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My face immediately heated up like my body had turned on<br />
a burner beneath it. I wasn’t sure why it decided to flush, but I was<br />
glad for the darkness so he wouldn’t see that my focus had shifted<br />
for a moment. I looked quickly back down at the row of toys.<br />
Just in time to see Barbie topple over.<br />
All my joints locked up. Except my jaw; that dropped open.<br />
I didn’t know what to do. My brain wasn’t working right. Any<br />
logical action to take had completely vanished into the furthest<br />
corner of my brain. My heart had kicked right into overdrive and I<br />
could actually feel the extra blood surging through my body. Every<br />
nerve was telling me to get up and bolt, but I couldn’t move.<br />
Luckily, when I saw the expression on Tucker’s face, I didn’t<br />
feel so silly. He might have been a professional investigator, but his<br />
eyes were wide with excitement and the little smile had transformed<br />
into this massive grin that looked wide enough to hurt. “Did you just<br />
knock over the doll?” he asked whoever was there with us.<br />
“It wasn’t me,” I managed to choke out. Slowly, my body<br />
functions were coming back to me, and I was able to pull my knees<br />
up to my chest again. My heart pounded so loudly in my chest that<br />
I could barely hear what he was saying.<br />
“It wasn’t me, either,” he agreed. “Something else pushed<br />
that Barbie over. And I’ve got it recorded!” He tapped his camera<br />
with one finger, still grinning like a little kid whose parents had just<br />
brought home a puppy.<br />
I started to glance around the room. I wasn’t sure what I<br />
expected to see, but I didn’t find it. <strong>The</strong> whole place was just as<br />
empty as it had been before the doll was pushed over, except that<br />
now we knew that we weren’t the only two in there. Someone had<br />
touched the toy with enough force to knock her off her butt.<br />
Tucker’s enthusiasm carried us the remainder of the time. I<br />
didn’t think my tongue would have been able to form words if I<br />
tried. But he was asking questions like a journalist hunting down a<br />
story. “Thank you so much for moving it. Can you talk to us now?<br />
Can you move the train next? Were you in any other rooms with us?<br />
How long have you been here?”<br />
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