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Speaker 1: Hello, I moalkened stories all the time. Glad you are here.

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Let's get into it. My roommate had headed home for

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winter break, leaving me alone in the duplex. We'd been

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rending off a quiet stretch of road and have a

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hill just a few miles outside of Billings. It was

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early January and the snow hadn't let up in days.

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It had stacked up so high along the driveway in

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portch that I had to shovel just to swing the

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front door open. The whole neighborhood was practically buried. The

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second night is when things went sideways. I was scrolling

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my phone, kind of zoning out when I heard it.

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The backey creaked, not slammed, not rattle, just that low,

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drawn out squeak. I recognized immediately we had one of

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those old wooden fences with the metal latch, and the

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hinges had been rosted since the day we moved in.

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I could have identified that sound in my sleep. I

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paused the video and sat up a little. I told

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myself it was probably the wind, or a chunk of

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ice falling off a tree limb. Still, I got up

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and walked into the kitchen, which had the only window

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that looked out over yard ass was black, not dim,

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completely black. The porch light had gone out weeks earlier,

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and we never got around to replacing the bulb. I

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flipped the switch anyway, just in case something had miraculously

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started working. It hadn't. That's when my phone buzzed. I

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figured it was Harper, maybe checking in, but it wasn't her.

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It was a text from a number I didn't recognize. Eyes,

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no contact name, no photo, just to message that reed,

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you should lock the back door. My stomach turned for

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a second. I just stood there, staring at the screen,

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re reading the words, hoping i'd some hum misunderstood. But

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there it was clear as day. No punctuation, no emojis,

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just that that. And here's the thing. I hadn't told

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any one I was alone. I wasn't posing about it.

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I hadn't texted friends, and my parents didn't even have

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the address. The only person who knew where I was

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entered this number was my roommate, and she was across

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the state line spending time with her mom. I walked

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straight to the back door. It was still locked, bolt

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and all and all but the key I always kept

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in the lock, same key, I used when bringing in

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groceries or Latin in the meiregar. It was gone, just gone.

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I froze my hand hovering near the knob. I tried

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to tell myself maybe I'd taken it out Earllyer and forgotten.

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Maybe I'd left it and the counter dropped it in

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my cup pocket. But that didn't make sense. I always

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left it there every time. Then came the second text

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too late. My whole chest tightened, like someone had wrapped

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about around it. I turned around and scanned the room,

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the living room, the hall, the ktchen behind me. Everything

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looked normal, but I didn't feel normal. It was like

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my brain had been kicked into some word survival mode,

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like I was seeing the house differently, now more vulnerable.

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Too many windows, too many ways in. I reached for

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my phone to call the police, already fumbling with the

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unlocked screen when the third text came through. Nice. It

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was right in the middle of the living room, covered

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in a messer pillows and half empty chip bags, just

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like I had left it. It was visible from the

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front windows, barely only if you leaned in, maybe pressed

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your face against the glass just right. But some one

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I have seen it. Some one had seen it. I

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dropped down to the floor immediately, practically on instinct, crawled

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away from the windows toward the wall by the TV

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and pressed my back against it. My heart was pounding

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so fast it felt like it was skipping beats. I

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stayed there, frozen for I don't know how long. The

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snow muffled everything outside and inside. The silence was just

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too complete. No more creeks, no cars, nothing. Eventually I

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whispered into the phone and got a despatcher on the line.

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I told her everything about the messages, the gate, the

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missing key. I could hear how calm she was trying

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to be, but I could also tell she didn't know

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what to make of it. She said officers were on

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the way and told me not to move unless I

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had to. I wited. I didn't go back to the door.

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I didn't pick out the window. I just stayed tucked

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into the corner, listening for anything at all. Twenty minutes later,

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I was standing barefoot and the snow while two officers

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with flashlights walked the property. They found footprints, one set

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starting from the road curbing around the house. They stopped

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under my bedroom window, the one I hadn't been using

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and then nothing, no return trail, no sign of a car.

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It was like, whoever it was, just vanished. I showed

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them the texts, or tried too, but the whole thread

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was gone. Not just a lea had gone. There was

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no lock of the number, no trace in my messages

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or even in my cold history. One of the officers

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asked if I was sure I hadn't imagined it. The

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other one looked more concerned. They said I should cross

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somewhere else for the night, just in case. I grabbed

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my keys and went to Lise's. She had a fruton

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in a habit of leaving the TV on all night,

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which honestly helped. She tried to laugh about it, called

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a horror movie audition. But I didn't sleep, not even

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a little. Next morning, I went back to the duplex

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just to grab some clothes. That's when I saw it.

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The key, the one that had vanished from the back door,

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was sitting in the door mat I moved out. Two

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weeks later, I changed my number, lockdown, all my social media,

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started using blackout curtains and sticking a chair under the

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doorknop at night. I just moved back to Maple Ridge

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after finishing school in Vermont, not permanently, just long enough

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to help my dad recover from surgery. He did, his

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hip replaced in a fall, and was finally getting back

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on his feet by New Years. By the first week

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of January, he was well enough to head out to

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Colorado to see his brother, and honesty, I was glad

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he was going. He hadn't had a break in years,

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and the quiet scened good for both of us. I

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figured it would be simple enough, keep an eye on

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the place, shovel the driveway, make sure the puffs didn't freeze,

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And honestly, I didn't mind having the house to myself.

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I'd grown up there, after all, knew every inch of it,

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the strange lay out of the upstairs hallways, the slightly

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warped kitchen towel that always made a dull popping sound

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when he stepped on it just right. I'd even memorize away.

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The house creaked at night, the soft grown from the

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roof when the snow saddled, the radiator hissing to life

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in the middle of the night like it was breathing.

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But when you were used to those sounds being mixed

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in with someone else's footsteps or the clink of dishes

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in the kitchen. Being completely alone makes you hear them differently.

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The house sits at the very edge of town, with

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nothing but woods behind it, not deep for ust, just

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enough trees to block out the back neighbor's and make

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it feels secluded growing up. Are you still love that now?

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Not so much. By the third night, the weirdness started.

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Nothing huge, just little things I brushed off because they

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felt explainable. The first was a drawer in the kitchen

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left slightly open, the one with the aluminum foil and

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kitchen scissors. I was sure I hadn't touched it, but

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maybe I had. I didn't remember closing it. I figured

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I was just destructed. Then a few mornings in I

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noticed a whole way light had been left on overnight.

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Not a big deal, but it was the switch at

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the far end of the whole one I rarely used

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because I usually stuck to the kitchen and the living room.

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Still I assumed I just left it on by mistake.

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Another time I couldn't find a TV remote, I always

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left it right on the coffee table in the exact

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same spot. I ended up finding it wedged under the

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couch cushion, which was weary because I hadn't even sat

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on that side of the couch that night. It felt minor,

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but when you're alone, even small things stack up. By

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the fifth night, I was double checking all the locks

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before bed. Then I started triple checking. Our back door

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has this old brass latch that never quite lines upright,

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So I started wedding a heavy wooden chair in front

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of it each night just to be sure. I even

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got into the habit of locking my bedroom door, a

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new behavior for me. It just made me feel better

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save for somehow, even though logically nothing was really happening.

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The sixth night is when it got worse. I stayed

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up like watching one of those over all lot nature documentaries,

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something about the Arctic foxes. I remember because the narrator

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had this calm's running voice. That some I made me

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even more aware of how quiet the house was. Around midnight.

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That eatter clicked off. It always ended with a loud

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dump that made the baseballs vibrates slightly. Right after that,

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I got up to refill my water in the kitchen.

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That's when eyes or at the basement door was opened,

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just barely, maybe an inch, but that was enough. Now

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the thin about the door was of sticks like held

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you really after yant it to open it, especially in

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the winter when the woods wells. I hadn't opened it

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once since my dad left, had no reason to the

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basements and finished and cold, mostly used for stow and

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pent cans and old snow gate. I just stood their

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glass and hands staring at the door like it was

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going to move on it. So now reached over slowly

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and pushed it shut. Heard the latch click. Then I

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locked the knob, which felt a little silly but also on.

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I told myself it had probably bounced open from the

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vibrations when the heater shut off. That seemed possible, But

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that night I couldn't sleep. Every time I started to

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drift off, i'd hear something, not loud, just subtle shifts

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a soft creek were the faintest sound of movement. It

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wasn't constant, but it was enough to get me out

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of bed twice to check the hallway. Both times nothing

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was there. Eventually, probably around three in the morning, I

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fell asleep with my hoodie on and the lamp still

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on low. The next morning I came downstairs and the

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basement door was wide open, not cracked open. I stopped

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at the bottom of the stairs and didn't go any closer.

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The lock didn't look broken, but something was different. There

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was a smell wafting up from below, damp and stale,

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like moldy towels or clothes that had been wet for

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too long and never dry. I stood there for way

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too long, debating whether to grow down or just close

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the door again and pretend it was happening. I ended

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up calling my uncle Henry. He lives nearby, and as

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the type of guy who's always ready for something weird,

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I told him I thought maybe an animal gotten through

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the old basement hatch outside. It sounded beleeatable enough. He

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showed up about thirty minutes with his big mag light

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and a toe box. For some reason, we went down together.

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I stayed right behind him, trying to act like I

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wasn't completely freaked up. We didn't make it five steps

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before we saw the stuff. In a far back corner

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of the basement, behind the furnace. Some one had made

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a little nest, an old stained sleeping bag, food wrappers

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scattered in a neat little pile, one of my dad's jackets.

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I hadn't even realized was missing, and this metal dawed

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bowl with water and if like they were trying to

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keep it clean. My uncle didn't say anything right away.

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He just looked at me like he wasn't sure how

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to break the news. Gently, he checked the basement hatch

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and found it slightly open, just enough to let someone

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squeeze through. He shut it and nailed it close with

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a couple of rusty nails he found on a shelf nearby.

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I thought that was the end of it. That night,

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I tried to convince myself it had been some drifter

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who found a warm place to crash. I told myself

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they were gone now that the door was nail shuted,

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that I was safe. Round two a m I heard

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footsteps on the first floor. Heavy ones, slow measured, Not

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the kind of creeks he get from pipe settling or

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wood expanding. These were actual footsteps moving across the living room.

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I didn't even hesitate. I locked my bedroom door, grabbed

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my phone and called the police. Whispered everything stayed on

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the line until I heard the sirens outside. The offices

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came in fast. I heard them shouting, running through the house.

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I didn't open my door till one of them knocked

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and told me it was okay. They found him. He

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was hiding in the laundry room behind the boiler, A

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man in his thirties, may be older, greasy, hody, worn

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out jeans, didn't speak a word. He had a small

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bag with him. Inside were some of our kitchen knives,

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a flash like my dad kept in the junk drawer.

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He'd been in and out of the house for days,

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maybe longer. He knew when I was awake. When I left,

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he had another blanket tuck behind the stairs that no

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one had noticed before. That was enough for me. I

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packed a bag that night and moved in with my

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friend Miriam. I didn't set foot back in that house

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until my dad returned, and even now I can't really

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shake it. I double checked doors, leave lights on, and

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sleep with some machine just to mass quiet. I was

240
00:11:01,320 --> 00:11:03,960
twenty three when it happened, stuck by myself over winter

241
00:11:04,000 --> 00:11:05,840
break in the off campus rental I shared with three

242
00:11:05,840 --> 00:11:09,120
other people. Andrea, Janny, and Mark had all gone home

243
00:11:09,159 --> 00:11:11,840
for the holidays, scattering across different states to spend time

244
00:11:11,840 --> 00:11:14,840
with family. I didn't mind staying behind, so I didn't bother.

245
00:11:15,559 --> 00:11:17,879
I had food, heat, and know where I needed to be.

246
00:11:18,559 --> 00:11:20,720
I figured i'd hibernate for a few weeks, crank out

247
00:11:20,759 --> 00:11:23,120
some design work, and maybe binge a few old series

248
00:11:23,120 --> 00:11:25,799
in between. That Friday night was the first one worthings

249
00:11:25,799 --> 00:11:28,720
started to feel off. It was colder than usual, the

250
00:11:28,799 --> 00:11:30,840
kind of cold that makes the windows hum. A little

251
00:11:31,559 --> 00:11:34,120
snow had been falling steadily since late morning, and by

252
00:11:34,159 --> 00:11:36,080
the time the sun deep behind the trees, he could

253
00:11:36,080 --> 00:11:39,240
barely see the road. I made something simple for dinner,

254
00:11:39,279 --> 00:11:41,919
probably left of aposta and a microwave veggie mix, then

255
00:11:41,919 --> 00:11:43,840
locked all the doors like I always did, and headed

256
00:11:43,840 --> 00:11:46,120
to my room. I'd set up a little work space

257
00:11:46,159 --> 00:11:48,519
with my laptop and drawing tablet, planning to chip away

258
00:11:48,519 --> 00:11:51,320
at some walk ups for my design portfolio. Around ten,

259
00:11:51,600 --> 00:11:53,720
my laptop froze, not like a glitcher or one of

260
00:11:53,720 --> 00:11:57,559
those rainbow wheel hang ups. It just stopped responding. The

261
00:11:57,559 --> 00:12:00,200
screen dimmed, and the battery I can started flashing like

262
00:12:00,200 --> 00:12:03,320
it wasn't charging. I double checked the outlet, unplugged and

263
00:12:03,320 --> 00:12:07,519
replugged the charger, tried a different socket. Still nothing. About

264
00:12:07,519 --> 00:12:10,279
a minute later, the whole thing powered. Damn. I just

265
00:12:10,320 --> 00:12:12,960
stared at it for a second. It was plugged in.

266
00:12:13,679 --> 00:12:15,919
Everything else in the room was working THEMP on space

267
00:12:15,960 --> 00:12:18,679
heat to hommy. I remember giving it one last press

268
00:12:18,679 --> 00:12:20,360
of the power button and just sitting there as it

269
00:12:20,360 --> 00:12:24,480
did absolutely nothing. Eventually I gave up, figured maybe the

270
00:12:24,480 --> 00:12:27,039
battery finally gave out of the cold mestery that somehow.

271
00:12:27,559 --> 00:12:29,679
I got up, brushed my teeth, and called it a night.

272
00:12:30,440 --> 00:12:33,080
While I was in the bathroom, I heard something. It

273
00:12:33,159 --> 00:12:36,720
sounded like the back door closing, not slamming, just that soft,

274
00:12:36,840 --> 00:12:39,879
intentional click it mix when someone closes it slowly, the

275
00:12:40,000 --> 00:12:42,759
kind of sound that barely registers unless you're really listening

276
00:12:42,799 --> 00:12:47,559
for it. I froze midbrush, water still running tooth brush

277
00:12:47,639 --> 00:12:50,919
halfway to the sink. I stood there, listening hard, trying

278
00:12:50,919 --> 00:12:52,679
to tell if it was just the wind pushing against

279
00:12:52,679 --> 00:12:56,080
the frame. Nothing still. They grabbed a hody and on

280
00:12:56,159 --> 00:12:59,440
downstairs to check. The house wasn't big, but it creaked

281
00:12:59,440 --> 00:13:02,440
like it was. Every step echoed in this low, hollow way,

282
00:13:02,519 --> 00:13:05,080
like the wood was tired of holding itself together. The

283
00:13:05,080 --> 00:13:09,240
back door was locked. Nothing looked off. I check every window,

284
00:13:09,279 --> 00:13:12,639
even the basement door. All fine. I flipped on the

285
00:13:12,679 --> 00:13:14,639
porch light to look for footprints, but by then the

286
00:13:14,639 --> 00:13:16,879
wind did pick up again, scattering the snow sigh of

287
00:13:16,879 --> 00:13:21,559
wreas against the glass. Everything outside looked smooth, untouched. I

288
00:13:21,639 --> 00:13:23,559
was half way back up the stairs when I noticed

289
00:13:23,559 --> 00:13:26,279
the hallway light was out. It's a small thing, but

290
00:13:26,320 --> 00:13:28,200
I always left the light on when I was alone.

291
00:13:28,639 --> 00:13:31,039
I'm not superstitious or anything. It just made the house

292
00:13:31,039 --> 00:13:33,600
feel as empty. I reached the top, flick the switch

293
00:13:33,600 --> 00:13:37,519
a few times. Nothing. The bulb had gone dead. Maybe,

294
00:13:38,000 --> 00:13:40,519
oh maybe something had flipped the breaker, though everything else

295
00:13:40,519 --> 00:13:43,720
seemed to be working fine. Then I noticed my bedroom door.

296
00:13:44,360 --> 00:13:47,279
It was open, not fully, just half way, just half way.

297
00:13:47,919 --> 00:13:50,679
I never leave it like that ever. I either shut

298
00:13:50,720 --> 00:13:52,799
it all the way or leave it wide open. That

299
00:13:52,879 --> 00:13:55,200
in between engle always felt wrong, like the room was

300
00:13:55,240 --> 00:13:59,080
expecting some one. I pushed it gently. The desk lamp

301
00:13:59,159 --> 00:14:01,799
was off. I left it on when I went downstairs.

302
00:14:02,399 --> 00:14:05,080
My charger cable was still where I left it. Chare

303
00:14:05,240 --> 00:14:09,320
was tucked in. Closet door still closed. Everything looked the same,

304
00:14:09,480 --> 00:14:11,639
but I stood there longer than I should have, not moving,

305
00:14:11,799 --> 00:14:14,120
not blinking, just watching the dark shape of my room

306
00:14:14,159 --> 00:14:17,639
hold still. Eventually I walked in, turned the lamp back on,

307
00:14:17,840 --> 00:14:20,440
locked the door behind me, and called into bed fully dressed.

308
00:14:21,039 --> 00:14:23,879
Around two in the morning, I woke up suddenly, not

309
00:14:24,000 --> 00:14:27,519
from a sound, at least not one I remembered, just

310
00:14:27,559 --> 00:14:30,159
that strange sholt of a litmus, like your body knows

311
00:14:30,159 --> 00:14:33,120
something before your brain does. My eyes were wide open.

312
00:14:33,639 --> 00:14:36,759
I didn't feel groggy or confused. I was just awake.

313
00:14:37,360 --> 00:14:41,000
Then I heard it, creaking floorboards slowly, like weight was

314
00:14:41,000 --> 00:14:44,440
shifting outside my door. One step, then a pause, then another.

315
00:14:45,039 --> 00:14:47,000
The hallway was narrow, and I could tell just from

316
00:14:47,000 --> 00:14:49,720
the sound that whatever it had stopped right outside my room.

317
00:14:50,039 --> 00:14:53,320
I didn't move. I don't even think i'd breathed. I

318
00:14:53,440 --> 00:14:57,080
just stared at the door and waited. Hullo. I whispered,

319
00:14:57,240 --> 00:14:59,879
half expecting to hear Andrea laf or Jamie yell gotcha

320
00:15:00,120 --> 00:15:03,919
or something. Nothing. After maybe ten minutes of silence, I

321
00:15:03,960 --> 00:15:06,840
finally unlocked the door and cracked it open. The hallway

322
00:15:06,879 --> 00:15:11,440
was empty. I checked the bathroom, Jamie's room, Andrew's room,

323
00:15:12,000 --> 00:15:15,480
even the linen closet and stairs. Still. When I got

324
00:15:15,480 --> 00:15:17,039
back to my room, my phone lit up on the

325
00:15:17,120 --> 00:15:20,200
night's end. I hadn't touched it. I leaned over and

326
00:15:20,240 --> 00:15:23,799
saw a calendar notification meeting with Julian Friday at three

327
00:15:23,840 --> 00:15:27,240
of'm I just stared at it. I didn't make that event.

328
00:15:28,000 --> 00:15:30,360
I've never had any one in my contacts named Julian,

329
00:15:30,480 --> 00:15:33,559
and it wasn't even Friday any more. I deleted the alert,

330
00:15:33,679 --> 00:15:36,000
set my phone face down, and didn't sleep the rest

331
00:15:36,039 --> 00:15:38,440
of the night. The next morning, I tore through the

332
00:15:38,440 --> 00:15:41,519
whole house again, every window, every door, even pulled the

333
00:15:41,519 --> 00:15:44,600
attic steps down and climbed up with a flashlight. Nothing.

334
00:15:45,279 --> 00:15:47,399
The s smelled dusty and old, but there was no

335
00:15:47,440 --> 00:15:50,159
sign any one had been up there in years. Same

336
00:15:50,200 --> 00:15:53,159
for the basement, just the same damp smell and stacks

337
00:15:53,159 --> 00:15:56,440
of old paint cans we never touched. By afternoon, I

338
00:15:56,519 --> 00:15:59,480
told myself how I was being ridiculous. Maybe the cold

339
00:15:59,480 --> 00:16:02,039
was getting to me. Maybe I'd imagine half of it.

340
00:16:02,679 --> 00:16:05,000
I decided to take a long shower and shake it off.

341
00:16:05,559 --> 00:16:07,600
I left the bathroom door crack so the steam wouldn't

342
00:16:07,639 --> 00:16:09,919
choke me. When I stepped out in a towel, I

343
00:16:09,960 --> 00:16:12,600
noticed the hallway mirror was completely fogged up, which didn't

344
00:16:12,600 --> 00:16:15,200
make sense. The mirror is not even near the door,

345
00:16:15,200 --> 00:16:17,879
and I'd only been in the twenty minutes. I walked

346
00:16:17,879 --> 00:16:21,000
past it then froze. There were streaks in the condensation,

347
00:16:21,159 --> 00:16:24,000
long vertical ones, like someone had dragged their fingers straight

348
00:16:24,000 --> 00:16:26,360
down the glass, but they were too far apart, wider

349
00:16:26,360 --> 00:16:30,399
than my hands could reach even if I stretched. I tested,

350
00:16:30,440 --> 00:16:34,440
it didn't match. I wiped the mirror clean, got dress,

351
00:16:34,559 --> 00:16:37,320
and left the bathroom light on. Later that evening, I

352
00:16:37,399 --> 00:16:40,120
texted Andrea, told how the place had been giving me

353
00:16:40,200 --> 00:16:42,039
weired vibes, and I might cash with a friend in

354
00:16:42,080 --> 00:16:46,159
town for a couple nights. She responded fast, didn't Julian

355
00:16:46,240 --> 00:16:50,240
come over last night? My whole body went cold? I replied,

356
00:16:50,279 --> 00:16:54,440
who the hell is Julian? She never texted back. By sunset,

357
00:16:54,519 --> 00:16:56,919
I had a duffle backpacked and sitting by the front door.

358
00:16:57,519 --> 00:16:59,639
I didn't have a plan. I just knew I wasn't

359
00:16:59,639 --> 00:17:02,600
staying again. That night, I was in the kitchen heating

360
00:17:02,679 --> 00:17:07,160
up leftovers when I heard my name from upstairs. Nott whispered,

361
00:17:07,839 --> 00:17:10,920
not yelled, just said casually, like some one calling you

362
00:17:10,960 --> 00:17:15,279
from another room, enough to make you pause. I froze.

363
00:17:15,480 --> 00:17:18,519
The microwave was still humming, the stove was clicking, but

364
00:17:18,599 --> 00:17:22,039
everything else had gone silent. I turned off the burner

365
00:17:22,160 --> 00:17:25,160
stood still for a second, then grebed my coat. As

366
00:17:25,160 --> 00:17:28,279
I reached for the zipper, my phone buzzed. Knew alurret

367
00:17:28,920 --> 00:17:33,039
meeting with Julian. Now. I left everything stove still hot,

368
00:17:33,119 --> 00:17:36,039
lights on, furge open. I shut the door behind me,

369
00:17:36,119 --> 00:17:38,759
but didn't lock it, just got in my car and drove.

370
00:17:39,400 --> 00:17:41,680
My parents were out of town for the weekend, visiting

371
00:17:41,720 --> 00:17:44,799
my sister in Maine. They left Friday morning and wouldn't

372
00:17:44,799 --> 00:17:47,599
be back until late Sunday night. I stayed behind because

373
00:17:47,599 --> 00:17:49,240
I had a shift at the book store on Saturday

374
00:17:49,279 --> 00:17:51,079
and didn't feel like making the drive just to come

375
00:17:51,160 --> 00:17:54,240
right back. I liked having the house to myself anyway,

376
00:17:54,960 --> 00:17:58,279
So yeah, once the snow starts coming down, nobody just

377
00:17:58,359 --> 00:18:00,920
drops by that for I day night, I got home

378
00:18:00,960 --> 00:18:03,960
right before six. I dropped my back back by the door,

379
00:18:04,039 --> 00:18:06,200
kicked off my boots, and headed straight to the kitchen.

380
00:18:06,640 --> 00:18:09,279
The lights flickered once while I was cleaning up, just

381
00:18:09,319 --> 00:18:12,279
a quick blink. It happens a lot when the weather's bad.

382
00:18:12,880 --> 00:18:15,359
I didn't think anything of it. I grabbed a few

383
00:18:15,400 --> 00:18:17,720
candles and set them around the living room, just in case,

384
00:18:18,519 --> 00:18:22,279
not fromod or anything. Just hap it. A little after eight,

385
00:18:22,440 --> 00:18:24,880
my mom texted to check in. She asked if the

386
00:18:24,960 --> 00:18:27,440
drive we had been plowed yet. I told her no,

387
00:18:28,200 --> 00:18:30,319
it wouldn't be until morning unless we called some one,

388
00:18:30,440 --> 00:18:33,079
and I was planning to. It was the week end

389
00:18:33,799 --> 00:18:36,880
that a pile up. After that, I made some hot chocolate,

390
00:18:36,920 --> 00:18:39,160
pulled a blanket over myself, and started a movie on

391
00:18:39,200 --> 00:18:42,799
my laptop. Can't remember what it was, something I'd seen before.

392
00:18:43,519 --> 00:18:46,359
I just wanted something on in the background. The house

393
00:18:46,359 --> 00:18:48,440
felt a little too quiet with all the snow piling

394
00:18:48,519 --> 00:18:51,400
up outside. I think I was maybe twenty minutes twenty

395
00:18:51,400 --> 00:18:53,720
five minutes into it when I the first knock. It

396
00:18:53,759 --> 00:18:57,359
came from the back door, not the front where delivery

397
00:18:57,359 --> 00:19:00,960
people or neighbors might knock. The back, the one that

398
00:19:01,039 --> 00:19:04,240
leads out to the porch which faces the woods. No walkway,

399
00:19:04,880 --> 00:19:07,880
no reason any one would be back there, just a single,

400
00:19:08,039 --> 00:19:13,920
solid knock, not rushed, not repeated, just knock. I muted

401
00:19:13,920 --> 00:19:15,680
the movie and sat there for a few seconds, thinking

402
00:19:15,720 --> 00:19:19,039
maybe it was nothing, a branch falling maybe, or snow

403
00:19:19,079 --> 00:19:22,880
shifting on the roof. But then it came again, same knock,

404
00:19:22,920 --> 00:19:24,839
same rhythm. When shop had it sounded like some one

405
00:19:24,880 --> 00:19:26,759
using their knuckles, or maybe the side of the hand.

406
00:19:26,799 --> 00:19:28,759
I got up and walked over to the dining room window,

407
00:19:28,759 --> 00:19:30,480
which gives a partial view of the porch. I couldn't

408
00:19:30,519 --> 00:19:32,319
see the door itself, but I could see the railing,

409
00:19:32,359 --> 00:19:34,599
the steps, the snow covered boards. Everything looked still, no

410
00:19:34,640 --> 00:19:36,839
foot print, snow movement, just snow falling thick and slow.

411
00:19:36,880 --> 00:19:40,359
I flipped in the porch light. Still nothing. There's no

412
00:19:40,400 --> 00:19:42,240
peep hole on that door, and I was about to

413
00:19:42,279 --> 00:19:45,359
open it to check. So I walked around to the garogionstead.

414
00:19:45,960 --> 00:19:48,079
I turned in the motion light that covers the driveway

415
00:19:48,119 --> 00:19:50,359
and check the side door near the laundry room. It

416
00:19:50,480 --> 00:19:54,400
was locked, same as always. Everything looked normal and disturbed.

417
00:19:54,960 --> 00:19:56,759
I stood there for a minute, telling myself it was

418
00:19:56,759 --> 00:19:59,440
probably the window, snow slumping off the roof, maybe hitting

419
00:19:59,480 --> 00:20:02,000
the porch y ailing the way down. I turned off

420
00:20:02,039 --> 00:20:04,279
the porch light and walked back towards the living room.

421
00:20:04,839 --> 00:20:07,920
Then there was another knock. This one was louder, still

422
00:20:08,079 --> 00:20:10,039
just one, but heavier, like they'd use more of their

423
00:20:10,039 --> 00:20:12,440
weight behind it. I felt it through the floor, like

424
00:20:12,440 --> 00:20:15,519
a subtle vibration that came up through my socks. That's

425
00:20:15,519 --> 00:20:18,119
when I grabbed my phone. I turned off the living

426
00:20:18,160 --> 00:20:21,559
room lights, then the kitchen hallway. Everything the house when

427
00:20:21,599 --> 00:20:23,480
dim except for the glow of the movie still paused

428
00:20:23,480 --> 00:20:26,119
on my laptop. I stood at the kitchen sink and

429
00:20:26,160 --> 00:20:28,680
looked out through the little window above it. If faces

430
00:20:28,680 --> 00:20:30,759
the back yard, and with the light behind me turned off,

431
00:20:30,799 --> 00:20:33,640
I could see pretty clearly outside. And that's when I

432
00:20:33,680 --> 00:20:37,440
saw them. Footprints. Just one sat leading from the trees

433
00:20:37,440 --> 00:20:39,759
to the bottom step of the porch. But they were

434
00:20:39,759 --> 00:20:42,920
in space like some one walking normally. They were close together,

435
00:20:43,599 --> 00:20:47,079
unnaturally close, like whoever made them had been crouching or

436
00:20:47,079 --> 00:20:50,559
maybe dragging a foot. It didn't look right. I called

437
00:20:50,599 --> 00:20:53,680
my dad straight to voicemail. Then I called my mom.

438
00:20:54,319 --> 00:20:57,200
She picked up. I told her some one might be outside.

439
00:20:57,880 --> 00:21:01,039
She asked if i'd call the police. I hadn't yet.

440
00:21:01,440 --> 00:21:04,400
I wasn't even sure what i'd be reporting. No break in,

441
00:21:04,599 --> 00:21:09,599
no noise, no visible person, just knocks, just footprints. That's

442
00:21:09,599 --> 00:21:12,400
when I heard it again, another knock, this time from

443
00:21:12,440 --> 00:21:15,880
inside the house. It came from the laundry room. That

444
00:21:16,000 --> 00:21:18,559
room connects to the kitchen. It's got a solid door

445
00:21:18,559 --> 00:21:21,119
that we usually keep shut. I hadn't been in there

446
00:21:21,160 --> 00:21:25,079
since the night before the knock was different, this time, lighter,

447
00:21:25,599 --> 00:21:29,759
three short taps, almost playful, like someone using just their

448
00:21:29,799 --> 00:21:34,359
finger tip. I dropped my phone, didn't scream, didn't yell,

449
00:21:35,079 --> 00:21:39,240
just picked it up, waffed over, locked the laundry room door,

450
00:21:39,880 --> 00:21:43,480
and backed away slowly. I called nine hundred eleven. The

451
00:21:43,519 --> 00:21:46,880
despatcher answered right away. I told her what was going on,

452
00:21:47,480 --> 00:21:52,079
what I'd seen, what I'd heard. She stayed calm. Asked

453
00:21:52,119 --> 00:21:54,759
if I was alone, asked if I could safely lock

454
00:21:54,799 --> 00:21:58,039
myself in a room. I told her yes, I said

455
00:21:58,039 --> 00:22:00,680
I was in the kitchen and everything was locked. Then

456
00:22:00,720 --> 00:22:03,599
she asked how many entrances does your home have? I

457
00:22:03,640 --> 00:22:06,880
said for front door, back door, garage, and the side

458
00:22:06,880 --> 00:22:10,240
door by the laundry room. There was a pause. Then

459
00:22:10,279 --> 00:22:12,000
she asked, is any one else supposed to be in

460
00:22:12,000 --> 00:22:16,039
the house with you? I said no, any bets Now

461
00:22:16,720 --> 00:22:20,359
another pause, Then she said, there's movement inside your home.

462
00:22:20,880 --> 00:22:25,119
Deputies are approaching. Now, stay on the line, do not speak,

463
00:22:25,680 --> 00:22:28,279
do not hang up. Right then the power went out,

464
00:22:28,480 --> 00:22:33,599
not flickered, it died. Everything, light's fridge, the hum of

465
00:22:33,599 --> 00:22:36,160
the heater all just stopped. The only light was from

466
00:22:36,160 --> 00:22:38,720
my phone screen. I crouched behind the couch and held

467
00:22:38,799 --> 00:22:41,480
my breath. The despatcher was still on the line, telling

468
00:22:41,519 --> 00:22:44,039
me not to move, not to make a sound. Then

469
00:22:44,039 --> 00:22:46,440
I heard the knob on the laundry room door, turning slowly,

470
00:22:46,559 --> 00:22:49,720
testing the lock, not forcing it, just gently back and forth,

471
00:22:49,799 --> 00:22:52,119
like some one checking if it would open. Then silence again.

472
00:22:52,680 --> 00:22:55,359
A few seconds later, red and blue lights flushed crossed

473
00:22:55,359 --> 00:22:58,319
the ceiling. The knock on the front door came hard

474
00:22:58,599 --> 00:23:01,680
County Sheriff. I didn't move till they shouted again. When

475
00:23:01,680 --> 00:23:03,799
I finally got up and opened the door, two deputies

476
00:23:03,839 --> 00:23:06,079
were standing there, one of them already pulling a flash

477
00:23:06,119 --> 00:23:08,480
out from his belt. This wept the house from top

478
00:23:08,519 --> 00:23:12,119
to bottom. Nobody was there but the laundry room door.

479
00:23:12,799 --> 00:23:16,039
It was unlocked. I know I locked it. I felt

480
00:23:16,079 --> 00:23:19,599
the bolt slide, I remember it. But they checked every

481
00:23:19,640 --> 00:23:23,359
point of entry. Nothing else had been opened, no signs

482
00:23:23,359 --> 00:23:27,960
of forced entry, just that door, somehow unlocked again. And

483
00:23:28,000 --> 00:23:30,640
then they found something else. On the inside of the

484
00:23:30,680 --> 00:23:33,440
laundry room window was a handprint. It was faint but

485
00:23:33,519 --> 00:23:37,000
clear enough to see the shape t smam, too small

486
00:23:37,039 --> 00:23:39,960
to be mine, smodged like whoever left it had leaned

487
00:23:40,000 --> 00:23:42,519
against the glass with their whole body, like they were

488
00:23:42,519 --> 00:23:44,920
trying to look in her press room. The next day,

489
00:23:45,039 --> 00:23:47,559
my dad found a jacket. It was tucked behind the

490
00:23:47,599 --> 00:23:50,680
water heater in the garage stuff backs so deep it

491
00:23:50,680 --> 00:23:53,480
looked like it had been intentionally hidden. Since then, I

492
00:23:53,519 --> 00:23:55,920
haven't stayed a night there. My parents had gone to

493
00:23:55,920 --> 00:23:58,400
sand fifa O a weekend trip, some art festival, I think,

494
00:23:58,519 --> 00:24:01,200
and I stayed behind to look after that house. They

495
00:24:01,279 --> 00:24:04,039
live in Elbridge, a small town in northern New Hampshire

496
00:24:04,039 --> 00:24:07,960
where nothing happens quickly, quiet snow, lots of tall pines

497
00:24:07,960 --> 00:24:10,680
and lawndrus to get anywhere, the kind of place where

498
00:24:10,680 --> 00:24:13,200
people leave their doors unlocked, mostly because they've always done

499
00:24:13,240 --> 00:24:15,720
it that way. The house sits near the edge of town,

500
00:24:16,000 --> 00:24:17,599
not quite in the woods, but close enough that if

501
00:24:17,640 --> 00:24:19,680
you step off the back porch and keep walking you'll

502
00:24:19,759 --> 00:24:22,799
hit forest within two minutes. In the winter, it's pretty

503
00:24:22,839 --> 00:24:26,079
in that picture post card kind of way, soft snow everywhere,

504
00:24:26,119 --> 00:24:28,319
tall trees laced in white, and a stillness that feels

505
00:24:28,400 --> 00:24:31,920
like time stops after four p m. It's also weirdly quiet.

506
00:24:32,400 --> 00:24:36,400
I don't mean peaceful, I mean quiet, like unsettlingly so

507
00:24:37,119 --> 00:24:41,480
no traffic come, no sirens, no barking dogs or neighbors

508
00:24:41,559 --> 00:24:44,799
yelling across fences, just wind and the occasional pop of

509
00:24:44,839 --> 00:24:48,359
the baseboard heaters. At night, the silent feels heavy, like

510
00:24:48,359 --> 00:24:51,640
you're constantly waiting for it to break. Priday was fine.

511
00:24:52,039 --> 00:24:54,000
I spend the day shoveling out the drivery twice because

512
00:24:54,039 --> 00:24:55,920
the pod truck always pass it up after you think

513
00:24:55,920 --> 00:24:59,079
you're done. Then I made some box tortellini and watched

514
00:24:59,079 --> 00:25:01,319
a few dumb shows, coul up on the couch, the

515
00:25:01,440 --> 00:25:04,119
kind of brain off nothing day. I honestly didn't mind.

516
00:25:04,839 --> 00:25:07,079
It started getting dark a little after five, and then

517
00:25:07,079 --> 00:25:10,720
around six the snowfall picked up, hard, heavy flakes, coming fast,

518
00:25:10,839 --> 00:25:12,799
the kind that just erases everything you did with a

519
00:25:12,799 --> 00:25:15,720
shovel an hour ago. I went around checking the doors

520
00:25:15,759 --> 00:25:18,319
and windows. It's not like we're in a high crime

521
00:25:18,359 --> 00:25:20,359
area or anything, but I still like to make sure

522
00:25:20,359 --> 00:25:23,279
things are locked and em alone, double checked the backslider,

523
00:25:23,359 --> 00:25:25,799
clicked on the outside motion lights, flipped a few lamps

524
00:25:25,799 --> 00:25:28,400
on inside so it wouldn't feel so dim. I figured

525
00:25:28,400 --> 00:25:30,960
i'd stay up late, maybe order some random thing I

526
00:25:31,000 --> 00:25:33,359
didn't need online, or scroll through music i'd never listened to.

527
00:25:34,000 --> 00:25:36,839
Around nine zero. I heard a sound above me. It

528
00:25:36,880 --> 00:25:39,799
was soft and muted thumb. My first thought was snow

529
00:25:39,799 --> 00:25:42,759
sliding off the roof, which is normal, it builds up

530
00:25:42,799 --> 00:25:45,480
and shifts as the heat rises from the attic. But

531
00:25:45,559 --> 00:25:47,519
then I muted the show and listened more carefully, and

532
00:25:47,559 --> 00:25:49,559
it didn't sound like it was coming from the roof anymore.

533
00:25:50,200 --> 00:25:52,640
It sounded lower behind me, maybe near the back door.

534
00:25:53,240 --> 00:25:56,039
It wasn't loud, more like a brushing sound, like something

535
00:25:56,039 --> 00:25:58,279
scrape slightly against the door, or maybe bumped into it.

536
00:25:58,839 --> 00:26:00,759
I got up and walked into the kitchen, stared out

537
00:26:00,799 --> 00:26:03,519
the back window for a few seconds. The motion light

538
00:26:03,599 --> 00:26:06,680
was on, illuminating the patio in the first stretch of yard.

539
00:26:06,920 --> 00:26:10,680
Nothing was moving. I looked for tracks, nothing new that

540
00:26:10,759 --> 00:26:14,599
I could see, just smooth and touched snow. Still opened

541
00:26:14,640 --> 00:26:18,519
the door. I know, not the brightest move, but at

542
00:26:18,519 --> 00:26:21,799
the time it felt more curious than dangerous. I expected

543
00:26:21,799 --> 00:26:23,640
maybe to catch a brand swinging in the window, some

544
00:26:23,680 --> 00:26:28,000
small animal sniffing around, but it was empty. Absolutely still

545
00:26:28,640 --> 00:26:30,839
colderre slapped me in the face, sharp enough to sting.

546
00:26:31,480 --> 00:26:33,720
I stood there for a few seconds, staring into the dark,

547
00:26:33,799 --> 00:26:36,839
just beyond the light reach, then shut the door, locked

548
00:26:36,880 --> 00:26:38,559
it again and made sure of the dead what was

549
00:26:38,599 --> 00:26:42,400
all the way, turned back to the couch, tried to focus.

550
00:26:43,079 --> 00:26:46,400
Ten minutes later, the motion I clicked off. No big deal,

551
00:26:47,000 --> 00:26:49,720
it's on a timer. But right before it went dark,

552
00:26:49,880 --> 00:26:53,200
I thought I saw something move behind the fence, not clearly,

553
00:26:54,119 --> 00:26:57,359
just a shape, a shift in the shadows. I stood

554
00:26:57,440 --> 00:27:00,759
up again. This time I didn't open anything, just move

555
00:27:00,799 --> 00:27:02,279
to the window that looks down the side of the

556
00:27:02,319 --> 00:27:05,400
house where you can see a good chunk of the yard. Nothing,

557
00:27:06,119 --> 00:27:10,200
no movement, no foot prints, just the eery stillness again,

558
00:27:10,279 --> 00:27:13,160
like everything was holding its bath. That weird bus started

559
00:27:13,160 --> 00:27:15,799
in my stomach, not full on fury yet, but that

560
00:27:15,799 --> 00:27:18,440
little static charge that beilds up when something doesn't sit right.

561
00:27:18,960 --> 00:27:21,039
I went upstairs and dug out the aluminum bad I

562
00:27:21,119 --> 00:27:23,039
used to keep under my bed back in high school.

563
00:27:23,519 --> 00:27:25,359
It was still where I left it, a little dusty

564
00:27:25,400 --> 00:27:28,400
but solid. At around ten point thirty, there was a knock.

565
00:27:29,079 --> 00:27:31,880
It was soft, just to tap, spaced out slow. It

566
00:27:31,960 --> 00:27:34,000
came from the mudroom window, the small one on the

567
00:27:34,039 --> 00:27:35,960
side of the house, the one we never used because

568
00:27:35,960 --> 00:27:38,720
there's no real path to get there. It's just grass

569
00:27:38,720 --> 00:27:41,119
and wheeze now buried under snow that windows may be

570
00:27:41,160 --> 00:27:43,680
shoal to hide from the outside, you'd have to step

571
00:27:43,720 --> 00:27:46,880
into some overgrown bushes just to reach it. I didn't move,

572
00:27:47,640 --> 00:27:50,079
just stood there, holding about like a baseball trout reject.

573
00:27:50,759 --> 00:27:53,039
I waited, hart pounding way harder than made sense, for

574
00:27:53,079 --> 00:27:58,480
two little knocks. Nothing followed, no more sounds, no footsteps,

575
00:27:59,160 --> 00:28:02,279
no second knot After a few minutes of standing there

576
00:28:02,359 --> 00:28:04,240
like a statue, I told myself it could have been

577
00:28:04,279 --> 00:28:06,519
nice sliding or a tree branch bouncing off the side.

578
00:28:06,599 --> 00:28:09,240
In I turned on every light downstairs and moved to

579
00:28:09,240 --> 00:28:11,119
a spot where I could see both the front and

580
00:28:11,200 --> 00:28:15,000
back doors without being fully visible through the windows. Around midnight,

581
00:28:15,079 --> 00:28:18,039
things got worse. I heard a voice, a man's voice,

582
00:28:18,079 --> 00:28:21,640
cunning from outside, just a casual hello, like he was

583
00:28:21,640 --> 00:28:23,640
calling out to some one he was expecting to answer.

584
00:28:24,240 --> 00:28:26,720
He didn't knock, didn't ring the bell, just said hello once.

585
00:28:27,440 --> 00:28:31,039
I didn't respond, didn't move. After about thirty seconds, I

586
00:28:31,079 --> 00:28:33,119
tiptoed to the front door and looked through the peep hole.

587
00:28:33,839 --> 00:28:37,640
Nobody was there. I weeded, turned the porch light on.

588
00:28:38,279 --> 00:28:42,240
That's when I saw the bootprints, one set deep ones

589
00:28:43,000 --> 00:28:44,599
They came from the side of the yard and stopped

590
00:28:44,599 --> 00:28:47,960
at the top step, nothing leading away. That's when I

591
00:28:48,000 --> 00:28:50,319
got scared for real. I turned the light off and

592
00:28:50,359 --> 00:28:53,079
backed away, keeping my phone in my hand. Now tried

593
00:28:53,119 --> 00:28:56,079
to calm myself down. Thought maybe I should call the cops,

594
00:28:56,119 --> 00:28:59,200
but part of me didn't want to react. Another part

595
00:28:59,200 --> 00:29:01,920
of me kept thinking he saw Prince. Someone was definitely there.

596
00:29:02,559 --> 00:29:05,319
Then the back of motion light flicked on. I rushed

597
00:29:05,319 --> 00:29:08,079
to the kitchen window and looked out. This time I

598
00:29:08,079 --> 00:29:11,680
saw him, not clearly, just the outline, a man in

599
00:29:11,720 --> 00:29:14,720
a dark jacket walking slowly across the yard toward the fence.

600
00:29:15,480 --> 00:29:18,119
Not heard, not sneaky, just walking like he belonged there.

601
00:29:18,759 --> 00:29:22,599
He disappeared behind the shed. That was enough. I called

602
00:29:22,640 --> 00:29:26,119
the police, told them someone was in the property. They

603
00:29:26,119 --> 00:29:28,200
said a cruiser was out, but moving slow due to

604
00:29:28,200 --> 00:29:31,480
the weather. I gave my address and waited. About ten

605
00:29:31,519 --> 00:29:35,480
minutes later, there was another knock, harder this time at

606
00:29:35,519 --> 00:29:40,480
the front door. No voice, just deliberate pounding. Four knocks,

607
00:29:41,200 --> 00:29:44,599
then a pause, then four again. I looked out the

608
00:29:44,599 --> 00:29:49,279
peep hole. Different guy, this time, shorter, heavier, wearing a

609
00:29:49,279 --> 00:29:51,880
pocket with the hood up, face mostly hidden He didn't

610
00:29:51,880 --> 00:29:54,200
try the door, didn't look around, just kept knocking every

611
00:29:54,240 --> 00:29:58,640
fifteen seconds. I didn't answer. I croused behind the couch again,

612
00:29:58,880 --> 00:30:01,799
bat in one hand, fu the other, harp raising hands cold.

613
00:30:02,359 --> 00:30:05,079
I was sweating despite how cold it was. Then I

614
00:30:05,119 --> 00:30:08,319
heard glass crack. The outer pane of the mud room window,

615
00:30:08,480 --> 00:30:11,319
the same one from before, had splintered. Not chatter, just

616
00:30:11,359 --> 00:30:13,440
a whip of cracks, like someone had struck it with

617
00:30:13,519 --> 00:30:17,160
something hard. I didn't look that time. I just stayed down.

618
00:30:17,799 --> 00:30:20,279
Everything felt too quiet after that, like the whole house

619
00:30:20,319 --> 00:30:23,559
was holding its breath again. Then I heard a step upstairs,

620
00:30:23,640 --> 00:30:26,319
just one, a slow creak of wood under pressure. I

621
00:30:26,359 --> 00:30:29,319
didn't breathe. I just stared at the ceiling, waiting for

622
00:30:29,359 --> 00:30:33,359
another sound. A minute passed, then another step. I called

623
00:30:33,359 --> 00:30:35,960
the police again, whispered that I thought some one was

624
00:30:36,000 --> 00:30:38,920
in the house. It said help was pulling into the neighborhood.

625
00:30:39,480 --> 00:30:41,319
I didn't move until I saw red and blue lights

626
00:30:41,319 --> 00:30:45,000
flashed through the curtains. Two officers came in, guns holstered

627
00:30:45,000 --> 00:30:47,920
but flashlights drawn. They swept the place room by room.

628
00:30:48,519 --> 00:30:51,400
No one, nothing except for the spare bedroom window upstairs,

629
00:30:51,400 --> 00:30:53,920
for one facing the back yard. It was open, just

630
00:30:53,960 --> 00:30:57,079
a little, and latch tilted half an inch up. No

631
00:30:57,119 --> 00:31:00,319
footprints outside in the snow, no sign of how anyone

632
00:31:00,359 --> 00:31:03,319
could have reached it, but it was open. They asked

633
00:31:03,319 --> 00:31:06,240
me a few questions, if I'd seen any one suspicious

634
00:31:06,240 --> 00:31:09,400
earlier in the week, if I had problems with anyone locally.

635
00:31:10,000 --> 00:31:13,640
Nothing came to mind. I called my uncle, he lives

636
00:31:13,640 --> 00:31:16,720
maybe twenty minutes away, and came over immediately. I packed

637
00:31:16,720 --> 00:31:18,279
the bag and stayed at his place the rest of

638
00:31:18,319 --> 00:31:21,079
the weekend. My partner, Jewels, was in Denver for a

639
00:31:21,119 --> 00:31:24,880
work thing, conference or training or something I honestly don't remember.

640
00:31:24,880 --> 00:31:27,680
Now I've been looking forward to the weekend alone, not

641
00:31:27,799 --> 00:31:29,640
in a dramatic way, just the kind of a loan

642
00:31:29,759 --> 00:31:31,960
where you can take your time making dinner, watch whatever

643
00:31:31,960 --> 00:31:34,599
weird documentaries you want, and leave socks in the floor

644
00:31:34,640 --> 00:31:37,720
without a comment. The house was warm, the fire was going,

645
00:31:37,839 --> 00:31:39,640
and I queued up an old jazz playlist I hadn't

646
00:31:39,640 --> 00:31:42,240
listened to in years. I poured a glass of wine

647
00:31:42,240 --> 00:31:45,400
and started shopping vegetables for a late dinner. It felt

648
00:31:45,440 --> 00:31:46,960
like the kind of night I used to wish for

649
00:31:47,000 --> 00:31:48,559
when things got loud at walk or when city your

650
00:31:48,559 --> 00:31:51,119
life still pulled at me. Everything felt still in a

651
00:31:51,160 --> 00:31:53,839
good way, at least at first. It was some time

652
00:31:53,880 --> 00:31:55,920
a round eight when I noticed the heat hadn't kicked

653
00:31:55,920 --> 00:31:58,680
on and the room didn't feel freezing or anything. Just off.

654
00:31:59,240 --> 00:32:02,680
I walk over to the thermostat. It reads sixty two.

655
00:32:03,000 --> 00:32:05,920
I usually kept it at sixty eight. No big deal.

656
00:32:06,599 --> 00:32:09,279
I figured the furnace was lagging a bit, maybe the

657
00:32:09,319 --> 00:32:11,640
felda was clogged or the storm was messing with something.

658
00:32:12,279 --> 00:32:16,319
I went down the mental checklist, checked the vents, first fold,

659
00:32:17,039 --> 00:32:19,119
then a break a box. Everything was fine there too.

660
00:32:19,720 --> 00:32:21,319
I could still hear a faint hum of the phonace

661
00:32:21,359 --> 00:32:24,359
running in the basement, so it was completely dead. I

662
00:32:24,440 --> 00:32:28,039
wasn't super worried yet, just annoyed. I texted Nate, who

663
00:32:28,039 --> 00:32:30,200
knows more about this old house stuff than I ever will.

664
00:32:30,720 --> 00:32:33,279
He used to be a home inspector before getting into insurance.

665
00:32:33,920 --> 00:32:36,000
He replied pretty fast, told me to check the int

666
00:32:36,079 --> 00:32:38,960
event and make sure nothing had blocked it. Something about

667
00:32:38,960 --> 00:32:41,599
her phone and how older systems can get fussy. I

668
00:32:41,680 --> 00:32:44,400
grabbed my phone, walked into the hallway toward the int event,

669
00:32:44,440 --> 00:32:49,079
and then stopped there. Felt different, not cold, distiller, the

670
00:32:49,200 --> 00:32:51,400
usual sounds you don't even notice until they were gone,

671
00:32:51,400 --> 00:32:54,480
were just ubsent. The gentle clicks from the baseboards, the

672
00:32:54,480 --> 00:32:56,680
creeks and the floorboards upstairs, even the hum of the

673
00:32:56,680 --> 00:32:59,160
fridge down the hall. It was all just gone. It

674
00:32:59,200 --> 00:33:01,759
felt like the house was holding its breath. I stood

675
00:33:01,759 --> 00:33:04,200
there for a minute, phone still in my hand, just listening.

676
00:33:04,839 --> 00:33:06,559
I'd even then held my own breath for a few

677
00:33:06,559 --> 00:33:09,160
seconds to make sure I wasn't imagining it. But it

678
00:33:09,200 --> 00:33:12,880
wasn't just silence. It was the absence of everything, like

679
00:33:12,920 --> 00:33:15,480
sound had been pulled out of the walls. I tried

680
00:33:15,480 --> 00:33:18,119
to laugh at myself, told myself I'd just got and

681
00:33:18,119 --> 00:33:20,839
spooked because it was too quiet, too still, the kind

682
00:33:20,880 --> 00:33:23,359
of silence that makes your ears ring a little. Then

683
00:33:23,400 --> 00:33:26,119
I opened the basement door. The lights, which flickered once

684
00:33:26,160 --> 00:33:29,480
when I flipped it, then held steady. Not knew old wirrying.

685
00:33:29,559 --> 00:33:32,319
Still it felt more noticeable at night. I started it

686
00:33:32,359 --> 00:33:34,519
down the stairs, one hand on the rail, trying not

687
00:33:34,599 --> 00:33:36,599
to think about anything other than checking the furnace and

688
00:33:36,599 --> 00:33:38,880
getting back to my wine. The basement was how I

689
00:33:38,960 --> 00:33:42,400
left it, unfinished, cluttered and vaguely musty. I keep a

690
00:33:42,400 --> 00:33:44,759
bunch of store it bins down there, tools I rarely use,

691
00:33:45,000 --> 00:33:46,839
and the old fern is tucked away along the far

692
00:33:46,920 --> 00:33:49,519
wall like some relic from a factory. I took a

693
00:33:49,519 --> 00:33:52,759
couple more steps and stopped. There were footprints on the floor,

694
00:33:53,319 --> 00:33:55,720
wet's slush aboot prints tracking across the concrete from the

695
00:33:55,759 --> 00:33:57,880
small window on the far side of the room, directly

696
00:33:57,920 --> 00:33:59,880
to the base of the stairs, where I now stood.

697
00:34:00,480 --> 00:34:03,240
They weren't mine. I hadn't been down there in days,

698
00:34:03,279 --> 00:34:06,079
and when I had, I hadn't been wearing boots. These

699
00:34:06,119 --> 00:34:08,360
were bigger than mine, too wider, with a deeper treat,

700
00:34:09,039 --> 00:34:11,880
and the pattern the spasin of the steps, whoever made them,

701
00:34:11,920 --> 00:34:16,320
had moved, slowly, deliberate steps, all evenly spaced. The window

702
00:34:16,440 --> 00:34:21,239
was shut. The latch looked undisturbed, no cracks, no sign

703
00:34:21,280 --> 00:34:24,880
of anything forced open, just the Prince. I stood there

704
00:34:24,880 --> 00:34:27,880
longer than I want to admit, not even breathing. I

705
00:34:27,960 --> 00:34:31,920
didn't move, didn't check the furnace. I just turned around

706
00:34:31,960 --> 00:34:34,320
and walked back up, one step at a time, locked

707
00:34:34,360 --> 00:34:36,280
the basement door behind me, and leaned against it for

708
00:34:36,320 --> 00:34:39,199
a good ten seconds. Then I started checking the rest

709
00:34:39,199 --> 00:34:43,960
of the house, quietly, carefully, every room, every closet. I

710
00:34:44,000 --> 00:34:45,760
even got how the old step utter and popped the

711
00:34:45,760 --> 00:34:48,719
atticatch open to shine a flas sight around. Not then,

712
00:34:49,400 --> 00:34:52,280
no broken glass, no open doors, no sign that anything

713
00:34:52,280 --> 00:34:55,519
had been touched, but that stillness was still there. Not

714
00:34:55,639 --> 00:34:58,119
the peaceful kind any more. This was the kind that

715
00:34:58,159 --> 00:35:00,760
makes your skin feel too tight. I could feel my

716
00:35:00,760 --> 00:35:02,760
pulse in the back of my neck, just pulsing like

717
00:35:02,760 --> 00:35:06,199
a drum, lud and steady. I called Nate again, this time,

718
00:35:06,280 --> 00:35:08,679
not bothering to hide the edge of my voice. Told

719
00:35:08,760 --> 00:35:11,119
him what I saw, didn't dress it up or try

720
00:35:11,159 --> 00:35:15,000
to sound reasonable. He offered to call the sheriff. I said, no,

721
00:35:15,679 --> 00:35:18,159
what was I going to say? Hey, some one walked

722
00:35:18,159 --> 00:35:20,440
through my seal basement, didn't break in, and now the

723
00:35:20,440 --> 00:35:23,480
heat's not working. Instead, Nate stayed on the fohonm with

724
00:35:23,519 --> 00:35:25,360
me while I walked through the rest of the house again.

725
00:35:25,960 --> 00:35:28,679
We even laughed a little, mostly him trying to lighten

726
00:35:28,679 --> 00:35:31,880
the mood. I think I said something like maybe I

727
00:35:31,920 --> 00:35:34,239
sleep worked down there in buts I dun't own. It

728
00:35:34,320 --> 00:35:36,679
sounded stupid the moment I said it, but it helped.

729
00:35:37,480 --> 00:35:39,960
After we hung up, I locked every window and door again,

730
00:35:40,079 --> 00:35:42,760
then double checked them for good measure. I even waged

731
00:35:42,760 --> 00:35:45,199
a chair under the door knob to the basement, not

732
00:35:45,320 --> 00:35:47,519
something I usually do, but that night it felt right.

733
00:35:48,280 --> 00:35:50,760
I built the fire back up, wrapped myself in a blanket,

734
00:35:50,800 --> 00:35:52,840
and told myself i'd call some one about the furnace

735
00:35:52,840 --> 00:35:55,679
in the morning. Then at ten point thirty, the back

736
00:35:55,719 --> 00:36:00,840
porch creaked, just one step shop definite. Now I've lived

737
00:36:00,840 --> 00:36:03,199
here long enough to know exactly what that sound means.

738
00:36:03,800 --> 00:36:07,159
The top step always creaks when someone steps on. Always.

739
00:36:07,840 --> 00:36:09,920
I walked to the kitchen window slow and stood just

740
00:36:09,960 --> 00:36:12,000
to the side so I wouldn't be visible from outside.

741
00:36:12,679 --> 00:36:17,360
Porch light was on, snow was untouched, nothing there, but

742
00:36:17,440 --> 00:36:19,760
I know what I heard. I shot off all the

743
00:36:19,840 --> 00:36:22,239
light except for the one in the hallway. It gave

744
00:36:22,239 --> 00:36:25,880
me better visibility through the windows without catching reflections. I

745
00:36:25,920 --> 00:36:29,280
stood there, just watching. At exactly eleven o'clock, some one

746
00:36:29,320 --> 00:36:33,840
knocked in the front door. Just one knock, thought slow.

747
00:36:34,559 --> 00:36:40,639
Six seconds passed, another knock, then another three total, each

748
00:36:40,679 --> 00:36:44,800
one spaced exactly six seconds apart. I counted. I moved

749
00:36:44,800 --> 00:36:48,519
to the door, leaned in and looked through the people nobody.

750
00:36:48,800 --> 00:36:53,840
Porch was empty, snow stop effect, no prints, no vehicle

751
00:36:53,880 --> 00:36:57,760
in sight, no tailights on the road, just stillness. Again.

752
00:36:58,320 --> 00:37:01,840
I didn't open the door, didn't move, My hand hovered

753
00:37:01,880 --> 00:37:04,039
near the lock, frozen therefore I don't know how long.

754
00:37:04,679 --> 00:37:07,840
And then out of nowhere, the furnace clicked on, just

755
00:37:07,960 --> 00:37:10,480
like that. He saw itted flowing through the vents like

756
00:37:10,519 --> 00:37:12,920
it had been working the whole time. I walked back

757
00:37:12,960 --> 00:37:16,280
to the hallway. There were stats at seventy I'd never

758
00:37:16,320 --> 00:37:19,159
set it that high. The house didn't feel still any more.

759
00:37:19,800 --> 00:37:22,159
It felt pace, like something I'd shifted gaze, not back

760
00:37:22,199 --> 00:37:23,960
to normal, just ad just that. I didn't sleep. I

761
00:37:24,000 --> 00:37:25,920
sat in the living room with the fire down to glowing,

762
00:37:25,960 --> 00:37:27,920
coal's phone in hand, every cut and close tight ran

763
00:37:28,000 --> 00:37:30,280
through the motion light over the garage clickton and stayed on.

764
00:37:30,320 --> 00:37:32,119
No shadows, no movement to just stayedle it for a

765
00:37:32,119 --> 00:37:34,639
solid thirty minutes. Stan blinked off. Morning came slowly when

766
00:37:34,679 --> 00:37:37,000
the light at side turned gray blue. I checked the porch,

767
00:37:37,679 --> 00:37:41,119
still no footprints. Later that day add a technician come

768
00:37:41,119 --> 00:37:43,480
look at the furnace. He gave it a clean bill

769
00:37:43,559 --> 00:37:45,719
of health, said it was cleaner than most he had

770
00:37:45,719 --> 00:37:48,440
seen that winter. Looked like it had just been serviced.

771
00:37:49,079 --> 00:37:51,440
I didn't bring up the rest For the rest of

772
00:37:51,480 --> 00:37:53,960
that winter, I left boots and a flashlight near every door.

773
00:37:54,599 --> 00:37:56,639
I kept my phone charsed and made sure every lock

774
00:37:56,639 --> 00:37:59,639
clicked twice. I told myself it was just a one off,

775
00:38:00,320 --> 00:38:04,440
something weird, something i'd may be misunderstood. I'd only been

776
00:38:04,480 --> 00:38:06,840
in the house for a couple weeks. It was a

777
00:38:06,880 --> 00:38:08,880
rental on the edge of Downmere, one of those small

778
00:38:08,920 --> 00:38:11,079
towns where the post office closes for lunch and your

779
00:38:11,079 --> 00:38:13,800
neighbor's wave whether they know you or not. The house

780
00:38:13,800 --> 00:38:17,599
itself was nothing special, flat roofs, single story, a little

781
00:38:17,599 --> 00:38:19,360
too much fornoleum, but it sat at the dead end

782
00:38:19,360 --> 00:38:21,840
of a cultstac tuck between a string of mostly identical

783
00:38:21,920 --> 00:38:24,760
ranch homes. What sold me on it, though, was the

784
00:38:24,760 --> 00:38:28,880
back yard, vague folly fence, perfect for Ernie iron Ee's

785
00:38:28,920 --> 00:38:32,119
my dog, half Retriever, half something for Sir. That weekend,

786
00:38:32,199 --> 00:38:34,679
though the place felt off because he wasn't there. He'd

787
00:38:34,719 --> 00:38:36,639
gotten into something earlier that wee coud chewed up a

788
00:38:36,679 --> 00:38:38,719
tennis ball and swallowed some of it, and the vet

789
00:38:38,719 --> 00:38:40,599
wanted to keep him over night just to be safe.

790
00:38:41,079 --> 00:38:44,360
It's amazing how much base one dog can fill. Without him,

791
00:38:44,400 --> 00:38:47,039
the house felt kind of hollow. No clicking nails on

792
00:38:47,079 --> 00:38:50,719
the floor, no what's snout in my lap? Just quiet.

793
00:38:51,360 --> 00:38:53,280
That night, I was doing what I always do when

794
00:38:53,280 --> 00:38:55,639
I don't know what else to do, making tea I

795
00:38:55,639 --> 00:38:58,840
probably wouldn't finish. I had a blanket around my legs

796
00:38:58,840 --> 00:39:00,880
and the old space heat buzzing near my ankles while

797
00:39:00,920 --> 00:39:02,920
I scrolled on my phone, half watching some home re

798
00:39:02,960 --> 00:39:06,400
innovation show where everything's fake arguments and open cons of kitchens.

799
00:39:06,880 --> 00:39:11,280
Then came the knock. It was soft, barely even a knock, really,

800
00:39:12,039 --> 00:39:14,280
just a few taps, like someone's second guessing whether they

801
00:39:14,320 --> 00:39:17,320
should be knocking at all. I paused the show, got up,

802
00:39:17,360 --> 00:39:20,039
and went to the front door without thinking twice. That's

803
00:39:20,079 --> 00:39:22,400
something I still get hung up on, how easy it

804
00:39:22,440 --> 00:39:24,960
was to just open the door without checking first. I

805
00:39:25,000 --> 00:39:27,039
didn't even look through the peep hole, just twisted the

806
00:39:27,079 --> 00:39:30,639
knob and pulled nobody not even a hint of movement.

807
00:39:31,119 --> 00:39:33,320
The porch light was on so I could see pretty clearly.

808
00:39:33,880 --> 00:39:36,360
The snow was still coming down hard, real thick and slow,

809
00:39:36,440 --> 00:39:41,119
muffling everything. I leaned out, looked both directions down the street, empty,

810
00:39:41,840 --> 00:39:44,719
not just of people either. The fresh snow was untouched,

811
00:39:45,440 --> 00:39:48,000
no tracks, no tire marks, no sign that anyone had

812
00:39:48,000 --> 00:39:51,039
been near the house, well except for mine from earlier

813
00:39:51,719 --> 00:39:54,440
I'd taken the trash out before dinner. I could still

814
00:39:54,440 --> 00:39:56,519
see my bootprints leading from the porch to the bins,

815
00:39:56,559 --> 00:39:59,280
stamped clean and shop in the snow. I waited there

816
00:39:59,280 --> 00:40:01,920
a little longer, may be expecting someone to suddenly appear

817
00:40:01,960 --> 00:40:04,239
out of the darkness with an apology or an explanation,

818
00:40:04,400 --> 00:40:07,840
but nothing. Eventually I stepped back inside, closed the door,

819
00:40:07,880 --> 00:40:10,800
and turned the did bolt. I told myself it just kids,

820
00:40:11,519 --> 00:40:14,559
some board teenager looking for a reaction, while maybe it

821
00:40:14,599 --> 00:40:16,159
was one of the nighbors trying to welcome me and

822
00:40:16,239 --> 00:40:19,960
chickening out at the last second. Small town stuff. Ten

823
00:40:20,000 --> 00:40:22,840
minutes later, I heard the second knock, not from the

824
00:40:22,840 --> 00:40:25,320
front this time. It came from the side door, the

825
00:40:25,320 --> 00:40:28,000
one that leads into the kitchen. That door is invisible

826
00:40:28,000 --> 00:40:31,119
from the living room, but the sound was clear. Three knocks,

827
00:40:31,159 --> 00:40:35,000
slow and heavy, not violent, but firm, like whoever was

828
00:40:35,000 --> 00:40:38,159
doing it didn't fildy again. That door's got a frosted window,

829
00:40:38,199 --> 00:40:41,400
the kind that blows everything into vague shapes. I couldn't

830
00:40:41,400 --> 00:40:45,840
see anyone through it. No shadows, no motion, just that

831
00:40:45,920 --> 00:40:48,920
hazy light from the porch bowl outside. This time, I

832
00:40:48,960 --> 00:40:52,639
didn't move right away, just sat there listening. The heater

833
00:40:52,760 --> 00:40:55,559
clicked off. The hall house felt suddenly too quiet, like

834
00:40:55,599 --> 00:40:58,519
it was holding its breath. I stood up, slowly, walked

835
00:40:58,559 --> 00:41:01,199
into the kitchen and flipped the porch light on. Still

836
00:41:01,239 --> 00:41:03,920
no movement. I didn't open that didn't even get too

837
00:41:03,960 --> 00:41:06,480
close to it, just stood off to the side and

838
00:41:06,639 --> 00:41:09,440
washed through the edge of the glass. Then I looked down.

839
00:41:10,159 --> 00:41:16,000
No footprints, not new ones, not mine, nothing. The path

840
00:41:16,079 --> 00:41:18,239
leading to that door had been totally clean before, and

841
00:41:18,280 --> 00:41:21,239
it was still clean now, just smoothed and broken snow.

842
00:41:21,840 --> 00:41:25,280
No tracks leading in, no tracks leading out. And the

843
00:41:25,280 --> 00:41:28,239
weirdest part the footprints I had seen at the front earlier,

844
00:41:28,880 --> 00:41:31,480
the ones I left taking out the trash. They were

845
00:41:31,519 --> 00:41:36,039
gone to, not covered, just gone. That's when the unknees

846
00:41:36,079 --> 00:41:39,239
really set in. I locked the side door, slid the

847
00:41:39,239 --> 00:41:41,800
bolton with a solid click. Then I did a full

848
00:41:41,840 --> 00:41:47,079
path through the house, checked every window, every door, every latch.

849
00:41:47,880 --> 00:41:52,800
Everything was sealed tight, nothing broken, nothing open. It helped

850
00:41:53,519 --> 00:41:56,239
a little, made me feel like I was doing something

851
00:41:56,239 --> 00:41:58,840
instead of just sitting there like a tugget. And then

852
00:41:58,880 --> 00:42:01,960
came the third knock, the time from the back. That's

853
00:42:01,960 --> 00:42:04,519
what did it. The back door led to the fence yard,

854
00:42:04,639 --> 00:42:07,840
fully enclosed six foot boards all the way around. The

855
00:42:07,840 --> 00:42:10,519
gate had been shut since morning. There was no easy

856
00:42:10,519 --> 00:42:12,119
way for someone to be back there, un ness they

857
00:42:12,119 --> 00:42:14,039
had climbed a fence, or unless they were already in

858
00:42:14,039 --> 00:42:16,519
the yard. I didn't have time to think too much

859
00:42:16,519 --> 00:42:19,360
about it. I grabbed the fireplace poker from the stand,

860
00:42:19,559 --> 00:42:21,400
held it like a bat. I moved slow toward the

861
00:42:21,440 --> 00:42:24,239
laundry room, where the back door was. That door also

862
00:42:24,280 --> 00:42:27,239
had blinds. I peeled them back just a bit enough

863
00:42:27,280 --> 00:42:31,039
to peek through nothing. I opened the martyrs gained the porch.

864
00:42:31,760 --> 00:42:33,960
The motion light hadn't come on, but I could still

865
00:42:33,960 --> 00:42:36,280
see most of the yard from that angle. It was

866
00:42:36,360 --> 00:42:39,639
clean and disturbed. The snow and steps were smooth, and

867
00:42:39,719 --> 00:42:42,199
yet I stood there frozen, holding that stupid poker like

868
00:42:42,239 --> 00:42:44,559
it was going to fix anything. Then I saw the

869
00:42:44,559 --> 00:42:48,119
handle twitch. It was tiny, burrely a movement, but it happened.

870
00:42:48,920 --> 00:42:52,320
Someone had touched it. I shouted something loud and automatic,

871
00:42:53,000 --> 00:42:56,079
I'm calling the police. I think that's what I said.

872
00:42:56,679 --> 00:43:00,159
The handle went still, no sound, no movement, just the

873
00:43:00,199 --> 00:43:02,239
creeping sense that something was still on the other side

874
00:43:02,280 --> 00:43:05,559
of that door. Then something slid under it, A piece

875
00:43:05,559 --> 00:43:09,480
of paper, fain, small, warm. It came through slow, like

876
00:43:09,519 --> 00:43:11,400
whoever was on the other side wanted to make sure

877
00:43:11,400 --> 00:43:13,480
I saw it happen. I stared at it for a

878
00:43:13,480 --> 00:43:17,480
long time, didn't touch it. Eventually I backed away, still

879
00:43:17,480 --> 00:43:20,199
holding the poker, still listening for any sound of retreat.

880
00:43:20,760 --> 00:43:22,599
Then I went to the living room and made the call.

881
00:43:23,239 --> 00:43:26,239
The despatcher said it could be a while, rows were rough.

882
00:43:26,880 --> 00:43:30,920
I didn't argue. I sat there, watching the doors, the windows,

883
00:43:31,039 --> 00:43:33,760
the clock. Half an eye passed like it was stitched

884
00:43:33,760 --> 00:43:38,800
out of aires. Nothing happened, no more knocks, no more movement.

885
00:43:39,519 --> 00:43:41,599
When the cop showed up, they checked the yard first,

886
00:43:42,239 --> 00:43:47,320
walked the perimeter. No footprints, nothing on the steps, not

887
00:43:47,400 --> 00:43:50,039
even signs of the gate being opened. I told them

888
00:43:50,039 --> 00:43:54,159
about the note. They picked it up with gloves read it.

889
00:43:54,360 --> 00:43:55,960
Then one of them looked at me and asked if

890
00:43:55,960 --> 00:43:59,079
I wanted to see it. I nodded. It's out a knee,

891
00:43:59,159 --> 00:44:04,360
tiny letters, not leave you are mine, six words, just that.

892
00:44:05,239 --> 00:44:08,320
The paper had a faint water mark, later they told

893
00:44:08,320 --> 00:44:10,360
me it was a page from a Bible, the kinds

894
00:44:10,360 --> 00:44:13,480
some churches leave in hospital chapels. However, road it had

895
00:44:13,519 --> 00:44:16,199
torn it from the inside margin. They bagged it, gave

896
00:44:16,239 --> 00:44:18,800
me a case number, said they'd file a report. That

897
00:44:19,039 --> 00:44:21,639
was it. I stayed at my friend Klop's place for

898
00:44:21,639 --> 00:44:24,719
two nights after that. He had a second bedroom, lots

899
00:44:24,719 --> 00:44:26,480
of locks, and lived on the fourth floor of a

900
00:44:26,519 --> 00:44:29,599
brick building downtown, the kind of place that felt safe.

901
00:44:30,079 --> 00:44:32,519
When I came back to the house, everything was untouched,

902
00:44:33,280 --> 00:44:36,480
no signs of entry, no new prints, no damage. But

903
00:44:36,599 --> 00:44:40,039
something had changed. Every single window, every latch had been

904
00:44:40,079 --> 00:44:43,920
relocked from the outside. I know how that sounds, I

905
00:44:44,000 --> 00:44:47,440
really do, but I checked him before I left. I'm

906
00:44:47,480 --> 00:44:50,440
obsessive like that. The windows in the house only lot

907
00:44:50,519 --> 00:44:52,960
by pushing the latch down from outside of the panes open.

908
00:44:53,440 --> 00:44:57,320
They weren't. After that, I got cameras installed, high end ones,

909
00:44:57,400 --> 00:45:02,199
changed every lock, adopted second dock, a husky ma name Brook, Friendly, loud,

910
00:45:02,239 --> 00:45:05,800
and absolutely not subtle about strangers. It's been two years,

911
00:45:06,519 --> 00:45:09,480
nothing else has happened. My parents had driven up to

912
00:45:09,480 --> 00:45:12,320
Bellwood for that. We canned one of my mum's cousins

913
00:45:12,360 --> 00:45:14,800
passed away, someone I'd only met once at a reunion

914
00:45:14,880 --> 00:45:17,360
years ago. They offered to take me, but I had

915
00:45:17,360 --> 00:45:20,880
classwork piling up, and besides, someone needed to stay with Jonah,

916
00:45:21,000 --> 00:45:24,280
our dog. It was early January, one of those weeks

917
00:45:24,320 --> 00:45:26,960
when everything outside just freezes solid and stays that way.

918
00:45:27,559 --> 00:45:29,599
The snow had already been on the ground for days,

919
00:45:29,760 --> 00:45:32,239
and the night before my parents left we got hit

920
00:45:32,280 --> 00:45:34,639
with freezing rain. Nuts sealed everything in a thin cross device.

921
00:45:35,440 --> 00:45:37,719
It cracked loudly under your boots and made every step

922
00:45:37,760 --> 00:45:40,159
feel louder than it should have been. We lived outside

923
00:45:40,159 --> 00:45:43,199
of town, past the last plowed road, our drive. We

924
00:45:43,239 --> 00:45:45,119
curved him from the south like a hook, long enough

925
00:45:45,119 --> 00:45:46,760
that you couldn't see the house from the main road.

926
00:45:47,480 --> 00:45:50,159
Beyond the back yard was this marshy stretch of frozen wetland,

927
00:45:50,239 --> 00:45:53,840
tall reeds, scattered trees, and more ice. No neighbors in

928
00:45:53,880 --> 00:45:57,280
shouting distance, no street lights, just dark woods, brittle trees,

929
00:45:57,320 --> 00:45:59,760
and a lot of quiet. The first night went exactly

930
00:45:59,800 --> 00:46:03,000
how I expected. I made can tomato soup, sat in

931
00:46:03,039 --> 00:46:05,599
the couch, scroll through some random show I wasn't even watching,

932
00:46:05,719 --> 00:46:08,599
and tried to get a few assignments started Jonah, a

933
00:46:08,639 --> 00:46:11,119
thick fuzzimup weed it. Since I was fifteen, was more

934
00:46:11,159 --> 00:46:13,800
than happy to sneeze next to the heat events. I

935
00:46:13,880 --> 00:46:15,960
let him at once before bed, and he did his

936
00:46:16,039 --> 00:46:18,639
usual routine sniff around the porch, maybe p if he

937
00:46:18,639 --> 00:46:20,679
felt like it, then showed me a look like seriously

938
00:46:20,719 --> 00:46:23,800
this weather and run back inside. Before heading to bed,

939
00:46:23,800 --> 00:46:25,760
I went through the usual motions. Locked the front door,

940
00:46:25,840 --> 00:46:27,639
checked the garage entry it, made sure that the side

941
00:46:27,639 --> 00:46:30,480
door atch was set tight. We had one of those heavy,

942
00:46:30,519 --> 00:46:32,840
a dated dead balls that sometimes needed a hard twist.

943
00:46:33,559 --> 00:46:36,079
I gave it too, just to be sure. Then I

944
00:46:36,159 --> 00:46:38,159
fell asleep to the soft hum of the baseboard heat

945
00:46:38,159 --> 00:46:41,360
ticking alarm. The second night is when thing started to shift.

946
00:46:42,119 --> 00:46:44,840
I was back in the living room around ten. Gionah

947
00:46:44,880 --> 00:46:47,000
was curled up near my feet, half snoring, twitching a

948
00:46:47,039 --> 00:46:48,960
little in his sleep like dogs duw and they're dreaming

949
00:46:48,960 --> 00:46:51,760
about squaws or whatever. I didn't have the overheads on,

950
00:46:52,079 --> 00:46:53,840
just a single lamp near the back window that gave

951
00:46:53,880 --> 00:46:56,880
off a soft yellowish glow. I was tired but not

952
00:46:56,960 --> 00:46:59,880
quite ready for bed, just thumbing through messages killing time.

953
00:47:00,480 --> 00:47:03,400
Jano made the sand low quiet but drawn up almost

954
00:47:03,440 --> 00:47:05,880
like a wine, but it wasn't quite right. It had

955
00:47:05,880 --> 00:47:08,159
this uneasiness to it, not like when he hears the

956
00:47:08,159 --> 00:47:12,239
garbage truck and gets anxious. This was different. I looked

957
00:47:12,280 --> 00:47:14,639
up and he was sitting up now, stiff, ears forward,

958
00:47:14,679 --> 00:47:16,679
staring straight at the sliding glass door that led to

959
00:47:16,679 --> 00:47:19,400
the deck. At first, I figured maybe a raccoon had

960
00:47:19,440 --> 00:47:22,239
wandered too close or something. I leaned forward to see

961
00:47:22,280 --> 00:47:24,960
what he was looking at. That's when I noticed the snow.

962
00:47:25,559 --> 00:47:27,280
There was a pattern out that just passed the edge

963
00:47:27,280 --> 00:47:29,119
of the deck where the yard sloped toward the marsh.

964
00:47:29,880 --> 00:47:32,880
Not a trail exactly, but a shape like some one

965
00:47:32,920 --> 00:47:35,960
out walked in a circle round the house, a tight circle,

966
00:47:36,039 --> 00:47:38,800
hugging the siding, just beyond the deck railing. The prints

967
00:47:38,800 --> 00:47:41,960
were deep and uneven, not delicate little animal tracks, but

968
00:47:42,079 --> 00:47:45,440
clear boot prints. But there was no path leading into them,

969
00:47:45,599 --> 00:47:49,159
and no trail leaving either, just that one loop. I

970
00:47:49,199 --> 00:47:52,800
stood up, slowly, trying not to startle Jonah. He didn't move,

971
00:47:53,480 --> 00:47:56,039
just track my motion with his eyes. I walked to

972
00:47:56,039 --> 00:47:57,960
the glass door and looked out, but the porch light

973
00:47:58,000 --> 00:48:00,880
didn't come on when I flipped the switch. Great, probably

974
00:48:00,920 --> 00:48:04,400
the bulb The glass was cold to the touch. I

975
00:48:04,440 --> 00:48:06,960
pressed my forehead lightly against it, trying to see better.

976
00:48:07,480 --> 00:48:09,440
The circle of Prince just sat there in the moonlight.

977
00:48:09,599 --> 00:48:13,519
Crispin knew. I washed for a minute or two, nothing moved.

978
00:48:14,159 --> 00:48:16,639
I closed the blinds and sat back down. But now

979
00:48:16,679 --> 00:48:18,559
my chest was tight and my brain wouldn't let it go.

980
00:48:19,239 --> 00:48:21,400
I kept picturing some one pacing back there in the

981
00:48:21,440 --> 00:48:24,400
dark while I was distracted on my phone. Around midnight,

982
00:48:24,519 --> 00:48:26,880
I got up to take Joan out again. I clipped

983
00:48:26,880 --> 00:48:29,559
his leash on and grabbed a flashlight. This time. The

984
00:48:29,599 --> 00:48:32,519
cold hit me hard when we stepped outside, that sharp

985
00:48:32,599 --> 00:48:35,039
kind of cold that makes your teethirt. We made it

986
00:48:35,079 --> 00:48:37,760
half way down the driveway when Jones stopped suddenly rigid,

987
00:48:37,880 --> 00:48:39,639
then pulled hard toward the trees at the edge of

988
00:48:39,639 --> 00:48:42,840
the property. No sound, no bark, just pulling like he

989
00:48:42,920 --> 00:48:46,239
knew something was there. I aimed the flashlight. There was

990
00:48:46,280 --> 00:48:49,159
some one standing in the trees. They were maybe fifteen

991
00:48:49,239 --> 00:48:51,800
or twenty feet back, just inside the edge of the woods.

992
00:48:52,480 --> 00:48:54,679
I could barely make them out, just a faint outline

993
00:48:54,679 --> 00:48:57,400
of a person upright still, I saw a pale shape

994
00:48:57,400 --> 00:48:58,920
where their face should have been, and the rest of

995
00:48:58,920 --> 00:49:01,280
them looked like they were in dark clothes, a hood maybe,

996
00:49:01,320 --> 00:49:03,960
were a heavy coat. But they didn't move, not even

997
00:49:04,000 --> 00:49:07,519
a twitch. They were just standing there. Joanah led out

998
00:49:07,519 --> 00:49:09,519
a low in the kind I'd only heard twice before,

999
00:49:09,639 --> 00:49:11,880
once at a Vette's office and once when astray wandered

1000
00:49:11,880 --> 00:49:14,199
into the yard. I didn't wait to find out more.

1001
00:49:14,800 --> 00:49:17,199
I turned, yanked Joanah hard enough that he stumbled, and

1002
00:49:17,280 --> 00:49:20,000
we sprinted back to the house. I didn't even grab

1003
00:49:20,039 --> 00:49:21,880
the flashlight when I dropped a half way up the driver.

1004
00:49:22,039 --> 00:49:24,800
I slammed the door, locked it and stood there with

1005
00:49:24,840 --> 00:49:26,519
my back against it for a long minute, trying to

1006
00:49:26,519 --> 00:49:32,159
listen past my breathing. Nothing no footsteps, no vorse, just

1007
00:49:32,239 --> 00:49:35,880
that same awful quiet. I didn't sleep that night, left

1008
00:49:35,880 --> 00:49:38,519
every single light on, sat in the kitchen with my

1009
00:49:38,559 --> 00:49:40,360
phone in one hand and Joana's leash in the other.

1010
00:49:41,079 --> 00:49:44,000
I texted my parents something vague, just that I thought

1011
00:49:44,039 --> 00:49:46,480
some one might have been outside, and then I was

1012
00:49:46,559 --> 00:49:49,679
keeping the doors locked. My dad said to call the sheriff.

1013
00:49:50,239 --> 00:49:52,960
I said I would the next night I finally did.

1014
00:49:53,599 --> 00:49:56,039
It was a round nine again, maybe a little after

1015
00:49:56,760 --> 00:49:58,679
I just heated up some leftovers when I heard it

1016
00:49:58,679 --> 00:50:00,599
this loud. Saw it there out of against the side

1017
00:50:00,639 --> 00:50:03,760
of the house, not the front door, not the deck.

1018
00:50:04,519 --> 00:50:06,960
It came from the far wall, behind the garage, where

1019
00:50:06,960 --> 00:50:09,960
there are no lights and no windows. I froze in place.

1020
00:50:10,760 --> 00:50:13,920
Then another went closer. This time I called the Sheriff's

1021
00:50:14,000 --> 00:50:17,119
on emergency line and explained what was going on. They

1022
00:50:17,159 --> 00:50:19,000
said some one would come by, but with the weather

1023
00:50:19,039 --> 00:50:22,039
and icy roads, it might be delayed. I said okay,

1024
00:50:22,039 --> 00:50:24,440
and hung nap, pacing the living room every step, feeling

1025
00:50:24,480 --> 00:50:27,239
like it E could too much. Joanah barked one short,

1026
00:50:27,320 --> 00:50:30,239
sharp and ran to the back of the house. I followed.

1027
00:50:30,840 --> 00:50:33,320
He was at the glass door again, standing stiff till down,

1028
00:50:33,400 --> 00:50:37,719
head forward. The blinds were up. I looked out. There

1029
00:50:37,800 --> 00:50:40,960
was a man on the deck, just standing there, maybe

1030
00:50:41,000 --> 00:50:43,760
two feet from the door, closer than the night before.

1031
00:50:44,400 --> 00:50:49,559
He didn't have his hands raised, wasn't knocking, just standing theissen,

1032
00:50:49,679 --> 00:50:53,480
eyes open. His face was washed out in the low light, pale,

1033
00:50:53,519 --> 00:50:56,199
mouth slightly open, like he was caught midthought or I

1034
00:50:56,239 --> 00:50:59,679
had forgotten where he was. I whispered Joana's name, mostly

1035
00:50:59,760 --> 00:51:03,000
just remind him not to bark again. The man didn't flinch.

1036
00:51:03,719 --> 00:51:06,000
I backed away and dialed again. Told them some one

1037
00:51:06,079 --> 00:51:08,840
was literally on the property right outside. They said a

1038
00:51:08,880 --> 00:51:11,159
deputy was near by and would be there within ten minutes.

1039
00:51:11,840 --> 00:51:14,440
I stayed in the line. When I looked back, the

1040
00:51:14,480 --> 00:51:18,599
man was gone. No sound, no retreating footsteps, nothing but

1041
00:51:18,639 --> 00:51:20,760
the dark deck and the same trail of prince circling

1042
00:51:20,760 --> 00:51:23,679
behind him. When the deputy arrived, he walked the property

1043
00:51:23,679 --> 00:51:26,400
with me. We didn't find anything you except the same

1044
00:51:26,440 --> 00:51:29,639
set of prints I'd seen before, No fresh ones leading

1045
00:51:29,639 --> 00:51:33,360
off the deck. No explanation. He suggested it was maybe

1046
00:51:33,400 --> 00:51:38,199
someone not all their mentally wandering, confused, possibly high, possibly

1047
00:51:38,280 --> 00:51:41,079
just looking for shelter. I nodded and agreed, even though

1048
00:51:41,119 --> 00:51:43,719
I didn't really buy it. After he left, I couldn't

1049
00:51:43,719 --> 00:51:46,440
sit down. I check every window in the house every

1050
00:51:46,440 --> 00:51:50,199
ten minutes, like clockwork. Jonah wouldn't settle either. He just

1051
00:51:50,239 --> 00:51:53,199
paced the hallway, pausing sometimes like he was listening for

1052
00:51:53,239 --> 00:51:56,519
something I couldn't hear. Around two wah am, he growled again,

1053
00:51:56,760 --> 00:52:00,159
just once. I didn't even bother with the light. I

1054
00:52:00,239 --> 00:52:03,079
just went straight to the kitchen window. There was nothing there.

1055
00:52:03,679 --> 00:52:06,480
By morning, I hadn't slept at all. As soon as

1056
00:52:06,519 --> 00:52:08,280
it was light enough to see. I bundled up and

1057
00:52:08,320 --> 00:52:11,320
went outside. My hands were shaking the whole time, not

1058
00:52:11,480 --> 00:52:14,280
just from the cold. I followed the tracks back behind

1059
00:52:14,280 --> 00:52:17,000
the house. The snow was so crusted over it felt

1060
00:52:17,039 --> 00:52:20,079
like walking on glass. The trail led up toward the marsh,

1061
00:52:20,119 --> 00:52:22,360
again white through ven gap in the reeds. But once

1062
00:52:22,400 --> 00:52:26,679
you got past that nothing the prince stopped. No return path,

1063
00:52:27,440 --> 00:52:31,559
no sign of someone moving forward, just untouched flat snow,

1064
00:52:31,599 --> 00:52:34,599
and I stretching out across the frozen marsh. When my

1065
00:52:34,679 --> 00:52:36,920
parents got home later that day, I told them enough

1066
00:52:36,960 --> 00:52:39,400
to justify why I wouldn't stay home alone again. My

1067
00:52:39,519 --> 00:52:41,360
parents had taken a week long trip to visit my

1068
00:52:41,440 --> 00:52:45,159
uncle Doug in bell Rage, Kansas. It was just before Christmas,

1069
00:52:45,199 --> 00:52:47,199
and since I just wrapped up finals and didn't feel

1070
00:52:47,239 --> 00:52:49,679
like sitting through riers of Midwestern Highway, I stayed home

1071
00:52:49,719 --> 00:52:52,440
to look after our two German shepherds, Max and Tessa.

1072
00:52:53,079 --> 00:52:55,760
We lived in a quiet area outside of rend Falls, ministered,

1073
00:52:56,440 --> 00:52:59,440
not suburbs where more rural. Our house sat at the

1074
00:52:59,480 --> 00:53:01,599
end of a law on gravel road, surrounded on three

1075
00:53:01,639 --> 00:53:04,360
sides by woods. The hindness was an old dry creek

1076
00:53:04,400 --> 00:53:07,480
bed that twisted off into the trees. Nearest neighbor was

1077
00:53:07,480 --> 00:53:09,719
about a mile away, maybe a little more, and even

1078
00:53:09,760 --> 00:53:12,199
they were snowbirds who had already migrated south for the winter.

1079
00:53:12,960 --> 00:53:15,360
The house was a weird seven to style split level.

1080
00:53:15,960 --> 00:53:19,119
Upstairs was the kitchen and living room. Downstairs had the

1081
00:53:19,119 --> 00:53:22,360
bedrooms and laundry, the kind of layout that made footsteps

1082
00:53:22,360 --> 00:53:25,079
sound twice as loud depending on where he stood. The

1083
00:53:25,119 --> 00:53:28,519
first few nights were totally normal, quiet, freezing. I stayed

1084
00:53:28,559 --> 00:53:31,199
up lake gaming, neoked a few furzen burritos, let the

1085
00:53:31,239 --> 00:53:34,280
dogs out of every few wurs they tore around in the snow,

1086
00:53:34,559 --> 00:53:37,679
came back panting happy. It was boring in the best way.

1087
00:53:38,360 --> 00:53:40,679
Then Wednesday night, a little after two in the morning,

1088
00:53:40,760 --> 00:53:44,039
the land line ran. Yeah, we still had a land line,

1089
00:53:44,199 --> 00:53:45,920
mostly because my mom refused to get rid of it

1090
00:53:45,960 --> 00:53:48,559
in case of emergencies. It was one of those beige

1091
00:53:48,559 --> 00:53:51,039
plastic wall fones with a cully cord that always tangled

1092
00:53:51,079 --> 00:53:53,960
even if no one touched it. The screen said unknown.

1093
00:53:54,559 --> 00:53:56,719
I figured it was some robocall or maybe one of

1094
00:53:56,719 --> 00:54:00,920
my grandma's friends with a weird number. I picked it up. Hullo.

1095
00:54:01,599 --> 00:54:04,079
There was a pause just long enough to be uncomfortable.

1096
00:54:04,599 --> 00:54:07,440
Then a man's voice, calm and low, Is Dana there?

1097
00:54:07,960 --> 00:54:11,280
It caught me off guard. Dinah. I told him he

1098
00:54:11,320 --> 00:54:15,079
had the wrong number. He didn't argue, didn't say sorry,

1099
00:54:15,840 --> 00:54:19,079
just hung up. We didn't know any Dana. No one

1100
00:54:19,119 --> 00:54:21,679
by that name had ever lived there, at least not

1101
00:54:21,760 --> 00:54:24,320
that I knew of. My parents bought the place about

1102
00:54:24,320 --> 00:54:26,320
seven years or alive from a retired couple who moved

1103
00:54:26,320 --> 00:54:29,039
to Arizona. I figured it was just some mix up,

1104
00:54:29,559 --> 00:54:32,719
weird timing, maybe a drunk guye dialing the wrong number.

1105
00:54:33,320 --> 00:54:36,039
I forgot about it pretty quickly. But the next night,

1106
00:54:36,119 --> 00:54:40,840
same time, same number, same exact question, is Dana there?

1107
00:54:41,440 --> 00:54:45,119
This time I said no, wrong number, A bit shopper.

1108
00:54:45,679 --> 00:54:49,239
He hung up again. Nothing else. Now I was starting

1109
00:54:49,239 --> 00:54:51,880
to feel worried about it. The timing was too precise,

1110
00:54:52,000 --> 00:54:54,559
like down to the minute. I unplugged the land line

1111
00:54:54,559 --> 00:54:58,840
before heading to bed, told myself it was just a coincidence. Still,

1112
00:54:58,840 --> 00:55:01,599
slept with the light on Friday, came and went without

1113
00:55:01,639 --> 00:55:04,800
anything strange. I felt stupid for letting it get to me.

1114
00:55:04,920 --> 00:55:06,960
I even plugged the phone back in to check messages

1115
00:55:06,960 --> 00:55:10,679
and forgot to unplug it again. Then move Saturday was

1116
00:55:10,679 --> 00:55:14,119
when things shifted. It had snowed all day, one of

1117
00:55:14,119 --> 00:55:16,800
those relentless, sideways blizzards that buries everything and makes the

1118
00:55:16,800 --> 00:55:19,519
air feel like it's chewing through your skin. By nightfall,

1119
00:55:19,559 --> 00:55:22,320
it was below zero. I brought the dogs in early

1120
00:55:22,440 --> 00:55:25,719
and double check the locks. Around midnight, I was danced

1121
00:55:25,719 --> 00:55:28,199
as switching laundry loads when I heard of footsteps above me.

1122
00:55:28,480 --> 00:55:33,079
Not creaking or how settling stuff, actual footsteps slow, even

1123
00:55:33,719 --> 00:55:36,960
crossing the living room. Both dogs tought what they were doing.

1124
00:55:37,599 --> 00:55:42,039
Max stiffened, Tess's ears went up like radar. I froze

1125
00:55:42,599 --> 00:55:45,880
for a solid five seconds. I didn't breathe, thin silence.

1126
00:55:46,559 --> 00:55:48,800
I grabbed the aluminum bat Dad kept by the basement

1127
00:55:48,840 --> 00:55:51,800
door and went upstairs, one step at a time. Every

1128
00:55:51,880 --> 00:55:56,679
light was off, but everything looked normal. Doors locked, nothing broken,

1129
00:55:57,360 --> 00:56:00,679
curtains still drawn. I turned on every light, checked every room,

1130
00:56:00,719 --> 00:56:03,599
even opened the co closet by the front door. Nothing.

1131
00:56:04,360 --> 00:56:07,639
Eventually I went back downstairs, still clutching the bat. At

1132
00:56:07,639 --> 00:56:10,639
two point twenty, the landline rang again. I forgotten I

1133
00:56:10,679 --> 00:56:13,280
plugged it back in earlier. I picked it up, didn't

1134
00:56:13,280 --> 00:56:16,440
say anything, breathing then the same voice, only this time

1135
00:56:16,679 --> 00:56:19,280
just one word, Dana. He didn't ask for her, he

1136
00:56:19,400 --> 00:56:21,639
just said the name, like he already knew she wasn't there.

1137
00:56:22,280 --> 00:56:23,880
I hung up and yanked the phone cord out of

1138
00:56:23,880 --> 00:56:26,559
the wall so hard the little clip broke. Then I

1139
00:56:26,559 --> 00:56:28,519
locked my bedroom door for the first time since I

1140
00:56:28,559 --> 00:56:31,039
was a kid. The next morning, I called my mamm

1141
00:56:31,079 --> 00:56:33,320
and asked casually if she ord doubted given the house

1142
00:56:33,400 --> 00:56:37,280
number to anyone. She said no. I didn't mention the coals.

1143
00:56:38,000 --> 00:56:40,119
That night, a round eight, I let the dogs out

1144
00:56:40,119 --> 00:56:42,679
one last time. Normally they run a few laps and

1145
00:56:42,719 --> 00:56:44,679
come right back, but this time they stopped near the

1146
00:56:44,679 --> 00:56:47,599
tree line and just stood there, tail stiff, barking, not moving.

1147
00:56:48,119 --> 00:56:52,079
I called for them nothing, grabbed my flasklight and stepped

1148
00:56:52,079 --> 00:56:54,880
out on to the deck. It was bitterly cold, or

1149
00:56:54,920 --> 00:56:58,639
sharp enough to sting your throat. Askan the yard. The

1150
00:56:58,760 --> 00:57:01,679
tracks criscrossed everywhere, but then I spotted another set when

1151
00:57:01,679 --> 00:57:06,760
I didn't recognize through prints, large coming from the trees,

1152
00:57:07,480 --> 00:57:09,960
stopping just at the edge of the yard facing the house.

1153
00:57:10,679 --> 00:57:13,039
I didn't see anyone, but the dogs were still barking,

1154
00:57:13,639 --> 00:57:16,559
not scared exactly, more like they were warning something off.

1155
00:57:17,079 --> 00:57:19,360
When I called them again. They finally came, but slowly.

1156
00:57:19,840 --> 00:57:22,159
Both had their heads low, eyes darling to the woods

1157
00:57:22,159 --> 00:57:24,760
behind me. I didn't turn around, just got them inside

1158
00:57:24,760 --> 00:57:27,679
and locked everything up. That night, I dragged the dining

1159
00:57:27,679 --> 00:57:29,599
table in front of the basement windows and sat with

1160
00:57:29,639 --> 00:57:33,119
the bat across my knees until sunrise. Sunday afternoon, I

1161
00:57:33,159 --> 00:57:35,599
gave in and called the sheriff. I mentioned the beat

1162
00:57:35,639 --> 00:57:38,159
prince in the noise upstairs, but left out the calls.

1163
00:57:38,840 --> 00:57:41,639
Didn't want to sound paranoid. A deputy came by a

1164
00:57:41,719 --> 00:57:45,239
round five. He was friendly, but clearly thought I was overreacting.

1165
00:57:45,760 --> 00:57:48,360
He looked around, saw the tracks, said it was probably

1166
00:57:48,400 --> 00:57:50,719
a hunter who got turned round of someone passing through.

1167
00:57:51,280 --> 00:57:53,440
He reminded me to keep the doors locked, said to

1168
00:57:53,440 --> 00:57:58,400
call again if anything changed. I nodded. He left. That night,

1169
00:57:58,519 --> 00:58:00,480
I set up one of Dad's old trail cans from

1170
00:58:00,480 --> 00:58:03,000
the shed and pointed it toward the woods. I didn't

1171
00:58:03,039 --> 00:58:05,639
expect to catch anything, mostly did it for my own

1172
00:58:05,679 --> 00:58:09,039
peace of mind. The land line stayed and plugged. At

1173
00:58:09,039 --> 00:58:11,800
two point twenty three, it rang again. I stared at

1174
00:58:11,800 --> 00:58:14,320
it from across the room. It wasn't even plugged in.

1175
00:58:15,000 --> 00:58:17,760
I picked it up there was no dial tone, just

1176
00:58:17,840 --> 00:58:21,079
finced attic, like when pushing through a mic. Then the voice,

1177
00:58:21,239 --> 00:58:25,519
almost whispering, Dane is called. I dropped the phone. Max

1178
00:58:25,559 --> 00:58:29,360
started barking downstairs. Tessa led up, this low gutteral girl.

1179
00:58:29,400 --> 00:58:32,159
I'd never heard from her before. I growled the bat

1180
00:58:32,280 --> 00:58:35,400
and ran down. The laundry room door was wide open.

1181
00:58:36,000 --> 00:58:38,920
The lock had been broken, snapped clean through. Max was

1182
00:58:38,920 --> 00:58:41,760
snarling at the back door. Tessa was called behind the

1183
00:58:41,800 --> 00:58:45,880
dryer shaking. No one was inside. I checked it every inch.

1184
00:58:46,639 --> 00:58:49,760
The next morning, I checked the trail cam three clips.

1185
00:58:50,440 --> 00:58:53,039
First at two hundred nineteen a figure man I think,

1186
00:58:53,280 --> 00:58:55,280
in a thick coat standing at the edge of the yard,

1187
00:58:55,480 --> 00:58:59,159
just standing there facing the house. Second, two hundred twenty one,

1188
00:58:59,639 --> 00:59:03,320
he was closer, half way across the snow. I deleted

1189
00:59:03,320 --> 00:59:05,199
the footage for set the camera back to bag and

1190
00:59:05,280 --> 00:59:07,480
drove straight to my friend Jordan's place, into him Bend.

1191
00:59:08,119 --> 00:59:10,000
Just told my parents I was sick and couldn't stay

1192
00:59:10,000 --> 00:59:13,599
the rest of the week. They didn't push my lamblord.

1193
00:59:13,719 --> 00:59:16,320
A guy named Ray, who mostly kept himself, had offered

1194
00:59:16,320 --> 00:59:18,639
me a steep winter discount on this little standalone cottage

1195
00:59:18,639 --> 00:59:21,320
near Dresden. It was maybe twenty minutes from the coast

1196
00:59:21,320 --> 00:59:23,360
and completely cut off from anything you'd call the town.

1197
00:59:23,960 --> 00:59:26,239
Most folks had already left for the season, so it

1198
00:59:26,239 --> 00:59:27,960
didn't surprise me that he was trying to keep the

1199
00:59:27,960 --> 00:59:31,000
place occupied. Said he didn't like leaving it empty for

1200
00:59:31,039 --> 00:59:34,000
too long. That night, around eight, I was standing in

1201
00:59:34,039 --> 00:59:35,559
the kitchen heating up left of a soup when I

1202
00:59:35,599 --> 00:59:39,119
heard what sounded like a knock. It was faint, barely

1203
00:59:39,159 --> 00:59:41,719
even a knock, really, more like the back of some

1204
00:59:41,800 --> 00:59:44,679
Montan tapping once or twice, just enough to make me

1205
00:59:44,719 --> 00:59:47,320
freeze with my hand halfway to the drawer. I paused

1206
00:59:47,320 --> 00:59:51,360
the microwaven waited nod in. I stood still for a minute,

1207
00:59:51,400 --> 00:59:54,679
listening hard. The cottage didn't make much noise, aside from

1208
00:59:54,679 --> 00:59:57,000
the occasional groan from the wood stove or ice popping

1209
00:59:57,039 --> 01:00:01,280
off the roof. This was at it had read them intention,

1210
01:00:02,000 --> 01:00:04,800
but still silence. I chalked it up to the usual

1211
01:00:04,840 --> 01:00:07,159
old building corks grad a spoon and went to check

1212
01:00:07,159 --> 01:00:09,800
the front window, just in case. The porch light, the

1213
01:00:09,800 --> 01:00:12,400
one with the motion sensor, it was glowing. I clicked

1214
01:00:12,400 --> 01:00:15,159
on automatically. If anything moved within ten or fifteen feet,

1215
01:00:15,840 --> 01:00:18,079
it was only supposed to stay on for thirty seconds.

1216
01:00:18,760 --> 01:00:21,239
I opened the front door. No footprints, just with snow

1217
01:00:21,239 --> 01:00:22,840
from the potch steps all the way down to where

1218
01:00:22,840 --> 01:00:24,800
the road should have been. I stared at it for

1219
01:00:24,840 --> 01:00:27,320
a long time, not because I expected to see anything.

1220
01:00:27,880 --> 01:00:30,559
There was clearly nothing there, but because something felled off.

1221
01:00:31,159 --> 01:00:34,000
Not supernatural or anything like that, just that we're prickling

1222
01:00:34,079 --> 01:00:35,960
on your neck when you know you're not actually alone,

1223
01:00:36,119 --> 01:00:38,920
like some one's just out of sight. The light blinked off.

1224
01:00:39,440 --> 01:00:42,199
I stepped back inside, locked the door, both the dead

1225
01:00:42,239 --> 01:00:44,519
bolt and the latch, and ate my soup in silence.

1226
01:00:45,280 --> 01:00:47,920
Later that night, made ten point thirty, I went into

1227
01:00:47,960 --> 01:00:50,639
the bathroom to brush my teeth. It was cold in there,

1228
01:00:50,719 --> 01:00:53,400
colder than the rest of the house. I figured it

1229
01:00:53,440 --> 01:00:56,360
was just bad insulation until I noticed the window. It

1230
01:00:56,440 --> 01:00:58,280
was open, not wide, but enough to let in a

1231
01:00:58,320 --> 01:01:02,639
noticeable draft. Inches may be less, but the thing was.

1232
01:01:02,719 --> 01:01:05,320
I had definitely closed and latched it earlier that evening.

1233
01:01:05,880 --> 01:01:08,280
I remember, because the latch was always annoyingly tight. You

1234
01:01:08,360 --> 01:01:10,320
had to really shove it. There was no way it

1235
01:01:10,320 --> 01:01:13,480
had slid open on its own. I leaned in. The

1236
01:01:13,519 --> 01:01:17,079
snow outside was untouched, no tracks, but the latch was

1237
01:01:17,079 --> 01:01:18,719
turned all the way up, like some one had tried

1238
01:01:18,760 --> 01:01:21,639
to lock it again from the outside. My skin went

1239
01:01:21,679 --> 01:01:23,480
cold all at once, like the kind of drop you

1240
01:01:23,519 --> 01:01:25,119
get when you realize you've left your keys in the

1241
01:01:25,119 --> 01:01:28,239
door or your front gate swinging open. I closed the window,

1242
01:01:28,440 --> 01:01:30,480
latched it again, then pulled down the blinds, like I

1243
01:01:30,519 --> 01:01:32,440
was sealing the room off from something. And that's when

1244
01:01:32,440 --> 01:01:35,440
I heard it again. Three slow taps, same spot, not

1245
01:01:35,559 --> 01:01:38,480
at the door, not in the windows, somewhere along the

1246
01:01:38,559 --> 01:01:40,840
right wall of the cottage, the side that faced the trees,

1247
01:01:40,880 --> 01:01:43,880
and nothing else. I didn't check. I turned off every

1248
01:01:43,960 --> 01:01:45,760
light in the house, sat down in the living room,

1249
01:01:45,760 --> 01:01:47,360
where I had a clear view of the motion light

1250
01:01:47,400 --> 01:01:50,639
through a crack in the curtain, and waited. Time passed slowly.

1251
01:01:51,239 --> 01:01:53,719
I didn't even look at my phone. I just sat

1252
01:01:53,800 --> 01:01:56,639
and stared out at the stillness. For a long while,

1253
01:01:56,960 --> 01:02:00,480
nothing happened. Then the motion light blinked on. I held

1254
01:02:00,519 --> 01:02:05,000
my breath. Thirty seconds passed, it went dark again, Then

1255
01:02:05,079 --> 01:02:08,039
ten seconds later it snapped back on. This time I

1256
01:02:08,079 --> 01:02:11,480
got up and moved to the people. Nothing cracked the

1257
01:02:11,519 --> 01:02:16,079
curtain an inch still nothing, but something felt wrong. That's

1258
01:02:16,119 --> 01:02:19,440
when it hit me. The snow was falling again, light

1259
01:02:19,480 --> 01:02:21,480
but steady, which meant that even if there had been

1260
01:02:21,519 --> 01:02:23,800
some one there, any prince would have already been filled

1261
01:02:23,800 --> 01:02:27,239
in erased. I was standing there, staring at the cutten

1262
01:02:27,280 --> 01:02:29,800
when I turned toward the hallway and stopped cold. The

1263
01:02:29,840 --> 01:02:33,039
bathroom light was on. I hadn't left it on. I

1264
01:02:33,119 --> 01:02:36,039
turned it off. When I pulled the blinds, I remembered

1265
01:02:36,039 --> 01:02:38,639
the click. The whole house had been dark for over

1266
01:02:38,679 --> 01:02:40,719
an hour, and now the bathroom door was cracked and

1267
01:02:40,840 --> 01:02:43,599
light was spilling out from inside. I didn't go back

1268
01:02:43,639 --> 01:02:46,679
down the hallway. I backed slowly into the kitchen, grabbed

1269
01:02:46,679 --> 01:02:51,199
the satellite phone and cold ray no answer, straight to voicemail.

1270
01:02:51,800 --> 01:02:56,320
I called again, nothing. Then the power went out. Everything

1271
01:02:56,320 --> 01:03:00,880
gone in a snap, no warning, just a dnse gating blackness.

1272
01:03:01,360 --> 01:03:04,199
Even the hum of the fridge disappeared. I couldn't see

1273
01:03:04,199 --> 01:03:06,599
my own hands in front of me. My breath felt

1274
01:03:06,599 --> 01:03:09,159
too loud in the silence, and then I heard it

1275
01:03:09,679 --> 01:03:14,679
footsteps above me, slow deliberate movement on the ceiling. The

1276
01:03:14,679 --> 01:03:17,119
cottage didn't have a second floor, just an arrow attic

1277
01:03:17,199 --> 01:03:19,760
with a poled down hatch in the hallway. I'd never

1278
01:03:19,920 --> 01:03:23,239
even looked inside. The steps weren't fast, more like someone

1279
01:03:23,320 --> 01:03:25,760
was crawling hands a knee, shifting weight across the boards,

1280
01:03:26,440 --> 01:03:28,840
then as off of lk knee pressing down directly above me.

1281
01:03:28,920 --> 01:03:32,519
I didn't breathe, I didn't move. I stove completely still

1282
01:03:32,559 --> 01:03:34,960
in the kitchen, flasklight still on the counter, too scared

1283
01:03:35,000 --> 01:03:37,519
to grab it. I didn't even look up, just stared

1284
01:03:37,519 --> 01:03:39,119
at the dark space in front of me, waiting for

1285
01:03:39,159 --> 01:03:42,320
the sound to stop. It didn't. I don't know what

1286
01:03:42,440 --> 01:03:44,480
finally kicked me into motion, but at some point I

1287
01:03:44,480 --> 01:03:46,559
grabbed my boot's coat and keys and slipped out the

1288
01:03:46,599 --> 01:03:49,400
front door as quietly as I could. I didn't lock it.

1289
01:03:50,000 --> 01:03:52,679
I didn't even close it. All the way I walked

1290
01:03:53,320 --> 01:03:55,840
through the dark, through the trees, down the snow covered road,

1291
01:03:56,519 --> 01:03:59,360
no light, snow flashlight, just kept moving in a straight

1292
01:03:59,360 --> 01:04:02,239
line towards the Mai Highway. Took me nearly an hour.

1293
01:04:02,840 --> 01:04:06,239
Eventually a snowbla pass. The driver stopped and radioed the

1294
01:04:06,239 --> 01:04:10,000
county sheriff. They took me back. The front door was open,

1295
01:04:10,559 --> 01:04:12,920
the lights were back on, and they had a catch.

1296
01:04:13,719 --> 01:04:17,239
It was down. I never spent another night there. A

1297
01:04:17,360 --> 01:04:19,639
Melvray checked to break the lease, packed up what little

1298
01:04:19,639 --> 01:04:22,000
I had left behind, and moved into Krump's studio apartment

1299
01:04:22,039 --> 01:04:26,239
in Augusta. And that is the end. Thank you for listening,

1300
01:04:26,320 --> 01:04:35,719
and I will see you in the next one.