My Neighbor

Boy Next Door

It all started when we got a new neighbor. They moved in when I was 6 and my brother was 11. They were a nice family, there kids about the same age as my older brother. I was about 3 years younger than their youngest son, so we didn't really get to know each other. We were just... neighbors. Living in a neighborhood that was full of children.

We had some... troubles with the neighbors, around the time the youngest son, Dustin, was 16. We had a lot of trees and flower bushes because my mother loved to garden. One day, one was cut down. It wasn't hard to find that it was Dustin. You see, it was winter at the time and there was a foot of snow on the ground. The tracks literally led strait to him, well, to his fire pit. My mom disliked him a lot.  One day they had an argument over who picked every last flower in her garden. She went over to his garage (the place he usually hung out) and I heard yelling, then screaming. First sounding angry, but then became fearful. She ran back to our house and locked the doors. She told me to stay away from him, that there was something wrong with him. After that day, I noticed that I never saw much of his parents.

As I got older, she got even more cautious. She told my brother not to come home, always insisting we go see him. Never letting me go outside when she wasn't home. I was never to leave the house without my charged phone and a pocket knife. They continued to fight occasionally, but after a while of fighting, he would give her this... look, and she would simply stop. You could just say we've always had problems with our neighbor.

Now, I'm 17, and our neighborhood that was full of life is making its way to becoming a retirement home. All the families are either gone or with kids in collage. I'm one of the youngest 'kids' on the street. Even though I'm not really a kid at all.

As I pull up to my house, I couldn't help but notice that Dustin's car was in his driveway. Odd, I thought to myself. Dustin left for collage three months ago, and his parents, now being child free, went on a cruise a month after. Pfft, dropout... I chuckled to myself. He never did strick me much as an honor role student. I took out my keys and went into my house.

I look around my empty home. I wish my parents didn't have to work so long. Its three ten and they get home at six-o-clock at the earliest. I pull out my homework from my book bag and start filling in a study guide. I hate Science. Defeated, I walk over to my computer to just Google the answers, and I briefly see something in the window. I caught it out of the corner of my eye, but when I looked out, nothing was there. Okay...?

I shake the thought out of my head. Alright, now I'm just being paranoid. Paranoia actually runs in my family. You can tell if you just have a simple conversation with my grandmother... I don't get to see her that often, but it does make me sad that she's in an asylum. She calls my mom, and asks her to visit her more, but she just avoids her.

About a half hour later, my homework is complete and I can finally relax. I pull out a book to read. Divergent. I love this book. I've read it plenty of times, but don't mind reading it again. As I start reading, I see the figure in the window again. I try not to let 'it' know that I'm watching. I can't quite make it out, but its just, standing there. Just watching. My hands start to tremble. I quickly turn my head to the window. Nothing. Just stop it! You don't want another visit to the hospital, do you?

Sighing, I get up and go to the cabinet. I get my pill and a glass of apple juice. "Damn it!" I sigh. I was two days free of taking these stupid pills. Now my brains gotta go and mess it up.

After I take the pills, I go lie on the couch. These things always do make me drowsy. I hate talking them. I feel so useless to the world and they always send me into a fitful sleep. The drugs start to take effect just as I hear the front door. Someone is frantically beating on it. I peak out the side of the hallway to see who it could be. I nearly faint when I see them, desperation written all over her face.

"Mom?"