CHAPTER One - New In Town

Dark clouds covered the night sky, it was about to rain, and the forest was quiet apart from the sound of a man's running feet and heavy breathing. Running was a struggle for him but he couldn't stop, his life was in danger. It scared him.

He chanced a glance over his shoulder and tripped; he found his footing again and continued running. His hair looked disheveled and his clothes were dirty since he fell down so many times and one of his sleeves had a tear.

Keep running, you won't get far. The person chasing the terrified man thought. He suddenly appeared in front of the man, and he let out a yelp, trying to get up and run, but it was too late.

The person chasing him, dressed in a black hoody and trousers with a smiling clown mask was already on him. He pressed a cloth dipped in chloroform on the man's nose and mouth.

He didn't let go until the man was unconscious. He carried him on his back and went back to his car.

I may do this for the one I love, but I also love the chase. He thought, grinning behind his mask.

The chaser drove his car to the remaining distance to his house. He didn't usually 'hunt' near his home, but he thought it was safe enough since he had done so many far away. He was to park his car in his garage, but not before noticing a car parked in front of the house next to his and light inside the house.

The chaser had a new neighbor while he was out hunting. He removed his mask, got out of his car and closed the garage door.

"I'll see if this one stays". He said out loud this time right before taking the victim inside.

Earlier that day, Freya arrived at the house she had bought. The house was in a small town called Community, it had a few houses around it. She wanted a place that was quiet, where there weren't many people and that was just it.

The town looked old-fashioned, and her house looked just as old-fashioned, it was a one story, cream colored with a brown front door and a lawn.

The house next to hers looked like no one lived there; grasses in the lawn were long, and they had the window shutters drawn shut. The other one closer to hers was nicer to look at. They had the lawn trimmed; the house looked welcoming and neat.

"That is Dr. David's home." The saleswoman in her forties, Andrea said.

"Poor thing, his wife died during childbirth. Had to raise the girl all by himself, not to mention she has been sick for two years now. He even stopped going out to work at the hospital after he found out that she was sick." Andrea shook her head in pity. Freya placed her palm over her chest.

"That is terrible. I hope she gets better." Andrea gave her a look that she knew meant the girl wasn't getting any better. Freya thought the doctor was strong to go through all that.

"Oh well, I'll leave you to settle down."

"Alright, thank you." She smiled back at Andrea and watched her walk to her car that was next to Freya's, and drive off. She picked up the last two boxes from the ground and walked to the new house, letting the door slam behind her.

Freya jolted awake from her sleep. What was it that woke her up? An unidentified sound came, like a shout mixed with a whimper and some other sound. That was it. It woke her up. She didn't know where it was coming from, so she dismissed it. Just as she turned on her side and pulled her quilt higher to her shoulders, ready to go back to sleep, it came again.

Freya sat up and listened. It sounded again and her head snapped to the left. She stood and strolled to the window, the one on her left and the one facing Dr. David's house. It came again, then continued for minutes.

Freya only stood there, facing the side of Dr. David's house. The sounds were audible enough for her to hear, but not loud enough for people in other houses to hear since her house and his are closer to each other. The sounds were horrifying.

She didn't know what was happening. She started wondering if he was torturing people in there. But she cleared that thought from her mind.

"No, it can't be. Besides, I just moved in and I'm in no place to judge. It's probably TV, yeah, he's watching a horror movie.'

She walked back to bed, got in and pulled the quilt over herself. She then closed her eyes, trying to block out the frightening noises.

The next morning, Freya was coming out of her house to get something to eat when she noticed Dr. David was out mowing his lawn. She hadn't met him since she moved in six days ago. She decided that was the right time to introduce herself.

Even though she has been hearing those disturbing noises every night from his house, she walked towards his yard as she pushed all her suspicions down. It might be her lawyer's instinct. She stood in front of his yard and called out,

"Morning!" Dr. David turned to face her, he shut the machine down, wiped the sweat from his brow and walked over to her.

"I am Freya Jacob, your new neighbor. I moved into the house next door a few days back."

The man looked like he was in his forties, he had a shaved head, and was wearing a white wife beater with faded jeans. Freya thought that he looked fit and good looking for an older guy.

He stared intensely at her first before smiling lightly.

"Well, hello neighbour. Good to see someone finally living next door." His smile, which Freya thought was fake, broadened.

"Yeah, feels good to be somewhere new and quiet." She smiled slightly, though hers was real.

"I'm Samuel David by the way, but you can call me Sam."

"Alright Sam. I wanted to introduce myself and also ask you if you knew what were making last night's noises."

"What noises are talking about?" Sam looked confused as he folded his arms across his chest.

"There were strange noises coming from outside last night. Didn't you hear them?" Freya didn't know if he was really confused or just acting.

"Yes, I am sure that I didn't hear any noises last night. Maybe you were having a dream." He replied her as he rubbed his chin and looked around as if trying to hear the noises she was talking about.

"Yeah, maybe. So I need to go now." Freya decided to agree with him although she knew that she didn't dream of those noises last night.

"Nice meeting you, Freya."

She walked to her car as he stared at her back. He didn't seem like the serial killer type, but there was definitely something off about him. It was a feeling in her gut.

Freya drove by the other neighbor's house that was on the other side. The lawn still had long grasses, and the windows were still shut and dirty. An old man who she guessed was Mr. Othman from what Andrea told her, was peeping out from the front door and staring straight at her. His gaze followed her until she was out of view.

What was that about? She thought. It looked like the small town wasn't as quiet and as normal as she thought.

Ding dong

Freya's doorbell rang. She stood from the couch where she was watching TV and went to open the door.

"Hello." Mr. Othman said. He was dressed neatly, to her surprise, in a black dress shirt and blue jeans compared to how untidy his house looked.

"Uh, hi." She replied slowly, shocked to see him there.

"Can I talk to you?"