I was climbing the porch steps when something stalled me. When a feeling crawled over me, lifting the hairs at the nape of my neck. Slowly, I shifted to peer over my shoulder, eyes moving over the street. Riding over the houses that sat farther back from the road and the lines of dense trees that gave each of the lots privacy. More of the late summer afternoon peace hung in the air. Birds chirping as they flitted through the branches and a calm that whispered on the light breeze. But it was hard to hold onto it when I went to the door and unlocked it. Because it didn’t matter that I saw no
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