Haunted Waters Read Online Free PDF Page B

“Let’s just say God and I haven’t gotten along too well for a while.”
    “You mean ’cause your wife and daughter died?”
    “That’s part of it.”
    He looked like he had just been hit by an ocean wave, so I decided to drop it. Ever since Ashley and I had become Christians we’d been praying for Sam and Leigh. It seemed like God was doing something in their lives, working somehow, but now wasn’t the right time to talk to Sam about it.
    Before I headed down the stairs I said, “Thanks.”
    “For what?”
    “For not treating me like a little kid.”
    “You’re welcome.”

Chapter 20

    While Sam went for a walk with Dylan, Bryce and I tried to find a movie on the satellite. I found a good one about a girl whose horse gets hurt and she has to help it get better so it can race again. Bryce wanted to watch a cheesy show about a bunch of kids who are hired by a spy agency. There were lots of dark outfits and teens climbing things, being sarcastic, and pulling stuff out of their noses. We fought for a few minutes. Then I stormed upstairs to the smaller TV.
    The light faded over the mountains, and there was an orange glow shining through the front window. The valley looked like some golden painting you see in museums. Somehow that view made me want to talk to Mom and get the whole Hayley thing out in the open, but I turned on the TV instead.
    I clicked around until I found the horse movie. I was at the predictable part where the vet shakes his head and says it’s no use and that they’d need to put the horse down when the phone rang. With one eye on the TV I backed to the phone. “Hello?”
    Just someone breathing. I heard a car passing in the background.
    “Mom?” I said.
    Silence. Then a click—not the phone hanging up but another sound. A click. I had heard that before. Where?
    “Who is this?” I said.
    Now I was afraid. I looked out the window for Sam, but he wasn’t there. I wished I could send some piercing sound through the phone. “Is that you, Boo? How’d you get our number?”
    The line went dead. I put the phone down and slowly walked to the couch. I was standing, staring out the window, when Bryce came to the top of the stairs.
    “Who was that?”
    I flicked off the TV. “Bryce, I’m scared. They didn’t say anything. There was just a clicking sound”
    “Maybe it was a wrong number.”
    “No, they just listened to me. I think it might have been Boo.”
    “Why?”
    I told him about the e-mail and a sick look came over him, like a black cloud rolling over the Front Range.
    “Don’t tell Sam,” Bryce said. “And if it rings again, let me get it.”

Chapter 21

    The TV show had almost made me forget about Boo, but Ashley’s telling me about his e-mail brought him back. I could see myself in a body cast, drinking buffalo burgers through a straw, and typing with one toe. The tooth fairy would have to work overtime when Boo got through with me.
    “You want to radio Sam and find out where he is?” Ashley said.
    “I don’t want him to think we’re sissies.”
    Ring.
    I jumped two feet off the floor.
    Ashley grabbed my arm, trembling. We both looked at the phone, as if that would do any good. The phone didn’t have caller ID like the one at home.
    It was almost dark. Shadows filled the room, and I turned on a light.
    The phone rang again.
    “Why don’t they leave us alone!” Ashley said.
    “Call Sam on the walkie-talkie.”
    Ashley ran for her jacket. When she pulled out the walkie-talkie, I picked up the phone and pressed the Talk button. “I d-don’t care wh-who this is or wh-what you want, b-but you’d b-b-better stop now!”
    There was a pause. “Well, if you don’t want to talk with me, I’ll hang up,” my mother said.
    “Mom!” I shouted.
    Relief came over Ashley’s face.
    “What’s going on up there?” Mom said.
    “We just had a prank call.”
    “Where’s Sam?”
    After I told her, Ashley took the phone into the other room. She yelped, so I went to see