Next Door

The dainty house on Amaker Street had stood without a permanent owner for two years. Buyers immediately became sellers of the house, causing the exterior to start to peel and weeds to grow on the front lawn. The dark paint on the paneling had begun to diminish making the house appear creepy to those driving by.

Over the months, the price had dropped and dropped attracting a girl fresh out of college. She knew it would be months of renovations on the old house, but she ultimately decided she was up for the challenge, looking past with others didn't. The quirks of the house attracted her. All she was seeing was the possibility.

The moving truck arrived early in July on the hot South Carolina day. All the neighbors dismissed her as another temporary resident. None of them knew why the house tended to stay without an owner, except the little girl next door.

***

The casual knock on the front door tore my attention from the kitchen box I was struggling to unpack. The tiny kitchen plastered with gothic seventies wallpaper did not hold much storage for the collection of mugs and miscellaneous dishes I had received for my first housewarming gifts.

A girl greeted me with bright blue eyes behind the dark wooden door. Her long black hair was tied into braids that swung when she looked up at me with a wide grin.

"Hi!" She spoke enthusiastically. "My mama said you just moved here so she wanted me to um..." The girl paused as if trying to remember something. "Oh, welcome you to the neighborhood." I could see the pride wash over her.

Smiling I said, "Well, hello!" I crouched down to meet her height. "Tell your mom I said thank you. What's your name sweetheart?"

"Edith." She beamed proudly standing tall on the tips of her toes. Her freckles crinkled with the lines of her dimples.

"Hi, Edith. My name is Reeve, but you can call me Ree. Do you live next door?" She nodded quickly, not hiding her toothy grin.

"Edith!" A woman called from a distance. Edith's face twisted into a worried look and mumbled a quick bye before running off frantically.

"Bye Edith!" I yelled after her before closing the door. I sighed as I turned back to the mess of cardboard boxes scattered around the entire house. Wishing myself luck and sanity, I dove into the plastic wrapped furniture in my bedroom.

That night, the South Carolina wind shrieked outside the windows that probably needed more reinforcement. My unpacking had come to a halt as dusk fell, fostering the yawns leaving me.

Crawling into my mattress on the wooden floor, I couldn't help but smile at the progress made today, but that smile was short-lived...

Swiftly, I shot up to a strange noise that tore me from my half-sleep. It sounded as if it was from the hallway just outside of my room. Silence lingered heavily in the air as I sat up in the bed cautiously looking around. The noise started again, this time seemingly closer and in my bedroom. It began at the ceiling, a piercing screech, like nails on a chalkboard. The shrill seemed to follow down the wall but stopped when it reached the wooden floors. Simultaneously, the lights in the hallway, even though off started to flicker.

I lied in bed for another hour intently listening for the noise again. I knew when I bought the old house, the pipes and wiring had been causing troubles for the previous owners. Sleep overtook me with the thought of calling a plumber and an electrician in the back of my mind.

The next morning, the sun struggled to shine through the dusty, saffron-colored curtains of my bedroom window. The room was dimly lit by the satin blocking the suns early greeting, but even without direct light, I could see strange markings on the floral wallpaper across the room. Four long parallel streaks starting from the ceiling and ending at the floor were torn through the wallpaper.