James, my best friend and new roommate, put the last box in our new house. “Finally!” he said. “This only took forever.”
“Yeah,” I said. “I’m tired. I’m going to bed.”
“Come on, Ash. We have to meet the neighbors first,” he said.
“No. They can meet us if they want.”
“We have to socialize at least a little bit,” he said. “I know you hate doing that, but come for my sake.”
I really didn’t want to, nonetheless, I sighed and said, “Fine.”
“Yay!” he exclaimed.
We walked out of our house and towards one of our neighbor’s houses. It looked old, but pretty, and reminded me of my grandmother’s cottage where I spent many summers. I noticed the eroded stone of the house underneath the sturdy and put-together roof. Still, a wave of uneasiness settled over me as we got closer to the house. I rang the doorbell, and an old woman came out.
“Hello,” she said nicely.
“Hi!” James said. “I’m James. This is my best friend, Ash.”
“Hello, James and Ash. Call me Mrs. Clark,” she said. “Would you like to come in for a while?” “Yes please,” James said before I could decline. I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. We entered her house and I immediately felt chills down my spine and even more uneasiness than before. “Your home is beautiful,” James said in awe. I had to admit, it was pretty. The inside looked cozy and warm. Like if it were a blanket, I would never be cold again. Though the uneasiness of being there made it feel like there was a hole in the blanket where the cold air was seeping through.
“Thank you, Sweetie,” she said. “Would you two like cookies? They’re freshly baked!”
“Yes please!” James said. She nodded and walked into the kitchen. Then I smelled a faint burning smell.
“James, do you smell something burning?” I asked. “Because I do.”
He stopped for a second to sniff the air. “No.”
“Why do I smell it then?” I asked.
“I don’t know,” James said. “Maybe it’s the cookies.”
He’s probably right. But the smell was starting to get unbearable, and he still didn’t smell it. I felt yet another shiver down my spine. “I’m getting a weird vibe from this place…” I whispered to him. “It’s like someone’s watching me. I want to leave.”
“Ash, just because you hate socializing, doesn’t mean you have to make stuff up to get out of it,” James says.
“Why don’t you believe me?” I asked.
“Because you’d do anything to get out of socializing,” he said.
“True. But I’m not kidding this time. I swear. It’s creepy here,” I said.
“Well you’re not leaving. It’s not like there are ghosts here or something,” he said.
“That’s exactly how it feels like,” I mumbled.
Of course he doesn’t believe me. Whatever; it’s probably nothing. I just have to get over this hour or so at this woman’s house and then we can leave and never have to see her again.
Then I felt a random wave of cold air hit me. For a second I thought it might’ve just been the wind, but when I looked around the room, I noticed that all the windows and doors were shut, leaving no space for the air to enter. I saw no air conditioner either. I shifted in my seat but didn’t say anything in fear that James wouldn’t believe me.
Then James looked over at a photo and walked over. I saw a young woman who strongly resembled Mrs. Clark, so I assumed it was her, along with a man and two children. “Hey, do you think Mrs. Clark has a family?”
“No, James. I don’t think she has a family. That’s why she’s Mrs. Clark,” I deadpanned.
“Okay, okay. Jeez. Chill. You don’t have to be so rude,” James said.
Then Mrs. Clark appeared. Like literally. She just appeared there without me even hearing her footsteps. “That is my family,” Mrs. Clark said, with sadness trickling her face. I could’ve sworn her eyeballs turned red for a split second. What the- “Anyways, I brought your cookies!”
We stayed at the woman’s house for a bit longer, and luckily when we left, nothing happened to us. That’s good. Unless the woman has some elaborate and long plan to kill us.
“Well I’m never going back to that woman’s house,” I said.
“‘That woman’ is Mrs. Clark. Don’t be disrespectful,” James said.
“Her house is creepy. She is creepy.”
James sighed and rolled his eyes. “Come on. Let’s meet the other neighbors.” “No way! The other neighbors might be creepy too!” I said. James gave me a look. “Ugh. Fine. Only for you, James.”
He smiled. “Good.” We walked over to the other neighbor’s house and rang the bell.
A little girl answered. “MOM! SOME RANDOM PEOPLE ARE AT THE DOOR!” she yelled. Her mom came rushing over and the little girl ran away, I suppose to play or something.
“I’m sorry for that. My daughter can be… dramatic,” she said. “So, who are you two?”
“I’m James and they’re my best friend, Ash. We’re your new neighbors,” James said.
“Oh, cool!” she said. “I’m Alice. Why don’t you come in?”
“No, we’re good,” I said this time, before James could say anything. I’m not spending another hour or so in another stranger’s house.
I could sense James giving me a glare. “Ash is joking. We’d love to come in.”
Actually, Ash was not joking. They would not love to come in, I thought. But alas, James is the boss so we both went in.
“Tea? Coffee?” she asked.
“No, we’re okay,” I replied.
“Yeah, we’re good,” James said.
“Sorry it’s a mess in here. My daughter and her friend were playing tag,” Alice said and started to pick toys up from the ground.
“It’s all right,” James said. We both bent down to help Alice pick up the toys.
“Oh, you don’t have to help. Sit down and relax,” Alice said.
“It’s okay, we can help,” I said. I didn’t want to add that it was awkward watching people clean and not help.
“Thank you so much,” Alice said while putting some toys in a big box. “So when did you move here?”
“Today, actually,” James said. “Our other neighbor was so nice. She even made us cookies!”
“Oh, that’s cool,” Alice said.
“Yeah. She reminds me of my grandmother,” James said.
“Don’t compare your amazing grandmother to Mrs. Clark,” I said.
Alice looked confused. “Are you sure it’s Mrs. Clark?” she asked.
“Yeah,” James said. “Why?”
“Sweetie, Mrs. Clark died in a fire 30 years ago.”
James and I quickly turned our heads toward the window and saw a very modern-looking house that looked blue, nothing like how it looked before.
“What?”
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