Hello Neighbor: Hidden Shadows: Unofficial AFK Book

CHAPTER 13

   "Try not to get too close to the windows," Mom says. I honestly don't want to look at the house across the street, but something is telling me too. I stare at it, not saying or doing a single thing. The police just rushed over to this street again, due to a newscast earlier today that Mya Peterson was pronounced dead, which makes my skin crawl. I guess they saw the tapes, which I strictly ordered them not too. But it's the Raven Brooks police. What did I expect?

   "How did you find those tapes?" asks Mom. I start to get a stone sinking into my stomach deeper and deeper, making me want to barf. I manage to hold it in though, but the feeling still exists somewhere.

   "They were in his backyard," I say, trying not to let it all out at once. Mom gives me another look.

   "Mr. Peter..."

   "Yes!" I blurt, cutting Mom off to avoid hearing that cursed name. She walks back to the kitchen without saying another word, leaving me hear again. I don't even bother asking what she's doing in there, only letting my attention draw back to the other side of my window. The police have gone back and forth through the front door of the Peterson house, pulling out random objects and papers.

   Everyone can see now. Everyone can finally see the truth. Everything that's been hidden is now being unraveled. To be honest, it makes be feel oddly better. Although I got out, I wonder what would happen if I was still in there. What if they found me instead of Aaron letting me out that day? My thoughts get interrupted as I see an officer accidentally drop a massive pile of papers.

   I wrote on those.

   The notes. The other notes that they didn't find were still in there. My eyes attract to the left, where I see three faces stop at the yellow police tape. Their eyes line up with mine through the window. I look back with no emotion, just staring. That's all I feel like doing right now, while my heart pounds repeatedly without me being able to control it.

   "Nicky what's... going on?" Trinity asks. I still don't bother looking, keeping my head planted into my hands.

   "Look across the street, and watch," I say dully. Enzo and Trinity share a look, then joining me while I flail my legs back in forth in a chair I moved from the kitchen. "They found everything."

   Maritza just looks at me. I don't bother looking back at her, because I might do something embarrassing in front of her. I think that she knows it too. I look at her from the corner of my eyes. She holds her guarded look at me for another few seconds, then looking back, her face flushing red for some reason.

   "The posters," I point out. We all stare at the vast amounts of missing posters of Aaron and Mya that almost make it big enough to fill an entire cardboard box. "He had them scattered across his walls in the basement. Aaron kept drawing on them."

   Enzo looks at me, for some reason surprised. I don't know if I should be worried, scared, or happy right now. Definitely not happy, but slightly relieved.

   "Nicky, aren't those your, posters?" Maritza asks. It takes me a few seconds for my brain to work, then seeing what she's actually pointing at across the street. One of the officers bring out more posters, all photocopied with my face on there. I feel the urge to vomit, and cry at the same time, and some other thing that I can't explain in an account of words.

   Sometimes I feel like I'm being treated like a ghost around other people. I can't get a complete answer on why. It's like everyone acts different now, like nothing happened to me, or anyone else. I know I've been gone for two months, but I still can't help that all of that happened to me. I want it out of my head, but I can't do anything about it.