Free Eerie by Blake Crouch Jordan Crouch

began to walk, his pace as measured as a metronome, foot-strikes steady even as the glass from the shattered light bulb crunched beneath his feet.
    In the darkest part of the corridor, Grant lost his silhouette.
    His pulse rate kicked up a notch, eyes working every angle of the crack between the door and its frame for a better perspective.
    Four feet from the closet door, Jude reemerged into the scraps of light that filtered up the staircase.
    Grant could hear him breathing now and smell his cologne which also bore traces of Paige. Grant struggled to pull the door in with all the force he could rally but it wouldn’t close the final inch, leaving a gap that felt as big as the Grand Canyon.
    Jude stood in perfect view, the doctor facing the closet door.
    Motionless.
    Gazing straight at the crack.
    For a long time, Jude didn’t move.
    When he finally stepped forward, his eyes came into the stairway light.
    Grant’s first thought was that they looked dead, but that wasn’t quite right. They exuded a thousand-yard intensity he’d seen countless times during interrogations and interviews. Talking to murderers and victims’ next of kin. People who had fucked up or been fucked up and were trying to come to terms with the rest of their life.
    Jude took another step toward the closet, so close now that his shadow filled the crack.
    The tension coiled in Grant’s chest had maxed out its tensile strength.
    His system spiked with adrenaline.
    Somewhere in the distance, a man began to sing.
    Jude stopped, turned his head.
    The tinny, five-second refrain of “Ring of Fire” repeated itself from somewhere on the second floor.
    Jude’s shadow disappeared from the crack, footsteps trailing away while Johnny crooned.
    Grant pushed the closet door open.
    The hallway was empty, light spilling around the far corner where it had been dark moments before.
    Guest bedroom.
    Grant bolted down the hall, past the stairwell, forcing himself to slow down as he rounded the corner.
    The phone was still ringing, the song much louder.
    Grant crept up to the open doorway.
    The room stood empty, but there was movement in the bathroom.
    Grant took two steps inside, said, “What are you doing?”
    The phone went quiet.
    Grant saw a shadow stretch across the floor, and then Jude emerged from the bathroom, his white sneakers tracking perfect bloody footprints across the floor. The man stopped and stared at Grant with an expression as lifeless and blank as a mannequin. His hands were darkened with blood, and he held something small and black in his right hand.
    Don’s cell began to ring again.
    Jude raised his arm above his head, and with alarming speed, pitched the phone at the floor.
    It shattered against the hardwood in a debris field of glass and plastic and circuitry.
    Then Jude started toward him.
    Grant instinctively backed away—something in the man’s stride putting him on notice.
    “I just want to talk to you,” Grant said. “I’m Paige’s—Gloria’s—brother.”
    Jude didn’t stop.
    Grant steadied himself, ready to intercept the man if need be, but Jude just stepped to the side and slid past him, their shoulders brushing.
    Grant turned and followed him out the door.
    “Hey!”
    Jude was already halfway down the hall.
    Grant doubled his pace.
    “I didn’t say you could leave.”
    Jude’s gait didn’t change, and by the time he reached the top of the stairs, Grant was on his heels.
    Jude started down the staircase.
    Grant put a hand on his shoulder from behind.
    “I’m a cop. That means when I tell you to stop, you listen.”
    Jude came to an abrupt halt two steps down.
    “I want to know what happened in there. In her room.”
    Jude brought his hand up to his shoulder and wrapped his fingers around Grant’s wrist.
    Grant tried to jerk his arm away, but the man’s grip was a cold vise.
    Jude turned and faced him, and the moment he saw Jude’s eyes, Grant’s words died in his throat.
    The man’s pupils had been swallowed