He took the stairs three at a time. “SARAH! BECKY!” The girl’s rooms were at the end, one next to the other. Becky’s room was first. He flung the door open. A little voice came out of the dark, “Da-Daddy?” Jack flipped on the light switch. The room’s bright primary color scheme jumped out at him. Clown faces painted on the walls stared at him with dead expressions. Meant as happy decorations, they were sinister now, their mouths bent into strange sarcastic smiles, eyes too narrow and intense. Jack half-expected one of them to peel itself off the wall and race him to Becky’s bed. Becky clutched a pillow to her chest and looking up at him with wide eyes. “You O.K.?” Becky nodded. “All right. Stay right here. Stay in bed. I’m going to check on your sister.” Jack locked the bedroom door with himself inside. The girls’ rooms were connected by a shared bathroom. He decided to go through the bathroom instead of going back into the hallway. For all he knew, the intruder could be out in the hall right now, right behind the door he just locked.
