The New Neighbor

“Stacey, come look! Someone’s moving in next door,” Kevin, my little brother, yelled, momentarily disturbing my reading.

Yeah, right, I thought. No one would ever move into that house, not after the previous owner, Robert Wilkins got murdered. However, out of curiosity, I glanced over. To my shock, a car pulled into the driveway, and a woman dressed in all black stepped out.

“Really?” Mom stepped out the kitchen, where she was making dinner, to take a look. “We should go over and welcome them tonight.”

Soon, we left the house, and Dad knocked on the door. The woman I saw earlier answered, a little golden retriever weaving between her legs and looking at us curiously.

“May I help you?” she asked uncertainly.

“Hi,” Dad said. “We’re your neighbors, right next door. We’d like to welcome you to the neighborhood.”

“Oh, that’s very nice of you,” she replied, but her eyes looked alarmed, and her smile seemed forced. “I’m Lyra. Lyra Wilkins.”

“Wilkins… as in…?” I didn’t want to finish the sentence.

Lyra looked down. “Yes. Robert was my father.”

“Ah, I see. We’re sorry for your loss,” Mom said.

“We brought you food,” Kevin said, holding out a basket of Mom’s homemade muffins.

“Oh, thank you. They look wonderful.” Lyra took the basket. “Er, would you like to come in?”

So we headed inside. We sat in the living room and ate some muffins while Mom, Dad, and Lyra talked about boring adult things, and Kevin played with the dog, who Lyra said was named Cooper.

“Um, sorry, but could I use your restroom?” I asked.

“Sure, it’s down the hallway on the right,” Lyra said.

While I was washing my hands, I noticed something sticking out of a cabinet. I opened the door and a black t-shirt fell out, and I could feel something wrapped in it. I was about to put it back when I realized that the fabric was caked in blood. I gasped, watching the water on my hands mix with the dried blood substance, making blood drip into the sink. I dropped the shirt in shock and a long blade fell out. I stared at it, realizing what this meant. With shaking hands, I pulled out my phone to take a picture, but suddenly, a hand reached out from behind me and knocked it to the floor.

“You shouldn’t have opened that cabinet.” Lyra said. I opened my mouth to scream, but then everything went dark.