The Neighbour's House

Home

I froze completely, staring at the smiling neighbours. They were smiling, beaming, but their eyes were so angry.
I tried to stutter an apology, an explanation, anything, but my voice was only a squeak. The neighbours drew closer.
Cris leapt in front of me, arms spread wide to keep them away.
“Stop, please! Please, she was just trying to help me, she doesn’t deserve to be here!” They drew closer, and he desperately searched for the magic words that would make his tormentors disappear. “Please let her go, it’s all my fault, it’s all my fault! Please, she doesn’t deserve-”
The man shot out a lightning-quick hand, and hit Cris across the face so hard he flew into the back wall.
“Cris!” I shouted, turning around to help him, but the woman grabbed my outstretched arm and twisted it behind me, pinning me to the wall. The key fell from my pocket, and I swore if I moved an inch, my entire arm would have fallen off.
“Oh, please,” the man sighed to a silent Cris, who massaged his bruised face with the palm of his hand. “Where’s your heart?”
Cris lunged toward me, clawing at the woman’s hands that held me fast. Hissing, she let go, and Cris snatched my hand as we bolted toward the door. The man grabbed Cris by the throat and threw him to the ground. As I stopped to see if he was all right, the woman grabbed me again, hurling me against the wall with such force, I thought she aimed to send me through. She had strength hidden behind her mousy looks, and with her full weight leaning against me, I could not budge.
“Cris!” I sobbed. He coughed, and began to get to his feet. The neighbour kicked him swiftly in the ribs, and with a shout Cris fell again onto the cold ground.
“I know,” the man said, slowly pacing around my friend as I struggled to break free. “Your heart was with her. But you really didn’t think she was innocent, did you? She does indeed deserve to be here.” Cris shook his head in denial, and was rewarded with another kick, knocking him down once more. “She saw the house, she saw me, she heard you every night without ever wondering what was going on. She had every sign, every chance, but she ignored them. So when that fire came and swept her away, we were ready to take her in.”
I couldn’t comprehend any of what he was saying… Only a few words drifted through my panic. Nothing made sense… I did care, I did wonder…
What was that about the fire?
“And you honestly weren’t stupid enough to think we would just let you go? We were here the whole time, just to make sure things didn’t get out of hand. We like to play with our food. I, for one, was curious as to how you two would get on after so long… Especially since the girl you so cherished had forgotten you completely. Like a bad dream, she erased you from every corner of her life…”
He crossed over to me, and lifted my face gently. Whimpering, I turned my head away. The neighbour scoffed, and the woman tightened her grip on me as the man drew nearer to Cris, who had finally stood up and was leaning against the wall, wheezing slightly.
“And you!” the neighbour shouted, pulling Cris up by the front of his shirt. “You suicidal freak, how did you ever expect her to forgive you? You left her, idiot, you left her all alone. No wonder she hates you. How could you do that to her?”
“It’s not true, Cris, it’s not true!” I yelled. The woman yanked my hair and hissed “Be quiet” into my ear before slapping me across the face. Everything burned, and I heard Cris flinch as if the blow had been inflicted upon him.
The man grinned. “No, I know how you did it. You just couldn’t take it anymore, could you? You simply had to get away, and losing her was a small sacrifice.” He laughed. “You parents were right. You are, in every way, a failure and a disappointment. You deserved every blow your father dealt you, every word your mother called you. And you just couldn’t take it, now could you? Could you?” He shouted, and Cris flinched again, a silent tear falling down his face. “It hurt, leaving your best friend behind, but it felt so much better to slice your wrists to shreds again that night. But you had to add one more for good measure, didn't you, one more to die. It felt so good just to leave, and not have to worry about anything anymore. Well, guess what, kid? You’ll never get rid of me.”
Cris was completely in tears now, and so was I. I tried to play dead and keep myself still so the woman would loosen her grip, but she just pinned me harder, and I kept crying.
“Ooh, your little princess sure is putting up a fight,” said the neighbour. “One would almost think she’s trying to get away. Pity… I thought you two wanted to be together forever.”
“Please,” Cris whispered. “Please, no—Not like this… Please let her go, she’s not the one to blame… It’s me, blame me…” Cris scratched feebly at the man’s hand, but the unfeeling man didn’t blink an eye.
“That’s an awful lot of begging, son,” said the neighbour coolly. “You best shut your mouth before you embarrass yourself further.”
Cris’s face contorted into a tearful grimace. “No, no, you can’t hurt her like that! Let her go, please… Please, just-”
The man’s eyes blazed with fury, and he punched Cris in the mouth with such ferocity it sent his head back into the wall, leaving a dent in the white plaster.
Eyes wide, Cris sunk to the floor, bleeding from the lip. Fueled by his hatred, the man seized the knife that was sitting, untouched, on the ground.
I knew what was going to happen long before it did. I shouted for the neighbour to stop, but it was too late. The man sunk the blade into the side of Cris’s stomach, all the way to the hilt. He let out a sharp cry of pain, and fell forward on his face at the man’s feet.
“Fine!” the neighbour barked. “Fine, you want her to go? Then I’ll get her out of your sight.”
The woman nodded, and began to drag me out of the door. I screamed and fought, with all I had in me, but she kept pulling me away. Cris, his raven eyes boring into mine, struggled to his knees. He wrenched the bloody knife from his abdomen.
“Jasmine!! Jasmine!!” At the top of his lungs he called for me, and I twisted my foot into the notch at the threshold of the door, hoping for a chance to break away and save him.
“I thought I told you to shut up!!” the neighbour yelled, hurling himself on Cris.
The woman pulled me away from the fight as I sobbed. I fought myself free with reckless abandon, and tumbled down half the stairs when she released me. I rolled myself down the rest, sprinting toward the door, my only escape. Faintly, I still heard Cris shouting, and I couldn’t believe I was going to leave him behind…!
I tried the handle.
Locked.
How could it be locked? How…
Strong hands wrapped themselves around my shoulders, and dragged me backwards, up the stairs. Cris’s calls had been silenced, and the only screams were my own. The man stood in the open doorway of the white room.
As she dragged me, I saw that there was one picture frame lying on the ground. I looked up.
The last article had been Cris’s obituary.
“No!” I shrieked, and the man laughed, though he was not at all amused. A muffled cry came from the white room, and I glanced in to see Cris, bound in duct tape, struggling to speak through the strip over his mouth.
“Cris!” My heart sank as the neighbour tugged me away. The man picked up the frame on the ground, singing softly.
“Take, steal, never return… Take, steal, watch, burn… No promises made, no promises kept… Patient devils never slept…” He murmured, almost more like chanting than singing.
“How dare you,” I spat. “How dare you treat your child like that? It’s despicable!”
Gingerly, the man hung the picture on a nail that was already sticking out of the wall. “He’s not my child,” he shrugged.
I spun free, and caught a glimpse of the headline of the final paper.
“Freak Fire Kills Student.”
Below was a picture of me.
The woman gave another pull as my head pulsed with pain.
The fire…
It didn’t…
No, I remembered, I was walking out with my class…
I heard a cracking sound…
The beam—It fell, but it missed me…
Right?
I was walking…
I heard the cracking sound too late…
The beam fell…
It fell right on me.
It pinned me, the fire… The fire was all around me…
It burned, it burned! I screamed for help, but everyone had already left! I couldn’t move my legs, I couldn’t get away! My lungs were full of smoke, and with each breath I choked!
The fire surrounded everything, I couldn't get free! It hurt, my skin, my clothes were on fire!
I screamed, and I screamed...
I screamed until my throat burned, but I could not hear the sound. The man spun the key in his fingertips, shaking his head and smiling. His lilting whisper broke my silence.
“Take, steal, never return… Take, steal, watch, burn… You never looked before you leapt… Patient devils never slept…”
“You can’t do this to me… You can’t!” I pleaded. “Look, I’m really sorry for coming in your house, okay? I won’t tell anyone about what happened, I promise! Just—Let me-”
The woman pinned me by the throat, I couldn’t breathe. She looked at me with a pitiful pout.
“But, honey, where would you go?”
I stared blankly into the white room, at Cris who was still fighting against his bonds. I heard the neighbour unlock the door of the room across the hall as the woman's claw-like nails nearly pierced my windpipe.
The key fit perfectly into the lock, and the door flew open. The woman hurled me inside. It was dark, and uncomfortably warm. I rubbed my hands, scratched up from my fall. The neighbours stood outside the open door, ready to block any escape attempt I was sure to make.
“Please... I don't understand! Did—Did I die? No, no, who are you? Where even is this place? Please—I-” I trailed off. I didn't understand, I didn't, but yet I knew exactly what was going on.
But did I?
An invisible force pulled me to the dusty ground, like I was trapped in quicksand.
“Cris!!” I called out, though I knew he couldn't help me.
The woman scoffed, and walked away. The man grinned, showing way too many teeth, and sung softly, hissing his melody into my terrified mind.
“Enter the house, never return... Welcome to Hell, watch, burn... You missed your chances while you slept... Our promise was made, our promise was kept...”
After a shriek of horror and discovery, I was silent. It fit. Everything fit.
I dissolved into tears, and peered through the crack in the door, at the only light coming into the dark room.
I saw Cris, twisting and turning, trying to pull himself free, but in vain. He was screaming something made unintelligible by the gag. But I knew it was my name, I knew we were calling for each other, I knew we would never reach each other again. This would be the last I saw of him, perhaps forever.
The door creaked shut, the last thing I saw was Cris's wonderful eyes, saying all the words he couldn't. At least I had that image to comfort me, forever til forever meets no end.
It was hot, heat everywhere.
Burning... Burning...
The flames licked my arms, my clothes, my face...
A simple, haunting tune drifted into my empty ears, I couldn't say for how long...
“Patient devils never slept... Patient devils never slept...
“Patient devils never slept.”