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Speaker 1: Hello, I'm welcomed stories all the time. Glad you are here.

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Let's get into it. I was thirteen when we moved

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to a place called Granger Hollow. It barely deserved a

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name town. One of those backward spots in southern a

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Palatia were the trees at numbered the people ten to one.

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The biggest landmark was a half claps gas station with

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a single pump and a soda machine that only took quarters.

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The population was just under three hundred. That was if

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you counted petshimit ever lived under the floorboards of the church.

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We weren't moving there for fun. My dad had just

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inherited an old leaning farmhouse from his uncle Jasper. I'd

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only ever seen Jasper in one faded froto, wearing a

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cap and holding a trap. We hadn't heard from that

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side of the family in years. Then suddenly this house

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just fell into Dad's lap. We were broken enough to

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see it as a gift. Man called it a fresh start.

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Dad called it free land. I didn't call it anything,

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but my goat was uneasy. Before we even pat the

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first box. The house looked like it had been lu

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using an argument with the weather for thirty years, sagging porch,

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moss in the roof, paint peeling down to gray, the

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kind of place that creaks even when nobody's inside. But

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it had four walls, and it wasn't in foreclosure, so

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we moved in. The quiet hit me first, not peaceful, quiet, wrong, quiet,

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like it was hiding something. No passing cars, no lambers,

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no radio, was drifting from windows, sometimes not even birds.

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It was like the whole place held its breath whenever

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we stepped outside. Our nearest neighbors live across a scraggly

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patch of wheels and broken fence posts. Their house looked

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worse than ires, if that was possible, big and crooked shutters,

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waped potch tilted so far it seemed like it might

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peel off and walk away. I remember wondering how it

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was still standing. A brother and sister lived there. I

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never caught their last name, nobody offered it. The woman

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wore her gray hair in a single, stiff braid, like

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it hadn't been done in years. She always had on

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the same faded dress and apron, stained from decades of spills.

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Her brother was heavy set. He shuffled more than he walked,

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dragged along like something unseen was pulling him. When he

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looked to you, it was still expectant, like he was

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waiting for what I never knew. They never spoke first,

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never wave, just watched. The mailman, one of the only

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people who actually talked to us, told my dad they'd

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been here since to flood back in the five thousand eighties.

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They've seen this town gonder and come back. Menar, he said,

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Then he lowered his voice. Folks around here don't ask

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too many questions. I'd advised the same. A week after

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we moved in, Dad asked me to return a hammer

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he borrowed from them. He tossed it to me, casual,

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like it was no big deal. But the second I

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stepped into their yard, my stomach twisted. Their gravel puff

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crunched under my shoes louder than a shoudouf. The world

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around me when silent again, like even the wind had

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stepp aside to let me pass. I was about to

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knock when the door creaked open. She was already standing

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there at the sister apron and hands hidden out of sight.

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She stared at me, then said, flat a stone. Oh

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it's the new girl. I held up the hammer, trying

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to keep my hands steady. She didn't take it. Her

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eyes flicked toward a house. You tell yer, Daddy not

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to dig too deep, She said that land remembers. I

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didn't ask what she meant, didn't even say good bye.

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I set the hammer on the porch rail and walked back,

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not running, not hurry to steady, like running might invite

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something to follow. That night, I woke to tapping. Light

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measured it came from under my bed. I lay frozen,

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staring at the ceiling, listening at taps, pause and more

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like it was waiting for me to countle. All in

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the morning, there were scratches on the front door, not claws,

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not deep, then almost delicate, like a child dragging their

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fingers over and over. Dad said it was raccoon's. I

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didn't argue, but I knew better. Then things began to move.

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Mom lost our baking tins. We found them later in

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the shed, stacked neatly, each one filled with dried leaves, bones,

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and twine soaked in oil. My algebra book disappeared. A

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week later. It turned up under the porch, swollen with damp,

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stinking of vinegar. The garden we just planted went limb

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overnight Lee's blackened, boiled looking. The scarecrow in Dad's old

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flannel collapsed into a wet pile. Leggett had melted. I

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told Dad. He said, houses creak, folks fall, animal's dike,

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wind blows. Then one evening I saw the brother. He

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stood at the edge of the cornfield, just beyond the light,

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mouth moving no sound. I could tell he wasn't talking

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to me. He stared at our house until the shadows

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swallowed him whole. And then Malm's brakes failed. One moment

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she was driving to the store. The next shoe was

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in a ditch, kaw twisted but not destroyed. She crawled

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out with a cut on her arm, shaking. The mechanic

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said the brake line was slash clean, no rust nowhere,

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just cut. Dad brought the shotgun to the door. A

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week later, they brought us a pie. The sister stood

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on our porch, smiling faintly. We're praying for your wife,

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she said, holding out the pie like a peace offering.

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It's elt, we cloves, sugar, honey, and something earthy. Dad

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waited until she was gone, then he dropped it straight

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in the trash. That night, the scratching returned, not onto

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the floor inside the walls. Plus I pressed my ear

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to the drywall. Something was pacing. Not an animal, not

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unless Rikins had learned how to whisper. We called the sheriff.

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He searched every inch at a cross space under the porch. Nothing.

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Before he left, he leaned toward Dad's window. Don't poke

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the quiet once, sir, he said, this town learned to

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leave them be. Neither of us slept that night. Then

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we found our dog nailed to a tree. No fight,

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no blood, eyes opened, body posed. That was it. Dad

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started packing. We were leaving, no debate, but when we

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tried the car it was dead. Lugnut's gone, all four

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tyrus loose. So we decided to walk. By sun rise,

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we were on the road, but a we supped. Furniture

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blocked the path, chairs, tables broken, crib's cracked, mirrors stacked

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into a barricade, nailed to the top, or sheets of paper,

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our names written across them, man, Moms, Dad's. We turned

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back that night. We locked everything, windows, doors, doors, even

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the ad catch. But sometime past midnight I heard footsteps

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above us. Soft careful, I took the flask light and

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climbed every stair grown like a warning. In the center

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of the attic floor sat a doll. Not just any doll.

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It had my face, stitch, features rough but unmistakable, my braid,

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my hurdy trunk, and sown around its cloth frame. It

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sat up right, hands folded, mouths sown shut. The next morning,

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the sheriff's cruiser was in our drive. Engine called door shut.

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He's still in the ignition, but no sheriff on the

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passenger seat a note let it finish. That afternoon we

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heard the brother had died heart failure, they said. But

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that evening the sister came to our door. Our apron

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dotted red braid half and done. Her voice was thin.

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He was supposed to last ten more years, she whispered.

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He wasn't ready. I'll have to bind it again. Dad

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slammed the door before she could say another word. That night,

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we gathered every hand made thing we owned, dolls, trangkets,

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the clay mug from the kitchen, even the fur none

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of us remembered by We tossed it all into the fireplace,

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and we watched it burn. The scratching stopped. Weeks later,

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a man from dad's old job helped us get the

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car running. We left before dark, no good byes. We've

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never been back. I was nineteen when I moved into

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a duplex at the far edge of a tiny town,

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cold Albridge. It sat right where the paved roers gave

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up and the woods started closing in. The road together

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was barely a road, more like a stubborn to a

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path that looked like it used to be something then

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gave up halfway. Trees arched over it. They can close,

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and most days I had to slow down to a

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croll just to keep my car from scraping underneath. By

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the time wh I reached the place, it felt like

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I had left regular life behind completely. The duple stood

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alone at the end of the stretch, half hidden by

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overgrew and brush. A saged like it hadn't had any

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reason to stay at Brighton years. My half wasn't great,

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but it was livable if you squinted. The paint was peeling,

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the steps creaked. The kitchen sinker had a habit of

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groaning every time I used it. But I was nineteen,

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broke and trying to make it through the first months

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of adult life without crashing, so I told myself it

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was fine. The other half belonged to the Greshams. No

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one ever used their first names, just the Greshams, like

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they came as a set, and you didn't question the packaging.

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In a town that small, people usually filled you in

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on the locals right away, who runs the diner, who

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gives the best card deals, who to avoid. When it

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came to the Greshams, the only thing anyone ever said

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was they keep to themselves. That was putting it mildly.

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Mister Grisham never spoke. I mean that literally. In all

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the months I lived there, not once did I hear

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his voice. He just stood on the porch for long stretches,

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not smoking, not drinking, just standing. His mouth hum slightly opened,

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like he was trying to tast something in the air.

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His eyes never saddled where you expected, they dotted just

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a little past everything. Missus Grsham was the talkative one,

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if you could call at that. She never said more

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than a few words at a time, usually just mottering

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to herself while she collected the mail or watered a

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row of dead looking plants in the side yard. She

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always looked like she wanted to say more, but didn't.

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Her mouth stayed tight like she was chewing on words

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that refused to be spoken. Every window on the side

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of the duplex was sealed with tin frill, not taped

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around the edges, but folded and pressed until it looked

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melted into the frame. No light went in, no light

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came out at night, though I sometimes caught faint flicker

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behind the foil, like candle light or an old lantern.

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It pulled slowly like it was breathing. Even in those

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late July heat waves when I was sweating through two

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fans in an open window, the Greshams kept the reopening, sealed,

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door shut, windows locked, not so much as the screen

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cracked open, and I never once heard an air conditioner

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running on the side. Still, I tried to mind my business.

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It was easier that way, But things started getting strange

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and I couldn't ignore it for long. It started within knocking,

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not banging, not even knocking on a door. This was

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tapping light percize. It came from the wall we shared

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my bedroom against whatever was on their side. At first

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I thought it was just the house settling or pipes

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doing that clanking thing for no reason. But it wasn't random.

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It began around twelve point thirty. Every night three taps pause, pause,

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five taps pause pause, two, then again three five, five two.

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I would lie af frozen in bed, counting them like

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I could make sense a bit off. Listen long enough

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three five two, then again. It was too specific to

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be nothing, but too quiet to call anyone about. That's

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how it starts. You tell yourself it's probably nothing. You

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just need more sleep. A lot of weird things feel

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less weird in daylight, until they don't. A few days later,

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I started waking up even earlier, just before sunrise. Every time,

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without fail, I was jolted awake by the sound of birds,

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not chirping, not morning psalms, crows, loud, loud, angry, endless.

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The first screech would echo through the trees, then another,

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then dozens. They circle blow over the roof, sometimes close

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enough that their wings look like they might hit the siding,

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but they never landed on my side. Only the greshams

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they caught at the shingles, stomping like they were trying

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to get in. The noise was unbearable, not just loud,

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but shore up, like it was meant to drill into

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your skull. Then, as soon as the sun rose above

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the tree line, they vanished vawn. I asked the land,

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what about it? Once, they'll be guy with a beard

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that made him look like he'd been chopping wood since

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Berth I caught him behind the bait shop. He ran

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out near the main road, brought it up casually, something like, hey,

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those birds ever bothered the neighbors. He didn't even pause,

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didn't even think. He just said, don't mess with the

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Greshams and walked off, didn't even look at me. About

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a week later I came home late and saw something

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I still count explain. Mister Gresham was dragging something through

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the grass behind the house. It was long, bulky wrapped

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in an old colt that was soaked through in spots.

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At first I thought it might be a rug or furniture,

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but it was too limp for that. Whatever it was,

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it left a trail in the dirt. He hauled it

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at the back step and pulsed just before the door,

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like he knew I was watching. Then he turned his

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head slowly like a hinge creaking. He saw me, and

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he smiled. It wasn't right. It looked force like he

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00:12:29,080 --> 00:12:32,000
hadn't done it in years and couldn't quite remember how.

235
00:12:32,600 --> 00:12:34,799
Then he yanked the bundle inside and slammed the door

236
00:12:34,840 --> 00:12:37,720
hard enough to shake the porch. After that, the tapping

237
00:12:37,759 --> 00:12:41,480
turned into pounding. Always after midnight, the frames on my

238
00:12:41,519 --> 00:12:44,519
walls trembled. Once my lamp slid half an inch across

239
00:12:44,519 --> 00:12:48,279
the night's tent, I stopped sleeping completely. One night, I

240
00:12:48,360 --> 00:12:50,840
pressed my ear against the wall. I don't know what

241
00:12:50,919 --> 00:12:55,720
I expected, silent, maybe something I could pretend was harmless.

242
00:12:56,399 --> 00:13:02,399
But I heard them two voices, not whispering, not talking, chanting,

243
00:13:03,120 --> 00:13:06,759
that we repeating the same lines over and over in

244
00:13:06,799 --> 00:13:11,279
some language I didn't recognize. It wasn't gibbersh. It was structured,

245
00:13:11,360 --> 00:13:14,879
rhydmic and calm. That was the worst part. That night,

246
00:13:14,919 --> 00:13:17,080
I slaid a pocket and I thunder my pillow, not

247
00:13:17,240 --> 00:13:19,679
because I thought it would help, just because it made

248
00:13:19,720 --> 00:13:23,960
me feel less helpless. Then came the last straw. One afternoon,

249
00:13:24,080 --> 00:13:25,919
I noticed the front door was shut all the way,

250
00:13:26,639 --> 00:13:31,000
just cracked, maybe an inch, like it hadn't latched. I

251
00:13:31,039 --> 00:13:34,600
should have gone inside, but I glanced over and I

252
00:13:34,639 --> 00:13:39,039
saw and the walls were painted black, covered in red markings, spirals, slashes,

253
00:13:39,120 --> 00:13:41,320
uneven cymbals, like some one had been trying to write

254
00:13:41,320 --> 00:13:44,840
with broken fingers. The furniture was gone. In its place

255
00:13:44,840 --> 00:13:47,240
where rows of Mason jars lie neatly across the floor.

256
00:13:47,759 --> 00:13:52,399
Each one held a bird, dead winds, folded, beaks open.

257
00:13:53,120 --> 00:13:56,879
Some were fresh, others weren't. I could smell it from

258
00:13:56,879 --> 00:14:01,440
the porch, sweet war on, like fruit lift in the sun.

259
00:14:01,480 --> 00:14:04,279
Too long, I bolted back to ma car, drove to

260
00:14:04,279 --> 00:14:06,559
the highway gas station and slept with the engine running.

261
00:14:07,039 --> 00:14:09,799
The next morning, a coal tailor, she was one of

262
00:14:09,799 --> 00:14:11,679
the only people in Elbert who didn't think I was

263
00:14:11,720 --> 00:14:14,480
imagining things. I told her I needed back up to

264
00:14:14,519 --> 00:14:19,799
grab a few things, just clothes, my laptop, something. She

265
00:14:19,879 --> 00:14:23,600
didn't ask questions, just say d I'll come. We drove

266
00:14:23,639 --> 00:14:26,840
back that afternoon of rose, the jars, every last one

267
00:14:26,960 --> 00:14:30,240
now lying along the Gresham's portrayling polished and clean. You

268
00:14:30,240 --> 00:14:32,600
could see the feathers, the dried blood, the open eyes,

269
00:14:32,639 --> 00:14:36,200
and the Greshams were standing behind them, still silent, watching us.

270
00:14:36,720 --> 00:14:41,399
They didn't blink. Taylor whispered, let's go now. But I

271
00:14:41,440 --> 00:14:45,159
couldn't move. It wasn't fear. It was pressure that in

272
00:14:45,200 --> 00:14:48,360
the air, like something was holding me in place. Finally

273
00:14:48,399 --> 00:14:50,840
I turned, got in the car, slammed the door we

274
00:14:50,960 --> 00:14:53,639
drove away. When I first moved into that little rental

275
00:14:53,679 --> 00:14:55,679
house at the edge of a hollow outside Renfield, I

276
00:14:55,679 --> 00:14:58,559
honestly thought I was finally catching a brake. You know,

277
00:14:58,679 --> 00:15:00,919
that kind of tired that settles near bones after too

278
00:15:00,919 --> 00:15:03,200
many years of cramped apartments in a commute that turns

279
00:15:03,240 --> 00:15:06,480
every day into a battle. That was me. I'd spent

280
00:15:06,519 --> 00:15:08,799
most of my doll life stop between traffic lights, dead

281
00:15:08,879 --> 00:15:11,960
end jobs, and paper thin walls. So when I found

282
00:15:11,960 --> 00:15:14,519
that listing quiet to bedroom of Mountain View cheap rent,

283
00:15:14,639 --> 00:15:17,240
I didn't even hesitaate. I signed the least before I

284
00:15:17,240 --> 00:15:20,039
saw the place in person. The house itself was small,

285
00:15:20,159 --> 00:15:22,720
nothing fancy, but it had a wide front porch, enough

286
00:15:22,799 --> 00:15:24,600
room for a rocking chair or two, and the air

287
00:15:24,639 --> 00:15:27,080
smelled like wet dirt and pine instead of car exhaust.

288
00:15:27,679 --> 00:15:29,639
The hills behind the house folded into each other in

289
00:15:29,639 --> 00:15:32,399
this layered way, like they were keeping something tucked inside.

290
00:15:32,879 --> 00:15:35,960
I like it. It felt separate, like it existed slightly

291
00:15:35,960 --> 00:15:39,440
outside of time, a fresh shot. The house next door

292
00:15:39,519 --> 00:15:41,840
looked like mine, but only if mine had been left

293
00:15:41,840 --> 00:15:43,519
out in the rain for a couple decades too long.

294
00:15:44,159 --> 00:15:47,360
Same structure, same bones, but it leaned just slightly to

295
00:15:47,399 --> 00:15:49,440
one side, like its frame was too tired to hold

296
00:15:49,440 --> 00:15:52,440
itself upright any more. The siding was bowed in spots,

297
00:15:52,600 --> 00:15:54,919
the pain peeling in strips, and the roof had patches

298
00:15:54,960 --> 00:15:56,720
of rust that glowed orange in the sun, like someone

299
00:15:56,759 --> 00:15:59,799
had spilt acid cross it. What struck me first, though,

300
00:16:00,080 --> 00:16:03,759
with the windows. Every single one was covered. Curtains hung

301
00:16:03,799 --> 00:16:05,960
in rigid lines behind the glass, seal shut like they'd

302
00:16:06,000 --> 00:16:10,480
been glued there. No sunlight slipped through, no movement, just

303
00:16:10,559 --> 00:16:12,519
fabric pulled so tight. It was hard to tell if

304
00:16:12,519 --> 00:16:15,279
the house was occupied or not. I figured maybe it

305
00:16:15,320 --> 00:16:17,200
was a rental to or maybe some old of folks

306
00:16:17,240 --> 00:16:19,840
who liked their privacy. Didn't think too much of it

307
00:16:19,879 --> 00:16:22,559
at the time, not until the first night when I

308
00:16:22,600 --> 00:16:24,919
was hauling boxes out of the truck. They were just

309
00:16:24,960 --> 00:16:27,799
sitting there, three people on the porch of that sagging house,

310
00:16:27,960 --> 00:16:29,440
right in a row, like they were waiting for a

311
00:16:29,480 --> 00:16:32,759
bus that never came. They didn't wave, didn't smile, didn't

312
00:16:32,799 --> 00:16:34,759
even glance away when I looked straight at them, just

313
00:16:34,799 --> 00:16:37,200
sat still, eyes fixed forward, like whatever was in front

314
00:16:37,200 --> 00:16:40,039
of them was more important than anything else. I tried

315
00:16:40,080 --> 00:16:42,559
not to make it weird. Gave them a polite nod,

316
00:16:42,679 --> 00:16:45,879
half a wave of the usual awkward neighbor gesture. Nothing,

317
00:16:46,600 --> 00:16:49,919
not even a twitch. I thought, Okay, maybe they'd just shy,

318
00:16:50,679 --> 00:16:53,399
or maybe they didn't see me, or maybe this was

319
00:16:53,440 --> 00:16:55,639
just the kind of place where people didn't bother pretending

320
00:16:55,679 --> 00:16:59,679
to be friendly. But the next morning, still there. I

321
00:16:59,720 --> 00:17:01,559
opened my front door with a mug of coffee and

322
00:17:01,559 --> 00:17:03,799
stamped out into the chilly air. And there they were.

323
00:17:04,480 --> 00:17:07,920
Same three people, same chairs, same positions. I looked for

324
00:17:08,000 --> 00:17:10,480
signs of life, movement, a cough had turned, but they

325
00:17:10,519 --> 00:17:14,440
sat there like mannequins. I raised my coffee and called out, mourning,

326
00:17:14,839 --> 00:17:18,680
just to see nothing. No response, no flicker of recognition.

327
00:17:19,319 --> 00:17:21,920
I stood there full ten seconds, hand half way raised

328
00:17:22,000 --> 00:17:24,920
before I finally turned and went back inside. That's when

329
00:17:24,960 --> 00:17:27,200
the first little needle of anee settled under my skin.

330
00:17:27,720 --> 00:17:30,400
I brushed it off, told myself it was just one

331
00:17:30,400 --> 00:17:33,559
of those backwards things. People in small mountain towns didn't

332
00:17:33,599 --> 00:17:37,119
take to outside as fast I'd read about it. Maybe

333
00:17:37,119 --> 00:17:39,079
they were just sizing me up, trying to decide if

334
00:17:39,079 --> 00:17:42,000
I was worth talking to. Either way, I didn't plan

335
00:17:42,079 --> 00:17:44,279
to be home much, so I let it go. But

336
00:17:44,359 --> 00:17:47,519
the thing was the pathen didn't break. Every single morning,

337
00:17:47,599 --> 00:17:50,160
without fail, they were there. I'd open the door to

338
00:17:50,279 --> 00:17:52,720
leave for work, and though they'd be sitting perfectly still,

339
00:17:53,359 --> 00:17:55,839
I'd come back late, headlights sweeping across the front of

340
00:17:55,839 --> 00:17:58,960
the porch, and yet still there never a light on

341
00:17:59,039 --> 00:18:02,960
inside the house, never a curtain moved, just those three

342
00:18:02,960 --> 00:18:06,279
figures in their chairs facing the road. I started watching

343
00:18:06,319 --> 00:18:09,559
for small things, any sign that they'd moved even slightly,

344
00:18:10,160 --> 00:18:12,039
but if they did, it was only when I wasn't

345
00:18:12,039 --> 00:18:14,440
looking like they were set themselves every time I blinked.

346
00:18:14,920 --> 00:18:18,079
Then things started changing around my house. It began with

347
00:18:18,119 --> 00:18:21,640
the curtains. I'm particular about them. Grew up with a

348
00:18:21,720 --> 00:18:24,400
mom who was borderline obsessive about cemmetery, so I always

349
00:18:24,440 --> 00:18:27,240
made sure mine were drawn evenly. But one morning I

350
00:18:27,279 --> 00:18:28,960
came out of the bedroom and the ones in the

351
00:18:29,000 --> 00:18:31,839
living room were tugged to one side, not yanked, not

352
00:18:32,000 --> 00:18:34,359
like wind had blown them, just sustily off Santa, like

353
00:18:34,440 --> 00:18:36,160
some one had peeked out and didn't quite put them

354
00:18:36,160 --> 00:18:39,440
the same way. Then my trash can. I'd wheel it

355
00:18:39,440 --> 00:18:43,200
out to the cup every Monday, same spot, but twice

356
00:18:43,200 --> 00:18:44,920
in the same month, I came home and it had

357
00:18:44,920 --> 00:18:47,519
been moved exactly two feet closer to the property line,

358
00:18:48,000 --> 00:18:54,119
not knocked over, not disturbed, just repositioned precisely like it

359
00:18:54,119 --> 00:18:57,599
had been measured. Then came the footprints. I'd gone out

360
00:18:57,599 --> 00:19:00,680
for groceries one night. It was late, maybe a little

361
00:19:00,680 --> 00:19:03,440
past midnight, and when I got home my porch light

362
00:19:03,559 --> 00:19:07,599
was out. That alone spooked me. It had been working fine, Urler.

363
00:19:08,240 --> 00:19:11,039
But what really stopped me with the muddy prints. Three

364
00:19:11,079 --> 00:19:14,279
sets leading up my steps, spaced just far enough apart

365
00:19:14,279 --> 00:19:19,200
to suggest a careful climb, one lodge, one medium, one small.

366
00:19:19,759 --> 00:19:23,480
They ended at my door. Didn't go in, didn't wander,

367
00:19:24,279 --> 00:19:27,400
just stopped. I didn't go inside for solid five minutes,

368
00:19:28,119 --> 00:19:29,839
just stood there on the grass, clutching a pack of

369
00:19:29,920 --> 00:19:32,680
cereal and frozen peas, telling myself I was being paranoid.

370
00:19:33,240 --> 00:19:35,400
When I finally went in, every room was exactly how

371
00:19:35,440 --> 00:19:39,599
I left it, no doors open, no windows cracked, no

372
00:19:39,680 --> 00:19:42,799
signs of anyone or anything inside. I didn't sleep much

373
00:19:42,839 --> 00:19:46,039
that night either, the Next day, I started asking around

374
00:19:46,559 --> 00:19:48,720
at the gas station in town. I made small talk

375
00:19:48,759 --> 00:19:51,480
with the cashier, mentioned the house next door. He gave

376
00:19:51,519 --> 00:19:54,519
me a shrug, and said they keeped it themselves, wouldn't

377
00:19:54,519 --> 00:19:57,240
meet my eye. At a little diner on the edge

378
00:19:57,240 --> 00:19:59,519
of Rerenfille, I brought it up again. Told the waitress

379
00:19:59,519 --> 00:20:01,079
I was renting the place next to the one with

380
00:20:01,119 --> 00:20:05,000
all the curtains. She froze for a second midpoor then

381
00:20:05,039 --> 00:20:07,720
she quietly said, don't bother them. I laughed a little,

382
00:20:07,720 --> 00:20:09,640
trying to play it off, asked what their story was.

383
00:20:10,319 --> 00:20:12,880
She didn't laugh back, just said real, Oh, they've always

384
00:20:12,880 --> 00:20:16,279
been there, they always will be. That was it. No

385
00:20:16,359 --> 00:20:19,960
more questions answered. From then on, something in the air shifted.

386
00:20:20,640 --> 00:20:23,160
Every time I stepped outside, I felt, assess like I

387
00:20:23,240 --> 00:20:26,400
was being measured, maybe not by sight, but by something else,

388
00:20:27,240 --> 00:20:30,880
something patient. I'd catch myself holding my breath in the porch,

389
00:20:31,119 --> 00:20:33,519
glancing over at them, trying to spot a flick of movement,

390
00:20:34,160 --> 00:20:39,240
a go off, a blink, a blink. Nothing. Then one

391
00:20:39,359 --> 00:20:42,839
night everything tipped. It was true. In the morning, I

392
00:20:42,880 --> 00:20:45,319
woke up to a sound I hadn't heard before, my

393
00:20:45,400 --> 00:20:49,079
porch swing, squeaking back and forth slowly. It took me

394
00:20:49,119 --> 00:20:51,119
a second to register it. Lying there in the dark,

395
00:20:51,240 --> 00:20:53,960
listening to the groan of the chains I hadn't even

396
00:20:54,039 --> 00:20:57,119
used the swing once. I remember staring at the ceiling.

397
00:20:57,720 --> 00:21:00,359
Every muscle in my body locked up, discounting the creeks

398
00:21:00,400 --> 00:21:03,480
like maybe it would help. Back and forth, back and forth.

399
00:21:04,039 --> 00:21:07,640
Then it stopped, just cut off mid swing. I told

400
00:21:07,640 --> 00:21:10,119
myself not to look. I knew I shouldn't, but I

401
00:21:10,160 --> 00:21:13,880
cracked the blinds anyway. The swing was empty still. The

402
00:21:13,920 --> 00:21:16,240
porch light flickered back on, but across the road their

403
00:21:16,279 --> 00:21:19,039
porch was empty too. For the first time since I

404
00:21:19,079 --> 00:21:22,240
moved in, all three chairs were vacant. I didn't blink

405
00:21:22,319 --> 00:21:24,359
for what felt like an iron, just stood there and

406
00:21:24,519 --> 00:21:27,640
against the glass, breathing through my teeth. I didn't sleep

407
00:21:27,680 --> 00:21:29,960
the rest of the night, sat in the living room

408
00:21:29,960 --> 00:21:31,839
with the lights on, clutching the house key in one

409
00:21:31,880 --> 00:21:33,720
hand and a kitchen knife in the other, checking the

410
00:21:33,799 --> 00:21:36,960
locks every half ire. When morning finally came, I got

411
00:21:37,039 --> 00:21:39,559
up the neve to look again. They were back, all

412
00:21:39,599 --> 00:21:42,519
three of them, in their places, like nothing had happened.

413
00:21:43,119 --> 00:21:45,960
I didn't pack carefully, didn't wrap dishes or a label boxes.

414
00:21:46,599 --> 00:21:48,720
I just threw everything I could into my truck, slammed

415
00:21:48,720 --> 00:21:52,160
the door, and didn't look back, not really, but as

416
00:21:52,160 --> 00:21:54,000
I pulled out of the driveway. I did glance in

417
00:21:54,000 --> 00:21:56,680
the mirror. All three of them had turned their heads,

418
00:21:57,400 --> 00:21:59,599
not toward the road, toward me, toward me. I kept

419
00:21:59,680 --> 00:22:01,920
driving until the mountains leveled out and the trees didn't

420
00:22:01,920 --> 00:22:04,759
feel like they were pressing in so close. I've lived

421
00:22:04,799 --> 00:22:07,319
in the same mountain town my entire life. It's one

422
00:22:07,319 --> 00:22:09,319
of those places where the roads bend like rivers and

423
00:22:09,359 --> 00:22:11,359
the mountains lean in so close you start to wonder

424
00:22:11,359 --> 00:22:13,839
if they're listening. We're tuk so deep into a crook

425
00:22:13,839 --> 00:22:16,440
of the appellations that most people don't even know exists.

426
00:22:17,160 --> 00:22:18,960
They passed through on their way to somewhere with fear

427
00:22:19,039 --> 00:22:21,559
hills and more signal bars, rolling their windows up like

428
00:22:21,599 --> 00:22:24,039
they can smell how long we've been here. The people

429
00:22:24,039 --> 00:22:26,880
who grow up in Carlin don't usually leave, not because

430
00:22:26,880 --> 00:22:29,000
we coun't exactly, but because you are never just leaving

431
00:22:29,000 --> 00:22:32,279
the town. You're leaving your grandparents land, the cemetery where

432
00:22:32,279 --> 00:22:34,400
your great uncle's buried, the dirt road he first drove

433
00:22:34,400 --> 00:22:37,400
at thirteen. You leave, and it feels like you're turning

434
00:22:37,440 --> 00:22:39,920
your back on something older than you are. Our house

435
00:22:39,920 --> 00:22:41,720
sits near the bottom of a slope across the road

436
00:22:41,759 --> 00:22:44,839
from the Old North property. That's what people still called it,

437
00:22:45,079 --> 00:22:48,400
even though nobody could remember the Norths. The house was different.

438
00:22:48,519 --> 00:22:51,000
Sit back a little farther from the road, almost hiding

439
00:22:51,000 --> 00:22:53,839
behind a row of dying pines. The place always looked

440
00:22:53,839 --> 00:22:55,799
like it was shrinking into itsself, like even the wood

441
00:22:55,839 --> 00:22:58,319
wanted to forget it existed. No one ever said the

442
00:22:58,319 --> 00:23:01,279
owner's names, if they even knew that, just the people

443
00:23:01,319 --> 00:23:03,519
crossed the road, or those ones in the Old North House.

444
00:23:04,160 --> 00:23:06,240
I remember asking my mom once when I was little

445
00:23:06,240 --> 00:23:09,880
who lived there. She just said, folks who keep to themselves,

446
00:23:10,559 --> 00:23:12,559
and that was the end of it. The house of

447
00:23:12,640 --> 00:23:15,880
practically a ghost. The paint had peeled into long strips

448
00:23:15,880 --> 00:23:18,599
that fluttered when the wind blew hard enough. The porch

449
00:23:18,640 --> 00:23:20,920
sag of, like something had been leaning on it too long.

450
00:23:21,599 --> 00:23:24,960
The curtains stayed closed all year round, every single window

451
00:23:25,000 --> 00:23:27,039
sealed so tight you couldn't tell where the fabric ended

452
00:23:27,119 --> 00:23:29,759
and the dark began. The only sign of life was

453
00:23:29,759 --> 00:23:32,200
an old pickup that would appear out of nowhere. They

454
00:23:32,200 --> 00:23:34,079
sat crooked and a gravel like it had dropped from

455
00:23:34,079 --> 00:23:37,839
the sky. It would stay weak, maybe less, then disappear again.

456
00:23:38,440 --> 00:23:40,680
No one saw it come or go. It was just

457
00:23:40,720 --> 00:23:44,480
there then not folks talked. Obviously, you can't have a

458
00:23:44,480 --> 00:23:45,920
house like that in a town like this and not

459
00:23:45,960 --> 00:23:48,680
have it become a story. Fearies ranged from old money,

460
00:23:48,680 --> 00:23:51,119
family hiding from the world, to cult depending on who

461
00:23:51,119 --> 00:23:52,960
you were talking to her and how many drinks they'd had.

462
00:23:53,599 --> 00:23:55,720
I never knew what to believe, but I always figured

463
00:23:55,720 --> 00:23:58,119
if something was really wrong, someone would have done something

464
00:23:58,119 --> 00:24:01,160
by now call the county, brought it up at a

465
00:24:01,160 --> 00:24:04,559
council meeting, But they didn't. They just let the house

466
00:24:04,599 --> 00:24:06,440
be like it was some natural thing we all had

467
00:24:06,480 --> 00:24:10,079
to live with. For years. Nothing changed. Then one night

468
00:24:10,079 --> 00:24:13,079
in late October, a light came on upstairs. I was

469
00:24:13,119 --> 00:24:15,599
in the front porch, bundled in a blanket that smelled

470
00:24:15,640 --> 00:24:18,359
like cedar and smoke, sipping cold coco. Had forgotten about,

471
00:24:18,480 --> 00:24:21,119
just sword of staring at nothing. The leaves had mostly

472
00:24:21,160 --> 00:24:23,319
dropped by then, and the bare branches left a clear

473
00:24:23,440 --> 00:24:25,799
view of the house across the road. That's when I

474
00:24:25,799 --> 00:24:27,759
saw it, a soft yellow light flicking on behind the

475
00:24:27,759 --> 00:24:30,759
curtain of a second story window. It didn't turn on fast,

476
00:24:30,799 --> 00:24:32,640
like a bowl, It kind of swelled like some one

477
00:24:32,640 --> 00:24:34,960
carrying a lantern from room to room behind the walls.

478
00:24:35,680 --> 00:24:37,599
I kept staring, waiting for a shape to pass in

479
00:24:37,599 --> 00:24:40,559
front of it, a person, a shadow, anything, but the

480
00:24:40,640 --> 00:24:42,960
light just floated slowly from one window to the next,

481
00:24:43,000 --> 00:24:45,680
and then it blinked out. I remember sitting there a

482
00:24:45,680 --> 00:24:48,599
long time afterwards, blanket pull tite, not even cold any more.

483
00:24:49,240 --> 00:24:52,039
It wasn't scary, just weird, like the house had coughed

484
00:24:52,039 --> 00:24:54,680
in its sleep. I didn't say anything about it until

485
00:24:54,680 --> 00:24:57,240
two days later, when I saw someone standing in the drivery.

486
00:24:57,839 --> 00:24:59,559
I was walking to the store, cutting down the road

487
00:24:59,599 --> 00:25:01,599
like I own always did. When I spotted a figure

488
00:25:02,240 --> 00:25:07,319
thalm still standing next to the truck, facing the road,

489
00:25:07,720 --> 00:25:11,359
not moving, I slowed down without meaning to. The morning

490
00:25:11,400 --> 00:25:13,160
sun was barely up, and the light hit their face

491
00:25:13,240 --> 00:25:16,200
just enough to make out that it was pale, unnaturally pale,

492
00:25:16,799 --> 00:25:22,359
no details, just blank, like someone half with through becoming real.

493
00:25:23,000 --> 00:25:25,039
Instinct kicked in and I've raised a hand to wave.

494
00:25:25,759 --> 00:25:28,440
That's just what you do here. If you see someone,

495
00:25:28,480 --> 00:25:31,680
you wave, doesn't matter who it is. But they didn't

496
00:25:31,720 --> 00:25:35,319
wave back. They didn't even blink. I looked away for

497
00:25:35,440 --> 00:25:37,160
just a second, trying to shake it off, and when

498
00:25:37,160 --> 00:25:40,000
I looked again, the driver was empty, like they'd sunk

499
00:25:40,000 --> 00:25:43,880
into the ground. That's when the sound started. It wasn't music,

500
00:25:44,640 --> 00:25:47,559
wasn't a machine. It was this slow harm, almost like

501
00:25:47,599 --> 00:25:52,000
a vibration in your chest. Sometimes it pulls, sometimes it

502
00:25:52,039 --> 00:25:55,240
held steady frys. It came from across the hollow, quiet

503
00:25:55,240 --> 00:25:57,160
at first, but always growing loud of the longer it

504
00:25:57,200 --> 00:25:59,759
went on. It didn't sound like something you could make.

505
00:26:00,480 --> 00:26:03,640
It sounded like something that just was, like window pressure

506
00:26:03,720 --> 00:26:05,720
or a deep note some one struck had never released.

507
00:26:06,440 --> 00:26:08,920
My parents wore they couldn't hear it. They thought I

508
00:26:08,960 --> 00:26:11,359
was stressed from school, spending too much time online, but

509
00:26:11,440 --> 00:26:13,599
it wasn't in my head. I'd lie there in the

510
00:26:13,680 --> 00:26:16,240
dark as wide open covers pulled up and just feel

511
00:26:16,279 --> 00:26:18,680
the noise crawl through the walls and settle into my bones.

512
00:26:19,319 --> 00:26:21,559
One evening, I was heading to my friend Evan's place

513
00:26:21,559 --> 00:26:23,440
and decided to cut through the wood behind our house.

514
00:26:24,200 --> 00:26:26,240
I'd done it a hundred times, but that night, when

515
00:26:26,240 --> 00:26:29,079
I reached the ridge overlooking the neighbor's back yard, I froze.

516
00:26:29,599 --> 00:26:32,480
They were out there, five maybe six people, standing in

517
00:26:32,480 --> 00:26:35,559
a perfect ring on the dead grass, not moving, not talking,

518
00:26:35,799 --> 00:26:38,119
all of them facing inward like they were watching something

519
00:26:38,119 --> 00:26:40,799
in the cender. I crouched down hard enough to scrape

520
00:26:40,799 --> 00:26:42,440
my knee on a rock and didn't move for what

521
00:26:42,519 --> 00:26:46,720
felt like forever. Eventually I peeked again. They hadn't changed.

522
00:26:47,400 --> 00:26:49,480
It was like they were statues or trees pretending to

523
00:26:49,480 --> 00:26:52,920
be people. I didn't go to Evans. I turned around,

524
00:26:52,960 --> 00:26:55,079
walked the long way home and didn't tell any one

525
00:26:55,119 --> 00:26:58,119
what I saw. That night. Just after midnight, some one

526
00:26:58,160 --> 00:27:02,279
knocked on our front door. It was three knocks, odd,

527
00:27:02,559 --> 00:27:05,319
spaced out, the kind that makes you sit up fast

528
00:27:05,319 --> 00:27:07,640
because something in your body already knows is not normal.

529
00:27:08,240 --> 00:27:10,519
My dad came out of the bedroom, I still half shut,

530
00:27:10,599 --> 00:27:12,920
and caught me in the hallway. He pushed me behind

531
00:27:13,000 --> 00:27:15,599
him and went to the door. Didn't look through the people,

532
00:27:16,240 --> 00:27:19,839
didn't ask who it was, just opened it. There was

533
00:27:19,880 --> 00:27:23,720
nobody there. The porch was empty, the yard was still,

534
00:27:24,279 --> 00:27:26,359
but the hum, that awful hum, was louder than I'd

535
00:27:26,359 --> 00:27:28,720
ever heard it. It felt like it was crawling out

536
00:27:28,759 --> 00:27:31,759
of the ground itself. My dad stood there, stirring out

537
00:27:31,799 --> 00:27:34,920
like he expected someone to step forward, but no one did.

538
00:27:35,640 --> 00:27:38,000
After a while, he shut the door and locked it slowly.

539
00:27:38,599 --> 00:27:41,599
He didn't say anything. Just went back to bed. The

540
00:27:41,640 --> 00:27:44,559
next morning I found the footprints. They were all through

541
00:27:44,599 --> 00:27:47,079
the mud by the porch, too many to be from

542
00:27:47,160 --> 00:27:50,279
just one person, some small, some larger, circling the steps,

543
00:27:50,319 --> 00:27:52,799
like someone had been pacing the rake. I left out

544
00:27:52,839 --> 00:27:55,200
with standing upright, propped against the railing and the old

545
00:27:55,319 --> 00:27:57,839
rocking chair. Grandma's hair had been turned to face the

546
00:27:57,839 --> 00:28:01,440
neighbor's house. I didn't say anything. I just cleaned it

547
00:28:01,519 --> 00:28:04,559
up and went inside. After that, I stopped going out

548
00:28:04,559 --> 00:28:07,160
after dark at all. I kept the blind shut, the

549
00:28:07,160 --> 00:28:09,519
doors locked, and my headphones on, but it didn't stop.

550
00:28:10,119 --> 00:28:12,200
One night, I woke up with the sense that someone

551
00:28:12,240 --> 00:28:14,559
was watching me. It was like a wight had settled

552
00:28:14,559 --> 00:28:17,000
in the room. I got up and pulled the curtain back,

553
00:28:17,119 --> 00:28:19,599
just a listle and nuts. When I saw them across

554
00:28:19,680 --> 00:28:21,799
the road. The second floor window, the same one where

555
00:28:21,839 --> 00:28:24,559
the light had come on, was open, just a crack.

556
00:28:25,359 --> 00:28:27,960
I'm behind the glass, pressed against it like they'd been flattened.

557
00:28:28,000 --> 00:28:33,440
Were faces, not one or two, a whole row of them, pale, motionless,

558
00:28:34,079 --> 00:28:36,920
all turned toward my room. I slammed the curtain ships

559
00:28:36,920 --> 00:28:39,440
so fast and nearly ripped it off the rod. I

560
00:28:39,480 --> 00:28:43,119
didn't look again. Didn't sleep, just sat on my floor

561
00:28:43,160 --> 00:28:45,720
until morning, wrapped in a hoodie and holding the closest

562
00:28:45,720 --> 00:28:48,680
thing I could use as a weapon, a rusty old flashlight.

563
00:28:49,319 --> 00:28:52,559
The next day the house was back to normal, curtain sealed,

564
00:28:53,160 --> 00:28:56,480
pick up gone, yard empty, looked like nobody had lived

565
00:28:56,480 --> 00:28:59,240
there for decades. I was twenty one when I moved

566
00:28:59,240 --> 00:29:01,200
into a small rent or tucked deep in the mountains

567
00:29:01,240 --> 00:29:04,880
outside a place called Zarahollow. It wasn't even on most maps.

568
00:29:05,559 --> 00:29:07,519
If you blinked during the drive, you'd miss he only

569
00:29:07,519 --> 00:29:09,759
stop plight in a post office, which doubled as the

570
00:29:09,799 --> 00:29:12,359
general store. It was the kind of town where every

571
00:29:12,400 --> 00:29:15,279
face looked familiar, but no one bothered to introduce themselves.

572
00:29:16,000 --> 00:29:18,920
The house I frowned was dirtchy, almost suspiciously cheap, just

573
00:29:19,000 --> 00:29:21,559
one floor, faded, green pin peeling from the siding, a

574
00:29:21,559 --> 00:29:23,519
porch that leaned like it had on bad leg, and

575
00:29:23,559 --> 00:29:25,440
a wide view of the ridgeline cutting across the sky

576
00:29:25,519 --> 00:29:27,960
like a scar. I didn't care that it looked ready

577
00:29:27,960 --> 00:29:30,559
to collapse in the next big wind. I wasn't moving

578
00:29:30,559 --> 00:29:35,119
there for luxury. I kneeded out, away from people, away

579
00:29:35,160 --> 00:29:39,720
from expectations, quiet in space that was the goal. The

580
00:29:39,799 --> 00:29:43,920
road was gravel, barely maintained. A dozen houses maybe scattered

581
00:29:43,920 --> 00:29:46,839
along the slope, some so overgrown I couldn't tell if

582
00:29:46,839 --> 00:29:49,359
anyone lived there. The ones I could see all looked

583
00:29:49,359 --> 00:29:52,039
older than mine by at least fifty years. They seem

584
00:29:52,119 --> 00:29:54,039
portant to the hills, like they belonged to the earth.

585
00:29:54,640 --> 00:29:59,720
No one waved, no hollos, no hollos, just silence, pressing

586
00:29:59,759 --> 00:30:03,400
him for every side. Frank, my landlord, was wiry and

587
00:30:03,480 --> 00:30:05,599
sun worn, with a voice rough enough to peel paint.

588
00:30:06,279 --> 00:30:09,039
He handed me the keys without much ceremony. Then he

589
00:30:09,079 --> 00:30:11,920
offered one piece of advice. Fooks out here ain't like

590
00:30:12,000 --> 00:30:14,559
city people. He said it with a half smile, but

591
00:30:14,640 --> 00:30:17,799
his eyes didn't match. Then, almost as an alfy thought,

592
00:30:18,000 --> 00:30:20,279
he added the couple next door they were a little different.

593
00:30:20,880 --> 00:30:23,680
I didn't press him, figured he meant they were exclusive.

594
00:30:24,160 --> 00:30:27,039
I wasn't there to make friends anyway. I just nodded,

595
00:30:27,079 --> 00:30:29,319
took the keys, and drove the last stretch up to

596
00:30:29,359 --> 00:30:32,279
the house, telling myself this was it, peace and quiet.

597
00:30:32,839 --> 00:30:35,519
First time I saw the neighbors, I was unloading boxes.

598
00:30:36,160 --> 00:30:38,440
I turned arms full of books, and they were just

599
00:30:38,480 --> 00:30:42,119
standing on the porch, both of them, no footsteps, no sound,

600
00:30:42,240 --> 00:30:45,119
just there. The man looked weathered, with shop cheek bones

601
00:30:45,119 --> 00:30:46,960
and a wiry frame, the kind that comes from a

602
00:30:47,000 --> 00:30:49,880
lifetime of hard labor. The woman was pale, with long

603
00:30:49,920 --> 00:30:52,599
black hair braided tight against her neck. She wore an

604
00:30:52,599 --> 00:30:55,160
old fashioned dress, out of place even for the mountains.

605
00:30:55,759 --> 00:30:59,799
Neither of them smiled. They didn't introduce themselves, didn't offer help.

606
00:31:00,400 --> 00:31:02,839
The man just asked, flat and tonless, what brings you

607
00:31:02,880 --> 00:31:05,960
out here? Before I could finish answering, the woman cut in,

608
00:31:06,519 --> 00:31:08,759
do you live alone? The way she asked it, it

609
00:31:08,839 --> 00:31:13,319
didn't feel nosy, it felt like confirmation. I nodded without thinking,

610
00:31:13,400 --> 00:31:16,400
and regretted it immediately. They turned in perfect sink and

611
00:31:16,440 --> 00:31:20,880
walked off the porch, no goodbye, no glance back. I

612
00:31:20,960 --> 00:31:23,079
laughed it off, later told myself it was walk of

613
00:31:23,160 --> 00:31:27,599
small town etiquette. Maybe they were just suspicious of newcomers. Still,

614
00:31:27,599 --> 00:31:30,599
I checked the locks twice before bed. After midnight, I

615
00:31:30,680 --> 00:31:33,559
woke to a dragging sound on the porch, heavy scraping

616
00:31:33,599 --> 00:31:38,440
across the boards. Slow study, I peeked through the front window.

617
00:31:39,079 --> 00:31:41,920
My trash bend was pressed against the house. That might

618
00:31:41,960 --> 00:31:44,559
not sound strange, but I hadn't moved it. It was

619
00:31:44,599 --> 00:31:47,640
still by the shed earlier. I hadn't even unpacked enough

620
00:31:47,680 --> 00:31:53,079
to make trash, No wind, no animals, just there. The

621
00:31:53,119 --> 00:31:56,400
next week brought more signs. The curtains never opened, but

622
00:31:56,480 --> 00:31:59,759
moving flickered behind them when I stepped outside. Once I

623
00:31:59,799 --> 00:32:02,200
saw the storm door crack opened, then slam shot, as

624
00:32:02,200 --> 00:32:05,119
if someone had changed their mind. I tried waving once

625
00:32:05,119 --> 00:32:08,200
caught them at the window, raised my hand. They just stared,

626
00:32:08,279 --> 00:32:12,079
unblinking until I retreated inside. Then things shifted from unsettling

627
00:32:12,079 --> 00:32:15,240
to disturbing. Mails started appearing on my porch before the

628
00:32:15,240 --> 00:32:18,200
mail truck even arrived. My shed holes were laid out

629
00:32:18,200 --> 00:32:20,160
in neat lines across the yard edge to edge, like

630
00:32:20,160 --> 00:32:22,960
someone had used a ruler. I locked the shed after that,

631
00:32:23,720 --> 00:32:25,559
but the next morning the lock was intact and the

632
00:32:25,599 --> 00:32:28,240
tools was stacked neatly against my back door. That's what

633
00:32:28,319 --> 00:32:31,359
I stopped feeling seen and started feeling studded. I spent

634
00:32:31,440 --> 00:32:33,759
more time in town just to be around people, but

635
00:32:33,839 --> 00:32:36,559
I noticed there were no kids, not at the diner,

636
00:32:36,720 --> 00:32:40,000
not the grocery store, not even at the park. Only adults,

637
00:32:40,720 --> 00:32:43,039
all of them carrying the same tide heavy secret in

638
00:32:43,079 --> 00:32:45,359
their eyes. One night I woke to the sound of

639
00:32:45,359 --> 00:32:49,440
footsteps in the gravel, slow, steady, circling the house. I

640
00:32:49,480 --> 00:32:52,279
pulled back the curtain an inch. She was standing in

641
00:32:52,319 --> 00:32:56,680
the yard, the neighbor's wife. Thearefoot, draped in a thin

642
00:32:56,720 --> 00:33:00,640
white nightgown, had tilted back, eyes locked on my window.

643
00:33:01,319 --> 00:33:04,960
She didn't blink, didn't move. I sat on the floor,

644
00:33:05,160 --> 00:33:08,079
heart pounding, until the sun came up. By then she

645
00:33:08,160 --> 00:33:11,160
was gone. After that, I avoided them at all costs,

646
00:33:11,880 --> 00:33:16,799
changed grocery days, ran errand early. It didn't help. They

647
00:33:16,839 --> 00:33:19,759
started showing up wherever I went at the store. They

648
00:33:19,759 --> 00:33:25,079
followed me through asles. No cots, no baskets, just silent

649
00:33:25,079 --> 00:33:29,319
footsteps behind me. When I stopped, they stopped when I turned,

650
00:33:29,359 --> 00:33:32,720
So did they once I ducked into the bathroom. When

651
00:33:32,720 --> 00:33:34,640
I came back out, they were waiting by the door.

652
00:33:35,240 --> 00:33:37,880
I mentioned it to the cashier, Dylan, who barely looked up.

653
00:33:38,480 --> 00:33:41,559
That's just how they are, he muttered, like that explained anything.

654
00:33:42,119 --> 00:33:45,079
The last night in that house, everything broke. I came

655
00:33:45,079 --> 00:33:47,480
home close to midnight. Headlights swept across the front and

656
00:33:47,519 --> 00:33:51,319
I slammed the brakes. Every window was wide open, every

657
00:33:51,319 --> 00:33:55,000
door stood ajar, like the house had exhaled. Inside. Nothing

658
00:33:55,039 --> 00:33:59,240
was stolen, nothing broken, but everything was arranged. Drawers pulled out,

659
00:33:59,400 --> 00:34:03,119
contents and piles in the floor, my clothes folded, books

660
00:34:03,160 --> 00:34:06,839
laid across the rug, alphabetized and color coded pantry items

661
00:34:06,880 --> 00:34:09,559
lined in Rosala on the counter. It felt like someone

662
00:34:09,599 --> 00:34:11,679
had spent time was touching every part of my life.

663
00:34:12,159 --> 00:34:14,480
The air was still, the silence thick, but I knew.

664
00:34:15,119 --> 00:34:17,559
I knew someone had just slipped out the back. I

665
00:34:17,599 --> 00:34:20,679
didn't sleep, didn't even sit. I grabbed a back, stuffed

666
00:34:20,679 --> 00:34:22,880
what I could, and walked straight to the car, locked

667
00:34:22,880 --> 00:34:25,880
the doors, started the engine drove. I parked in front

668
00:34:25,880 --> 00:34:29,239
of Frank's office downtown and waited. When he arrived at dawn,

669
00:34:29,320 --> 00:34:31,280
he didn't ask why, he didn't look surprised when I

670
00:34:31,320 --> 00:34:34,039
said I needed to break the lease. He just handed

671
00:34:34,039 --> 00:34:36,320
me a form and said best to go. I never

672
00:34:36,360 --> 00:34:38,840
went back for the rest of my things. The first

673
00:34:38,840 --> 00:34:41,039
time I noticed something off about my neighbors, I was

674
00:34:41,079 --> 00:34:44,719
hauling firewood from the shared up back, just a regular evening.

675
00:34:45,239 --> 00:34:47,000
It was starting to get cold, and I figured i'd

676
00:34:47,039 --> 00:34:48,880
better stop pile enough to make it through the weekend

677
00:34:48,880 --> 00:34:51,800
without stumbling outside in my pajamas. I'd only been in

678
00:34:51,800 --> 00:34:54,440
that rental house a week. It sat right off a

679
00:34:54,519 --> 00:34:57,400
narrow dirt road that curred into a wooded hill. Real

680
00:34:57,519 --> 00:35:01,679
quiet place, too quiet, honestly coming from a larger part

681
00:35:01,679 --> 00:35:04,039
of the state, the kind of town where folks waved

682
00:35:04,039 --> 00:35:06,840
from their porches whether they know you or not. So

683
00:35:06,920 --> 00:35:09,280
when people warn me kind of offhand that the folks

684
00:35:09,280 --> 00:35:11,480
crossed the road kept to themselves, I didn't think much

685
00:35:11,519 --> 00:35:15,639
of it. Everybody's got their reasons. The house wasn't remarkable,

686
00:35:16,239 --> 00:35:19,679
a sagging front porch, faded blue gray, sighing that looked

687
00:35:19,679 --> 00:35:22,719
like it hadn't seen paint in a decade. Lace curtains

688
00:35:22,719 --> 00:35:26,400
always drawn tight. You could barely make out the inside

689
00:35:26,440 --> 00:35:28,599
even during the day. The whole place had that weather beaten,

690
00:35:28,679 --> 00:35:31,480
half forgotten look, But so did half the houses in

691
00:35:31,519 --> 00:35:34,159
that stretch of a Polosia. What made theirs different was

692
00:35:34,199 --> 00:35:37,519
how still it seemed like too still. I know that

693
00:35:37,559 --> 00:35:40,840
sounds dramatic, but really every other house had something a

694
00:35:40,920 --> 00:35:44,400
dog barking, a porch light flicking on the kink, of

695
00:35:44,440 --> 00:35:48,119
some one stacking junk in the yard their place, nothing,

696
00:35:48,880 --> 00:35:51,840
not even wind in the curtains. I started to feel

697
00:35:51,880 --> 00:35:54,480
like the air around the house didn't move. The first

698
00:35:54,480 --> 00:35:56,360
time I really felt weird about it was maybe four

699
00:35:56,440 --> 00:35:59,280
days in. I was walking past, headed back from the

700
00:35:59,280 --> 00:36:01,519
mail books. For just a second I saw one of

701
00:36:01,559 --> 00:36:06,119
the curtain shift, not much, just the slightest ripple, But

702
00:36:06,159 --> 00:36:09,599
the timing was too perfect. It happened right as I passed,

703
00:36:09,800 --> 00:36:12,079
like someone had been watching me and nanked back too late.

704
00:36:12,840 --> 00:36:16,679
I paused midstep, looked straight at the window. Nothing just

705
00:36:16,719 --> 00:36:20,079
that heavy curtain again, still a stone. I laughed a

706
00:36:20,079 --> 00:36:23,039
little to myself, one of those drawer I okay, you're

707
00:36:23,079 --> 00:36:25,800
losing it. Last I shook it off and kept walking,

708
00:36:26,320 --> 00:36:28,880
but I couldn't stop thinking about it. From then on,

709
00:36:29,039 --> 00:36:31,320
every time I went out, I caught myself blunking across

710
00:36:31,360 --> 00:36:34,599
the road, checking the windows without meaning to. Most days

711
00:36:34,679 --> 00:36:38,079
there was nothing to see, but sometimes, just sometimes, I'd

712
00:36:38,079 --> 00:36:40,559
swear I felt some one's eyes on me. Not in

713
00:36:40,559 --> 00:36:43,280
a horror movie way, more like that feeling you get

714
00:36:43,280 --> 00:36:45,280
when someone across a crowded room is staring at the

715
00:36:45,280 --> 00:36:49,960
back of your head. Not visible, just present. Then one night,

716
00:36:50,159 --> 00:36:52,320
while I was stacking more firewood, I looked up and

717
00:36:52,360 --> 00:36:54,800
there was definitely a face in the window, not a

718
00:36:54,800 --> 00:36:58,119
trick of the light, not a vague shadow a face.

719
00:36:58,800 --> 00:37:01,320
It wasn't pressed to the glasswary anything. It was just there,

720
00:37:01,360 --> 00:37:04,199
staring through a tiny gap in the curtain. No movement,

721
00:37:05,039 --> 00:37:07,800
no blinking. It stayed long enough for me to register

722
00:37:07,880 --> 00:37:12,400
it fully before the curtain slipped back into place, smooth, precise.

723
00:37:13,159 --> 00:37:15,840
I raised my hand, light wave, trying not to look

724
00:37:15,920 --> 00:37:21,800
like a creeper. No response, just silence, no footsteps, no

725
00:37:21,920 --> 00:37:26,280
door creaking open, nothing that Maybe they were just cautious,

726
00:37:26,639 --> 00:37:29,079
maybe they'd had a break in before, didn't trust strangers,

727
00:37:29,159 --> 00:37:31,599
or maybe they were just plain weird. We've all had

728
00:37:31,639 --> 00:37:34,840
strange neighbors. I convinced myself it was the big deal

729
00:37:34,920 --> 00:37:37,239
until the jar showed up. It was sitting on my

730
00:37:37,239 --> 00:37:39,880
front step when I got home from work, a glass

731
00:37:39,920 --> 00:37:43,760
mason jar, old, looking brust on the lid's edges inside

732
00:37:43,800 --> 00:37:45,920
a block feather pinned up right like someone had taken

733
00:37:45,960 --> 00:37:51,000
real care placing it there. No note, no tape, no explanation.

734
00:37:51,639 --> 00:37:55,199
It gave me pause, not in a terrifying way, more

735
00:37:55,360 --> 00:37:57,239
like a what the hell is this kind of pause.

736
00:37:58,000 --> 00:38:01,920
I looked around. No one near the road was empty,

737
00:38:02,559 --> 00:38:05,159
the woods were quiet. I stood there, holding it for

738
00:38:05,199 --> 00:38:07,239
a good minute, then set it down on the portrail.

739
00:38:07,880 --> 00:38:10,840
Figured maybe it was a weird local tradition, a welcome

740
00:38:10,880 --> 00:38:14,719
gift with strange taste. I decided to ask. I walked

741
00:38:14,719 --> 00:38:18,400
over to the neighbor's house. Unknocked, not too aggressive, just

742
00:38:18,519 --> 00:38:24,320
enough to be heard. No answer waited, knocked again, still nothing.

743
00:38:24,960 --> 00:38:27,239
I was about to turn around when I heard movement inside.

744
00:38:27,920 --> 00:38:33,159
Not footsteps, more like shifting weight more than one person,

745
00:38:33,800 --> 00:38:38,000
a synchronized shuffle. Maybe I froze, but no one came

746
00:38:38,039 --> 00:38:41,679
to the door, so I laugh, not angrily, just unsettled.

747
00:38:42,199 --> 00:38:44,599
The next morning there was a new jar waiting. This

748
00:38:44,639 --> 00:38:46,679
one had a piece of string tied into a perfect lezel,

749
00:38:46,760 --> 00:38:49,840
news coiled just right. It sat exactly where the last

750
00:38:49,840 --> 00:38:51,639
one had been, like it had replaced it in a

751
00:38:51,679 --> 00:38:55,480
line up, and something about that felt pointed. I stared

752
00:38:55,480 --> 00:38:57,119
at it for a while, tried to laugh it off,

753
00:38:57,199 --> 00:38:59,800
but my throat was dry. I picked up, brought it

754
00:38:59,840 --> 00:39:02,920
in side, and left it on the counter, just another

755
00:39:02,920 --> 00:39:06,440
odd thing to persist. Later that night, after brushing my teeth,

756
00:39:06,480 --> 00:39:08,840
I happened to glance out of the bathroom window. The

757
00:39:08,920 --> 00:39:11,159
jar was back in the porch exactly where I'd found

758
00:39:11,159 --> 00:39:14,800
it that morning. My brain scrambled for an explanation. Maybe

759
00:39:14,800 --> 00:39:17,519
I moved the wrong one. Maybe there were two jars.

760
00:39:18,159 --> 00:39:20,639
But deep down nin you, I hadn't touched it since

761
00:39:20,679 --> 00:39:24,199
bringing it inside. I walked into the kitchen. The counter

762
00:39:24,360 --> 00:39:27,400
was empty, the jar I had brought in gone. That

763
00:39:27,519 --> 00:39:30,360
was a moment. Something shifted in me. Not full panic,

764
00:39:31,119 --> 00:39:35,119
not yet, but a realization something here did and follow

765
00:39:35,199 --> 00:39:38,360
the usual rules. The next evening I was done with subtlety.

766
00:39:38,920 --> 00:39:42,519
I went across the road and knocked hard, three shot raps.

767
00:39:43,159 --> 00:39:46,119
The door opened a crack, just an inch or two.

768
00:39:46,440 --> 00:39:48,920
A man's voice came for her, You should be careful

769
00:39:48,920 --> 00:39:52,159
about touching what isn't yours. Then the door clicked shut.

770
00:39:52,840 --> 00:39:55,960
That was it. I didn't sleep that night, sat on

771
00:39:56,000 --> 00:39:59,239
the edge of my bed, lights off, ear, straining for

772
00:39:59,239 --> 00:40:03,760
every sound outside. Around midnight, I heard dragging noises, lawn

773
00:40:03,880 --> 00:40:07,519
slow drags, like someone pulling something heavy through dry leaves.

774
00:40:08,199 --> 00:40:12,679
I got up, crossed the living room, peeked out. Four

775
00:40:12,719 --> 00:40:16,119
figures were crouched along the fence. Their movements were jerky,

776
00:40:16,800 --> 00:40:19,840
not natural at all. Limbs bent in directions that made

777
00:40:19,840 --> 00:40:22,800
my stomach tearn elbows too high, knees twisted the wrong way.

778
00:40:23,440 --> 00:40:26,119
They went walking. They were crawling, vast and low, like

779
00:40:26,159 --> 00:40:29,800
insects wearing clothes. I ducked behind the curtain, didn't move

780
00:40:29,840 --> 00:40:33,599
until the sky started to lighten. Morning came. I opened

781
00:40:33,599 --> 00:40:36,440
the door and froze. Ten jars lined up in a

782
00:40:36,440 --> 00:40:40,679
perfect circle on the porch. Each held something different, strands

783
00:40:40,719 --> 00:40:43,760
of hair, bits of fabric, a cracked tooth, a child's mitten.

784
00:40:44,159 --> 00:40:47,440
One even had a small animal bone, curved and polished.

785
00:40:48,079 --> 00:40:51,039
I didn't recognize any of it. I didn't touch them,

786
00:40:51,559 --> 00:40:55,920
just backed up, shut the door. Called the sheriff. He

787
00:40:55,960 --> 00:40:59,639
showed up about thirty minutes later, all business. I let

788
00:40:59,719 --> 00:41:03,280
him out side. There wasn't a single jar, not then

789
00:41:03,960 --> 00:41:08,679
clean porch, no marks, no sign anything had ever been there.

790
00:41:09,280 --> 00:41:11,920
He gave me that look, half polite concern, half suspicion,

791
00:41:12,440 --> 00:41:15,480
said maybe it was just teenager screwing around. But I

792
00:41:15,519 --> 00:41:18,440
knew better. That night, I didn't pretend I could sleep,

793
00:41:19,079 --> 00:41:21,880
turned off all the lights, sat in the dark by

794
00:41:21,880 --> 00:41:28,119
the window, watching wadin. IROs passed. Then just after three

795
00:41:28,199 --> 00:41:32,000
they were back, four figures, standing in the middle of

796
00:41:32,039 --> 00:41:36,639
the road, upright, this time, still completely still. They were

797
00:41:36,679 --> 00:41:39,639
facing the house, not moving, not breathing as far as

798
00:41:39,679 --> 00:41:43,559
I could tell. Just there. My whole body went rigid.

799
00:41:43,719 --> 00:41:47,440
Then one of them lifted its hand slowly pressed it

800
00:41:47,519 --> 00:41:50,960
forward into the air pump flap, like it was testing

801
00:41:51,000 --> 00:41:53,840
a surface I couldn't see. It didn't move like a person,

802
00:41:54,400 --> 00:41:58,280
too fluid, too smooth. My heart hammered so hard I

803
00:41:58,320 --> 00:42:01,039
thought it might shake the window glass. That was it.

804
00:42:01,679 --> 00:42:04,199
I grabbed my coat and ran out the back door barefoot,

805
00:42:04,280 --> 00:42:07,840
straight into the woods. Didn't think about the cold, didn't

806
00:42:07,840 --> 00:42:10,480
stop to grab a bat or shoes. I sprinted a

807
00:42:10,480 --> 00:42:12,280
whole two miles to the gas station on the edge

808
00:42:12,280 --> 00:42:14,639
of town. The guy work in the night shift didn't

809
00:42:14,679 --> 00:42:17,280
ask a single question. I must have looked like hell.

810
00:42:17,920 --> 00:42:20,679
I told him I needed to leave, didn't care where.

811
00:42:21,599 --> 00:42:24,360
Just away. I moved to this tiny town, nestled deep

812
00:42:24,360 --> 00:42:26,440
in Ippalation Hills, the place where I could catch my

813
00:42:26,480 --> 00:42:29,039
breath and maybe stop feeling like I was constantly running

814
00:42:29,119 --> 00:42:31,559
late for something. I found the house on a rental

815
00:42:31,599 --> 00:42:33,519
site that looked like it hadn't been updated since the

816
00:42:33,599 --> 00:42:36,719
days of dial up. Into net two stores, slanted porch

817
00:42:36,920 --> 00:42:40,000
paint peeling like sunburn skin. The pictures went great, but

818
00:42:40,039 --> 00:42:44,159
the price ridiculously low. I figured it couldn't be that bad.

819
00:42:44,800 --> 00:42:47,880
Worst case, I'd patch it up, mind my business, and

820
00:42:47,920 --> 00:42:49,920
stay just long enough to save for some way better.

821
00:42:50,519 --> 00:42:53,000
Nettle Wood Lane that was the name of the street,

822
00:42:53,079 --> 00:42:55,760
though you'd miss the sign if you blinked. Only six

823
00:42:55,800 --> 00:42:58,480
houses total, all lined up like kids huddled in a

824
00:42:58,559 --> 00:43:00,719
dark hallway, quiet tied together though like they were trying

825
00:43:00,760 --> 00:43:03,440
not to draw attention to themselves. It was a week

826
00:43:03,480 --> 00:43:07,280
day when I arrived Tuesday, I think, and with an

827
00:43:07,280 --> 00:43:09,400
eros of the moving truck pulling up, I'd already met

828
00:43:09,440 --> 00:43:13,559
nearly every neighbor. That probably sounds sweet in most towns

829
00:43:13,599 --> 00:43:16,320
that I'd be called a warm welcome, except it was.

830
00:43:17,159 --> 00:43:19,840
First came an older couple from across the street. They

831
00:43:19,840 --> 00:43:23,079
brought U Pyrubo up. I think the woman wore cardigan

832
00:43:23,239 --> 00:43:26,159
even though it was warm out. Her husband just smiled

833
00:43:26,159 --> 00:43:29,760
too much. They both did, really smiling, like they'd been

834
00:43:29,800 --> 00:43:31,960
waiting for this exact moment, like it was part of

835
00:43:32,000 --> 00:43:34,880
some ritual. Their eyes never left my face, not even

836
00:43:34,920 --> 00:43:37,199
when I looked away. Then there was the guy next

837
00:43:37,199 --> 00:43:39,679
door read I think his name was mid Ford. Is

838
00:43:39,760 --> 00:43:42,960
tall as cut wire, rimmed glasses. He leaned against the

839
00:43:43,039 --> 00:43:46,079
chainling fence while I hall boxes inside, casually calling out

840
00:43:46,119 --> 00:43:48,039
what was in each one, like he'd already seen me

841
00:43:48,079 --> 00:43:50,480
pack them. Books, he said as I walked by with

842
00:43:50,480 --> 00:43:53,599
a box, then clothes, kitchen were He chuckled every time

843
00:43:53,679 --> 00:43:56,199
he guessed right, which was every time, and not just

844
00:43:56,239 --> 00:43:59,679
big stuff either. One time he said, mugs from college.

845
00:44:00,360 --> 00:44:02,719
That box had a trip Syracuse coffee, mug and Sye.

846
00:44:03,400 --> 00:44:06,559
I laughed it off, told myself they were just good guesses.

847
00:44:07,239 --> 00:44:10,599
Maybe the boxes were labeled and I didn't notice. Maybe

848
00:44:10,599 --> 00:44:14,480
Reed was just quirky. People like that exist. Small towns

849
00:44:14,480 --> 00:44:17,360
are full of eccentric characters, right, But the friendly neighbor

850
00:44:17,360 --> 00:44:19,960
thing didn't stop. It didn't taper off after the first

851
00:44:20,039 --> 00:44:24,119
day like he'd expect. No, they kept showing up constantly.

852
00:44:24,800 --> 00:44:26,440
If I opened the front door for a smoke or

853
00:44:26,440 --> 00:44:28,320
to check the mail, some one was across the street,

854
00:44:29,079 --> 00:44:34,400
just standing waiting, waving. All was waving like it was

855
00:44:34,440 --> 00:44:37,039
a reflex. If I walked down the road to clear

856
00:44:37,119 --> 00:44:40,280
my head, i'd hear footsteps, and without fail, one of

857
00:44:40,320 --> 00:44:43,400
the neighbors would appear a few feet behind me. No hollows,

858
00:44:44,159 --> 00:44:47,119
no small talk. They'd just fallen to step beside me,

859
00:44:47,400 --> 00:44:50,159
like we were old friends. On the stroll, I started

860
00:44:50,159 --> 00:44:52,920
cutting few people's yachts just to avoid the road. Didn't matter.

861
00:44:53,559 --> 00:44:55,920
They'd still find me, like they always knew where I was.

862
00:44:56,559 --> 00:45:00,559
And the weirdest part, I never saw anyone leave, not once,

863
00:45:01,360 --> 00:45:05,039
no cars starting, no one running errands. Their driveways looked

864
00:45:05,039 --> 00:45:07,559
in touch, like the cars were just for show. Three

865
00:45:07,639 --> 00:45:10,519
days in, things got worse. I went to roll out

866
00:45:10,519 --> 00:45:13,400
my trash cans and found they'd already been moved tuck

867
00:45:13,440 --> 00:45:16,280
neatly back against the side of the house. I hadn't

868
00:45:16,280 --> 00:45:19,239
touched them since I moved in. Inside were bags tied

869
00:45:19,280 --> 00:45:22,159
in these impossibly tight knots. So tired I had to

870
00:45:22,199 --> 00:45:25,639
saw one open with scisses. The bag was heavy, way

871
00:45:25,719 --> 00:45:28,519
too heavy for trash. When I left it, I felt

872
00:45:28,519 --> 00:45:33,400
something solid shift inside. No smell, no visible mess, but

873
00:45:33,519 --> 00:45:37,360
definitely not catching waste. It felt wrong, like I was

874
00:45:37,400 --> 00:45:40,719
holding something I wasn't supposed to touch. I dragged them back

875
00:45:40,760 --> 00:45:43,480
to the curb and left them there. Next morning they

876
00:45:43,480 --> 00:45:48,719
were gone, not just empty, scrub clean, no residue, no marks,

877
00:45:49,559 --> 00:45:52,280
like they'd never been used. That same week, I caught

878
00:45:52,320 --> 00:45:54,679
the old couple in my yard at night. I'd been

879
00:45:54,719 --> 00:45:58,840
watching TV, went to close the curtains, and there they were,

880
00:45:59,599 --> 00:46:04,119
standing side by side, holding hands. Edd's tilted up toward

881
00:46:04,159 --> 00:46:09,519
my window, not moving, not talking, just standing. I backed

882
00:46:09,519 --> 00:46:12,960
away from the glass, tried to shake it off. Maybe

883
00:46:13,000 --> 00:46:17,079
they were confused, maybe dementia. But five minutes later I

884
00:46:17,079 --> 00:46:23,199
peeked again. Still there, same posture, same blank expressions. Only

885
00:46:23,239 --> 00:46:25,920
now they weren't looking at the house. They were looking

886
00:46:25,920 --> 00:46:29,000
at something just above it. That's when I stopped sleeping properly.

887
00:46:29,679 --> 00:46:32,559
Every creak in the walls felt too intentional. I started

888
00:46:32,559 --> 00:46:34,920
locking every door, then checking them again. An hour later.

889
00:46:35,559 --> 00:46:37,360
I even jammed a chair under the back door on

890
00:46:37,360 --> 00:46:41,920
a blackened movies didn't matter. Little things kept happening. The

891
00:46:41,960 --> 00:46:44,880
back door lad shifted, a kitchen chair moved half a

892
00:46:44,880 --> 00:46:47,840
foot from where I left it. My mail, usually stacked

893
00:46:47,840 --> 00:46:50,400
neatly on the counter, was spread across the dining table.

894
00:46:50,480 --> 00:46:53,880
One night, every envelope had been sliced open with something sharp,

895
00:46:53,920 --> 00:46:58,000
then sailed again with precision. No jagged tears, just smooth,

896
00:46:58,079 --> 00:47:00,800
clean cuts. By the end of the week I was

897
00:47:00,840 --> 00:47:05,079
barely functioning. Sleep came in twenty minute bursts I kept

898
00:47:05,079 --> 00:47:08,960
a doff a backpack beside the bed, essentials only fun charger,

899
00:47:09,079 --> 00:47:12,559
cash backup keys. I didn't know what I was preparing for.

900
00:47:13,159 --> 00:47:15,039
I just needed to feel like I could leave instantly.

901
00:47:15,599 --> 00:47:18,079
Then came that night, maybe two in the morning. I

902
00:47:18,119 --> 00:47:21,280
woke up without knowing why. Something yanked me out of sleep,

903
00:47:21,320 --> 00:47:23,719
like a hook in the chest. I lay there, beat

904
00:47:23,719 --> 00:47:27,679
in shallow listening. That's when I heard it murmuring, dozens

905
00:47:27,679 --> 00:47:31,000
of soft forces rising through the walls like water through cracks.

906
00:47:31,400 --> 00:47:34,920
At first I couldn't make out words, just low, steady hums,

907
00:47:35,559 --> 00:47:40,639
almost chanting. But then I heard my name clear repeated.

908
00:47:40,840 --> 00:47:44,599
They were whispering my name over and over, testing the

909
00:47:44,599 --> 00:47:48,280
shape of it with their maths. I didn't breathe didn't move,

910
00:47:49,039 --> 00:47:51,679
didn't move. My skin fell cold and tight, like it

911
00:47:51,719 --> 00:47:55,719
didn't fit right. The whispers didn't stop. They slowed down,

912
00:47:56,320 --> 00:47:59,920
grew more deliberate, like they were savoring it. I rolled

913
00:47:59,880 --> 00:48:03,400
out of bed, grabbed my bag. Therefore, I moved down

914
00:48:03,440 --> 00:48:06,280
the stairs. The house felled off off like the walls

915
00:48:06,280 --> 00:48:09,920
were listening. I didn't turn on the lights, just unlocked

916
00:48:09,920 --> 00:48:12,920
the front door as quietly as I could, eased it open,

917
00:48:13,599 --> 00:48:17,639
stepped outside. That's when I saw them. Every neighbor i'd met,

918
00:48:17,679 --> 00:48:19,880
plus several I hadn't, stood in a perfect semicircle at

919
00:48:19,920 --> 00:48:23,880
the edge of my yard, shouldered to shoulder still statues

920
00:48:24,519 --> 00:48:28,719
the porch like caught their faces. No smiles, no vrons,

921
00:48:29,440 --> 00:48:34,440
just blank expressions, not empty blank, like something wearing a

922
00:48:34,519 --> 00:48:37,239
human face but not bothering to animate it. None of

923
00:48:37,280 --> 00:48:42,239
them moved. They didn't speak, they didn't blink. They just waited.

924
00:48:42,960 --> 00:48:46,760
That was enough. I didn't stop the lockup, didn't turne off,

925
00:48:46,760 --> 00:48:50,440
the lights, didn't grab anything else. I just ran to

926
00:48:50,480 --> 00:48:52,920
my car, jammed the key into the ignition with shaking hands,

927
00:48:52,920 --> 00:48:56,039
and drove. I didn't look in the roarview mirror, not once.

928
00:48:56,800 --> 00:48:58,719
I kept on until I hit the highway, didn't slow

929
00:48:58,760 --> 00:49:01,320
down until the mountains were behind me. We had just

930
00:49:01,440 --> 00:49:04,039
moved my parents, my younger sister, and me from a

931
00:49:04,079 --> 00:49:06,280
noisy little suburb outside Charleston to this out of the

932
00:49:06,280 --> 00:49:09,519
way town somewhere near Palaitian Hills, the kind of place

933
00:49:09,519 --> 00:49:11,360
where you lose cell service half way in and don't

934
00:49:11,360 --> 00:49:14,480
really get it back. Honestly, I didn't even know it

935
00:49:14,519 --> 00:49:16,800
existed until we were already pulling up in a u hale,

936
00:49:16,880 --> 00:49:18,719
bumping down a dirt road that looked more like a

937
00:49:18,760 --> 00:49:21,960
deer path than anything you'd call residential. I remember the

938
00:49:21,960 --> 00:49:24,679
first thing I noticed was how narrow everything felt, the

939
00:49:24,760 --> 00:49:26,840
hills pressed and like the town had been squeezed into

940
00:49:26,840 --> 00:49:29,920
a fold of the mountains and forgotten. Sunlight didn't really

941
00:49:30,000 --> 00:49:32,119
hit our yard until late morning, and it started to

942
00:49:32,119 --> 00:49:34,400
fade way earlier than it should have. It gave the

943
00:49:34,440 --> 00:49:36,679
whole place this weird half, left feeling like we were

944
00:49:36,719 --> 00:49:39,199
always on the edge of dusk even at noon. Our

945
00:49:39,239 --> 00:49:41,119
house was at the end of a curling gravel road,

946
00:49:41,880 --> 00:49:45,199
not even gravel really, mostly packed dirt with patches of stone,

947
00:49:45,239 --> 00:49:47,320
like someone had tried to fix the ruts then gave up.

948
00:49:47,800 --> 00:49:50,800
There weren't any street signs. Our mail books was just

949
00:49:50,800 --> 00:49:53,280
a dented metal bot propped on a slantid wooden post.

950
00:49:53,960 --> 00:49:55,679
It leaned a little like it was too tired to

951
00:49:55,719 --> 00:49:58,239
stand up street. The only other house in I it

952
00:49:58,320 --> 00:50:01,360
sat just across a narrow stretch of woods, maybe fifty

953
00:50:01,440 --> 00:50:04,960
yards away, maybe a hundred, It was hard to tell

954
00:50:05,000 --> 00:50:07,960
because the trees blurred the line the house. It looked

955
00:50:08,000 --> 00:50:10,920
like it had been abandoned more than once sanding roof,

956
00:50:11,639 --> 00:50:14,920
grayshboards that might have been white long ago, windows covered

957
00:50:14,920 --> 00:50:18,599
in heavy old curtains that never moved ever, it had

958
00:50:18,599 --> 00:50:20,519
the slutch to it, like time had pushed down for

959
00:50:20,519 --> 00:50:23,159
so long it eventually gave in. I got a weird

960
00:50:23,199 --> 00:50:26,199
feeling from it right away. Not loud alarm bells, just

961
00:50:26,239 --> 00:50:28,719
that low, unsettled churn in your stomach that you can't explain,

962
00:50:29,400 --> 00:50:31,559
like something about it didn't sit right, even though nothing

963
00:50:31,599 --> 00:50:34,639
was obviously wrong. We spent the first few days in packing,

964
00:50:34,679 --> 00:50:37,119
swatting away mosquitoes, trying not to trip on tree roots

965
00:50:37,159 --> 00:50:40,719
in the yard. My mom was excited, my dad acted

966
00:50:40,719 --> 00:50:43,039
like it with some kind of fresh start. I just

967
00:50:43,039 --> 00:50:45,840
felt removed, like I was floating just outside the experience,

968
00:50:46,079 --> 00:50:48,239
watching it all unfold, but not really part of it.

969
00:50:48,679 --> 00:50:51,719
Then I noticed the faces. At first, it was quick.

970
00:50:52,320 --> 00:50:54,480
I'd glanced up from the porch or from my bedroom window,

971
00:50:54,559 --> 00:50:56,840
and I'd see movement in the house across the woods curtain,

972
00:50:56,880 --> 00:50:59,679
shifting a shape behind the glass. But the second I

973
00:50:59,719 --> 00:51:03,360
looked directly, it vanished. No lights ever came on, no

974
00:51:03,480 --> 00:51:06,639
cars in the driveway, just those slow, sneaky glances through

975
00:51:06,639 --> 00:51:09,239
the curtains, always catching me when I was trying to look.

976
00:51:09,920 --> 00:51:13,320
It happened enough that I started keeping track. Nothing formal,

977
00:51:14,039 --> 00:51:18,920
just mental notes. Morning, late afternoon, just before dark, always

978
00:51:18,960 --> 00:51:20,960
the same kind of movement, like they were watching a

979
00:51:21,039 --> 00:51:24,920
settle in studying us. One evening, I was sitting on

980
00:51:24,920 --> 00:51:27,079
a potch with a soda in one hand, scrolling through

981
00:51:27,079 --> 00:51:29,599
old photos on my phone, just trying to feel connected

982
00:51:29,599 --> 00:51:32,599
to something that was quiet and doubt. The air was sticky,

983
00:51:32,639 --> 00:51:36,519
but not unbearable, just the usual summer heaviness. I remember

984
00:51:36,559 --> 00:51:39,119
thinking it was finally starting to feel calm. Then their

985
00:51:39,159 --> 00:51:41,840
screen door creaked. It was loud enough that I heard

986
00:51:41,880 --> 00:51:44,639
it from across the trees. I looked up, and there

987
00:51:44,639 --> 00:51:49,599
he was this man, tall, wiry bones, practically visible through

988
00:51:49,599 --> 00:51:53,000
faded denim overrolls. He didn't walk like a regular person.

989
00:51:53,519 --> 00:51:55,760
It was slow, careful, like every step was being measured.

990
00:51:56,320 --> 00:51:58,599
He stopped at the edge of his yard, barely visible

991
00:51:58,639 --> 00:52:03,840
between two trees, and then he just stared. Not curious enough, cautious,

992
00:52:04,639 --> 00:52:08,679
not cautious, just blank. I gave a hessitan half way,

993
00:52:08,800 --> 00:52:11,639
more to break the tension than anything. He didn't react,

994
00:52:12,360 --> 00:52:15,840
did it blink, just hap stirring for what felt like forever.

995
00:52:16,559 --> 00:52:20,280
Eventually he turned and walked back into the house. Didn't speak,

996
00:52:20,960 --> 00:52:24,159
didn't speed up, just let the door slam shut behind him,

997
00:52:24,239 --> 00:52:27,760
like punctuation. That night, I found something in our mail box.

998
00:52:28,440 --> 00:52:31,639
I gone to check it before dinner. Inside, sitting right

999
00:52:31,679 --> 00:52:33,639
on top of a flyer for tractor pots, was a

1000
00:52:33,639 --> 00:52:36,960
small collection of objects. A bundle of brittle twigs tied

1001
00:52:37,000 --> 00:52:40,719
with fraying string, a beetle lying on its back legs,

1002
00:52:40,719 --> 00:52:43,280
cold tight, like it had been dead for days. And

1003
00:52:43,360 --> 00:52:46,639
a single marble, cloudy, scratched. A kind of kid might

1004
00:52:46,679 --> 00:52:48,920
have played too rough with. I stared at them for

1005
00:52:48,960 --> 00:52:51,800
a while before touching anything. Then I scooped them up,

1006
00:52:51,840 --> 00:52:54,360
careful not to drop the beal, and brought them inside.

1007
00:52:54,440 --> 00:52:56,679
My parents were sitting at the table half way through dinner.

1008
00:52:57,239 --> 00:52:58,960
I set the stuff down and said this was in

1009
00:52:59,000 --> 00:53:02,880
the mail box. They looked over. My mom wrinkled her nose.

1010
00:53:03,480 --> 00:53:06,119
My dad let out a dry laugh. Probably just some

1011
00:53:06,199 --> 00:53:08,599
kid being weird, he said, going back to his play.

1012
00:53:09,280 --> 00:53:11,159
Hilltowns are full of the kind of stuff. But there

1013
00:53:11,159 --> 00:53:14,480
were no kids around, not that I'd seen. No toys

1014
00:53:14,519 --> 00:53:19,599
in yards, no bikes, no chopped drawings, no sign that

1015
00:53:19,719 --> 00:53:22,280
children lived near by it All that night I didn't

1016
00:53:22,320 --> 00:53:24,960
sleep well. Around two in the morning, I woke up

1017
00:53:25,039 --> 00:53:28,920
choking on panic. My mouth was dry, my hands were shaking.

1018
00:53:29,519 --> 00:53:32,519
I didn't even know why at first. Then I noticed it.

1019
00:53:33,199 --> 00:53:37,800
The tapping thought uneven. At first I thought it was

1020
00:53:37,840 --> 00:53:40,440
a tree branch, that there wasn't any wind, and the

1021
00:53:40,480 --> 00:53:44,800
pattern was wrong chew deliberate, not riddick, not random, just off.

1022
00:53:45,320 --> 00:53:47,599
I got up, walked slowly to my window and pulled

1023
00:53:47,639 --> 00:53:51,400
the curtain aside. My stomach dropped. There were hand princes

1024
00:53:51,400 --> 00:53:54,840
smeared across the glass, muddy, small, uneventtly space, like some

1025
00:53:54,880 --> 00:53:58,440
one had been coaling or kneeling. They warn't old. The

1026
00:53:58,519 --> 00:54:01,199
mud was still wet, sliding down places like finger prints.

1027
00:54:01,679 --> 00:54:04,039
I backed away, grabbed my desk chair, shoved it under

1028
00:54:04,039 --> 00:54:05,679
the knob. Even though the window was locked, I had

1029
00:54:05,679 --> 00:54:08,639
been locked. The next day, I walked straight across the road.

1030
00:54:09,360 --> 00:54:11,800
The trees didn't look thick from the house, but walking

1031
00:54:11,800 --> 00:54:14,480
through them felt like threading a needle. I could barely

1032
00:54:14,519 --> 00:54:17,119
see where I was going. The dirt underfoot was dry

1033
00:54:17,159 --> 00:54:20,280
and soft. At one point I swear I heard something

1034
00:54:20,320 --> 00:54:23,239
scourriedous out of sight their porch groaned when I stepped

1035
00:54:23,239 --> 00:54:28,239
on it. I knocked once, twice, no answer. On the

1036
00:54:28,239 --> 00:54:32,119
third knock, the door creaked open just an inch. Darkness inside,

1037
00:54:32,840 --> 00:54:35,400
not pitch black, but like no lights had been on

1038
00:54:35,519 --> 00:54:38,320
in days. I couldn't see anyone, but I heard her,

1039
00:54:39,039 --> 00:54:45,039
a woman's voice. Well, quiet, quiet, you should leave before dark.

1040
00:54:45,760 --> 00:54:48,719
Her tone wasn't angry, she wasn't trying to scare me.

1041
00:54:49,400 --> 00:54:52,199
Sounded like a warning, like some one telling you not

1042
00:54:52,280 --> 00:54:56,079
to drive her road with no guard rails what I asked.

1043
00:54:56,119 --> 00:54:58,840
Stepping forward, I tried to see her face, but the

1044
00:54:58,840 --> 00:55:02,280
door slam shut, hard enough to rattle the wood. I

1045
00:55:02,320 --> 00:55:04,000
stood there for a minute, then walked back to my

1046
00:55:04,039 --> 00:55:07,159
house without looking behind me. Once that night was worse.

1047
00:55:07,800 --> 00:55:10,800
The tapping came back. Then Fritz stepped slow, steady, pacing

1048
00:55:10,840 --> 00:55:14,119
across the front porch, not scurrying, not running, just deliberate

1049
00:55:14,159 --> 00:55:16,760
steps back and forth, like some one waiting. When I

1050
00:55:16,760 --> 00:55:19,840
peeked through the curtain, I froze. Fee figures stood in

1051
00:55:19,880 --> 00:55:23,000
the yard, lined up, perfectly, too tall, one small, Their

1052
00:55:23,039 --> 00:55:26,400
shoulders touched, their faces were turned directly toward the house.

1053
00:55:27,039 --> 00:55:30,280
They didn't speak, didn't sway, didn't even blink. I remember

1054
00:55:30,320 --> 00:55:32,440
how my body locked up, every muscle tense, like I

1055
00:55:32,519 --> 00:55:35,599
was holding myself together by force. My dad burst out

1056
00:55:35,599 --> 00:55:37,800
of his room, saw the look on my face, yanked

1057
00:55:37,800 --> 00:55:40,400
the door open. The yard was empty, not even a

1058
00:55:40,400 --> 00:55:44,199
footprint left behind. After that, none of us pretended any more.

1059
00:55:44,800 --> 00:55:47,480
Two nights later, I woke up chooking on panic, mouthed

1060
00:55:47,519 --> 00:55:50,920
dry handshaking. I didn't know why. Then I saw it,

1061
00:55:51,440 --> 00:55:54,639
the window wide open. I had locked it. I know

1062
00:55:54,760 --> 00:55:57,239
I had locked it. On my desk. Right in the

1063
00:55:57,280 --> 00:56:00,400
center was a square piece of folded paper Chris Badges,

1064
00:56:01,239 --> 00:56:03,000
like someone had taken the time. I opened it with

1065
00:56:03,039 --> 00:56:08,559
clumly fingers. Three words, shaky pencil. We see ye. That

1066
00:56:08,679 --> 00:56:11,440
broke something in me. Whatever come i'd been clinging to

1067
00:56:11,559 --> 00:56:14,840
snapped When my parents said we were leaving. I didn't pack.

1068
00:56:15,559 --> 00:56:21,920
I stuffed clothes, berts, berts, whatever I could grab. We

1069
00:56:21,960 --> 00:56:24,039
weren't even unloading the truck when I felt it again,

1070
00:56:24,639 --> 00:56:28,400
that feeling like something was watching from the woods. From

1071
00:56:28,400 --> 00:56:33,639
the woods. We pulled out before sunrise. I didn't look back, couldn't.

1072
00:56:34,320 --> 00:56:36,599
I don't know what was in the house, but what

1073
00:56:36,679 --> 00:56:39,119
they were trying to do. I know. We got out

1074
00:56:39,159 --> 00:56:41,719
just in time. If we'd stayed, I don't think i'd

1075
00:56:41,719 --> 00:56:44,239
be here telling you this. I was twenty eight when

1076
00:56:44,280 --> 00:56:45,920
I moved into that rundom rental at the edge of

1077
00:56:45,920 --> 00:56:48,599
a tiny town in the Appalachian Hills. It wasn't the

1078
00:56:48,679 --> 00:56:51,239
kind of place you'd show off to friends. The paint

1079
00:56:51,280 --> 00:56:53,719
was chipped, the wood floor has grown even if you

1080
00:56:53,719 --> 00:56:56,760
stood puffectly still. The roof was pasted with tin sheets

1081
00:56:56,760 --> 00:56:58,719
that rattled whenever the wind picked up just right. But

1082
00:56:58,800 --> 00:57:01,400
it was cheap. The lease was month to month, and

1083
00:57:01,440 --> 00:57:03,119
the porch faced the road with just enough yacht to

1084
00:57:03,119 --> 00:57:05,639
feel like it was mine. After a few rough months

1085
00:57:05,679 --> 00:57:08,159
in the city, I needed something slower, quieter, a place

1086
00:57:08,159 --> 00:57:10,000
where no one knew me, where I could breathe without

1087
00:57:10,039 --> 00:57:12,679
bumping into any one I used to know. I figured

1088
00:57:12,679 --> 00:57:14,679
a house tucked into a narrow valley, shaded by enough

1089
00:57:14,719 --> 00:57:16,280
trees to keep the sun off the windows in the

1090
00:57:16,320 --> 00:57:19,599
morning would be just right. My closest neighbors lived directly

1091
00:57:19,639 --> 00:57:22,519
across the road. Their plays looked like it hadn't changed

1092
00:57:22,559 --> 00:57:25,400
since the Civil War, with the beaten slightly leaning, like

1093
00:57:25,440 --> 00:57:27,559
it had given up on standing straight but hadn't quite

1094
00:57:27,559 --> 00:57:30,559
decided to fall. I barely started in packing when they

1095
00:57:30,559 --> 00:57:34,719
crossed the road to introduce themselves, Harold and May. Harald

1096
00:57:34,760 --> 00:57:36,880
was tall and angula, the kind of man who looked

1097
00:57:36,880 --> 00:57:39,320
like he never filled out after high school. His skin

1098
00:57:39,360 --> 00:57:41,719
had that thin paper look older folks get, but somehow

1099
00:57:41,760 --> 00:57:44,800
he seemed ageless. His hand stayed clasped behind his back

1100
00:57:44,840 --> 00:57:46,800
the whole time, like he was hiding something or didn't

1101
00:57:46,800 --> 00:57:49,920
trust his arms. May had a softness to her round cheeks,

1102
00:57:49,920 --> 00:57:52,760
a flower print dress, apron strings still tied. Her smile

1103
00:57:52,840 --> 00:57:54,960
stretched too wide as she didn't blink as much as

1104
00:57:54,960 --> 00:57:57,719
she should. Her voice was sweet, too sweet, like tea

1105
00:57:57,760 --> 00:58:00,239
left out too lawn in the sun. They jured used

1106
00:58:00,239 --> 00:58:02,119
themselves like KOs a block party, and I was the

1107
00:58:02,159 --> 00:58:04,719
guest of honor, asked where I came from, what I

1108
00:58:04,760 --> 00:58:06,880
did for work, and then as if we hurt, they

1109
00:58:06,880 --> 00:58:10,960
both asked the same question, Ye hear by yourself? Harold asked,

1110
00:58:10,960 --> 00:58:14,039
at first casually, would half smile. May echoed it just

1111
00:58:14,079 --> 00:58:18,519
before they turned to leave, same words, same tone, not curious,

1112
00:58:19,199 --> 00:58:23,320
more like hopeful. I brushed it off. Small towns are nosey,

1113
00:58:23,920 --> 00:58:26,159
that's part of the deal. But in the days that

1114
00:58:26,199 --> 00:58:30,280
followed it became clear this wasn't just neighborly interest. They

1115
00:58:30,280 --> 00:58:35,360
were always outside, always, but never really doing anything. If

1116
00:58:35,360 --> 00:58:37,480
I stepped onto the porch with coffee, May would be

1117
00:58:37,480 --> 00:58:40,800
by hydranges, hands on her hips, like she just finished gardening,

1118
00:58:40,960 --> 00:58:43,400
but the yard never changed. If I walked to the

1119
00:58:43,400 --> 00:58:45,719
mail box, Harold would appear by the fence, lighting a

1120
00:58:45,719 --> 00:58:48,880
cigarette that didn't burn. It got under my skin slowly.

1121
00:58:49,559 --> 00:58:51,920
I pretend not to notice, but every time I looked up,

1122
00:58:52,000 --> 00:58:54,159
one of them was already looking at me, not waving,

1123
00:58:54,320 --> 00:58:57,719
not talking, not talking, just watching. A week after I

1124
00:58:57,760 --> 00:59:00,960
moved in, May brought over a casserole. She didn't knock,

1125
00:59:01,159 --> 00:59:03,079
just opened the screen door, like she own the place,

1126
00:59:03,199 --> 00:59:05,480
and handed it to me, wrapped in a tell so

1127
00:59:05,519 --> 00:59:08,239
thin it did nothing to block the heat burning my hands.

1128
00:59:08,559 --> 00:59:11,320
I blinked, called off God. Before I could speak, she

1129
00:59:11,440 --> 00:59:16,400
leaned in. Not nosy exactly, morelike she was checking something awfullest.

1130
00:59:16,719 --> 00:59:19,719
She peeked past me into the living room. Cozy little place,

1131
00:59:19,840 --> 00:59:21,840
she said, even though she hadn't seen more than five

1132
00:59:21,880 --> 00:59:25,400
feet inside. Then came the question again, you're here all

1133
00:59:25,440 --> 00:59:30,639
by yourself? I nodded, yeah, just me, she hummed. She

1134
00:59:30,760 --> 00:59:34,880
hummed like that answer saddled something, then stepped back, letting

1135
00:59:34,880 --> 00:59:37,400
the door swing shut behind her. I stood there for

1136
00:59:37,440 --> 00:59:41,599
a while, cassarrole in hand, door half open. I didn't

1137
00:59:41,639 --> 00:59:43,480
like the way she asked, or how she didn't wait

1138
00:59:43,519 --> 00:59:46,000
to be invited in. I set the cassrole on the

1139
00:59:46,039 --> 00:59:49,320
counter and forgot about it. Later that night I remembered it,

1140
00:59:49,760 --> 00:59:52,400
figured I might as well try a bite. I lifted

1141
00:59:52,440 --> 00:59:54,360
the lid and the smell hit me like a punch.

1142
00:59:54,920 --> 01:00:00,400
It wasn't just spoiled. It smelled wrong, metallic chop, like

1143
01:00:00,440 --> 01:00:03,880
blood in an old train. I didn't look twice, tossed

1144
01:00:03,920 --> 01:00:06,599
the whole thing in the trasspin out back, left the

1145
01:00:06,679 --> 01:00:11,719
dish on the porch. Next morning, it was gone, scrubbed clean, ditting.

1146
01:00:11,760 --> 01:00:14,440
At first I thought I was imagining it. A chair

1147
01:00:14,519 --> 01:00:17,400
pulled farther than I remembered, mail looked like some one

1148
01:00:17,440 --> 01:00:20,920
had flipped through it. A glass I left in the sink, dry,

1149
01:00:20,960 --> 01:00:24,639
sitting on the counter. Then it got worse. One evening

1150
01:00:24,679 --> 01:00:26,480
I came home from work with my keys in hand.

1151
01:00:27,119 --> 01:00:31,559
The door was unlocked, not just unlatched, unlocked. I always

1152
01:00:31,639 --> 01:00:36,440
locked it, double checked every time, no signs of entry,

1153
01:00:37,079 --> 01:00:41,280
no damage, just open. I saw the second lock, then

1154
01:00:41,320 --> 01:00:44,280
a third started leaving lights on in every room before

1155
01:00:44,320 --> 01:00:47,280
I left. But the feeling didn't go away. Some nights

1156
01:00:47,440 --> 01:00:49,599
I'd catch myself holding my breath just to hear better,

1157
01:00:49,639 --> 01:00:52,440
waiting for a sound I couldn't name. I checked windows,

1158
01:00:52,519 --> 01:00:54,559
leafed the radio on low, like at my cover whatever

1159
01:00:54,599 --> 01:00:57,599
else was listening. Then one night, something woke me. I

1160
01:00:57,639 --> 01:01:01,039
don't know what, just a shift. I got out of bed,

1161
01:01:01,079 --> 01:01:03,440
barefoot and went to the window, pulled the blind down

1162
01:01:03,480 --> 01:01:06,719
a few inches. Harold was in my yard, just standing there,

1163
01:01:06,840 --> 01:01:09,440
not near the porch, not by the road, half way

1164
01:01:09,440 --> 01:01:11,719
between the house and the trees, still facing away from me,

1165
01:01:11,880 --> 01:01:14,280
like he was listening to something in the dark. I

1166
01:01:14,320 --> 01:01:17,679
watched him for what felt like forever. Then I stepped outside,

1167
01:01:17,800 --> 01:01:20,840
called his name, trying to sound annoyed, not scared. He

1168
01:01:20,920 --> 01:01:23,440
turned his head slowly, too slowly, like it wasn't quite

1169
01:01:23,440 --> 01:01:25,679
attached right, looked at me, then gave a lazy little

1170
01:01:25,679 --> 01:01:28,599
wave and walked back cross the road. Next morning, me

1171
01:01:28,719 --> 01:01:32,239
waved like always, same white smile, like nothing had happened,

1172
01:01:32,960 --> 01:01:35,079
like she hadn't seen her husband in my yard at midnight.

1173
01:01:35,719 --> 01:01:38,199
A couple weeks later, a friend from work cast up by.

1174
01:01:38,960 --> 01:01:41,840
She borrowed a wrench. As she was leaving, she gave

1175
01:01:41,880 --> 01:01:43,800
me this weird look and said, by the way me

1176
01:01:43,920 --> 01:01:46,519
told me or her cousin's ke said, Y're staying here

1177
01:01:46,559 --> 01:01:50,000
till ye get back on yer feet. I froze, what

1178
01:01:50,920 --> 01:01:54,880
cash shrug, Yeah, distant cousin O something. That's what she said.

1179
01:01:55,559 --> 01:01:57,320
I hadn't told any one in town a thing about

1180
01:01:57,360 --> 01:02:00,719
my family. No one knew where I was from that night,

1181
01:02:00,800 --> 01:02:03,679
I didn't sleep, sat by the window with the lights off,

1182
01:02:04,280 --> 01:02:09,360
watching Their house was led up, curtains, thin, windows wide.

1183
01:02:09,960 --> 01:02:12,800
I could see almost everything. Harold and me sat on

1184
01:02:12,840 --> 01:02:18,079
the couch, side by side, silent behind them. The back

1185
01:02:18,119 --> 01:02:22,599
wall was covered in framed photos, dozens. I leaned in, squinting.

1186
01:02:23,280 --> 01:02:27,000
Some were blurry, like taken in a rush. Most were strangers.

1187
01:02:27,519 --> 01:02:31,360
And then near the center I saw it nay midstep,

1188
01:02:31,960 --> 01:02:36,000
coffee in hand, mail books open, my mouth opened like house,

1189
01:02:36,039 --> 01:02:39,239
singing or talking to myself. I never posed for that photo,

1190
01:02:39,960 --> 01:02:43,719
never knew it was taken. That was it. I was done.

1191
01:02:44,239 --> 01:02:46,719
Next morning, I didn't shower, didn't eep, just grab every

1192
01:02:46,760 --> 01:02:49,679
trash bad. I hadn't stuffed it full. Clothes still damp

1193
01:02:49,719 --> 01:02:51,639
from the dry plas left in the sink, didn't lock

1194
01:02:51,719 --> 01:02:54,320
the door. When I stepped outside with the first bag,

1195
01:02:54,559 --> 01:02:56,559
May was standing there at the edge of her yard,

1196
01:02:56,800 --> 01:03:00,239
not smiling, not saying a word, just watching. I didn't

1197
01:03:00,280 --> 01:03:02,039
look at her, didn't wave, just tossed the bag into

1198
01:03:02,079 --> 01:03:04,760
the car. When I came back for more, Harold was

1199
01:03:04,800 --> 01:03:08,519
next to her since spot still a stone. They didn't blink,

1200
01:03:08,559 --> 01:03:11,639
didn't move. I slammed the trunk, got in the car,

1201
01:03:11,880 --> 01:03:14,800
locked the doors, starred at the engine. Gravel sprayed as

1202
01:03:14,800 --> 01:03:17,519
I backed out fast. In the mirror, they were still

1203
01:03:17,519 --> 01:03:20,079
standing there, watching until the curve in the road took

1204
01:03:20,119 --> 01:03:22,760
them out of sight. I didn't take the highway, didn't

1205
01:03:22,760 --> 01:03:25,760
want them following. I drove deeper into the hills, winding

1206
01:03:25,840 --> 01:03:29,880
through roads with no gains. The GPS gave up, I didn't.

1207
01:03:30,599 --> 01:03:33,239
I kept driving until the gas light came on. I'm

1208
01:03:33,280 --> 01:03:35,760
thirty two years old. When I moved out to that

1209
01:03:35,800 --> 01:03:38,280
little town, talked into the Appalition Hills. I really thought

1210
01:03:38,320 --> 01:03:41,440
I was buying peace, not just quiet, but real peace,

1211
01:03:42,159 --> 01:03:43,960
the kind that sits in your chest and doesn't buzz

1212
01:03:43,960 --> 01:03:46,360
with anxiety. All the time I'd been living in a

1213
01:03:46,400 --> 01:03:50,000
city that never shut up, sirens every hour, traffic crawling

1214
01:03:50,119 --> 01:03:52,800
under my window upstairs, neighbors who acted like furniture had

1215
01:03:52,800 --> 01:03:55,760
to be dragged instead of lifted. Even when I was alone,

1216
01:03:55,840 --> 01:03:58,679
it never felt still. My whole life was just tension

1217
01:03:58,719 --> 01:04:02,000
and noise. So when I saw the listing online cheap rent,

1218
01:04:02,000 --> 01:04:04,480
big trees, no neighbors stacked ten feet above me, I

1219
01:04:04,559 --> 01:04:07,599
jumped on it. The photo showed the small, crooked looking

1220
01:04:07,599 --> 01:04:09,400
house with faded siding and a porch that leaned a

1221
01:04:09,440 --> 01:04:12,159
little too far forward, like it was listening in the road.

1222
01:04:12,760 --> 01:04:15,199
But the place had a character. It was perched half

1223
01:04:15,239 --> 01:04:16,840
way up a ridge and a road that led their

1224
01:04:16,920 --> 01:04:19,159
started paved but gave up about half way, turning to

1225
01:04:19,199 --> 01:04:22,360
gravel and then mostly dirt. That felt like a good sign,

1226
01:04:23,039 --> 01:04:25,960
like the town didn't care about appearances. I liked that

1227
01:04:26,719 --> 01:04:28,760
there were maybe five or six houses on my stretch

1228
01:04:28,800 --> 01:04:31,360
of road, all slouched into their own clearings, as if

1229
01:04:31,400 --> 01:04:34,599
they'd sprouted there naturally. Most looked tied but lived in.

1230
01:04:35,320 --> 01:04:38,039
A few seemed abandoned, with windows too dark and porches

1231
01:04:38,079 --> 01:04:40,920
caving inward. Mine was one of the better looking ones,

1232
01:04:41,039 --> 01:04:43,400
which is insane much, but still it felt like it

1233
01:04:43,440 --> 01:04:46,239
could be home. The town itself was small, not even

1234
01:04:46,239 --> 01:04:49,000
a full stop light, one gas station, a diner with

1235
01:04:49,039 --> 01:04:51,880
a flickering sign, and a post office that closed before. Three.

1236
01:04:52,440 --> 01:04:54,840
People waved when they saw me, but no one came close.

1237
01:04:55,559 --> 01:04:58,760
They'd nod, raise a hand, then keep moving, the kind

1238
01:04:58,760 --> 01:05:01,480
of friendly that never crossed as the fence line. At

1239
01:05:01,519 --> 01:05:04,800
first I appreciated that, after years of four small talk

1240
01:05:04,880 --> 01:05:08,199
with apartment neighbors, the silences felt respectful, like everyone just

1241
01:05:08,280 --> 01:05:10,920
minded their own. Then I met the couple across the road.

1242
01:05:11,559 --> 01:05:14,159
Their house sat directly opposite mine, though the trees between

1243
01:05:14,239 --> 01:05:17,039
us tried to pretend otherwise. It was a sagging, white,

1244
01:05:17,039 --> 01:05:19,480
two story pink cowling off the walls like old skin.

1245
01:05:20,079 --> 01:05:22,480
The shutters hung lopsided, and the porch looked like at

1246
01:05:22,519 --> 01:05:25,360
my collapse under a strong breeze. I hadn't seen much

1247
01:05:25,400 --> 01:05:27,599
movement over them my first day, just to flicker behind

1248
01:05:27,599 --> 01:05:30,880
a window curtain, But on the second afternoon they came over.

1249
01:05:31,599 --> 01:05:33,639
She wore a faded green dress that hit just above

1250
01:05:33,639 --> 01:05:36,119
her ankles, and she was barefoot, which shrut me because

1251
01:05:36,119 --> 01:05:39,000
the gravel driver couldn't have felt great. In her hands

1252
01:05:39,039 --> 01:05:41,760
was a mason jar filled with something murky, I could

1253
01:05:41,760 --> 01:05:43,440
tell right away it was beans, but a liquid. They

1254
01:05:43,480 --> 01:05:45,599
floated and was thick and cloudy, like the water had

1255
01:05:45,639 --> 01:05:49,440
gone bad. The jar was sealed with wax old skill.

1256
01:05:50,199 --> 01:05:53,039
He stood behind her, step or two back, tall, pale

1257
01:05:53,159 --> 01:05:55,559
arms dangling like he hadn't figured out how elbows worked.

1258
01:05:56,199 --> 01:05:58,320
His eyes didn't blink much, and as they'd fixed on

1259
01:05:58,360 --> 01:06:00,559
me the whole time, not in a curious way, more

1260
01:06:00,679 --> 01:06:03,719
like he was cataloging me. She smiled wide, too wide,

1261
01:06:03,920 --> 01:06:07,199
like her face didn't understand where to stop. Welcome, she said.

1262
01:06:07,840 --> 01:06:10,000
Her voice was flat, like she practiced the line too

1263
01:06:10,039 --> 01:06:13,559
many times. We like to greet new folks proper. I

1264
01:06:13,599 --> 01:06:16,440
smiled back and took the jaw from her hands. It

1265
01:06:16,480 --> 01:06:19,480
was cold and heavier than I expected. I mumbled something

1266
01:06:19,519 --> 01:06:23,119
about how thoughtful that was. She just kept smiling. Then

1267
01:06:23,159 --> 01:06:26,360
they turned and walked back across the road. No che chat,

1268
01:06:26,920 --> 01:06:31,239
no questions, no where do you move from? Just done.

1269
01:06:31,400 --> 01:06:33,159
I set the jar on a kitchen shelf and never

1270
01:06:33,199 --> 01:06:35,880
touched it again. Every time I walked past, the beans

1271
01:06:35,880 --> 01:06:38,920
seen to shift float differently. I told myself it was nothing,

1272
01:06:39,119 --> 01:06:41,599
just the liquid settling. But the more I looked, the

1273
01:06:41,599 --> 01:06:44,559
more wrong. It felt like the jar wasn't made forgiving,

1274
01:06:45,239 --> 01:06:47,800
like it had been stored too long. I figured that

1275
01:06:47,840 --> 01:06:51,519
would be it. Weird neighbors, sure, but harmless. People have

1276
01:06:51,559 --> 01:06:54,360
their own ways, especially out in the mountains. Then they

1277
01:06:54,360 --> 01:06:58,039
started standing outside, not both at once, always just one.

1278
01:06:58,559 --> 01:07:00,039
They'd be right at the edge of their yard, but

1279
01:07:00,199 --> 01:07:04,199
standing there, not moving, not doing yard work, not smoking

1280
01:07:04,320 --> 01:07:08,079
or talking on a phone, just watching. Sometimes it was

1281
01:07:08,119 --> 01:07:11,199
her in that sun green dress, sometimes him, always in

1282
01:07:11,239 --> 01:07:13,519
boots and a long sleeve shirt, no mat of the heat.

1283
01:07:14,159 --> 01:07:17,719
They wouldn't flinch when cars pass, wouldn't look away. If

1284
01:07:17,719 --> 01:07:19,840
I happened to glance over, they'd lift a hand in

1285
01:07:19,880 --> 01:07:22,039
the lowest wave I've ever seen, like their arms were

1286
01:07:22,039 --> 01:07:25,000
moving through syrup. No smile, no, not just the wave.

1287
01:07:25,599 --> 01:07:28,239
And they stayed there until I went inside. After a

1288
01:07:28,239 --> 01:07:30,679
few days of that, I started keeping my curtains closed.

1289
01:07:31,239 --> 01:07:33,119
It felt silly, like I was playing into some dumb

1290
01:07:33,159 --> 01:07:35,559
logal tradition, but it made my skin crawl to have

1291
01:07:35,599 --> 01:07:38,400
them just standing there. I'd drink coffee and check the

1292
01:07:38,400 --> 01:07:41,119
window and find one of them alridy in place, like

1293
01:07:41,199 --> 01:07:44,800
they never went to bed. Then the rocks started. One

1294
01:07:44,880 --> 01:07:47,599
morning I stepped outside and saw three flat grass stone

1295
01:07:47,639 --> 01:07:51,320
stacked on the top step. They were smooth, almost perfectly round,

1296
01:07:51,480 --> 01:07:54,440
arranged deliberately. I stared at them, trying to decide if

1297
01:07:54,480 --> 01:07:57,239
it meant something. Eventually I picked them up and tossed

1298
01:07:57,239 --> 01:08:00,840
them into the yard. The next morning, five more, ten, seven,

1299
01:08:01,440 --> 01:08:05,079
always an odd number, always stacked. I never heard anyone

1300
01:08:05,119 --> 01:08:07,000
walk up to the porch at night, and the gravel

1301
01:08:07,000 --> 01:08:10,079
should have made noise. One afternoon I caught the woman

1302
01:08:10,119 --> 01:08:13,480
hanging laundry and decided to just ask. Hey, I called

1303
01:08:13,480 --> 01:08:16,359
across the road. You wouldn't know anything about the rocks,

1304
01:08:16,680 --> 01:08:19,640
would you. She turned slowly like her neck didn't want

1305
01:08:19,640 --> 01:08:22,439
to obey, that same two wide smile cold back onto

1306
01:08:22,479 --> 01:08:25,119
her face. That's just how we say good morning here,

1307
01:08:25,199 --> 01:08:28,239
she said. Before I could respond, the man came out

1308
01:08:28,279 --> 01:08:31,000
onto their porch. He didn't say a thing, just stood

1309
01:08:31,000 --> 01:08:33,920
there staring. His eyes dropped to my hands, then my chest,

1310
01:08:33,960 --> 01:08:36,600
then lingered at my vert. He turned round and went

1311
01:08:36,640 --> 01:08:39,840
back inside, like the whole exchange hadn't happened. I stopped

1312
01:08:39,880 --> 01:08:42,560
asking after that, but the rocks didn't stop. By the

1313
01:08:42,560 --> 01:08:45,399
time October rolled in, I found them every morning, sometimes

1314
01:08:45,439 --> 01:08:48,000
in stacks, sometimes laid out in trails, leading across my

1315
01:08:48,039 --> 01:08:50,960
porch to the door, like something wanted in. And then

1316
01:08:51,000 --> 01:08:54,359
things started shifting inside the house. I'd leave for work,

1317
01:08:54,600 --> 01:08:57,439
make sure everything was locked, and come home to small changes.

1318
01:08:58,079 --> 01:09:02,560
A lamb turned slightly, drawer not quite closed, curtains pulled open.

1319
01:09:02,560 --> 01:09:04,680
When I knew they'd been drawn. I thought I was

1320
01:09:04,720 --> 01:09:08,079
losing it. I tried setting up little tess, placing a

1321
01:09:08,079 --> 01:09:09,880
book at an angle, marking the spot of a chair

1322
01:09:10,000 --> 01:09:14,479
leg every time. Something was off, subtle but off. One

1323
01:09:14,600 --> 01:09:16,359
night I poured a glass of water before bed and

1324
01:09:16,439 --> 01:09:19,279
left it on the table. In the morning, it was gone,

1325
01:09:19,960 --> 01:09:22,760
not spilled, had just gone. I found the glass washed

1326
01:09:22,760 --> 01:09:25,520
and dry in the cabinet. I stopped trying to explain it.

1327
01:09:26,199 --> 01:09:28,800
Then came the night I saw someone inside. I was

1328
01:09:28,840 --> 01:09:31,119
just giving home keys in hand when I glanced at

1329
01:09:31,119 --> 01:09:33,880
the living room window and saw a movement, a figure,

1330
01:09:33,920 --> 01:09:36,560
just a blouse, slipping past the curtain. I froze on

1331
01:09:36,600 --> 01:09:40,439
the porch. My whole body went cold. My first instinct

1332
01:09:40,479 --> 01:09:43,199
wasn't to call the police. It was to not go inside,

1333
01:09:44,000 --> 01:09:46,199
like maybe if I waited long enough, whatever it was

1334
01:09:46,239 --> 01:09:49,479
would leave. But I made myself do it. I unlocked

1335
01:09:49,520 --> 01:09:51,880
the door, stepped in and found everything perfectly in place,

1336
01:09:52,560 --> 01:09:56,600
except for the smell. The whole living room reaks, not rotten,

1337
01:09:56,760 --> 01:09:59,680
but wet and earthy, light moss after rain, mixed with

1338
01:09:59,720 --> 01:10:02,319
something metallic. I opened the windows, but it clung to

1339
01:10:02,359 --> 01:10:04,680
the walls like it had soaked in. That night, I

1340
01:10:04,720 --> 01:10:07,359
slept with every light on. A few nights later, I

1341
01:10:07,399 --> 01:10:11,520
woke up to footsteps, heavy ones. They circled the porch once,

1342
01:10:11,560 --> 01:10:14,359
then stopped under my bedroom window. I held my phone

1343
01:10:14,399 --> 01:10:16,640
in one hand, gripping it so hard my knuckles ached.

1344
01:10:17,319 --> 01:10:21,000
I didn't dare, move, didn't breathe. The boards creaked under

1345
01:10:21,000 --> 01:10:24,359
the weight of whoever was out there. Then nothing. When

1346
01:10:24,359 --> 01:10:28,319
the silence stretched too long, I peeked. No one, porch,

1347
01:10:28,319 --> 01:10:32,680
empty yard still, But I didn't sleep again. And then

1348
01:10:32,720 --> 01:10:35,560
came November. I was turning off lights for the night

1349
01:10:35,560 --> 01:10:37,399
when I saw them through the window, both of them,

1350
01:10:37,399 --> 01:10:40,079
standing at the edge of the yard. She had a lantern,

1351
01:10:40,119 --> 01:10:42,359
an old eye, and thing that threw shadows across her face.

1352
01:10:43,079 --> 01:10:46,199
A smile had grown grotesque, all gums and teeth. He

1353
01:10:46,199 --> 01:10:48,359
held something wrapped in thick cloth, heavy enough that he

1354
01:10:48,399 --> 01:10:50,720
had to brace his legs to keep us steady. They

1355
01:10:50,720 --> 01:10:53,680
didn't wave didn't move, just stared. I backed away from

1356
01:10:53,680 --> 01:10:56,359
the window and called the sheriff. A deputy came by,

1357
01:10:56,520 --> 01:10:59,319
walked the property and said he didn't see anything. No

1358
01:10:59,359 --> 01:11:02,399
footprints in the frous no lantern light, no signs anyone

1359
01:11:02,439 --> 01:11:05,720
had been there. Said they were just old timers, probably eccentric,

1360
01:11:05,760 --> 01:11:07,640
and I should get a dog if it kept bothering me.

1361
01:11:07,760 --> 01:11:10,359
I decided to leave. Took a few weeks to set

1362
01:11:10,399 --> 01:11:13,279
things up, but my mind was made up. I started packing.

1363
01:11:13,840 --> 01:11:16,680
I slept with the bat beside my bed every morning.

1364
01:11:16,720 --> 01:11:21,159
Another rock some days on my truck, once in my mailbox.

1365
01:11:21,880 --> 01:11:24,399
One morning, lined up along the window sill of my bedroom,

1366
01:11:24,439 --> 01:11:26,600
three perfect stones, balanced like they had been placed from

1367
01:11:26,640 --> 01:11:29,199
the roof. The morning I left, I loaded my car

1368
01:11:29,279 --> 01:11:32,239
until it was crownfl did one last weep of the house,

1369
01:11:32,560 --> 01:11:35,239
left the key where the landlord asked. When I came

1370
01:11:35,279 --> 01:11:38,840
back outside, the road was still their house, loped, boarded up,

1371
01:11:39,399 --> 01:11:42,279
nothing moved. Then I opened the driver's side door and

1372
01:11:42,319 --> 01:11:45,319
stopped right there on the seat, resting like it belonged,

1373
01:11:45,520 --> 01:11:49,640
was a single reverse stone, perfectly smooth, round as a coin.

1374
01:11:50,279 --> 01:11:53,000
I didn't think, just picked it up, walked to the

1375
01:11:53,119 --> 01:11:55,039
edge of the woods and threw it as hard as

1376
01:11:55,039 --> 01:11:58,880
I could. I waited to hear it land nothing. I

1377
01:11:58,920 --> 01:12:01,000
got in a car, I started the engine and drove

1378
01:12:01,079 --> 01:12:03,560
until the trees thinned out and the ridge disappeared behind me.

1379
01:12:04,600 --> 01:12:07,079
And that is the end. Thank you for listening, and

1380
01:12:07,159 --> 01:12:14,680
I will see you in the next one.