“Where are the other kids?” the boy asked. He sat on the sofa wide-eyed swinging his legs. His right knee dripped blood. Dirt streaked his green shirt. His round cherub face was smudged.
Tawana scanned her living room. The windows were all closed. The furniture was in place. She pulled the mace from her purse and ran from room to room: the kitchen, the bedroom, the bathroom. She checked the closets and the shower. No one. When she returned to the living room the boy was still there sitting on her couch but this time there was a second one–a double. Maybe he was his twin. The second child’s knees were black with dirt but were not skinned like the first. A trickle of blood ran from his nose. He licked it off before speaking. “Did you find the other kids?” he asked.
Tawana jumped backward clutching her heart with her free hand and holding the mace out in front of her with the other. “Where did you come from?” she yelled.
The boys looked at each other, their heads swiveling slowly on their narrow necks. They shrugged simultaneously. “Where did you come from?” they asked.
“Work.” Still holding the mace out in front of her, she walked to the table by the door and took her phone from her purse. “I live here. I’m supposed to be here,” she said to the boys. “Where I came from doesn’t matter.” She looked down at her phone to dial 911 and when she looked up the boys had vanished. “Where did you go?” she asked as she hurried from room to room again.
“911 what’s your emergency?” the dispatcher on the other end of the phone said.
The boys were gone. She didn’t see the anywhere.
“What’s your emergency?” the dispatcher repeated.
“Nothing,” Tawana said. “I made a mistake.” She hung up the phone and stood in the living room listening to the silence. She couldn’t stay at home tonight. She might not be able to stay at home alone ever again, not after that. She stayed with her friend, Jen, that night and then the next.
Tawana’s house sold quickly. A young couple bought it. They were friendly and eager, and Tawana hoped they’d get along well with twin ghost boys.