a pile of potato chips on it.

“This sandwich is my specialty,” he said proudly. “Usually I put the potato chips in there, too, for some extra crunch, but Taylor made me leave them out of yours in case you thought that was too weird.” He shot his sister a look.

“What?” Taylor asked. “It’s gross, Ryan. I like to eat my potato chips on the side, like most people. I thought Hannah might feel the same way.”

Hannah laughed. “Well, I usually
do
eat my potato chips on their own, but I’ve also never put banana in my PB&J, so I’m willing to give it a try.”

She pulled off the top piece of bread and added a layer of chips before replacing the bread. Hannah picked the sandwich up and took a big bite. She chewed and crunched thoughtfully before making up her mind.

“Taylor, I respect your position on keeping the chips out of the sandwich, and thank you for leaving the decision up to me,” Hannah said. “But, Ryan, I’m with you. It’s super good!”

“Yes!” Ryan yelled. He jumped up and did his goofy victory dance again.

Taylor rolled her eyes at her brother, but smiled at the same time.

“I call it the PBBPC&J,” Ryan said.

Hannah laughed. “That’s a mouthful. Maybe you should try something simpler, like the Walsh Special.”

Ryan stroked his chin thoughtfully. “Hmmm,” he mused. “An interesting suggestion. I’ll definitely consider it.”

After lunch, Taylor had a piano lesson, so Ryan offered to walk Hannah home.

“Thanks for coming with me,” she said. “I feel silly for not knowing the way, but I got so turned around in the woods, and I haven’t lived around here long.”

“No problem,” Ryan said. “I don’t mind. Anyway, it’s fun hanging out with you.”

Hannah felt a little flutter in her stomach. Maybe adding the chips to her sandwich hadn’t been such a good idea.

“You know,” Ryan continued, “we could hang out even more if you joined my band. I really like to play bass, but I can’t unless there’s someone else to play lead guitar. And you’re really good.”

Now Hannah felt something else in her stomach — a knot of nerves.

“I’m not really good at performing in front of people,” she admitted.

“Yeah, it can be a little scary, but it gets easier,” Ryan said with a shrug. “Plus, Taylor’s in the band —
she plays the keyboard and sings. She would really love to have another girl to hang out with during rehearsals. Our cousin Jake is the drummer, and sometimes the two of us kinda take over with our jokes and boy stuff.”

Hannah didn’t know what to say. She was flattered that Ryan had invited her to join the band, but she was still paralyzed by stage fright. She had never really cared much one way or the other whether she ever performed in front of people again, but suddenly she wished she could.

“Just think about it,” Ryan said, sounding just like Mr. G. “You don’t have to decide right now.”

“Okay, thanks,” Hannah said with a tiny sigh of relief. “I’ll let you know.”

They rounded the corner and Hannah saw her dad’s house up ahead.

“Well, that’s it.” Hannah pointed to the house. “So I guess I can make it the rest of the way from here.”

She shifted nervously from her left foot to her right. Now that they had stopped walking, Hannah felt incredibly awkward.

“Right,” Ryan said. Hannah thought he looked ner vous, too, but maybe it was just her imagination.

Finally, he raised his hand and gave Hannah a small wave. “See you on Monday?”

Hannah nodded. Then she headed toward the house. For some reason, she couldn’t seem to stop smiling.

As soon as Hannah had checked in with her dad and reassured him the scrapes and cuts on her hands and knee were no big deal, she went out to the cemetery to retrieve her guitar and the rest of the things she had left there. Luckily Madison and her friends weren’t in the yard — their lounge chairs had been abandoned, though there were still nail polish bottles and cotton balls littered all around.

When Hannah got to the arbor, she found everything exactly where she had left it. Well, every thing except the fleece blanket. Thinking the wind had lifted the blanket and tossed it somewhere nearby, Hannah circled the tree twice trying to find it, but it was gone.

She considered staying out in the cemetery a bit
longer, but the sky had clouded over and it looked like it was about to rain. So Hannah headed back inside and up to her room. She sat down at her desk and opened her video chat and e-mail. The first message in her in-box was from her mom.

Reading her mom’s e-mail made Hannah feel both better and worse at the same time. It was nice to hear from her mom, but it had also reminded Hannah of Icky. The more time that passed, the more Hannah was losing hope that Icky was ever going to find his way home. She still hadn’t even gotten a single call from any of the lost cat flyers she and her dad had hung around town.

A soft
ping
interrupted Hannah’s thoughts. It was an incoming Skype call from Paisley. Hannah clicked to accept, and Paisley’s face filled the screen. She looked exhausted.

“Hi!” Hannah said. “How was your soccer tournament?”

“Terrible,” Paisley groaned. “We played four games and lost three. I’m so sore I can barely move.”

“Oh no!” Hannah said sympathetically. “That stinks, Pais.”

Paisley sighed. “It’s okay — I’ll live. I’m really sorry I couldn’t sleep over last night. That would have been nice. I miss hanging out with you.”

“I miss hanging out with you, too,” Hannah replied. She wondered if maybe this would be a good time to tell Paisley about the creepy stuff that had been happening to her lately, and maybe even about
Ryan. Just as she was about to open her mouth, Paisley let out a huge yawn.

“Oh, sorry, Hannah,” Paisley apologized. “I am so exhausted. I didn’t get home from the spaghetti dinner until pretty late last night, and our first game was at eight this morning. I think I need to go take a nap.” Paisley yawned again.

“Okay,” Hannah said with a soft sigh. Suddenly, it didn’t seem like the best time to confide in her friend. She would have to wait until Paisley wasn’t so exhausted. “Give me a call tomorrow if you have a chance. If not, I’ll see you in homeroom Monday.”

That night, a huge thunderstorm rolled in. Lightning lit up Hannah’s room, and she tried not to think about Icky huddled under a stranger’s porch somewhere in the rain. The earth-shaking cracks of thunder were the kind that typically sent him into hiding under Hannah’s down comforter. Icky hated thunderstorms, and Hannah couldn’t imagine how he might be coping if he was stuck outside in a storm like this.

After lying awake in bed for more than an hour, Hannah finally drifted off to sleep.

She was alone on a tiny wooden rowboat in the middle of an enormous body of water. Hannah scanned the horizon but couldn’t see land anywhere. It was pitch-black outside, and the water was eerily calm and quiet — too quiet. Suddenly, a bolt of lightning lit up the sky, followed by an enormous crash of thunder a few seconds later.

The boat began to pitch wildly back and forth in the waves as the sky opened up and big, fat warm raindrops pelted Hannah and the boat. She grabbed the oar and tried to row somewhere — anywhere — but there was still no land in sight.

“Help!” Hannah cried desperately. But the wind caught the word and it seemed to drift upward and away to a place where no one would ever hear it. The louder she tried to scream, the softer her voice sounded.

Suddenly, Madison was sitting next to her. Hannah gasped and moved backward until she was pressed up against the edge of the boat. Madison threw back her head and laughed. Then she stood up and started to rock the boat harder.

“Stop!” Hannah shouted, but nothing came out of her mouth. She squeezed her eyes shut and willed Madison to sit down. Suddenly, the rain stopped and
the rocking slowed until every thing was still and quiet. When Hannah opened her eyes again, Madison was gone. In her place, there sat a black cat with bright green eyes. The cat narrowed its eyes at Hannah and began to purr loudly.

Hannah gasped and sat straight up in bed, her heart pounding. It was after midnight. The rain outside had slowed, but she could still hear the
tap-tap-tap
of raindrops dancing on the roof. Then Hannah heard something else. It was the sound of running water.

Madison must be in the bathroom washing her hands
, she thought. But after a few minutes, the running water hadn’t stopped.
No one washes their hands for
that
long
, Hannah thought. Curious, she got out of bed and walked toward the bathroom. She pressed her ear up against the door and listened carefully.

The running water was much louder and sounded heavier than the sink. In fact, it sounded as though someone was filling the bathtub.

“Leave it to Madison to decide to take a bubble bath at midnight,” Hannah muttered to herself as she shook her head and climbed back into bed. Within a few minutes, she drifted back into a dreamless sleep.

Scratch, scratch, scratch.

Hannah woke a second time. The scratching sound was back! She looked at the illuminated clock on her bedside table. More than ten minutes had passed and the water in the bathroom was still running. Fear washed over her. Something wasn’t right.

Hannah got out of bed again and knocked loudly on the bathroom door. No answer. She jiggled the doorknob with trembling fingers, but it was locked.

“Madison?” Hannah called. “Are you in there?”

There was still no answer.

Hannah went out into the hallway and pounded on Madison’s door.

“Madison!” she called. “Open up!”

Hannah heard footsteps, and the door flew open to reveal a very groggy — and dry — Madison.

“What do you want?” she snapped angrily. “This better be good. You woke me up!”

Hannah cocked her head toward the bathroom door. She could still hear the water running.

“Do you hear that?” Hannah asked, panic rising in her chest. “The water’s been running for, like, ten minutes. I thought you were in there taking a bath, but …”

She trailed off.

Madison’s eyes widened in terror as she ran over to the bathroom door and turned the doorknob. It didn’t open.

Madison looked at Hannah. “It’s locked,” she said.

Hannah grabbed the doorknob and tried it herself, but Madison was right — the doorknob didn’t budge.

“Mine’s locked, too,” Hannah whispered.

“What do you mean?” Madison asked, anger flashing in her eyes. “Is this some kind of sick joke?”

Hannah shook her head mutely, unable to speak. Just like with the ceiling fan, it was clear that Madison didn’t have a clue what was going on. Plus, there was no way she could have locked the bathroom door from the outside.

Madison stormed out of her bedroom and crossed the hallway to Hannah’s room.

“What are you doing?” Hannah whispered as she followed Madison.

“Proving that you’re a liar who’s trying to play a trick on me,” Madison said over her shoulder.

“But I swear I didn’t —”

Madison whirled around. Hannah had never seen her look so ferocious. “Save it,” she snapped. “I know
you’re just trying to get back at me because I forgot to unlock your bathroom door a few times
by accident
.”

Madison stomped through Hannah’s bedroom and stopped in front of the bathroom door.

Hannah couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “Come on, Madison,” she implored. “I know those weren’t acci —”

Hannah went mute as she watched Madison reach out and turn the bathroom doorknob.

It clicked open and gave way easily.