The door clicks shut.

Her footsteps hurtle across the living room and up the stairs. I feel bad that the house won’t let her conceal where she’s going and continue counting. Her footsteps run down the upstairs hall and suddenly stop right above me. Then, in between the numbers I’m calling out, I can hear her talking but it’s too muffled to understand. Her tone sounds like she’s quietly pleading with someone. I wait, straining to hear …

She stops talking.

What is she waiting for?

Oh, shit. I’ve stopped counting.

“Thirty-nine …” I call out.

Immediately, her footsteps resume down the hall, and as best as I can tell, stop in the upstairs bathroom.

I continue counting, speeding it up to reach the end.

“Forty-eight … forty-nine … fifty!” I open the door and step out. “Ready or not, here I come!”

I begin ‘stalking’ through the rooms on the first floor, pretending to be a giant ogre who is genuinely mystified as to where she could be.

“Where is Caitlyn?” I say, in a deep, gravelly voice as I roam the living room and poke my head into the Writing Room. “Where is she?”

I turn and begin stomping up the stairs. “Fee, Fi, Fo, Fum …”

I stand at the top and stare down the hallway.

“Caitlyn …? Oh, Caitlyn?”

A candle is on the nightstand in her room, giving it an other-worldly glow. The pile of stuffed animals on the window seat watches me as I prowl around the room. “Where is that stinker?” I say, loud enough for it to carry down the hall to the bathroom where I know she’s hiding. I stomp over to her closet. “Is she in HERE?!” I dramatically throw open the door. Of course, she’s not. “Hmmm …”

I leave the closet open and stomp out into the hall. “I think I smell her …” I start walking towards the bathroom. “I smell her in the room where all stinky girls go and hide …”

I reach the bathroom door and grasp the handle.

There’s a sound behind me.

Startled, I turn just in time to the see the hem of Caitlyn’s nightgown as she disappears into her room. Then, there’s the sound of her closet doors closing.

“You, little lady, are quite the scamp,” I laugh.

She had been hiding in the guestroom and tried to sneak into her room after I searched it.

I triumphantly walk back down the hall, into her room, and over to the now-closed closet doors. “That was really clever to try to hide in your room after I searched it.” I grasp the knob. “But now … I’VE GOT YOU!”

I throw open the closet doors.

The clothes hang from the rack and the basket is on the floor … but Caitlyn’s not here.

“Caitlyn?”