Scritch Scratch

Claire is baffled by the boy’s disappearance. She asks her dad if he saw a little boy, but he says there were no children on the tour. Claire checks the spot where the boy was sitting. It is damp, and Claire finds a wet piece of paper with the number 396 written on it. When her dad asks her what she saw, she lies and says she saw nothing: She does not want him to think that she has seen a ghost. That night, as she is trying to sleep, she hears scratching on the wall behind her head. It gets louder and then her doorknob starts rattling. She tries to count to calm herself down. She sees her curtains move as though caught in a breeze, but her windows are closed. Claire screams and falls out of bed. Her mom bursts into the room and calms her down. She suggests that Claire just heard the house settling and let her imagination run wild. Claire knows that her mother is wrong but says nothing. She realizes that a ghost must have followed her home.