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Neighbours (Part 3)

Chapter 3

By Eugenia MorenoPublished 6 years ago 8 min read
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7 PM

I sit there mortified, afraid that he may have seen me watching his every move. He may come after me. However, despite his crime, I still do not reject him entirely and I feel dreadful about it. What is wrong with me? Have I really become that desperate? I decide to phone one of the only few friends who still stand by me.

"Hello?" after a few ringtones she picks up, her voice sounding as joyful as ever. Annie has always been a cheerful woman. Born and raised in the same town as me, we share many adventures in each other's backyards in our younger years and a few more tedious ones as adults. I can hear her shuffling some metallic container and with a loud thud she finally places what sounds like a tray on top of a counter. I now have her full attention.

"Sorry dear. Was baking a pie." I can almost see the smile being drawn on her lips, the smell of her cake filtering through the small holes in the phone's speakers and her children running downstairs, gathering around the table, waiting to be served. I envy her life. At college, she was a quiet, shy, and almost unnoticeable girl, scared of the world and too innocent to deal with its vile reality. I, on the other hand, was a popular cheerleader, beautiful and young, surrounded by acquaintances who were friends to me back then but began drifting away as soon as my life began shattering into small pieces. While my dreams were quickly fading away, hers were coming true, as if she had the advantage of a fairy godmother while I had the devil on my side. "How are you darling?"

"I... I'm fine. I..."

"Bailey? Are you alright?" her overexcited tone has faded somewhat and I presume it's due to my inability to form a coherent sentence. I cannot bring myself to tell her what I've just seen. He may be arrested and my life would no longer be filled with the thrill of imagining a life next to Roy, but would return to the normal, solitary state to which I have confined myself.

"Umm... yeah, I'm okay. Sorry, I... I was doing something and got distracted."

"Well? How are you? It's been a long time since we last spoke." From her tone I'm certain that she knows about my husband though I never told her. Our old town was small and word spread faster than a disease. In fact, rumours were just as crude as an epidemic. No matter how hard you tried to stop them, they would always find a way to fill the air, and as one walked the street, they could feel every stare on themselves, viciously been examined, as if to break them down so that they would spurt something to instigate more drama. I always hated small places. They corroded me.

"I'm fine. How are the kids?" I don't want to draw any attention to myself but she cannot let go.

"They're good. Thanks for asking, dear." she draws a small pause, waiting for me to continue, to comment about my sad and lonely life. Seeing that I don't, she then decides to break the silence and ask anyway. "I know about your husband. What an awful man. I hope you are alright."

"And I am. It's better for the both of us. In that way I can't hurt him and..."

"He hurt you, Bailey. And really badly. I know about the abuse."

I laugh and in response hear a slight surprised grunt. Why am I laughing? It's a serious matter, yet I feel like I still live in this dream where I'm an absolute mess but somehow I will wake up and it will all be well.

"I'm sorry Annie. Look, someone's calling me on the phone so I gotta go. I'm glad to hear you again and hope to see you soon." I know I won't meet her since we live too far away but that's alright. At least I won't have to explain myself anymore. She knows it's another excuse to hang up and she says her goodbyes somewhat offended, but I don't mind. I'm glad I'm back to my solitary state. As I cut the call I look up again and Roy is simply standing there, watching his victim with this uneasy smile. His hands are covered in blood and at one point he takes one to his nose and smells it rather slowly, feeling it's iron-like smell and impregnating his senses with it. Any other individual would feel disgusted at such action, but I sit there astounded, enchanted by this masculine figure who looks strong and protective. He then rubs the oozing liquid against his body, covering his khaki shirt in red while he lays next to her and rests his head on hers. If it wasn't for the fact that she could be dead, I would say it's an idyllic scene.

3 AM

I have been sitting here for so long, blood has stopped circulating through my legs, causing them to feel stiff. I open my eyes and realise I must have fallen asleep. I know I've dreamt of what I just saw, but I don't recall it being a nightmare. I stretch my torso and stand up. When I look over, the lights are off and I'm unable to see anything behind the curtain of darkness which surrounds his master bedroom. I decide I too should go to sleep and move towards my bed, covering my head with my blanket. Then it hit me. I've just seen my next door neighbour murdering his acquaintance. A beautiful, young red-haired woman with dreams, opportunities, and a whole life ahead of her, now disrupted forever under this man's hands. Could I be more sadistic? However I try to feel guilty, I cannot. Adrenaline rushes through my veins and renders me excited. For the first time in years, my life has taken an interesting turn. I have witnessed a crime, and I am the sole beholder of such information. And with that overwhelming thought I instantly fall asleep.

8 AM

It's Sunday. Another day has gone by and I feel slightly nauseous at the thought of starting work tomorrow at a new position, a more prestigious one. My phone rings twice but I do not pick it up. It's probably Annie, trying to squeeze the truth out of me, as if my life was some form of juicy fruit with loads of content to be forced out. I am not willing to. I lay a few more minutes before the ringing commences once more and I'm obliged to pick it up. It's my boss.

"Bailey?"

I stand up so rapidly, I feel as though I could have levitated in that split second.

"Sir? Sorry, I had a few things on my hands and couldn't pick it up." my voice however gives away the sleeping state I am currently in. He's not impressed.

"Bailey, I need you to come right now. As you know, your new position demands more responsibility and it is urgent that you meet me and a few colleagues as soon as you can to discuss some matters in an urgent meeting."

I sigh although not loudly enough for him to hear me. I give him my approval and get ready as quickly as I can. I hope to be back to follow Roy's next moves.

5 PM

Work is done. Lunch is done. Time to be back home. My mind is now used to suppress any desire to socialise even though humans are meant to be social animals. I'm against such trend or theory. I enjoy my own company. No one can argue against me, convince me to take a certain path I know it's not beneficial for my well being and, frankly, such freedom has a much better impact than a weekly meet-up with some "friend" whom I know will not be so amicable once I get into trouble. That is when you realise that being alone so often may as well train you to hold yourself together in the darkest times and to not be dependent on anybody. At least that's the way I see it.

As soon as I enter my home I close the door behind me with a sigh of relief. I'm finally freed. I drop the purse on the entrance, the chain making a rather loud noise which scares me. I shrug it off and get back to my room where I quickly undress and lay down on my bed, grabbing a book in order to ease my mind from such an arduous day. Roy is not there but Rachel (I decided to give her a name as to create a more realistic story of their past love life), is still calmly on his bed, her right arm hanging from the mattress, pale and lifeless. I feel sorry for her but she must have done something sufficiently bad to upset him. I try to remember her last words. However, I cannot make out the reason for her disapproval. He was simply standing there, facing the kitchen counter, cutting up some meat. It then hits me. I close the book as my eyes have scanned a few sentences without retaining any meaning. A little light is suddenly brightened inside my brain: that must have been human meat.

psychological
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About the Creator

Eugenia Moreno

I love writing fiction stories, especially thrillers and fiction. Hope you guys like my stories!

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