He should try to find out if that was the case. A psychiatrist would be the best idea, he supposed, but he was loath to go that route. Despite all the positive propaganda distilled through the media over the past decade, there was still a stigma attached to it in his mind, and he couldn’t picture himself lying on a couch, spilling his guts, and letting some stranger give him advice on how he should act and how he should feel and how he should live his life.

Besides, they didn’t have the money for it.

And, truth to tell, he didn’t really believe that his perceptions were off, that what he was thinking, feeling, and experiencing was part of some mental disorder or buried emotional problem.

He had seen the shadow.

There was something wrong with Tony’s doll.

There was a reason for him to feel uneasy.

A psychiatrist might be able to help him remember, though. Might be able to recall his memories of the House.

Why did he think of it as “the House”? he wondered. With a capital “H”? He wasn’t sure. He couldn’t even get a clear picture in his mind of the House’s exterior. Or his bedroom. Or any of the other rooms inside the structure. He could see only a long hallway. And a dark corner with a window seat. And an image of an overflowing bathtub.

Had there been a doll in the House? A doll like Tony’s?

He wished his dad were still alive. His dad would help him remember.

Daniel stared at the television as The Twilight Zone ended and a commercial came on. It was not normal for him to block out such a large part of his life. And to such an extent. He acknowledged that that was of legitimate concern, but what worried him far more than the fact that he was repressing his childhood memories was the idea that they were somehow connected to what was going on in his life now.

And that Tony was being drawn into it.

Whatever was happening, he wanted it to end. He didn’t want to see strange figures or unusual events, and most of all, he did not want anything to happen to his wife or his son.

It had been a long time since he’d gone to church. Several years. But, sitting on the couch, he closed his eyes and folded his hands and, for the first time since he could remember, prayed.

“Dear God,” he said softly. “Please keep Margot and Tony safe. Don’t let anything happen to them. Help them be healthy and happy and live until they’re a hundred years old. Amen.”

Margot picked up Tony after school, and they stopped by the grocery store before coming home. Daniel helped his wife carry sacks from the car, while Tony went straight to his bedroom.

He noticed the doll’s absence immediately.