• “What’s that?” I asked.
    Steven looked me and said, “What’s what?”
    “Never mind”
    We sat in silence for a few minutes watching characters fight on the TV screen. Then I heard it again, that sound of footsteps tiptoeing around upstairs.
    “Did ya hear that?” Steven asked.
    “The footsteps?”
    “Yeah, sounded like they were coming from upstairs.”
    “Wanna go check it out?”
    “Sure, but I go first.” Steven said as he got up and walked toward the stairs.
    “Fine, but be really quiet.” I said as I, too, got up and followed him to the stairs. Steven just looked at me. I waited as Steven tiptoed up the stairs, then I followed him. While climbing the stairs we heard the noise again and with it, a sound of scraping wood. Steven paused and turned around, a look of pure terror on his face.
    “You spook really easily” I commented looking at his face.
    “I do not!” he whisper-shrieked.
    We heard the scraping sound again followed by a thump and a tiny shriek. Steven jumped and lost his balance, then started tumbling down the stairs. I shrieked and scrambled down the stairs, backwards. How I wish I had been the one to go up the stairs first! I was too slow. Steven was right in front of me, arms flailing and still falling. One of his flailing arms managed to grab the banister and he stopped himself from making me join him in his fall down the stairs. I took a big breath and heaved a deep sigh of relief. I am so glad that he managed to catch himself before he fell on me and took me with him on a very painful ride down the stairs. I have fallen down the stairs once and do not wish to repeat the experience.
    “Sheesh, can’t you be quiet?” he asked, irritated.
    “Well you weren’t exactly quiet yourself Mister. Or do you call falling down the stairs quiet?” I asked, equally irritated.
    He just glared at me.
    I heard him take a sharp breath spiked with pain. “Are you okay?” I asked, concerned. I mean he had just fallen down half the staircase.
    “I just fell down the stairs and she asks if I’m ok,” he mumbled. “Yeah I’m fine. Just smarting a little.” I’m sure that smarting was an understatement but I didn’t say anything. I think he heard the skeptism in my silence.
    “I’m fine. Now are we going to go see what’s making that noise or are we just going to stand here?” He sounded really ticked off. He turned away to take the next step on the stairs when I saw him grimace.
    “Let’s just stay here. Ok?” I asked, while trying not to sound anxious.
    “Fine.” I could tell he was in pain because he didn’t argue. “So who do you think is up there?” he asked, “no one is here except us two.”
    I could tell he was trying to keep the pain out of his voice. I think it’s really funny that boys try to act all macho but in truth they’re just big babies. They’re not impervious to pain like they pretend to be and they’re all big scaredy cats. I still remember when I was about six or seven and was going trick-or-treating with my older cousin, Austin. We were in a haunted house that we go to every year and he was crying because he was so scared. Mr. Macho the one who is always acting like he’s so brave and tough is crying. His younger female cousin? Not a tear. Him? Balling his eyes out. Steven’s also like my cousin, he gets scared really easily. Like just now when he fell down the stairs.
    “I dunno who’s up there,” I said absently.
    Steven looked me weirdly.
    I looked back at him. “Who do you think it could be? And stop looking at me like that.”
    He looked toward the top of the stairs. “It’s probably a robber”
    “If it’s a robber then we should be calling the police not going up there to check it out”
    “What, you scared?” He looked at me. “C’mon with the two of us we can take him. Actually I could probably take him myself if your to scared.”
    I just glared at him. If you need any proof that boys are really cocky, there it is straight from the boy’s mouth.
    I sighed and looked up toward the top of the stairs. “C’mon let’s go”
    At the top of the stairs was the hallway that extended in both directions like it always had, but this time it meant we’d have to split up, or we could go together in each direction. Or we just wait for the sound again and then follow it to its source. I didn’t like the idea of splitting up because A) Steven could be right for once and it could be a robber or something worse. B) If it were a burglar or something worse Steven would try to fight him and get hurt or possibly killed. And C) because I just plain don’t trust boys/ wimps on their own.
    “I go right you go left ‘k?” asked Steven as he looked toward the right.
    Before I could open my mouth to say no, not okay I heard it again, the footsteps. They came from the right. The exact way Steven had wanted to go. We both looked to the right, down the long dark hallway. Then I noticed it wasn’t entirely black. There was a pinpoint of light emitting from the key hole of the door at the end of the hallway. Steven started walking toward the door and I followed him.
    When we reached the door we just stood there looking at the handle. “Well are we going to open it or just stand here staring at it” I asked softly, almost inaudibly. Steven just nodded. I sighed and reached for the handle. Steven slapped my hand. Before I could ask him why, he reached out and, as tight lipped as one could get, opened the door.
    The room was brightly lit and had lots of toys and books in it. In the middle of the room was the person we’d heard making all the noise.
    “Elizabeth you freaked us out! What are you doing at home? I thought you had left an hour ago” Steven yelled at his younger sister.
    As he paused to take a breath I said “Us? Who is this ‘us’ that was freaked out?”
    “What?” Steven asked, terribly confused. “Weren’t you scared?”
    Elizabeth and I looked at each other and then I started laughing. Man, he’ll never be able to live this one down.
    “I can’t believe you and Sarah did that to me” Steven fumed for the zillionth time. Okay it probably wasn’t the zillionth time but it felt like it. I had finally managed to stop laughing and could breathe again. Steven turned his accusing eyes toward me when I stopped laughing out loud.
    “Hey, cool! Your face is starting to turn back to its normal color.” Elizabeth commented with a smile. Steven just scowled.
    “Why did you two try to freak me out?”
    “Try? We did manage to freak you out,” Elizabeth giggled.
    “Did not”
    “Did too.”
    “Not”
    “Too”
    “Okay can we quit the arguing already? We scared you Steven and that’s that.” I said decisively.
    “You did not! I was just pretending to be scared.” Steven sounded a little too defensive.
    “You weren’t pretending. Unless you were pretending to fall down the stairs almost braining both me and you.” I reminded him with a glare. He glared back.
    “So that’s what that sound was.” Elizabeth snickered.
    “Yep he fell down the stairs and nearly took me with him” I explained to Elizabeth with a smile. Elizabeth fell down in fit of laughter.
    “It wasn’t funny!!! I got hurt!” Steven whined loudly.
    “Such a brave man.”
    For the second time I fell victim to the laughter and was fast out of breath.
    “Sarah!!” I heard my mom yelling. “Time to go home!”
    “Dang.” I cussed. My mom was here to pick me up now I couldn’t annoy Steven further. “I have to go. Oh well. Bye, scaredy pants. Bye, Elizabeth.” I ran down the stairs so my mom wouldn’t get annoyed about waiting for me.
    “Bye Sarah!” they both yelled back.
    As I approached my mom I heard Steven an Elizabeth start bickering again and smiled.
    “What’s so funny?” my mom asked.
    I opened my mouth to say ‘nothing’ and then decided better of it. “Well, it started when I heard this noise coming from upstairs and said ‘what’s that?’ and then Steven said…”