She’d never moved as a kid, and now was her first time, and she was doing it all alone! Fresh out of college, armed with a degree in education, she was ready to take on whatever the small town of Barrera, Washington had to offer her. The moving truck had just pulled away and most of her heavy items were situated in her house, which was a cute two story with white shutters and baby blue paint. It seemed to stand out among the other houses in the neighborhood, especially the one next door, which looked to be abandoned. All the shades were drawn and the white siding on the house was covered in ivy. It kind of gave her the creeps, if she was honest with herself. But, she had made it this far and she wasn’t about to be scared away by some spooky looking house, that’s for sure.
All that was left was the stuff in her old sedan, including the things she wanted to keep close by her on the move; her toiletries, food, bedding, and that sort of thing. She grabbed a bag from the car and walked up to the front door of her new house with a bounce in her step. This was going to be fantastic!
The room that she had chosen to be her bedroom had a large window against the back wall and she loved it. Putting the bag down, she leaned against the sill, looking out into the backyard. She could imagine herself making a family here, with two kids and a husband and dogs and-
Sudden movement out of the corner of her eye stopped her thoughts of the future. As soon as she turned to look, it was gone. She shrugged mentally and focused back on the grass outside. There was the perfect spot for a swing-set, a slide, maybe they could get a pool in there- the movement happened again, but this time she stayed staring, sure that it wasn’t just her imagination. Her curiosity paid off, as a shadow moved in a window that was set low on the house next door. It was almost half submerged in the ground, weirdly enough.
Normally, she would respect privacy, especially because she had just gotten there, but it couldn’t hurt to look, right? Especially if she just stayed in her yard, there wouldn’t be a problem. So she went out the back door and leaned against the wrought-iron fence that separated the two yards. The grass on the other side was yellowing and overgrown. After a minute or two of waiting, she sighed, turning to go back inside, when she heard a slight noise. Almost like…a sniffle. A cry. She slowly turned back around and peered down at the part of the window that was visible, and was shocked to spot someone- a person- huddled on the other side.
The only light was coming from the sunlight outside, but she could still make out some prominent features. They were small, not looking older than four or five, with long, matted curly hair and their limbs were like sticks. She crouched down leaning her head against the bars of the fence, peering at the small figure.
She called softly, hoping they would hear her. Evidently they did, for the head shot up from it’s curled up position and she had to hold back a gasp at the face that stared back at her in fear. There was deep bruising around one of the shiny eyes, and tears made a path down the dirty cheeks, revealing pale skin covered in freckles and dripped onto a puffy and bloody lip. He- for it looked like a boy, now that she could see- looked older than she’d thought, maybe closer to seven or eight, but he was so small and thin. Her hands came up to cover her mouth to hold back any noises.
The boy looked at her through the smudged glass, and after a minute of simply staring, his hand came up to press against the glass. She could see minute trembles in the hand, and it broke her heart. She wasn’t sure what to do. The boy hadn’t answered her yet. What if he couldn’t speak? What if-
“H-h-hello.” A small, stuttering voice came back at her through the gate and she leaned back to sit on the grass, still in shock. The voice sounded so sad, so scared. God, what was she supposed to do? Call the police? That seemed like a good option. She scrambled in her pockets for a moment before pulling out her cell phone and unlocking it.
As she got into the calling screen, a sudden pounding noise caught her attention. She looked down to see the boy had uncurled more and was looking up at her with a terrified expression. She leaned in to talk to him better.
“I’m just going to call the police, sweetie. They’ll help you, okay? Can you open the window at all?”
She asked in a calm voice that she used to talk to the kindergartners that she student-taught in college. The boy furrowed his brow and then shook his head slowly, raising a hand and jingling something that was out of sight- a padlock. Oh god.
She felt bile rising in her throat and turned back around to hide her face from the boy, not wanting him to witness her breakdown. She finished punching in the number and put the phone to her ear, taking a few deep breaths before talking to the person on the other line.
“9-1-1, what’s your emergency?”
“Hi, uh, I just moved into a house on Marcott street, and I found this, this boy, he’s stuck in the house next door and he has bruises all over him, and his window is locked with padlock and, and I don’t know what to do.”
She said in a rush, turning back to the look at the boy, who was peering at her curiously, as if he had no idea what was going on. Maybe he didn’t. How long had he been stuck in there?
“Okay ma’am, take some deep breaths. Can you give us your exact address and your name please? I’ll have some officers out to assist you in just a moment.”
“Y-yes, of course, it’s 45 Marcott, it’s the blue house, and my name is Annie, Annie Stanter. Please, please come quick.”
She rattled off and stayed on the phone with the woman before hanging up, hoping to hear sirens soon. The boy was still looking at her. She was shocked when she spoke, the stutter in his voice making it hard to understand his words.
“M-m-mama s-s-says not t-to t-t-talk to a-anyone. Y-y-you s-should g-g-go before s-she f-finds out ‘c-cause she’ll b-b-be mad.”
He said softly, wrapping arms around his body, which she just noticed was clad in what could be called rags, essentially. Annie curled her hands around the bars of the fence, trying to be reassuring.
“Don’t worry, sweetheart, the police are coming soon, just stay right there, okay? You’re going to be fine.”
At the word ‘police’, his eyes got wide and he scrambled back from the window, out of her sight. She gasped and crushed her face against the metal, searching for him. A few seconds later, a door opened inside the house and light spilled in, showing Annie what the room looked like. It was tiny, with dirt on the ground and boxes piled up. Not a place where someone should be living. Anyone. A shadowed figure stood in the doorway and grabbed an arm- a stick thin arm. She caught a glimpse of the scared look on the boys face as he was pulled out of the room and the door was slammed shut, some words filtering through before it closed.
“Bad, bad boy. What were you doing in there? Now you’re going to have to be punished…”
Annie was frozen, her hands locked around the bars of the fence, when the police showed up a few minutes later and found her. The typical questions were asked and she was escorted to the station for questioning while they searched the house.
It seemed like she’d been there for hours before a stern looking police officer came in to see her.
She asked him as soon as he walked through the door. His mouth quirked into a frown and he took a seat across from her.
“Ma’am, we didn’t find anybody except the Shulers, and they’ve lived in that house for centuries. There was no boy, no one except the two ladies. I’ve never once seen a child in that home, and we did a thorough search of the premises. Now, you know that calling the police for a fake reason is a crime, correct? Since it’s your first day in the neighborhood, I’ll let you off with a warning, but this is the last time. Good day, Miss Stanter.”
The police officer said and stood up, gesturing for Annie to stand up as well. She was in shock and let herself be led to the entrance of the police station before she found her words.
But no one was listening anymore.
A few days after, and after no sighting of the boy in the house next door, Annie came home from looking for jobs to find her windows broken, her house trashed, and a ticket on the table, along with a note that simply said ‘Leave’. The ticket was a first class plane ticket to Florida, leaving that very night. Annie bit her lip. She’d just gotten to the town, but already she could feel that people had heard about her little ‘fit’, as she had heard some of the locals call it, and it wasn’t a welcoming feeling. This just proved her correct. They had come into her home, her new home, vandalized it and destroyed her sense of security. She wasn’t even sure if the boy was still in the house, or even if she hadn’t just imagined the whole thing, so tired from jet-lag as she had been.
By eight o’ clock that evening, Annie Stanter was boarding a plane to Florida, doubt creeping through her mind but no other option popping up either, and the small dirty boy in the house next door was left to cradle his newly-formed injuries by himself, as he was used to.
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