The Killers Next Door

IV

Mom stood on the lawn of the new house, she shook hands with the woman she was talking with. The woman removed the 'for sale' sign in the front yard. She then rotated it, the sign now read 'sold.'

The woman then got in her car and drove off, the street here was oddly quiet. A few houses had already put up their lights. She looked around the street, only one house didn't have a decoration whatsoever, the house next door.

Christine got off the car, her boots sinking into the snow. She struggled, lifting one foot up and placing it in front of the other. She wore her fluffy jacket and had a scarf wrapped around her mouth and covering her ears.

She got out of the car and started walking across the white lawn to the door. Her mother opened the door, snow landed on both of them. Chris laughed at the look of astonishment and shock on Julia's face.

"We're home," her mother said, "help me unload the boxes."

~¤~

Chris stood in her room, it had a pile of boxes stacked up. They were not going to be opened anytime soon, she knew that that was certain.

She checked to see if her window could open, the window flew open. A shiver ran up her spine as she quickly closed the window. This weather will be the death of me, she thought.

A knock sounded on the door, Chris ran down the stairs to get the door. Her mother was way ahead of her and was already opening the door.

There stood a man and his wife, they were both in their early forties. They smiled ear to ear whilst the woman hid something behind her back. They looked at both Chris and Julia still wearing their smiles. Chris and her mother could tell the two were hiding something.

"Hi," the woman said, "We live just next door. We saw you arrive and we were so delighted we had new neighbours."

"Thank you," Julia said, "this seems like a friendly neighbourhood."

"It really is one of the best neighbourhoods to raise your children," Phil said.

"A beautiful girl you got there," Beatrice interjected.

"Thank you, thank you very much," Julia said.

The woman started to bring the hand she'd kept behind her forward. "We just wanted to welcome you," Beatrice said as her hand slowly creeped out from behind her.

"We hope we aren't bothering you or anything," Phil said.

"No, not at all."

"We're glad you moved here, one more thing," Beatrice said as her hand rose, "we also wanted to give you this," she said a little seriousness had formed in her tone. Beatrice pulled out her hand from behind her revealing a blood-red dish with plastic foil covering the top.

Chris's mom thanked the two and they left, "What a nice pair, I wonder if they have kids," Julia said to herself.

Chris went back upstairs to her room, she opened her window and jumped out. She stood on the roof for a while before sitting down. She looked around the quiet street and when her gaze reached next door, a black-haired boy with hazel eyes also sat on the roof.

It was like the boy could feel her eyes on him, he turned whilst she was looking at him. Their eyes met, they shared a moment as if seeing someone they hadn't seen in years.

"Hi, I'm Chris," she said.

"Hi, I'm Jason, but you can call me Jase," the boy said, revealing a small shy smile.