Curiosity Killed the Cat by Sierra Harimann Read Free Book Online Page B

except the receipt from the store.”
    Hannah’s face went pale. “B-but it moved!” she insisted. “I saw it move!”
    Her eyes filled with tears. What was wrong with her? Was she seeing things now, in addition to hearing weird, unexplained noises?
    “It’s okay, Hannah,” her dad said gently. “It was probably just a breeze.”
    “But, Dad, the windows
aren’t even open
,” Hannah pointed out, her panicked voice rising.
    Mr. Malloy looked as perplexed as Hannah felt.
    “Well, maybe it really was a cricket, and it hopped away before I picked up the bag,” her dad said. “In any case, I’m going to start dinner. It’ll be ready in about an hour.”
    Hannah headed upstairs to her room, feeling numb. There was one thing she was sure of — there definitely had
not
been a cricket in the paper bag.

Chapter Nine
    The next week, Hannah woke up to the scratching noise almost every night. Even when she made it through the night without hearing the awful sound, she slept in a terrified half-sleep. On Tuesday night, Hannah started wearing earplugs in an attempt to block the sound out. She desperately wished Icky were sleeping by her side. At least that would have made her feel safer.
    At school, things weren’t much better. Hannah could barely stay awake through her classes. The argument Paisley and Hannah had had during homeroom on Thursday had blown over, but things weren’t quite the same. Paisley always seemed distracted, and the only time Hannah saw her was in homeroom, since her activities kept her busy after school everyday. Hannah suddenly realized how much a part of their friendship their bus rides to and from school had been. But now that Hannah lived on the other side of town, those moments at the beginning and end of each day were a thing of the past.
    In addition to the fact that Hannah hadn’t had much of an opportunity to talk to Paisley about the mysterious scratching sound even if she had wanted to, she was still reluctant to open up to her friend. Hannah was pretty sure Paisley would believe her, but there was a small sliver of doubt. What if Paisley accused her of making it all up? That would have been too much for Hannah to bear, so she figured it was safer to keep quiet.
    The one bright point in Hannah’s life was that Madison left her alone for the most part, especially on the bus to and from school. In fact, Madison seemed to have a glazed look in her eyes each morning, as though she wasn’t getting much sleep either.
    After school on Wednesday, Hannah was in her room, trying to study for a biology test, when she fell asleep at her desk. She woke when a sheet of paper brushed against her face. Hannah shook her head groggily and looked around the room to see sheetsof biology notes and her English essay whipping around the room as though a hurricane was passing through. Hannah looked up to find the ceiling fan spinning at top speed. She jumped up and pulled the cord dangling from the fan to turn it off. Then she gathered up her science notes and the pages of her English essay and stacked them neatly on her desk with a sigh. Just when she thought she and Madison had come to some sort of truce, her stepsister had struck again.
    That night at dinner, Allison and Mr. Malloy were busy discussing the contractors while Hannah and Madison ate their vegetable stir-fry in silence.
    “They’re almost done with the walls, so we can pick out paint this weekend, Dan,” Allison said eagerly as she passed Hannah the brown rice.
    “Mmm-hmmm,” Hannah’s dad agreed through a mouthful of rice and veggies.
    Madison wrinkled her nose. “I hope you’re not going to start painting this weekend, Mom,” she said. “You know I’m having friends over on Saturday, and Alexis has really bad allergies. She can’t be around dust or paint.”
    Seriously?
Hannah thought.
Who’s allergic to paint?
    “Don’t worry, sweetie,” Allison said. “Dan and I have plenty of other things to do on Saturday, so we’ll