oe Awd s When her dad parked the station
aula Mania <4 «sss wagon in the parking lot of their new
RN hee ne BAO SS Ta 7 home, Carol came out and laid eyes
a ee Se SE EIN GINO ent SR, on the mustard coloured house that
BN ee kG OS DOS they had moved to. White picket fences
Be A ea I a surrounded the neighboring yards
Ws Ce OY ZF eh eae” mamaiy orth nee diaptived!
Ye AN Vi ZALES
ee ae TZ — “td K, pee Ce rose bushes or flower beds along the
ee ee” Pela es — es St SN outside perimeter. The neighborhood
ei seemed nice to Carol, though there
Be ee nee / Ze NE eT ae 3 was one thing out of place. Unlike all
Peg i \ | OLE PE Dit f< the other houses, which were well
Bi a NON EZ al looked after, the house next to hers
SEES. \ eS le i SALE. a Be looked as if no one had lived there for
GP abo le Stee NNO OREO OEE ESE hp SBS. tN .
es a” WWE eR oe eee. Ss = years. The green paint was faded and
RY | ee er eS cracked as well as the white paint that
SO Ne ee covered the trimming. Whatever was
Re i oP SP ge left of what used to be a picket fence
OE 2,41, was completely surounded by dead
GH PRESSES SEER x RAR RGN page 8 grass. The roof and the chimney were
decaying and starting to grow moss
from the peak and along some of the edges of the cedar shakes that covered the roof. The house seemed
more like a cabin that one would come across in the middle of the woods than any house one would find in
a neighborhood near town. Carol was observing every detail until her father called her from the other side
of the station wagon. He told her to start unloading the moving van. She carried boxes inside from the van,
giving the decrepit house next door the occasional glance, but payed no attention to it once she was inside
organizing their things—for whatever time remained in the day.
Her school was a ten-minute walk from her house, which was convenient, except that she had to walk past
the decaying house that she never fancied at all. It wasn’t bad the first few months, but afterward, Carol
started feeling as if someone had been watching her as she walked by; specifically, when she passed the
old house. She had even seen something move in the front window, or so she thought. There was one foggy
afternoon when Carol was walking home, and was passing the house, yet another time, when she saw
something flash in the front window, just from the corner of her eye. Carol suspected that since it had come
from the window, it might have been the window reflecting the sun, but that conspiracy was disproved almost
as soon as it was thought of. The flash of light had been far too bright to have been the sun reflecting off the
window, let alone the fact that it was foggy out. Carol pondered as to what that had been for a while, and
thought that perhaps it might have been a camera, but that couldn’t be so, no one lived there as far as she
knew. Being who she was, she kept this to herself, along with whatever else was going on.

pT

It was a Friday in mid-November of the second year Carol moved in. It started snowing just as she had
arrived home. She came inside to the scene that usually went on in her house at that time of day. Her mother
was in the kitchen with her records playing in the background. Her dad was in the living room watching
sports. Carol was passing the kitchen to go to her room when she noticed that her Mom was making only
one plate of food. In the past when her Mom and Dad intended on going out that evening, her Mom made
supper for Carol and would head out shortly. From the way Carol had it figured that’s exactly what was going
to happen.

= It was around eight-thirty when her parents went out for the night, leaving Carol the house to herself for

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three or four hours. It was around eleven when Carol decided to call it a night. She opened the door to her
room and flicked on the lights and the first thing she had seen when the light filled the room was something
that was placed on top of her desk. It was a Polaroid camera and a couple of thick envelopes. At first Carol
thought that her parents must have gotten it for her as a present, but something didn’t make sense. Normally
her Mom and Dad would wait until Christmas since this was November and even if it was a special occasion
her parents would usually give it to her themselves. Leaving it on her desk without even letting her know
wasn’t likely a thing they would do. It also seemed odd since she didn’t ask for a Polaroid camera and