It’s not like it’s too much of my problem, to each their own. If he wants to pay that power bill let him.
It’s just that… he doesn’t live there anymore. Let me start over. My neighbor, let’s call him Steve, inherited his house from his parents. His mom, I forget if she’s in a nursing home or if she’s dead. His dad (for sanity’s purpose let’s call him Steve Sr) died probably 10 years ago. Now Steve Sr lived in a small house that was on the property during his childhood. I can still see it relatively easy from my house. A wall is torn down and I hear the floor is unstable, but it’s still there. Steve Sr then built the house I currently live in for his family. That consisted of him, his wife, 2 daughters, and Steve. They built this last house sometime after that.
After Steve Sr died, his wife moved out and Steve would occasionally come up with his family. He treated it like his ‘summer house’ for a couple years until his wife had another kid beside his daughter. Then the visits kind of staggered, resulting in Steve only visiting when there was a problem on the property. He got a camera doorbell and a motion sensor light for the front of the house to make up for it. And I guess having the light on can deter people from wanting to break in. Even if it’s the same light that is on 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
My brother had a different approach to this however. ‘Jack’ has an active imagination and is my younger brother of 6 years. That lead me to babysit him for free quite a bit. Today was the day that my parents were gone and Jack wanted to make the most of it.
“Hey, have you noticed that the neighbor’s light is always on?” I nodded along, still staring at my phone.
“Yeah. That, along with the outside lights can deter robberies.” He shoved his hand between my face and my phone, knocking the latter out of my hand.
“Robbery? In the middle of nowhere? C’mon.” He wasn’t too wrong. Now the nearest Walmart is only 20 minutes away, but we do live in farm country. He continued.
“And haven’t you noticed? Those are only for the front of the house. The back of the house is wide open.” I actually took the moment to squint at him.
“Dude there is only one way up to that house, and it’s our driveway.” To that, he hopped closer to the other arm of the couch in excitement.
“That’s true. But what about the gate leading to the farm?” He spoke of the farm that is on the property. The gate for it is at the bottom of our yard and it leads to a big barn, turkey barn, and some buildings.
Jack continued, “That’s pretty easy to climb, and someone could walk by the garage, activate the light, and we’d just think it’s a mouse or one of the cats. Then, all anyone would need to do its follow the buildings and be able to go around to the back of the house the long way.” It took me a minute to catch on, but when I did, I mirrored his position.
“Jack, why are you telling me this now?” He gave me a thin smile as he got up, pulling out a flashlight.
“I have thought about this for months, we need to see how bad the inside of the house is at least.” This twerp! I got up.
“We are not going into that house. Maybe if you just told me that you wanted to see the inside during the day, but you just got done telling me about how anyone could try to make their way inside! And it’s dark out!” He went to the shelf by the TV and grabbed my pepper spray from my key-chain.
“That’s why I’ll carry this. Honestly I don’t think anyone is up there. We would have seen signs of a break in while going out for walks in the field, and the only thing we’ve seen is the trash from those ‘coons the one time.” In our conversation, he had made his way to the back door. The one with nearly a beeline to the topic of our conversation.
“Jack, we are not doing this. I will call mom and dad.” Yes, I decided to pull that card. But honestly I did not care. It was dark and he got me scared. I turned my back for a second, only a second, to grab a phone to make my threat legit. I looked back, and the boy was gone.
“Sh-“ Was the only sound I could make as I brought my hands to my head in frustration. I grabbed my phone and the pair of scissors on the table so I could follow after him quickly. Situations like these usually call for a knife, but I’d rather not be seen on Steve’s cameras with a meat knife.
I went outside and almost locked the door before thinking otherwise. I did not have my keys on me and I could not waste time finding them. And disregarding the conversation Jack subjugated me to, Steve does not like us going up there. He’s said it’s fine for our walks, but anytime we drive up there to just turn around, he gets on our case about it. I made it up to the side of Steve’s house where I thought I could see Jack’s outline go around back. I caught up to him and was about to grab his arm, but he was stopped in his tracks.
“Jack, excuse my language but what the he-“ He tried to cover my mouth as his body was still facing the house. After I had gotten quiet enough for him, he started whispering to me, front still facing the building.
“There is someone moving in the house.” I shut up at the thought, looking at the clearly broken second floor window. There was no vehicle in Steve’s driveway, and he hadn’t contacted my parents about a visit. I was taken out of my thoughts by Jack starting to get up.
“What do you think you’re doing?” I whispered harshly.“I have to threaten whoever is in there to get out.” My mouth fell agape at his stupid stoicism.
“You waste of space, how about we call 911 and have them handle this?” He crouched back down to me, looking at my dim phone in my hand.
“How about you call them, and I can make sure whatever squatter is in there doesn’t try and escape before the cops get here.” I could only look at him wide eyed.
“You aren’t going to go back to the house peacefully are you?”
“No.” He told me I was the idiot here.
“Okay, since you are insistent on someone going in there, I will.” I held my hand to his face before he could object loudly.
“In case you have forgotten, I am the adult here. You are going to call 911 while I make sure that someone is actually in there. I also have a better memory, so I can remember if anything’s off if I have to leave quickly.”
“Why are we doing this if it’s just some tweaker trying to get a free house?” Jack just had to oppose.
“Jack. These ‘tweakers’ and ‘squatters’ can actually be dangerous. They don’t have the police in their corner most times and they react offensively more often than not. So, we are going to act defensively, starting with calling 911 about a suspected break in.” I glared at him until he laid off. I stood up before turning back to him.
“If I am not back in 10 minutes however, make sure that the police know it’s urgent and then go to the Minnick’s up the street.” I didn’t wait for him to argue more before going up to the door. It shouldn’t be unlocked, but I figured I should give it a shot. More information to give the police the better.
I jangled the doorknob and felt relief as it didn’t turn. It was short lived however as I turned the knob just an inch more to the right, letting the door open fully. I had taken it being slightly jammed as being locked. Before my thoughts could race out of my control, I took a deep breath. This means that there are 2 open exits. The more information I know the better. I walked through the door, taking a deep breath, getting ready to announce my arrival, before I choked. It smelled disgusting here. As I tried to retain my breathing, I looked around at my surroundings.
I had only been in this house a couple times, but it had changed significantly since I was last in here. Besides the smell, the biggest difference was the plastic hanging from the walls and doorways. I could only assume it was to keep dirt and dust off furniture, but some of the sheets were extremely dirty. I walked as quietly as I could throughout the house, noticing two toolboxes from where I was. One of which was by my left shoe. I took the initiative of looking through it real quick. The only thing in it, besides tools that worked with wires, was a ball-peen hammer. This makes sense, as I believe the last people in this house were people Steve hired on the down-low to fix the electric. I decided to take the hammer with me as I walked to the bottom of the steps.
I will only be going to the top, as I can’t keep watch of my back with how I remember this floor being. I had made it 3/4ths of the way up the steps, scissors in my back pocket and hammer in my hand, when the step made the slightest creak. The type of creak that was easier felt than heard. It didn’t stop me from cringing with my eyes open though. I didn’t want to risk my eyes being shut more than I had to.
I made it to the top of the steps and took a look to my right before looking to my left. Besides a horrible smell and plastic everywhere, even upstairs? Nothing. I can’t believe that Jack made me anxious about noth-
My thoughts were interrupted by the rustling of plastic in the doorway right in front of me. It was where the bathroom should be. I was about to go back down the steps, back against the wall before I heard loud, thundering footsteps. They were so loud and so quick, I could not even tell where they were coming from before the plastic in front of me ripped down and I felt a hand on my throat.
It felt like I was going into anaphylactic shock. In my shock, I tried to rip the hand away. His hand was covering my neck like a thick scarf; it was so big. That did not give me too much room to move my head, so all I could do was get a good look at my attacker. This- this thing could not have been smaller than 6’5. And while I couldn’t get a good look at his face due to the lighting, I could tell how big he was just by the way he breathed. It was like the man had a stuffy nose and could only breathe through his mouth, which was full to the brim with straws. In my panic I remembered Jack outside and was brought back to my senses. The sense of touch was what reminded me of the weapon in my hand.
I took as much of a breath as I could before I swung, luckily hitting something in the dark. It was my assailant, as evident by me meeting the steps harshly at the release of his grasp. My legs were still weak from adrenaline however and I fell down the rest of the short distance. Despite the short distance, I still heard a ringing in my ears when I hit the bottom of the steps. My subconscious would not let me rest however. Making sure the hammer and scissors were still on my person, I made my way back outside as quickly as possible.
I took in my surroundings to see Jack near the fence of the farm, trying to be out of the way. I made my way to him as quickly as my shaking legs could get me, hoping I did not look as scared as I felt.
“Jack, there is someone in there…we have to go… did you call 911?” I felt myself speaking, only slightly hearing my voice. Jack stared at my face, nodding his head and holding the phone up, the call currently still going.
“Good, Jack they need to get here asap, this guy, he tried to kill-“ I stopped myself when I noticed his attention was not focused on me, but to behind me. My hands started to shake again as I turned, seeing the door I just exited open, and a body ducking their way through the door. How is he still awake right now? I tried to grab Jack, but he had backed up out of my grasp, slowly making his way closer to the fence. I decided to hurry after him, the barn being closer than our house at the moment.
The adrenaline rushing through my legs made it so I found myself under the fence sooner than Jack. He is usually quick, being on the track and field team, but I guess his fear slowed him down. He just started under the fence, lacking the pepper spray I noticed, when I stood up on the other side. I had looked up right in time to see the man grab Jack’s ankle.
I heard him mumble a protest and claw closer to me, trying to grasp my arm. I quickly grabbed his left arm, trying to pull him through. I could only try my best until I heard a sickening crack coming from Jack. I did not wait for any other noises before I took the hammer and slammed it on the man’s fingers a couple times, shoving my arm through the wires in the fence in the process. I thought I was a pretty strong person, but I had to hit the appendages probably about 10 times. It was then that I was finally able to pull Jack the rest of the way through. I put his arm around my shoulder as I heard him cry.
“My leg, I think that psycho broke my leg.” He sobbed as I practically started dragging him away. Luckily, the man was too big to slide under the fence without being electrocuted, so he started to go around.
“You’ll be fine Jack, we just need to hide in the barn. Then the police should be here soon.” I gently shoved him through the barn door, following not shortly after. Jack spoke up again, as loudly as he could whisper.
“I’m so sorry. I dropped your phone. I should’ve held on tighter to it under the fence.” His voice reached a higher pitch near the end. He was trying not to cry. I took a minute to examine his leg. I pressed my tongue against my teeth to not make a noise. The bone was sticking out of his lower leg.
“It’s okay Jack. The cops should be here soon anyways. Phones can be replaced.” I took off my jacket and wrapped it around his ankle. I do not know much about this stuff but his leg just needed to be held… together. I put his arm around my shoulder as I led him to the center of the room. There was a hole in the floor, back for when they used it to move things from different floors with ease.
“I’m going to jump down there, and then I can catch you. Okay?” I told Jack as I took his arm off my shoulder. He raised his eyebrows at me.
“Now’s not the time for jokes. Why would we go through here to just go down there? I don’t think my leg can handle this.” His voice got tired near the end. I looked back at him.
“Now he’ll first have to search up here if he wants to be thorough. And that’ll give us extra time to leave from down below.” I hopped down before looking back at him.
“Jack, I even have everything in my back pockets. I will catch you. You need to jump.” I finished my sentence before hearing an incoming noise. It was probably in the building before this one, but I knew what it sounded like.
“Whistling?” Jack whispered, not even attempting to mask his fear anymore. I looked back at him.
“Jack, you need to jump now. If you do not I swear to God I will drag you down my-“ my rant was halted by the act of him jumping into my open arms. I decided my verbal gratitude was not needed as I rushed him to a front corner of the room. We brushed past pieces of machinery before I rested Jack against the wall, sitting more or less in front of him. The hole in the ceiling was not centered, it being more or less in the back, so we would have a better chance if he came down.
“You should run while you still can.” I heard Jack whisper next to me. I looked to him to see his teeth chattering. Shock? I was about to answer before I heard the whistling right above us. It would have been loud, even if he was not just a floor’s distance from us. I looked at Jack, who was probably mirroring the facial expression I had at the moment. I could only rub his shoulder, trying to warm him up.
The whistling got louder as I decided to make a crucial decision. I grabbed Jack’s arm and started us towards the door. I heard Jack click his tongue in protest, but that was short lived. We had opened the door when we heard a thump behind us, the whistling getting significantly louder.
I didn’t wait to turn around and just bolted out of the door, practically dragging Jack alongside me. We had gotten the gate open, which was not even locked in the first place, when I saw multiple blue and red lights turn into our driveway.
“Help!” I managed to get out. I tried to raise my left arm in surrender but I suddenly felt my left arm be yanked back. Hard. I could feel Jack fall out of my grasp before I heard him yelp in pain. I turned around to face the man once again. He seemed to be quicker this time, squeezing my neck hard, almost immediately, before my body was even done facing him. I couldn’t hear anything besides just a general loudness behind me. I started to see dots in my vision, only able to feel the slippery thing that was his hand. I think it was the same one that broke Jack’s leg. I took a chance and neglected clawing at his hand, remembering how hard it was to get him to let go of something, and went to my back pocket instead.
I pulled out the pair of scissors instead of the hammer, lodging them into his wrist. When his grasp didn’t let go, I started to open them the best I could. It was not my best though, as I was already starting to feel dizzy. I opened them at a small angle, I think before I finally felt the ground beneath me and relief on my neck. I fell on someone, who I think was Jack, when I heard a barrage of explosions.
Gunfire.
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I woke up in the hospital a couple hours later. My parents weren’t allowed to see me until the police spoke with me, and Jack was still in surgery for his broken leg. The doctors told me that I was mildly concussed, bruised, and had some damage from being strangled repeatedly. That meant I could probably leave in a couple hours or at midday. I was struggling to get myself comfortable when two detectives walked into my room. Normally detectives look normal, but these two held themselves in a different way.
“Hello, we are here to ask you a couple questions, if you are feeling up to it.” The female detective spoke first. All I could do in my exhaustion was nod my head.
“We need you to run through this night, from start to finish.” The male detective spoke to me. “So we can hopefully answer some of our own questions.” I started from the beginning, telling them about Jack’s incessant questions of the light, the smell in the house, and what we experienced in the barn. I had to cough a lot while telling it, but the sooner I was done telling the story the better.
“It’s not Jack’s fault though. I would have turned right back around after smelling that smell, but I just wanted to make sure that the house was safe you know? It could be seen as Steve’s fault too. He’s the one who left that light on the whole time.” I told them, trying to explain myself. The two detectives looked at each other knowingly.
“What?”
“Well, the light is one of the topics we need to tell you about. Steve’s family stopped paying the electric bill after he went missing two months ago.” He went missing? Why didn’t my family know about this?
“And that leads us to our next. The light you saw? That was a handheld flashlight owned by a “Richard Thomas”. He was the man who attacked you and your brother last night. He’s been squatting in your neighbor’s house for the past three months.” The female detective told me. Three months? My confused brain struggled to do that math but I reached the conclusion.
“Does that mean?” I tried to speak before the female detective raised her hand gently. The male detective continued speaking.
“Now onto the next. The smell?” His voice went soft. “We found the bodies of Steve Jr and two electrical workers in the house. It seemed as if Richard killed the two workers to stop them from revealing he was living there. We found one right next to his toolbox too.” My immediate thoughts went to the toolbox I didn’t touch, trying to forget how close I got to it. The male detective continued.
“Then Steve Jr went to check on them alone, and he was killed too. So when you went into the house, even all the way up the steps, Richard took you as a threat to his living.” He finished, getting up from his seat. I coughed, trying to speak up.
“What about-“ The female detective nodded.
“We apologize. We thought you knew, but your concussion might have made you have a lapse of memory. Richard is dead. The officers on scene made sure of that after seeing what he was doing. And we have talked to the nurses. A psychological consultation is scheduled, but I believe that is planned after you get a good night’s sleep.” She walked up to the tray in my lap and put a card down.
“Here is my number for you or your brother in case you need to talk more.” With that action the detectives left and I was left to sleep.
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That was two days ago. I got home yesterday after further neurological testing and Jack should be coming home tomorrow. The compound fracture in his leg was worse than we thought and he needed these extra days to recuperate, according to the doctors. They did say, while my jacket was pretty dirty to put on his wound, the pressure did make it so it was not as bad as it could have been. When I visited him earlier though he seemed to be in good spirits. While he’s ‘not too steezed’ on using a cane occasionally, he is excited to show off to his friends. He was the one who even told me to share the story online before I forgot. That is what I’m doing now, hoping that it helps me cope with… everything.
Luckily, as I wrote this, I was able to look at the fence leading to the farm without hyperventilating. Maybe even one of these days I’ll be able to look in the direction of Steve’s house. But before I finish writing this I do have one thing to add.
If you ever see your neighbor’s lights on, especially daily, call the damn cops, securely from the safety of your house. If you have a sibling who thinks otherwise, handcuff them to a pipe and lock them in the room with said pipe.
Because if your neighbor’s light is on like that? There is nothing good that can come out of it.