The Haunted_Edit Copy 4-9-17 final final 5 Upload

Chapter Eight
We sat in the playroom for the entire forty-five minutes it
took for Tucker to radio us and ask if we were ready to switch. I set
up my digital recorder beside me and we asked all the standard
questions, along with a few about if the spirits remembered me.
Apparently, my friend didn’t feel very playful, because those toys
didn’t move a fraction of a quarter of a centimeter. The room was as
silent and motionless as a church on a Friday night.
Susannah’s face oozed disappointment as she spoke into the
walkie-talkie. “Yeah, we can switch. Nothing’s happening down
here.”
I gathered up my equipment and started slipping things back
into their respective pockets in the camo cargo pants I’d discovered
to be quite handy. “Maybe there will be something on the audio or
video.”
She shrugged one shoulder as she placed each toy back into
the bin they came from. “I guess so.”
We headed for the enormous doorway and as I stepped up
onto the tiles of the hallway, I felt a rough shove from behind me. It
was a good thing I had all my equipment in my pockets, because my
hands shot out to break my fall as I tripped forward. My palms
smacked the cool floor at the same time that my shin collided with
the step. Hot sparks flew up my arms and leg on impact, but luckily
I saved myself from a total face-plant.
As soon as I realized that my body wasn’t injured, I
recognized that my pride was. A furious blush rushed up my neck to
my cheeks and I whipped around, ready to ask Susannah just what
her problem was.
Instead, her pretty eyes were wide with concern as she
swooped down on me. “Are you okay?” she asked frantically, her
voice higher than usual. “What happened? Did you catch your shoe
on the step?”
“Uh, no.” All the blood must have rushed to my hands and
my shin, because my brain was working extra slowly. “I felt a pretty
good push.”
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