When you've lived somewhere long enough you don't realize how strange it actually is. You believe what they tell you is normal.

And if you don't dig too deep, this town we live in appears heavenly. When you come to live in Agsbury you sure are taken care of for the rest of your life. All the houses on all our streets are beautifully crafted in their specific individual ways to make a family feel welcome and happy.

We are told this exact fact when we are assigned to help with a new house. It started out small many years ago. A tiny village with just the basic necessities, like a small grocery store, a school, and a doctor's office. But it has grown exponentially to a town with more than a thousand people.

I can't say exactly what it looked like in the beginning because that was way before I was even born. All I can say is that during the sixteen years of my life I've enjoyed living here.

Every week we have a big market in the center of town where we can buy everything that our hearts desire. When the market isn't there we have a number of shops and boutiques run by the people that live here. There's a cinema and a theatre and different clubs you can join.

It really is very seldom that a person or a family moves away from here but when they do, their house is renovated or a new one is built.

During the last few months, I helped with the finishing touches of the newest house in our town. It is especially exciting to me as it filled the empty spot right next to ours, meaning we would get new neighbors soon.

I kept waiting and waiting to see who the new people would be. Every day when I came home from school I checked if they were there yet. When the holidays started I began spending significantly more time sitting by the window in my room, looking for a moving truck.

When the new family finally moved in I completely missed it. My friend Jules had stayed over and we had fallen asleep watching Grinch.

We both woke up early in the morning from loud sounds and commotion coming from next door.

We both jumped up to look out the window where we saw a few neighbors standing in front of the new house.

With Jules right behind me, I ran downstairs to the kitchen where my parents and my little brother were having breakfast.

Mum smiled when she saw me.

"Good morning, you two! Our neighbors arrived and I heard they have a son just your age!"

My dad, who was cooking some eggs and scraping the pan like crazy, didn't turn around or wished us good morning. He looked like a wreck.

Mum laughed when she caught me looking at him.

"Your dad didn't get a minute of sleep," she laughed.

Finally, dad turned towards us.

"What an inconvenience, moving into a new house in the middle of the night."

"Did you see them yet?" Jules asked.

"Not yet, but I was gonna go over soon with a basket of muffins. You girls can join me if you like?" Mum asked.

My dad shook his head.

"Mary, maybe you should give them some time to settle in first?"

Jules looked disappointed and for some reason, I felt the same way. I know it might sound weird how big of a deal this is to all of us but as I said before, Agsbury was a bit different. And new people in such a small town can change a lot.

--

Dad went to work and we all ignored what he had said.

Mum had spent the morning baking muffins and filling a pretty wooden basket. She said we still had dozens of them in the basement from back when we moved here.

"So everyone is just gifting each other baskets back and forth?" Jules asked. "I saw a bunch of them at our place too."

Jules had been my best friend ever since I could remember. She lived down the street and was almost like a sister to me.

My mum chuckled.

"Well it's not about the basket, it's about what's in it! And well, about the gesture. We want to make the new family feel welcome."

--

The door was already open but we still knocked. The house that I'd only seen empty was now filled with furniture, decorations, and at least six different baskets filled with muffins. Jules and I exchanged a look and tried not to laugh. I guess it isn't about what's inside either.

"Oh, hello!"

A woman my mother's age approached the door. She was wearing a yellow dress, her black hair framed her face that had at least three layers of makeup on it.

"Hi there! My name is Mary Lawrence. This is my daughter Charlie, we live right next door" my mum squeezed my shoulder, "and this is our dear friend Julia."

"How nice to meet you," the woman said with a bright smile. "My name is Helen Lester. Please, please come inside. My husband Anthony is just in the living room."

We followed her through the house and I couldn't help but wonder how quickly they had furnished everything inside. When I was here the whole house was still bare. How did they do all that in just one night?

Mr. Lester was sitting on the sofa staring at a black television without any movement but when he heard us approach, he quickly turned towards us, although he didn't stand up.

"Anthony, honey, these are our new neighbors. Mary, Julia, and," she took a short pause as if she had to remember my name, "and Charlie."

His serious face swiftly turned into a smile even bigger than the one of his wife's though I could swear I saw a twitch in there.

"Good day!" He called out.

"Poor Anthony hurt his leg working in the house," Helen's smile turned into a dramatic frown.

"How unfortunate," my mum responded in a tone that sounded slightly judgemental, though I couldn't say why.

Jules and I stood behind her awkwardly that entire time until we heard a new noise calling hello into the house.

Another neighbor with a basket full of muffins.

--

"What a lovely couple, weren't they? Though it was slightly odd that they never introduced that son I heard about. He must have been in there somewhere, right?"

My mum asked me as we walked back home. We left shortly after the other neighbors came in and Jules went back to hers.

I shrugged.

"We didn't introduce dad or Benny either."

"Yes, yes. All in good time I guess."

--

For the rest of the day, I couldn't shake the feeling that something about those people and the entire interaction was off. I didn't mention anything to mum because whenever I tried she responded in a very strict manner.

And I probably would've just ignored my thoughts as I normally would. There is a new family every year, the only thing different about this one is that they live so incredibly close. I told myself that I felt some type of attachment as I personally helped with the house.

But when I saw Alex I realized there was something much bigger going on.

Most people in Agsbury go to bed awfully early. My parents turn off all the lights before 10 and all the noises just disappear. When I'm not ready to sleep I often sit in the nook by my window and draw something.

It's quiet and relaxing most times but that night I looked outside and saw a pale face staring at me with wide empty eyes from the window across the street.

My body froze in a moment of shock. When my breath came back it was short and rapid.

I'd recently gotten used to looking at the empty house and I suppose for a moment I forgot that it wasn't empty anymore.

But whoever was staring at me did not look alright. Through the darkness, it was hard to say but this person kept scratching the window, when our gazes met, he pushed his head against the window again and again and again. I couldn't say for sure but it seemed like he was screaming.

Until all of a sudden, he was pulled away from the window and it all stopped.

I'm ashamed to admit how long it took me to finally get into action. As my thoughts became clearer I finally walked to my parent's bedroom, trying to somehow explain what I'd just witnessed.

"Charlie, this is more than absurd. Do you hear yourself?" My mother said in the aforementioned strict tone.

"I- I know but I swear something happened. We need to check on them."

"We've met the Lesters and they seemed like perfectly fine people. Now calm down," my mother said.

"We didn't meet the son!" I shouted to which my mother responded with a stern look.

Now my dad who was sleepy and groggy chimed in "You met them? I thought we said we would wait."

My mother just shrugged and then dad got up from bed and left the room.

Mum and I exchanged a quick look and then followed.

"Howard, what are you doing?"

Now, mum sounded more scared than strict.

I thought dad would go next door but he walked to my room and straight to my window.

And then he waved.

Slowly we walked up to the window, mum making sure she was a step ahead of me. When I reached the window I couldn't believe my eyes.

Mr. and Mrs. Lester were standing by the window where I witnessed the horrors earlier, looking at us with the exact same smile while waving.

"See? All is fine. It is dark, you must have hallucinated," dad said.

"Yes," my mum added. "Now let us let the neighbors sleep. I will make you some warm milk to calm you down, Char-"

"No," my dad chimed in. "It is late, Charlie. Just go to bed. "

--

To be honest, I thought the subject would just be dropped. My parents didn't say a word the next day.

I think we were all a bit surprised when the Lesters rang our doorbell around noon the next day.

And this time they had their son with them.

During daylight, he didn't look scary at all. His brown eyes appeared bloodshot but not empty, and his face wasn't that pale but had a nice touch of color. His hair that yesterday went in all directions was neatly styled back.

My parents invited them inside and we all sat down in the living room.

"Dear Charlie, we want to sincerely apologize for Alex scaring you like that!" Helen said while not blinking even once.

"A dump boyish prank," the father awkwardly chuckled while gently nudging Alex whose face distorted for just a fraction of a second. But then he really looked as if he felt bad.

"I'm sorry. That was really stupid of me," he said. "I didn't mean to scare you."

He sounded sincere.

I looked at all the concerned faces around me and let out a short laugh.

"It's really okay, I was just surprised, not scared," I lied. The lie seemed to help though because suddenly all the adults seemed far more relaxed.

"Well now that the issue is resolved, how would you like to join us for a barbeque?" Dad enthusiastically suggested.

--

They stayed the whole afternoon. The Lesters were really nice, saying all the right things and even mum was warming up. Alex was rather quiet but friendly and polite. He talked about how he liked to play soccer and that he already saw all the sports fields we have in Agsbury.

Dad liked that.

Benny asked if Alex would play video games with him which he politely agreed to. So the three of us went inside while the parents stayed in the garden.

Alex and I were alone in the living room for just a minute, sitting next to each other on the sofa, while Benny went to get his games.

"So have you met many people here yet?" I asked, trying to make smalltalk.

Alex looked around the room really quickly and then came really close to my face.

"I have no idea what happened last night," he whispered. "I don't think I've ever met you but-"

He pulled his shirt up a bit and pulled his pants down just enough to show something written on his lower stomach.

No, not written. Carved. With a knife or something similar from the looks of it though the wound didn't appear fresh.

"It's upside down," he whispered. "But can you read it?"

He pulled back quickly as we heard footsteps approaching but I did see what it said:

CHARLIE

Part 2