"Hey Jamie," her father said from the door of the room, "What's up?"

"The new neighbours are moving in," she said, trying to hide her disappointment.

"What are they like?" her father asked.

"The man seems really cranky, and mean. He's yelling at the moving people. I haven't seen a woman yet," she replied.

"Oh well," he smiled, and lightly nudged her aside to peek out the window himself, "maybe he's just tired from a long drive, or something. I know if I had a bunch of strong people to boss around right now, I'd lose my voice in a few minutes." He glanced around the room, "That's nice that the movers moved some stuff in here."

"Yep. I'm still kind of disappointed about how grumpy the new neighbour is," she sighed, then stopped, and pushed herself to smile.

"This place really needs some work," he told her, "how about we clean out this room first, and we'll all sleep here tonight."

"Sounds good." They began sweeping, and scrubbing. Luckily, her mother had come prepared, and soon came up too, bearing disinfecting wipes, and a mop. She also brought a spray bottle of diluted vinegar. When they started, the blue paint on the walls was hard to see. They cleaned, and scrubbed, and eventually, she began to see the bright blue colour of the walls for what it really was. She pointed it out, and a few minutes later her mother and father reported the same thing.

Every few minutes, Jamie glanced out the window, and looked out at the neighbour's house. After about half an hour, the man went inside.

"Let's get the mattresses down, then we'll go out for dinner. We'll come back afterwards, and finish up," her mother proposed.

"Okay, let's grab our stuff," he father replied, drying his soapy hands on a cloth.

They got back in the car, and the drove to a nearby pizza restaurant. After ordering their meal, they began making plans. Jamie was to have the small bedroom, overlooking the yard (from which she had a clear view of the neighbour's yard.) Her parents would be sharing the larger room across the hall. The other rooms were less of a priority. They would eventually set up a T.V. in the living room and a guest room in the basement.

After another few hours of cleaning back at the house, it was midnight, and they decided to sleep.

Lying on a musty mattress, and hearing her parents' soft breathing beside her, Jamie was nearly asleep. As a light wind blew outside, the house made comforting creaking and quiet tapping noises. Just as she was lulled into dreams of ice cream and summer, she had a strange tingling sensation down her back.

She stood up silently, and walked over to the window, her bare feet padding against the worn, wood floor. When she reached the window, she pulled back the curtain a little bit, and stepped up to the window, pulling the curtain closed behind her.

In their last house, this had been Jamie's favourite spot to be. Between the house and the outside world. She had loved it, because warmth from the inside of the house would keep her warm, and she could still press her face and hands against the cool glass.

The moon was a waxing gibbous, so she could see quite clearly. The moon was nearly full in the sky, and Jamie stared up at it, sitting there. Like a round of cheese. Of course, she didn't believe those silly stories about the moon being made of cheese; she knew someone who was an astronaut, and he had seen the moon up close. He had told her what it looked like, and it definitely wasn't cheese.

Drawing her eyes back down to the yard, Jamie looked around. She'd felt this tingly feeling before, and that was one time when she had thought she had seen a person disappear out of thin air, right before her eyes. She had also had that feeling when she had seen the first hooded figure at the gas station.
In the neighbour's yard, a figure stood, silhouetted in the ethereal light of the moon. His pose appeared majestic, and serene. There was something so perfect and at the same time wrong about this man, that she felt like turning away.

Then it struck her. Why was a random man standing in her cranky neighbour's yard? This person looked nothing like her actual new neighbour. While the man in the yard was tall and slim, the man she had seen earlier, appeared overweight, and stomped around like he was the king of the world.

This newcomer didn't move at all, staying completely still, on what Jamie now saw was a rock, that hadn't been there before. Finally the man moved, and leaped off the rock with incredible grace. He landed without a sound, then crouched down on the grass. Leaning his head down, Jamie noticed yet another thing she hadn't seen before. There was a tiny garden gnome in the grass. He leaned down, ever so close to the little statue. Then, he placed his hand on the statue's ear, and began whispering to it. After a few minutes, he stood back up, and walked away.

Jamie stared out at the garden for a few minutes more, and then was about to head back to bed, when the gnome moved. No, it couldn't have moved. It was just a statue, and she was tired, and maybe she was dreaming.

The gnome began to walk towards the gate of the yard, and Jamie fought the urge to run downstairs, and go outside and see what kind of prank this was. Reminding herself constantly that this must be a dream, she headed back to bed, and laid down.

Trying to lull herself back to sleep, Jamie could have sworn someone was creeping around the house downstairs. The creaking was no longer comforting. Someone was walking around in the house. Just as she was about to get up, the door to the room swung open, and the silhouette walked in.

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