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outside. It’s not scary like what happened to my dad.” Joni regretted bringing him up. She didn’t want Ally to be sad, too.
    “That’s true.” Ally took a seat at the foot of the bed. “It sounds like you’re braver than me. There’s a lot of stuff that still scare me.”
    Joni lifted her head from her knees and faced Ally. “What are you scared of?”
    “Besides those things outside? I’m scared to look at blood, I’m scared of sleeping sometimes because I get nightmares, I’m scared of headless mannequins, I’m scared of wire hangers for some reason—I forgot why. And I’m scared right now.”
    “Why?”
    “Because I’m also shy. I’m scared that you might not want to be my friend.”
    “But I do wanna be your friend.”
    “You do?” Ally smiled. “I guess I’m not scared anymore.”
    Joni smiled and loosened the clutch she had on her legs.
    “How old are you, Joni?”
    “Nine. How old are you?”
    “I’m twice your age, little girl.”
    “Eighteen?”
    “Yup.” Ally patted the space next to her. “Sit up here with me.”
    Joni got up from the floor and sat next to her new friend.
    “How about tomorrow we look for fun things to do? Maybe we can play hide-and-seek or we can try to do some puzzle together.”
    “Me, Caitlyn, and my dad use to play hide-and-seek.” The sadness hit Joni again, and her smile went away. “Caitlyn was my best friend.”
    Now Ally was sad, too. To Joni, she looked ready to cry. “My big brother Kyle was my best friend. My mom died when I was young and my dad had to go away a lot for his job. He’s gone now, too. My brother took care of me, mostly.”
    “We can be sisters,” Joni said, hoping it would make Ally smile again. “How about you be my big sister and I be your little sister?”
    “Yeah,” said Ally, “that’d be excellent. I would love to be your big sister.” She put an arm over Joni’s shoulders and squeezed her.
    That made Joni laugh.
    “There you are, Joni,” said Therese, coming down the hallway toward the room. She had two backpacks, one on her back and one she carried by a strap. “And I was looking for you, Ally.”
    “Were you?” Ally stood up from the bed. “What’s up, Therese?”
    Therese entered the room and set the backpacks down against the wall. “I understand that this is your house.”
    “I guess you can say that. But, really, this is everyone’s house now.”
    “I just wanted to say thank you, Ally. Thank you for having us here. You—all of you—saved my daughter.”
    “It’s nothing,” said Ally, giving Therese a gentle squeeze on the arm. “I’m really glad to have you two here. And, right now, I should leave you two to get some rest. Is there anything you need? More pillows and blankets? It’ll be cold tonight.”
    “No need,” said Therese, “we seem to have enough here.”
    “Okay, then, I’ll see you guys in the morning.”
    “Goodnight, Ally,” Joni said.
    “Goodnight, Joni.” Ally stepped out and closed the door behind her.
    “Joni, honey,” said Therese, “you should get some sleep. Why don’t you go ahead and take the bed, and I’ll have the floor.” She grabbed a blanket off the twin-sized bed, unfolded it, and laid down on the carpet, not bothering with a pillow. She didn’t even dress into something more comfortable.
    She must be tired , Joni thought.
    Joni removed her shoes, walked over to the dresser, and blew out the candles. Therese had forgotten to put them out. The moonlight helped Joni find her way back to bed. She got in the covers.
    A half-hour passed. Getting sleep wasn’t easy for Joni. She could hear the sounds of the monsters, their faint groans from below, where they banged at the boards covering the downstairs windows. Therese was snoring, loudly. That’s how Joni knew her stepmother would likely sleep for several hours, and wake up sometime tomorrow afternoon. After Caitlyn died, Therese would sleep for up to sixteen hours, and it was always hard to wake