You lean against the wall to steady yourself, close your eyes, and take a breath. One hand instinctively searches for the half of the necklace you wear under your turtleneck, which you can feel the grooves of under the cloth. The feeling is soothing, so you trace your fingers on the edges of the half-heart for a few seconds, letting the arguing in the other room die down.
You see something dark moving up the stairs, right at the top of them - a shadow of some kind, though you don't know what cast it.
Ugh. You don't have time to deal with this shit. You decide to march straight up the stairs at it, aggressively.
Something jumps out at you.