Tonight , it starts raining again.
This time lightning and thunder accompanies the heavenly show.

My room is illuminated by soft glows of light from the light fixtures overhead as I sit on my bed and turn the page of the book I was reading.

Loud thunder crackles outside the window and the rain seems to be falling down in torrents.

As I finish the chapter , my eyes fall upon some particular lines about rain and I catch myself smiling upon reading those words .

Gently closing the book, I keep it at my bedside table and get up. Tightening a robe over my body, I walk towards the balcony and draw back the curtains to look at the rain.

My balcony is flooded with water but the rain has now shimmered down to just a light drizzle.

In the distance, the ocean is raging with humongous waves and thunder is still rumbling occasionally.

Like a clockwork habit, my eyes trail towards a particular window opposite to my room and I involuntarily gasp.

My heart seems to have fallen down a vacuum in my chest. A silhouette is once again standing at the balcony.

His form is barely visible through the cloudy glass door of the balcony.

I wipe the glass in front of my face to remove the residual mist which had condensed upon it. Just then a loud burst of thunder comes crashing down and lightning races by , the glow falling and illuminating the mysterious face.

In that moment I look towards the silhouette to find him staring back at me.

Just as his mouth curls upwards one one side in what is supposed to be a smile , I shriek at the top of my lungs.

I yell even louder and barely register what I'm seeing as he turns around and disappears.

Whether he goes inside the room or flies up in the sky , I don't remember.

I'm too shocked by the fact that we stared right at each other .
Let's not forget the fact that he also smiled at me. A random face smiled at me in the middle of a storm . Forgive me for losing my senses for a few seconds.

The door to my room opens with a loud bang and Hreedhan rushes inside followed by Aleesha and Sehar.

" Are you okay? "

" What happened?"

"Did someone break in ?'

I reply to all their questions by staring blankly at the spot where that guy was standing just a few seconds ago.

"You look as if you've just seen a ghost. " Aleesha notes.

I turn towards her and nod.

Hreedhan snorts and comes forward to look in the direction I was staring at, " If that's the case, it looks like you managed to scare away the ghost with your ear splitting shriek. "

Sehar sprints to stand by my side and squints her eyes in that direction. Then she looks back at me with eyes full of pity and announces, " I think she's hallucinating. Did you have a dream Yara ? "

I blink my eyes at her a few times before turning to see that Hreedhan and Aleesha look absolutely clueless.

" I was right. That bungalow isn't vacant. Someone is living there. A guy is living there." I declare.

"She's been talking about this for the last few days . Apparently she saw the lights on one night and what not. " Sehar informs the other two in the room.

"I'm sure I saw someone right now. He was standing right there ! ", I point at the opposite balcony's direction. " He even smiled at me. "

At my last sentence all of their expressions change and they look at each other as if wondering if I actually needed mental help.

" You guys don't believe me . But I have proof. " I counter and turn to fetch my handbag . After rummaging around a little, my hand comes out clutching the piece of paper I had picked up earlier.

" I picked it up from that bungalow's front porch while we were coming back yesterday. This is a receipt from a fast food restaurant. The date is from two days ago for a home delivery. "

" It must've slipped from that wrong delivery." Sehar interrupts me.

" Yes. Except it wasn't a wrong delivery. The food reached its correct destination. " I explain, pointing at the bottom of the receipt and showing it to them, " The address written here is the same as that of the bungalow next to ours. Is that a coincidence too ? "

Sehar's eyes widen and she snatches the receipt from my hand. Her eyes are full of disbelief as she reads the address . She looks up at me and says " Shit- I'm sorry Yara. I should have believed you. "

" Hold on . So there's a ghost living in that bungalow? ", Aleesha questions in a scared tone and immediately rushes forward to close the curtains.

" Well , maybe ghosts like eating burgers too. " Hreedhan murmurs in a very serious voice.

~★~

After calming down we all sit in a circle, huddled together in the living room downstairs as we try making sense of whatever is happening.

"So let me get this straight - someone has been living in that bungalow all this time while the salesman and caretakers repeatedly claimed that it's unoccupied? "

Hreedhan scrunches his eyebrows and wonders out loud with hands locked over his chest.

" That's what it seems like. '' Sehar replies, pursing her lips and looking downwards at the wooden floor , lost in deep thoughts.

" Are we sure it's a ghost? " Aleesha scrunches her eyebrows at me in question .

" If it is , it sure seems like a cute one. ", I bite my lip and murmur absentmindedly. The silence from everyone around me breaks me out of my thoughts and I widen my eyes realizing what I had blurted out.

"Seems like this incident officially made you lose your remaining brain cells huh? ", Hreedhan smirks at me.

" No! I meant ghosts aren't real pfft." I roll my eyes and try to cover my previous unintentional words.

" But Jins are ." He deadpans.

" Yeah and they love eating burgers right? " I shoot back at him .

Hreedhan opens his mouth ready to continue bickering but Sehar cuts him off -

" Let's be serious guys. It might be a criminal for all we know. "

" Should we call the police? ", Aleesha asks in a timid voice. " What if it's a murderer ?"

Hreedhan walks over to the sofa Aleesha is sitting on and puts an arm around her shoulders. " I'm sure if it was some serial killer they would've murdered us by now. We've been here next door for the past 3 days after all. ", He assures her by rubbing his hands up and down her back in soothing motions.

" And if it's a ghost - he would've also possessed Yara by now. '', Hreedhan adds while glancing at me.

" Haha , you think you're very funny nah ? Why would he possess me ? They usually tend to go for pretty girls. "

" That's also true. ", He mocks back at me.

" Yara! I would've given you a lecture about having more self esteem but I'll save it for later. ", Aleesha scolds me and simultaneously swats Hreedhan's hand away from her with a glare in his direction.

" Hey I was just kidding - " He whines but Aleesha cuts him off again.

" The criminal hasn't harmed us yet because we didn't know he was living here so he could carry on his activities secretly. But after this incident he definitely knows we are aware of his existence next door. We could call the police. Obviously he might harm us now if he feels threatened. ", She continues ranting worriedly.

"Calm down Alee, what can he do ? Break and enter our bungalow? ", Hreedhan tries to pacify her.

Immediately a faint thudding sound comes from right above where we were sitting.

" Keep your ominous mouth shut ! " Sehar whisper-shouts at Hreedhan while Aleesha lets out a shriek and jumps into her husband's arms.

" My room is directly above the living room right? The sound came from there. " I observe and panic takes over my body as I think about all the possibilities.

Hreedhan walks towards the door and grabs an umbrella, " I'm going to go and check the disturbance. Y'all stay right here . "

" Oh heck no - I'm not staying here. " Sehar retorts , rushing inside the kitchen and holding up a spatula as a weapon.

Aleesha picks up a pepper spray and I grab a frying pan. Together we all slowly climb up the stairs with our makeshift weapons and trudge towards the open door of my room.

The early morning sunlight is streaming through the crack between the curtains and bathing my room in a soft glow of light.

Entering along with our armed weapons we find the room to be just as how we had left it.

"Nothing seems to be out of place . "
I declare, walking around the room and taking in the position of all my belongings.

Sehar ducks down and checks under the bed. " Nope , it's empty. "

I slowly open the bathroom door and peep inside , holding out the frying pan in case I need to hit someone.
" Nah it's all clear." I call out, turning around and closing the door.

Hreedhan walks towards the balcony and yanks apart the curtains and that's when we notice it.

A huge chunk of object is sitting in the middle of the wooden floor of the balcony .

Sliding open the glass door, Hreedhan proceeds to walk outside and prod the object with the end of the umbrella clutched in his hand.

We join Hreedhan and crowd around the object.
It seems to be wrapped in paper.
He turns the object over and my eyes fall upon the rough surface of a rock.

" What is it ? " Aleesha asks , peeking behind Hreedhan's shoulder.

He bends to pick it up .

"Be careful, what if it's slathered in chemicals or something. " Sehar warns from the other side.

My eyes dart towards the opposite bungalow for a brief second. I don't know what I was expecting to see. I didn't want to see anyone standing there. Or catch any head peeking around from behind the curtain. For once, luck seemed to be on my side and I sighed with relief to see everything was closed.

But the solace was short lived as Hreedhan separated the paper wrapped around the rock and put the rock aside before smoothening out the parchment and holding it out for us to read.

Written in neat black letters were the following words.

" Hello. Judging by your reaction I'm sure you're shocked . But please don't say anything to anyone. And definitely don't call the police. I'll mind my own business and you mind yours. Deal?

P.S. I would've sent along some chocolates as a neighborly courtesy but unfortunately the pantry is currently devoid of them. "

A few minutes passed as we digested the words and then stared back at the bungalow to no avail. There was nothing out of the ordinary about it at this time of the day. The only way we were sure it's from whoever was occupying that property is because of the neighbor comment he had made.

We filed back inside my room and closed the curtains so he couldn't see us from his bungalow in case he decided to observe our reaction.

" I'm telling you it's a criminal! He forbade us from calling the police. Why would he do that unless he was hiding from the law huh ? " Sehar jumped out with conclusions.

" We can't be sure of that." Hreedhan puts in. " Plus he said
' please ' and was going to offer us chocolates if he had any . The guy definitely has manners. "

" Serial killers can be super sweet, you know ? It would be no surprise if someone managed to trap you someday. ", I tease him although in the back of my mind I couldn't but help agree with whatever he had said.

" A criminal seems like the most probable scenario. It's definitely not a ghost. Do ghosts know how to write? " Aleesha wonders out loud.

" I don't get why y'all are constantly underestimating ghosts' ability to do stuff. I'm warning you beforehand, if a spirit gets offended and decides to extract revenge upon you , I'm not gonna protect you. " Hreedhan dramatically lifts his hands up in a surrendering gesture.

" Would you be serious for once ? " Sehar sighs in exhaustion.

An animal howls in the distance and I slightly jump in shock. I'm too disoriented from all these events and my brain is way muddled up to think straight.

" Okay , let's make a list of all the possibilities of who's residing there Kay ? " Hreedhan pulls out his phone , typing in all of our suggestions.

" Right. So ghosts are ruled out. How about an old man who's supposed to be dead but is secretly living here away from his toxic family? "

Sehar gives him an unimpressed look while I shake my head at him , "It's definitely not an old man. He seemed young... "

Hreedhan quirks an eyebrow at me and nods before typing something else in his notes app.

" What if it's the owner ? "

" Why would the owner be scared of anyone knowing he is living on his own property? The salesman would've known plus there wasn't any need for being wary of the police. " Aleesha points out.

" So that leaves the criminal/ serial killer . " Sehar concludes, " We need to call the police. "

" He threatened us specifically to not call the police." Aleesha reminds her.

" So now we're listening to a criminal? What's next? Giving him away all our valuables if he asks? "

" If he was after valuables , he had plenty of time to break in and steal while we were out of the bungalow. " I point out ,pacing back and forth.

" I agree with that. Plus who says it's a serial killer. It might just be a misunderstood criminal hiding from the law. Maybe he didn't have enough money to feed his poor family and stole from the store to keep them alive and now the police are after him. " Hreedhan offers.

" Wanna help me write a book ? " I ask my cousin with a serious expression.

" Nah, too much work. I'll give you ideas, you do the writing and then put in my name. " He replies with a smile threatening to play on his lips.

" The guy did mention he will mind his business if we mind ours. So let's just agree to his deal and not call the police or tell anyone. Anyway we just have two more days of our trip left. Let's enjoy our time here and leave quietly. " Aleesha proposes with a small smile, trying to get rid of her jitters.

" True that. We didn't pay so much on this trip just to be bummed out over a wannabe criminal. " Sehar nods her head in agreement.

" So what are we waiting for ? To the beach it is ! " Hreedhan announces and drags Aleesha towards their room to get ready for a much needed retreat to the seaside.

☠️

Well...one of the longest chapters I have written so far.
What are your thoughts?
Any opinion on the dear polite neighbor?

Remember to press that star (: