“Addison is going to be locked in her room for one week. And she is to get nothing but bread and water during that time. Do I make myself clear?” May said she understood and put out her hand to Addie. “If I find that you’re not doing as I’ve asked, I’ll make sure you never work again.”
As they left the room, May handed her a candy bar. It would be the first of many that she’d bring her while she was locked up. This wasn’t the first time that her mother had had her locked away like some sort of animal, nor, she supposed, would it be the last. Addie went to her room and heard the door lock into place before she moved to the small door just inside her closet. After she moved through it, Benton met her on the stairs with a sack of food. Saying nothing to him or him to her, she took it and moved back to her room. After stashing away what she’d been given, Addie would lay on her bed and wait. It had been a long week.
“And now here I sit in an abandoned house wondering if I should have married dumbass and been finished with it.” Addie rolled to her back and looked at the stained ceiling. “Oh Nicky, I wish you and I had met in real life.”
When someone pulled into the driveway, she peeked out the window to see a large SUV in the drive. Looking around the room, she pulled her pack to her and scrambled into the cubby-hole, bringing it shut behind her. Moving as far back from the now closed opening as she could, she calmed her breathing and her heart rate until she was sure no one could hear her. Then she heard the people on the stairs.
“You think there’s enough space here?” A man’s voice asked someone. “I mean, it’s out here off the beaten path enough, but we have a lot of equipment to set up too.”
“It’ll be perfect. I can’t wait to see their faces when we come back with the real deal.” The two men were in the room with her. She closed her eyes and wondered what the fuck she was supposed to do now. “Are you sure that this is the house? The one that’s supposed to be haunted? I’d hate to think how much time we’re going to be spending here and not get a real ghost.”
“It’s the house.” Addie wondered what the hell they were talking about when the man continued. “It had better be anyway. All this money for this stuff is expensive. We’ll come back tomorrow and set it up. Then we’ll wait.”
“Great.”
Yeah, great, Addie thought as the men moved out of the room. When she heard the car start below her, she counted to one hundred before she moved. Going out of the little room, she looked around and thought about what she had to do now. There was no way she could stay in her little house.
Gathering her things, she made her way to the big barn. She’d stayed there a couple of times over the last year but never for long. Taking her bag to the upper floors, she stashed it under the bales of old hay and went back for the other bags. It was nearly dark when she was moved in.
Addie was so screwed right now and smiled when she thought of what the two men were going to be looking for. Ghosts. Who the hell believed in ghosts, she wondered.