Dark shadows

Loren and my mother have an ongoing thing where they lurk throughout the house and scare the hell out of each other. It is a tall house, three floors, with an open area in the middle going up all the floors. This makes for lots of stairs, a couple of balconies and many dark corners.
Loren will sometimes spend up to a half hour prowling and hiding under something in the dark recesses of the space. I have watched him take up to 20 minutes inching his way up the stairs on his belly just to get her. I sometimes worry that he will give my mother a heart attack or a stroke when he scares the crap out of her.
Tonight she got him so bad. I heard what could only be a scream from the soul of a pubescent teen. It started down low and then cracked into the sort of sound that comes from a small girl. Loren was heaving with fear and my mother was rolling on the balcony laughing her ass off. I didn’t know who was going to pee their pants first. That’s just the sort of place I live in.