The House Next Door (original version)

The House Next Door

I have quite an interesting story to tell, but if you were to know any of it, it may as we'll be from the start. The morning it happened, I suddenly awoke. I took a glance at my alarm clock, 6:58 am. As I slowly propped myself up on my elbow, I felt like I was being watched. I slowly tiptoed over to my window, the skies were grey. As I looked down onto the roadside, I could see police cars, four of them. To the right, I could also see an ambulance. Startled, I went to fetch my parents. As I creaked open their bedroom door, I heard an alarm. I screamed. Then I realised it was my alarm clock. My parents were not there, this worried me sick. I stood there In silence for a moment, my heart racing. I thought I was going to pass out. Then I heard voices. They were coming from near the front door. I listened for a moment. I felt VERY relieved when I heard my parents talking, but there was someone else down there as well. I could hear the person say the words neighbour and murdered. I had a feeling that I knew where this might have been going. Then the person asked " did you see anyone late last night around the area?" I peered around the side of the bannister, and as I thought, it was the police.

As soon as the police left, I rushed down the stairs and asked my parents "what has happened?" Apparently the police wouldn't give them much information, but they had found a dead body in my neighbours home. I was desperate to find out more. We live in a small welsh village where things like this don't usually happen.

The next day, the only thing I could possibly think of was who could be the murderer, and who's body had been found. I have always been this way as soon as something like this happens, I feel the need to find out more. If only my friend were in school that day. He would help me find out what had been going on. I was staring into space during class, thinking of all the possibilities, and after a few minutes I think my teacher started to notice. He must have asked a question, but I finally woke up when he started screaming at me. He doesn't seem to be very fond of me.

A week had gone by. Nobody had been able to get in contact with my best friend. Alfie always made sure I knew some way or another if he wasn't going to be in school, especially if he had been off for more than a few days. My parents were still shaken over the fact that a body had been found next door.

To take our minds off things, we went bowling after school and went to our favourite restaurant after. It was great! Even my two year old sister who couldn't bowl seemed to enjoy it very much.

When we got home, we had three missed calls from the same exact number. My mother picked up the landline and phoned the number back. It was Alfie jones' mother. I could hear her sobbing while I stood beside my mum, wanting to know what mrs Jones was saying. Alfie had gone missing. I was terrified, and the first thing I thought of was the murder next door. The more I thought about it, the more worried I felt.

The only thing that anyone wanted to talk about was Alfie going missing the next day. I honestly missed him. However, if it was only on the news yesterday, and the body had been found a week before, it sort of confused me. It was bad enough that there had been a murder next door, but the fact that the victim might be my best friend literally destroyed me. If only I could just search the house to see if there were any clues......

When I got off the school bus at the end of my street, I went back to my house as normal. My mum wouldn't be home for another half hour, so I checked to see if there was anyone next door. I went straight to the garden and slowly, discreetly started to climb over the fence between me and my neighbours house. I knew what I was doing was wrong, but I needed to find out if Alfie was in the house, dead or alive. I was extremely pleased when I noticed that the back door had been left unlocked, and I knew for a fact that our neighbours never had an alarm because of Killer, the dog. As I approached the back door, I looked behind me, having second thoughts about the whole thing.

However, I knew that if Alfie were here he would want me to do it. I opened the door and slowly crept in. I looked in many cupboards and anywhere that someone might hide a body. I felt like I could hear Alfie's voice upstairs, and everything felt extremely eerie. I cautiously crept up the stairs, constantly looking behind me and to my left and right. When I got up the stairs, all of the doors were wide open. I couldn't see inside any of the rooms, and as I walked Inside of the master bedroom, something tapped on my shoulder. I screamed very loud, which I soon regretted, thinking that someone might hear me. As I spun around, there was nothing behind me, apart from that the book that was on the floor a minute ago was now balancing on the bannister. As I carefully tiptoed into the bedroom, I had a horrific sight right in front of me. It was another body, a dead body, lying on the bed in front of me. I fled from the house, terrified. However, I knew I couldn't tell anybody about what I had seen because everyone would know about me trespassing in the house. As I closed the back door, I noticed policemen and women in the garden of the house. They saw me, and to make matters worse, my mother was talking to one of them. My mum had came home earlier than I expected, and she heard me scream. Obviously she didn't know it was me, but she had phoned the police...

My mother shrieked when she saw me, and the police also seemed rather surprised. They handcuffed me and made me get in the car. I could see my mum and sister crying as the police drove away. I tried to explain myself, but they told me that I'd be better off telling the same thing to the judge in court. At the police station, I started crying at what I had gotten myself into. When I told them the exact truth, and what I had saw, they let me go, but told me that I must never repeat what I did today. They began investigating the house next door, as I expected, and the next day it was released who's body I had seen.

As a family, we were all sat down on the sofa. My parents and I discussed what I had done yesterday, and how it wasn't the right thing to do. After I apologised and everything was over, we switched on the tv, and you will never guess what the headline was. " local boys body found in the name of Alfie Jones". What I had seen yesterday was the corpse of my best friend...

I was speechless, and had no clue what I was going to do.

After that, I couldn't carry on with my life as normal. I had to go to counselling to help me cope with what I had seen. One good thing came out of it, though, and that was that I was no longer bullied at school for being a wimp. Here I am now, known socially for being a hero, and my life is completely normal again. However, I still pray to Alfie every night, and I will never forget him.