A knock at the door jolted me out of my drowse, shock flooding down my back again. All of this adrenaline was going to give me a hangover.

When I opened the door, the two police officers who had responded to my distress call were standing on Gran's porch. "Did you find anything?" I asked.

They both shook their heads. The shorter of the two, whose name badge read O. SANCHEZ, thumbed over his shoulder in the general direction of the woods. "Best we can guess is it was an animal. Coulda been a bob cat or a cougar. Maybe even a fox," he said. "It's a little late for breeding season, but I've heard of crazier things."

Although I had been afraid, I felt a painful pang of embarrassment at that—at the notion of wasting these officers' time. "It really sounded like—"

"You'd think it really was somebody getting hurt," Officer Sanchez said, smiling at me. "They say a bobcat screaming will scare all the hairs off your arm. And foxes—I only ever heard a fox scream once. I was visiting my mom up in Minnesota. Hand to God, I thought about calling the police. Then I remembered I am the police."

We laughed. The other officer, Officer Whitehead, was a tall woman with her hair in a French braid. She didn't seem annoyed at having been called out into the country for nothing. "You did the right thing, calling," she said. "But we've walked the property and partway into the tree line and we've seen nothing suspicious. If there were any reason to suspect something was going on, we'd be concerned, but the simplest explanation is usually the one to go with."

"Right. An animal playing a prank on me." I smiled sheepishly. "I'm sorry you had to come out here to provide counseling to a freaked out city girl."

"Don't be sorry. It's still a good idea to keep your doors locked and keep your phone on you, but I would recommend that anyway, no matter who or where you are."

"Are you going to be okay?" Officer Sanchez asked.

"Oh, yeah. I'm good. Thank you."

"We're just here to help," said Officer Whitehead. "Have a good night, ma'am."

"You too. Thank you."

They headed back to their patrol car, and I stood in the doorway, watching them until they had gotten into their car. Then I closed and locked the front door, trying to shake off the eerie awareness of being out here all alone and the echo of that awful, animal scream.

I headed upstairs. It took Porkie a few minutes to make it up after me on her stubby legs, but she seemed cheerful as she trotted after me down the hallway to the room where I had already spent a couple of nights.

I flicked the light on but stopped before going to my dresser for a pair of pajamas, glancing at my phone. I knew I was being crazy, but...

ME: Hey, I know it's late, just wanted to say it was good to meet you today.

It was better than Hey, I know it's late, but I just wanted to check in to make sure you haven't been murdered in my back yard.

As I waited for a response, standing next to my dresser, dread began to creep in again, and uncertainty, and fear. The police had been out to check the grounds, but they could not possibly have done a thorough search in a matter of forty five minutes. It was dark, and they couldn't have gone far enough into the woods to be truly certain that Anabel wasn't out there, hurt or worse.

Now they'd come and gone, and if I called them again, they'd write me off as a crazy woman who was rattled from living alone.

I forced myself into motion. I was being crazy. I pulled out a pair of pajamas and changed, and then I realized I had not brushed my teeth, which meant a trek back downstairs to the one bathroom in the big old house.

"No, Porkie. Stay," I said. She looked up at me with confusion as I stepped out of the room and closed the door, locking her in. Before I even reached the ground floor I could hear her yipping with distress, but it was better than watching her struggle her way down the stairs and then back up again, poor thing.

It was as I was brushing my teeth that my phone buzzed on the counter. I snatched it up, and I can't even describe the feeling of relief when I saw her name.

ANA: Aww, I feel the same way! You seem like really cool people Tabitha.

ANA: Any granddaughter of Ruth's is a granddaughter of mine. That's the saying right?

I laughed, leaning down to spit out toothpaste foam to avoid swallowing the stuff. I rinsed my mouth and my toothbrush. On my way back to my room, I responded to her.

ME: Lol that's exactly it

ANA: Are you a night owl too?

ME: Not usually, just up late tonight.

I climbed into bed, peeling off my socks and dropping them onto the rug next to the bed. Porkie came over to investigate first the socks, then the blankets that hung to the floor. She then made a circuit of the room, sniffing everything.

ANA: Oh, going through your grandma's stuff?

Sometime soon I would have to actually start doing that, I thought. But it still felt too big and overwhelming to consider.

ME: Not really. I was just cleaning today.

ME: something pretty freaky happened tonight

ANA: Oh you should come do my place!

ANA: Really?

ANA: Are you OK? What happened?

I sank into the pillows, staring at the screen and wondering whether to risk sounding batshit. Porkie, back near the bed now, snorted and leaned up on her hind legs, pawing at the mattress.

"You've got to be kidding me," I said, looking down at her. "Really? You sleep on the bed?"

She looked at me as if daring me to question the arrangement. She had solid ground to stand on: she could tell me whatever she wanted to about how Gran had cared for her and I wouldn't know difference. Soon, she would be insisting that every Friday dinner was lobster bisque and Sundays were filet mignon.

"I want my complaints noted for the record," I muttered. I leaned down to pick her up, hefting her up onto the covers. She began to march through the piled blankets with purpose, investigating the accommodations. I lay back on my pillows.

ME: Promise not to laugh at me

ANA: Promise

ME: I heard this scream and I thought somebody was out in my yard. It sounded like a woman.

ANA: omg

ME: I've only been here for a couple of days and I think I'm a little jumpy

ME: Police said it was most likely a fox or something

ANA: You know I was just going to say you need to call the police.

ME: Lol I actually called 911

ANA: Good!

ME: But everything's fine, they looked around and didn't see anything weird. I felt so stupid to call them for nothing.

ANA: At least you had the mental awareness to do something. I would probably still be in puddle form on the floor if I heard some random screaming outside my apartment in the middle of the night

ANA: Jeez man that is too much

ANA: Are ou OK?

ME: Yeah

ANA: you*

ANA: Good.

ME: Thanks for letting me text you for a minute though. It actually helps to have somebody to talk to.

ANA: I said if you get lonely rattling around in that big house just shoot me a text or you could even be a dinosaur and call me

ME: Let's not get crazy here

ANA: LOL

ME: Lol

ME: Good night Ana

ANA: Good night Tabitha. Sweet dreams.