INTRUDER

12 DAYS BEFORE THE INTRUSION

I knock on our new neighbors door. I never really see them at all since they moved in a couple weeks ago and they never really come out if they are home. Their house is a bit far away from ours but it isn't that far away where it would be impossible to walk to.

I wonder if they are ghosts.

The woman that lives in the house opens the door. She is maybe in her late 50's. She doesn't seem that old, though.

"Hello, is there something you need?" She asks, once she opens the door.

"No, I just thought it would be nice to finally meet out new neighbors!" I smile.

"Oh! Thank you so much for coming to meet us!" She guided me inside their house.

Inside, the house looks quite pretty. It is ready for Christmas with all the lights and decorations up all over the place. The tree is a huge whitish silver with a bunch of silver ornaments hanging from it. It's as if they sprayed the whole tree with silver paint. It made the house look bigger since the tree was so huge. There were random gifts scattered on the bottom, maybe it was just decoration. The house smelled like cookies, homemade cookies.

"My dear, would you like some tea and cookies?"

"Yes, please."

She serves me some hot boiling tea in a cup. Then a man appears in the light.

"Henry! This is our neighbor's daughter, I never got your name, dear."

"Claire."

"What a lovely name!" She smiles and puts three cookies on a plate.

"So, what made you come out here to live?" I asked.

"Oh, many things. The woods, the quiet, the people, the love, everything!"

I smiled and slowly drank my hot tea. I munched on a cookie and to my surprise: the cookie was actually really good. The chocolate chips in it melted as soon as they hit your tongue and the dough was perfectly crisp and chewy in the middle. Just how I liked it.

"Mrs. Robinson? These cookies are the best!" I smiled through eating the last one.

"My pleasure!" She seemed surprised that I knew her name.

"I saw your name on the new catalogue for phone numbers," I smiled.

She smiled and after a while she guided me outside. We had talked for maybe two hours and the night was beginning to creep up on us.

"That was a lovely conversation," I said.

"Yes, it was. Anytime!" She waved as I headed towards my house.

I waved back and looked at the trail I had in front of me.

Walking in the dark was not fun at all when you didn't have anybody to talk to or hold on to. It was scary and it was horrifying.

When I reached my house, it was surprisingly quiet. Maggie came to the door and guided me towards the table. My family was eating.

"Where were you?" Garred asked, darkly.

"Meeting our new neighbors," I said, looking at my plate of food.

"Why didn't you answer your phone?"

"My phone is broke," I responded, sparing him the details of how I broke it.

"Hm... Eat."

I started to eat but then stopped. I was feeling sick.

Garred starts smiling at me an hour after we ate. He appeared at my door for no reason.

"I know what you did to me... Stupid girl, thinking I didn't realize you put sleeping pill in my drink... Now I return the favor to you." He walks out and laughs.

I feel dizzy. How much did he put?

My head smashes backwards into the  chair and I am knocked out.