The Dusk of Nightfall (A collection of True horror stories)

Strange neighbour

Another night with bloodcurdling howls echoing through the peaceful neighbourhood, enough to send chills down the spine of even the bravest man in the world.
There it comes. Then again. And again!
Ashley was kept awake that night, just like always when the blood chilling howls came. It didn't help when those howling creatures happened to be her next door neighbours.
Ashley couldn't take it anymore. She was tired, annoyed and sleep deprived. She really wanted to close her eyes and get a shut-eye, but it wouldn't come.
Not when those mutts howled like that.
With a groan, she got out of her bed and staggered her way towards the bathroom down the hall. She hated how the bathroom was practically touching the perimeter of the house next door. But she still had to go, and she didn't have much of a choice.
Unless she wanted to use the bathroom out back, which wasn't an option in her opinion.
So now, as Ashley sat on the toilet to answer nature's call, a new sound broke through the stillness of the night.
It sounded like... a voice. But... it didn't sound human- not to Ashley at least. It was weird, it sounded thick and... distorted and it came in quick bursts instead of the steady voices she would normally hear. She didn't understand a word of it and it sounded a lot like gibberish.
It was emotionlessly bland, inhuman and overall, creepy. Ashley couldn't take it anymore.
As soon as she was done, she burst out of the bathroom, washed her hands in the sink, and bolted back to her bedroom.
But thank goodness, the howling had stopped. She sighed in relief as she closed her eyes to let sleep swallow her up into its blissful abyss.
But there was something else. It definitely came from that creepy house, considering the window by the side of her bed literally overlooked porch of the house.
The howling and creepy voices were now replaced by a strange noise. It sounded like scratching- no, scrapping. The sound was as if someone took a flat metal object and hit the tip against a hard, rocky surface.
To Ashley, it sounded like someone was trying to dig into a rock using a regular spade or shovel, rather unsuccessfully by the sound of it.
The sound came, time and time again. Ashley tried to cover her ear with the thick bolster she had since she was a toddler, but it didn't help muffle the noise, not even a little.
Oh how much Ashley wished she bought those earplugs she saw at the store the other day. But then again, she doubt that even earplugs would be able to shut the noise out.
Ashley turned away from the window, facing her right to see the rest of her room. She tightly shut her eyes as she pressed her right ear against her pillow and press the bolster against her other ear.
She needed the sleep, especially since she had an exam the next morning. She knew how bad she'd do with three days of bad nights' sleep. She was certain that even coffee wouldn't help. For some reason, she realised that she felt even sleepier when she consumed caffeine. Her friends say that it's weird, and she couldn't help agreeing with them too.
She somehow fell asleep in that position because the next thing she knew, her Bluetooth alarm clock was playing Never Gonna Give You Up by Rick Astley.
Ashley jolted awake at the sudden noise and blindly pressed the snooze button on the top of the sleek device to silence it. Ashley stretched in bed, loosening her sore limbs as she yawned to receive more air.
She sat up and ran her fingers through her tangled mess of curls. She closed her eyes while she rubbed them, yawning for the second time. She kept her eyes closed as she cleared away the crust around her eyes.
Ashley opened her eyes and turned her head around to stretch her sore neck. When she turned over to her left, her eyes fell on the window. She always kept the curtains shut as she didn't want her mangy neighbours to be spying on her while she went about on her day.
But there was one thing she had to find out. What were those noises she heard? Was there someone living next door? She lifted the curtain and stuck her head under it to see what was going on there. As usual, she never really saw anyone around. By the looks of it, the house was abandoned and she was sure of it.
The front door was barricaded with stacks and stacks of newspaper and who knows what else, while random debris lay strewn around the perimeter of the house. Definitely no one lived there.
Whatever she heard last night was probably just the stray dogs that took cover there. Or at least, she thought those were strays. It didn't look like anyone was living there anyway.
Ashley put the curtain back in place and swung her legs off the bed and stretched her sore muscles yet again as she grunted in relief. The position she slept in left a painful cramp on her side.
Well, at least she managed to sleep.
Ashley started her day by getting ready for school, plaiting her unruly hair was always the hardest part. It always tangled itself up and she always had a very hard time untangling it. But she had to, since she had to look neat for school.

Ashley was finally back from school. She squealed happily as she fell headfirst onto her bed. It was Friday and the beginning of a week's worth of school holiday. She was looking forward to it, especially since she had a painful exam that week and it was delightful how it ended with a break.
She cheered alone and relaxed on her bed before changing out of her uniform. She threw the uniform into the laundry basket on her way to the kitchen to see what her mother prepared for lunch.
"So," Ashley said, suddenly making an appearance. "What's for lunch?"
"Rice," her mother said.
"With what?"
"Curry?"
"What curry is it?"
"Just see yourself," her mother said, pointing at the cloche.
Ashley sighed and got herself a plate of rice with chicken curry and sliced cucumber on the side. Her mother had gone all Indian on today's lunch and she liked it.
She ate her lunch at the dining table with headphones blasting music into her ears. Her mother was in the living room, watching tv.
The song finished and there was a small interval between this song and the next. During that time of momentary silence, Ashley heard a strange noise.
It was the same digging sound from the night before.
She quickly took her earphones off with her clean hand and rushed over to the window behind her. The window that overlooked the neighbouring abandoned site. She needed to know what the sound was.
Ashley squinted as she leaned closer towards the window to take a look. She must know!
But to her surprise, she saw a creepy figure digging the paved ground with a shovel for some reason. What were they doing? And why were they doing that?
Ashley quickly went over to the sink and washed her hands before grabbing the keys to the side door. This was her chance!
She opened the door after what felt like hours of searching for the key. Finally she stepped out to the perimeter of her house and peeked over the fence that separated her house from her neighbour's.
The figure that dug the ground was a cranky, unfriendly-looking woman who looked suspiciously weird. She continued on and on, digging into the paved land with her shovel.
But it all made sense all. This lunatic was trying to un-pave the land so that she could plant trees that she wouldn't even take care of.
There was proof because she never trimmed them down and the trees once disrupted Ashley's household tv signal. It was a good thing that region had plenty of rainfall, or else those poor plants would dry out.
Besides, the woman planted the strangest trees imaginable. She never really left the house, and Ashley realised that's why she thought the house was abandoned.
And the dogs were definitely hers. Ashley just never really got a clear look at their collars.
'So this is the culprit...' Ashley said, annoyed. 'Well, I guess it's case closed then.'
She turned around, laughing at herself as she reentered the house to finish her meal. She locked the door and sat down on the dining chair again.
The woman went on, digging the ground to make jagged flowerbeds.
Ashley almost felt sorry for her, that was if she didn't keep her awake at night.
Wait a second...
This woman dug the ground to make flower beds IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT?!
Ashley swallowed hard. Was her neighbour even human?