Excerpt: Gremlins in the Keyboard

Aimee heard sirens again. They surprised her this time. She told herself it was nothing, that the sirens rang loudly every night nowadays, that she shouldn’t worry about it because they meant that someone was on their way to help out whoever was in trouble. But tonight the sirens didn’t feel right. For one, their ominous whining was coming from the opposite direction than usual. The problem, whatever it was, was in the section of town where Mr. Pilman lived.

She told herself again and again that she was being silly. Lots of people lived over in that direction, so why should she be worried about her employer all of a sudden?

Still she couldn’t sleep with the mystery lurking in her mind and she got up, dressed, and got into her car thinking that she would just drive by his house and make sure that everything was alright. Then she could return and sleep with her mind at ease.

Once in her car though, Aimee remembered her promise to Teco. Tremendous guilt swept over her, bringing her very close to tears. Her staying safe at home was quite possibly the only thing giving the young gremlin hope as he fought his strange war out in the coutryside. And here she was about to betray his trust and break her promise. She sat still, watching the downpour pelt against the windshield and trickle down in watery tracks, no longer sure of what to do. Thinking about how Teco had urged her to stay away from Pilman’s house only increased her fear that something bad was happening there. And she couldn’t let herself stay at home with that kind of knowledge.

She jerked the key in the ignition and turned on a particularly loud CD hoping to drown out her guilt with the noise as she drove along the rain soaked roads.