Chapter 4

My hand curled into a fist. I wanted nothing more than to give her a good beating.

But I couldn't!

Ronald held the lifeline of my family in his hands.

Falling out with him would cost me far more than I'd gain.

But who said I only ever had to be the one taking it?

The car pulled up in front of the haunted house. Genevieve hopped out, thrilled, and even remembered to open my door for me.

"Come on, sis, get out! We're going to test our nerves!"

She'd never been this sweet to me before.

But there it was, right at the tip of my nose, a faint, choking whiff of smoke.

I'd dabbled in photography before, so I recognized it in a second. That was the smell of a smoke bomb.

Smoke to blur the vision, then a few people dressed up as ghosts to scare you.

If I really were afraid of ghosts, wouldn't I have gone into cardiac arrest and dropped dead on the spot?

Seeing me stand still, Genevieve thought I was scared, and immediately hooked her arm through mine.

"Sis, if you're frightened, how about I blindfold you and lead you through?"

She didn't even ask. She just pressed the cloth over my eyes.

Afraid I might peek at something, she wrapped the strip around and around, layer over layer.

Her breathing was quick, and she couldn't quite hide the laughter in it.

I wanted to laugh too. Thinking about what I was about to do, I could barely keep the corners of my mouth down.

Genevieve took my hand carefully and led me into the haunted house.

She deliberately snapped twigs underfoot, and I played along, trembling the whole way.

In my pocket, my phone kept buzzing.

Before we got out of the car, I'd muted every group chat and left only Genevieve's fan group open.

I could guess it without looking. Right now that group was full of thrill-seekers, howling their heads off.

I'd assumed Genevieve would keep steering me deeper inside.

Instead, she let out a sudden shriek and bolted.

I knew it had to be one of the ghosts she'd hired, rushing over to scare me.

For any normal person, in a situation like this, they'd rip off the blindfold themselves and run.

But I just stood there, straight and stiff, frozen like someone scared out of their wits.

Even through the blindfold, I could feel the awkwardness of the fake ghost in front of me.

The standoff dragged on for a good ten-odd seconds, and then I actually heard the sound of him scratching his head.

The phone buzzed harder!

I couldn't tell if they were laughing or losing it.

But I knew Genevieve had to be frantic now, sweating bullets.

Maybe she was out of ideas!

All she could do was fake-cry while running back toward me.

"Sis, help! There are ghosts over there too."

"I was so worried about you, so I came back!"

It couldn't have been more of an act.

I pinched my thigh, holding back the laughter.

She'd almost certainly seize the chance to yank off my blindfold, then watch a ghost lunge into my face and scare me to tears.

And I was starting to look forward to it too.

Looking forward to the expression on Genevieve's face once she saw what I was about to do next.