"Home" - Chapter III

III.

It took us a few weeks to get everything unpacked and settled. We didn’t really talk about the incident with Eli. I felt like it was a bad omen, and had a hard time getting comfortable in the house. I kept thinking about how Micah wasn’t going to be able to play in the yard with that weirdo in the house behind us.

We bought curtains for the kitchen window and a shade for the back door so that we couldn’t see Eli’s house – and so that he couldn’t see in. I checked the locks more carefully than I had done in past homes, and we kept all of the blinds and curtains closed most of the time.

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I could hear the Eli’s dogs fighting nearly every day. I called animal control three times, but each time I was told that they didn’t find anything out of the ordinary.

The last time I called, I was told to not call again, the neighbor had threatened harassment charges.

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Gradually, the moving incident became less prominent in my mind. I focused on trying to get a handle on my new job, while Micah got used to his new daycare and Adam became busier and busier at work.

In October, Adam got the news that he was going to be promoted, and that he would have to start traveling about 25% of his time. I wasn’t happy about it, but kept telling myself that it was important to make sacrifices in order to get to our ultimate goal, which was to be debt free and back in Colorado. I was hoping we would be at a place to do that within the following two years, and the promotion and travel pay would make it that much easier to get there.

In November, Adam started his new position. He was gone for two weeks to promote his company’s software package. If the firm to which he was promoting it chose his company’s package, it could mean even bigger things for him, and us. But, I hated him being gone. I missed him, and I felt even more trapped in the house because I didn’t feel safe going out after dark. Which, being November meant Micah and I only left the house to go to work and daycare, and on weekends.

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Right as Adam’s work started ramping up, I began having intense nightmares. They were so frequent and vivid that I became petrified of even taking a nap in the middle of the day. Every nightmare revolved around the same thing – the dog with the glowing eyes. I was being chased, or attacked, or watched. The same thing, over and over and over.

I was up at all hours of the night, with no sleep during the day.

Micah began getting more and more restless with me. I could tell that he could sense my fear. I tried to put on a serene façade, but the dreams were constantly over-riding all other thoughts. I was at the back window peering through the curtains constantly.

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One night in early December, I was sitting in the living room watching TV after Micah had gone down for the night. The blinds were closed most of the way, with just a small slit to try and lessen the closed-in feeling that was starting to make me feel claustrophobic; but not enough of a gap for those outside to be able to see in.

I kept getting the tingling feeling on the back of my neck as if I were being watched from the street.

Finally giving in to the intense feeling of not being alone, I crouched on the couch and opened a small gap in the blinds to look out onto the street.

Eli waved at me from his leaning pose underneath the street light. His dog with the green eyes just stared at me.

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Panicking, I called Adam.

“Eli is sitting outside under our streetlamp! He just waved at me when I peeked, and I mean peeked out of the blinds! His dog is with him, too! I don’t even know how he saw the blinds move! I barely touched them!” I felt like I was going to vomit. “Oh my God! I have to make sure all the doors are locked!” Even though I knew in my mind that I had already double and triple-checked all of the locks, front and back.

“Honey? Honey, hon - just calm down, ok? Can you call the police?”

“What are they going to do? It’s a public street!”

“Maybe call them to come by so you can file a report? At least, even if they can’t do anything, he will see that the police have come by and that you are talking to them.”

“Ok. Ok. I will do that.”

“Call me after you talk to them.”

“I will. Bye.”

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The police came about forty-five minutes after I called. They told me there was nothing they could do about Eli. He wasn’t breaking any laws, nor was he technically harassing me since he didn’t make any contact.

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After that night, I bought motion sensing lights and a nanny cam that I put in the front window.

"Home" - Chapter II

II.

“What were you doing out there?” Adam asked as I came in the door.

“I saw a dog out there that looked like he was caught in the fence. Apparently not, though, because he went back to that house just as I was getting close.”

I didn’t mention the dog’s eyes; I figured it had been a trick of the light.

“Did you see the guy talking to me?”

“No, but I thought I heard you talking to someone. Who was it?”

“I think he lives in that house back there. He made some comment about his dogs being loud because they fight.”

I gave Adam a disgusted look.

“He’s pretty gross.”

“Hm. Your sandwich is on the counter. I am going to get back to unloading.” Adam said.

“Ok, I’ll be out in a second.”

As I stood in the kitchen eating my sandwich, my eyes wandered through the back window to examine the house behind us again. It was pretty run down, from what I could see of it. Most of the house was blocked by trees on both sides of the fence, but the balcony that the man had been standing on was visible from our kitchen window. It was slightly bowed with chipped white paint. The rest of the house was light grey with rust and mold stains trailing down from the balcony and the eves, and had mildew around the windows.

I thought about whether or not I had noticed it when we were looking at this one to rent. I didn’t remember seeing it, but I wasn’t surprised since I was focused on the one we were going to live in.

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I finished my sandwich and threw away the paper towel that it had been sitting on. I was walking toward the front door when I heard Adam talking to someone.

I couldn’t make out what they were saying, but I could tell by his tone that Adam was a little annoyed.

“No, that’s fine – we’re fine… thanks though” I heard him say.

“Well, just wanted to come by and see if you all needed any help.”

I walked out the front door and saw that he was talking to the guy from the balcony. He had changed into what should have been a white T-Shirt that said “F.B.I – Free Boobie Inspection” across the front.

“Lovely.” I thought.

I walked up to the pair of them just as Adam was saying

“Ok, thanks, but we’ve got it, really.”

“Ok, then.” The man said as he turned and looked at me. “Hello again.”

“Hi.” I replied, as I suppressed a shudder and proceeded toward the moving van.

Adam followed me, and left the man standing on the sidewalk.

As we continued to unload the remaining furniture from the back of the moving van, the man lingered on the sidewalk, leaning against a utility pole and remarking whenever a heavier piece of furniture came out of the back that he was more than willing to assist. We continued to smile half-heartedly at him and tell him we had it covered.

As we lifted the last piece of furniture, the wooden coffee table, I saw the man move closer to the truck. We moved toward the opening, and just as I was getting ready to step on the ramp, my foot slipped and I fell to one knee, dropping my end of the coffee table.

The man sprung up and grabbed the side of the table.

“I’ve got it.” He said.

Adam looked at me, slightly worried, but continued to move down the ramp and into the house with the coffee table.

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I got up and limped after them into the house.

As I crossed the porch towards the entryway, I heard a small scuffle.

“It’s alright man, I’ve got it now… thanks… really.” I heard Adam say.

I walked into the living room to see what was going on.

The man was in our living room, pushing our coffee table toward one of the walls, off the area rug on which I could tell it had been initially placed.

I was confused.

“What’s up?” I asked Adam, concern making my voice tight.

“Oh… I was just telling Eli here that we're good to go.”

Turning back to Eli “Ok, man, that’s all we need, thanks…”

Eli continued to push the coffee table from its place. He didn’t say anything. Didn’t look up at my entrance or the conversation with Adam.

Adam moved to stand on one side of the table to halt its movement.

“Just trying to help” Eli said, and looked up to stare at Adam. “You all certainly have a lot of nice things.”

Grinning, he put his hand out.

“Look, I don’t have any cash. I appreciate your helping me move the coffee table into the house, but we’ve got it now, so if you wouldn’t mind?” Adam gestured toward the front door.

Eli looked at Adam and crossed his arms, planted his feet, and then looked to me, still grinning.

I pulled my phone out of my pocket and dialed 9-1-1. “I’m calling the police” I said.

“&@#$% you then, you little $#&*@." He said, and walked out the door.

The dispatcher answered my call, and I told her that there had been a situation, but that the man had left. She asked if we wanted to talk to the police anyway.

I told her no.