Weird things have been happening ever since the house across the street was sold.

I used to always tell my friends the house was haunted because it was deserted. It looked decrepit and disgusting, the grass in front of the house were high weeds. When someone bought the house, no one really saw it coming.

A woman and her daughter moved in. The woman was in her early 40s, the daughter was around my age, 17. They were both very odd. I remember my dad saying, "Look who moved into the house across the street!" and when I looked outside I saw the two grabbing boxes from out of a hearse. They wore a lot of black, but not so much to wear it looked emo/goth.

For maybe a month I heard nothing from the house and saw nothing from the house, but to be honest I wasn't really paying much attention to it. As far as I was concerned, we just had some weird neighbors. No harm there.

No harm there.

I was riding my bike one day when I saw them both, standing on the porch looking over at me. The woman smiled and waved slowly, but the daughter had somewhat of a pathological intensity in her glare.

Later that night, I was mugged. I was leaving my friend's house, going to unhook my bike from a pole, when a man walked up with a gun and made it plain as simple. He said, "Unhook the bike. Give me the bike. No complications," which I thought was a very bizarre thing for a mugger to say, but I'd never been mugged before so what do I know.

Now, what I did know, was that my parents were going to be very worried, for no real reason. As I walked home at night with no bike, I felt, strangely, very safe. Maybe because I had just been mugged and I knew that the worst was over. Maybe because I was being protected and didn't know it.

When I went home, my parents were, like I said, very worried. They said things like "Are you alright?" and "This is horrible!" But, in my mind, I was very calm. Then there was a knock on the door, then the doorbell rang, then the door knock... knocked. It was all very quick and it took us by surprise. My father answered the door and they were there, the woman and the daughter, holding my bike.

My dad did most of the talking, he seemed concerned, but thanked them profusely. My mom looked scared, she didn't know what to make of it and went to her bedroom.

My dad said, "How did you manage to get this?"

The woman replied, "Oh, I just get so angry when people steal. Especially from a teenager, that's just downright unethical."

"Yes, but how did you get it back?"

"It just made me so mad I had to go over to the man and get it!"

"Yes, but how?"

"With Mindy here. I couldn't have done it without her."

By this point, my dad was tired and probably tired of the conversation, so he said, "Well, thank you. It's good to know that someone around here cares."

This is what frightened me a little bit. She said to my father "Oh, we do." Then, her smile faded, and she looked at me and said "We care a lot."

They left and my dad went to sleep. I've been keeping my bike in the house ever since my skateboard got stolen because I left it in the backyard. So I was in the living room, watching TV, when I glanced over at the bike. I was just thinking about all that had happened, when I noticed something weird on the bike. There was a scratch on it that I didn't recognize. At that point I thought it was just a scratch, I'd later find out it's a tally mark.

I was looking at the bike, just wondering what happened, when my cell phone rang. Admittedly, I jumped, and I also got an eerie feeling when the number wasn't recognized on my phone. I answered the phone, "Hello?"

"Hi."

"Who is this?"

"I live across the street."

"Oh... Mindy?"

"Yes."

"How did you get my number?"

"From my mother."

"How did your mom get my-"

"She wanted to tell you that you're safe in this neighborhood."

Then, the call ended abruptly. I was a little frightened at this point, but I didn't know exactly what to think, so I just stopped thinking about it.

The next day, I was sitting on my porch, and the mailman came. He said, "Here you go!" as he handed me the mail. He then said my last name and said, "I know that name... Your father's that fat son of a bitch Jack, isn't he?"

I said, "Uh, excuse me?"

"Tell your asshole dad that I'm not going anywhere!"

Then, he walked away and kicked my dad's car. I looked at him walk away, and noticed that my New Neighbors were looking at me. The woman smiled and waved and mouthed "It's okay." Or at least I think that's what she mouthed.

I never saw that mailman again.

My bike had another tally mark on it.

I'm scared shitless. I don't know what the hell to do. It's been going on for months now. The school bully, my loudmouthed cousin, the teacher that always gave me grief, they're all gone. I don't know where they've gone, but they're gone. My bike has 12 tally marks now, and I can't even think of 12 people missing. I guess it's easier to notice someone's there than to notice they're not there. Sometimes I can see them on my front porch just looking in my direction. I need help. My parents want to take me to an institution for a while, a mental institution. They figure, why not!? It's summer so I wouldn't miss school. They say I've been mumbling a lot, I've been saying a lot of gibberish, but WOULDN'T YOU?! WOULDN'T YOU DO THE SAME?! I'm I'm not . I'm not going to. I'm not going to. I'm not going to give up until. God, someone please help me. They're KILLING THEM. They're KILLING EVERYONE. NO ONE IS SAFE.

I don't know what else to say.

Harvard.

On the corner

theres a house.

the house has a sign that says 'no soliciting'.

that's them.

please.

PLEASE.

do something.

help me.

i don't want to see everyone die.

I DON'T i don't want to see everyone die. god. i don't.