Stevie watched the rain push against the glass. Emily lay on the floor beside his bed, listening to pop music on her mp3 player. She always fell asleep that way.
"Em," he said. Then again, louder. "Emily!"
"What's up?" she asked, pulling her earphones down around her neck. He heard the thumping bass of drums.
"You know anything about that old house in The Grove. Down near where I dropped my phone?"
"You mentioned that before, but there's no house down there," she said. "Not that I know of, anyway."
"Didn't you see it last night? It looked like a light was on."
"No, not from up on top where I was. The forest was totally dark!"
"No, I mean when we went down to find my phone. The house was right there." Then he realized what had been bothering him earlier about the trip with Emily. "Hey, how'd you get up the mountain so fast after we found my phone?"
Emily giggled. "I’m sorry! I never followed you down. I was wearing my new running shoes, you know. I didn't want to get them all yucky."
"You never followed me down?"
"Of course not. How could I? I mean, I would've come if you were in trouble, but you found the phone right away and then high-tailed it back up, so I just stayed put."
Stevie remembered the voice he heard when he found his phone. A quiet whisper that had been right next to him—that he had thought was Emily.