Sometime Yesterday Read Online Free Page B

residents besides myself, and they are not of the earthbound variety.”
    “Do you want me to come?”
    “Would you, Mom? I know that you planned on coming during the summer, but you’re so much better at dealing with this paranormal stuff than I am.”
    She explained what had happened the night before as well as the day’s disturbing events of slamming doors and windows.
    Colleen O’Donnell-James was very quiet for a moment. “It’s an old house, Nat.”
    “I know that, Mom.”
    “I’ll call you right back. I have to talk to your father and check on airline tickets.” Her mother clicked off without saying good-bye.
    Natalie looked out the kitchen window. She blinked and then rubbed her eyes. The garden was beautiful. It was no longer overgrown and patchy. Lush, green lawn spread from the back porch to the cliff. Amongst the flower beds and neat little paths, she could see a white hammock swinging gently in the breeze. A yellow butterfly circled lazily in the afternoon sun. She ran to the back door and opened it.
    Only thick, dead grass and a couple of trees stood where she had seen the hammock moments before. She slammed the back door and sprinted back to the window. The pretty garden had disappeared.
    Wow. Her imagination was working overtime. It had to be all the talk of ghosts. She shook off the feeling of uncertainty starting in her stomach and turned her attention to unpacking. Natalie went back to the foyer to drag the rest of her bags in. Some were going upstairs and some were going to the basement. Though she knew she wasn’t going anywhere near it, until her mother arrived. Not after the talk of spirits. Some things you just never outgrew, and her fear of basements seemed to be one of them. She stepped carefully around the boxes in the front room. The movers had left the furniture somewhat in the areas she pointed out to them. Mary could help her organize the rest.
    Natalie looked at the painting apprehensively. The woman was still looking sideways. No changes there.
    Her phone rang again in the kitchen. By the time she got there, it had already gone to voice mail. It was her mother. She was arriving in three days, on Friday afternoon, and renting a car. Natalie was thankful they all seemed to come equipped with GPS these days; otherwise her mother would never find the house. Natalie heated a frozen dinner and ate in the silent room, thinking she had to find her stereo, since it was far too quiet in the house. She needed the background noise. She wished that Mary would call her back and she reached for the phone to call her instead. The battery indicator had no bars. She searched her purse but her phone charger wasn’t in it.
    Natalie finally went upstairs. She was relieved to find the doors were open as she’d left them and marched deliberately into her room.
    Shadows were filling the corners while the sun faded and the night was getting cold. She closed the window and spun around to face the room. Other than once again smelling lavender in the air, she couldn’t feel anything off. Natalie crossed to her suitcase and searched for the charger. It wasn’t there either, but she was certain she’d packed it. She dumped the bag out onto the bed. It was gone.
    Great. She was alone, in a supposedly haunted house.
    With a dead phone.

Chapter Four
     
    Welcome .
    Natalie dripped water on the floor and stared at the word written in the steam on the mirror then cleaned off the writing with her towel, telling herself it must have been there before and she just didn’t notice it the night her bath went cold, since there was no steam left by the time she had gotten out. She blamed the doodle on the previous owner. Fingerprint drawings could last for a long time on a surface that hadn’t been cleaned, right?
    “Are you awake yet?” Mary called from downstairs, scaring her half to death. “It’s eight thirty.”
    Natalie yelled back, “I’m coming. I just got out of the shower. I need coffee.”
    Natalie