The Lycan

My neighbor is missing

Changing.

Growing up.

It seems so simple but what if you're unable to? Trapped. The years go by and your skin grows just like everything around you. But you never do. And you think it's fine, pretending that you've aged mentally just as you did physically. And suddenly, just like pulling the wrong block from Jenga, everything comes crashing down.

Suddenly you are a kid again thinking childhood would last forever, you are waiting for your dad to come home and you still believe Santa Claus exists. You get hit back into reality. Some of us are time capsules I believe. You are mentally stuck in the past, back when everything makes sense.

She stares at the pile of papers filled with nonsense, she envies it. Envies the days she could write for hours without her hands shaking, looking at the wall wishing that the feeling of not being watched would disappear. The days when she could live in her own body. The writing was her first love, it held her, and comforted her, but it didn't love her back.

Years she spent pouring her soul into something she wished she could open her mouth and say. It soaked up her tears no matter how much they stained the page. But now, as she stared at the papers she realized it did not love her back. The fire she had lit had died and the ashes are left on my fingertips.

"It's raining again," Jamiie thought to herself, staring out of her bedroom window, listening to the harsh wind blow. This was a harsh storm, something that would really ease the mind.

It was another sleepless night where the day's terrors blew into the night and sink into the mind. She lay underneath the thick covers trying not to think. Then suddenly, flashing lights appeared in her window, red and blue.

"The police?" Jamiie thought to herself wondering how and why they were outside at 2 a.m. She slowly rose up, peeping through the window to get a better view and seeing the police car pull into her neighbor's driveway.

"Was there a burglary?" she thought to herself as she watched the parents walk out of their house but where was the daughter? The sudden realization made her jump out of her bed trying to get to turn on her radio.

"A report from yet another missing teenager has parents in a frenzy, they say they heard a noise at 8 p.m. from their daughter's room that seemed strange but when they went to check they found her missing local law enforcement are currently-"

"Holy shh," she said, in complete and total shock

"Can I catch a break today" she mentally groaned out, and began sinking to the floor, she grabbed her phone off the nightstand and called maxi

"What is it?"

"Oh, don't act like your sleeping"

"Couldn't even if I tried, again what is it?"

"The police are at my neighbor's house"

"You can see in this weather?"

"Yeah, my neighbor's daughter is a victim"

"Wait, what are the parents doing?"

Jamiie peeked out of the window, looking a the police officers talking to the parents

"They're talking to the cops"

"This town has more than one cop?"

"Right? I always thought the police were for decoration"

Jamiie's eyes shifted to the parents, the mother was standing in her pink with her face in her hands and the dad was practically screaming at the police turning colors.

"The mom crying and the dad looks like he's half a step away from fighting the police officer"

"Ooh if they fight record it"

The cops then turn around and walk back to their car and open up the back door letting out two K9s

"Dude he's bringing out the dogs"

"They have dogs, I thought they were just for decoration"

Jamiie got up and walked into the kitchen, tiptoeing her way there careful never to make any noise

"Where are you going?"

"To the kitchen to get a better look"

"Looking out a window in your bedroom is one thing, calling your friend to tell about what you say is another but getting up and moving across your entire house is a new level of nosey"

"I found you by tracking down the kids you use to be at camp with, what about that says I'm not nosey"

Jamiie watched the cop as the dog dragged him to the backyard and let him sniff around for a bit. Suddenly the dog's head snapped towards the forest, it started barking and the cop looked as if he was struggling to hold it back.

"There's something in those woods" Jamiie whispered out

"Do you think it's a creature?"

"I don't know but the dog is going crazy"

As the K9 kept barking, the cop reached out his hands as if he was physically asking for something. The mom pulled her face out of her hands and handed the cop a Grey hoodie. Although her body was shaking, now that Jamiie was closer she could see that something was off.

The mom's hair was a mess, she was wearing a robe, and she was shaking. But there weren't any tears matter of fact the more Jamiie looked the more it looked like the mom's face was a shadow. Her eyes glanced over to the dad and saw that his face was visible but hers wasn't.

Even though they were in the same lighting it didn't make sense. Suddenly she had a startling realization when the mom moved her head she saw a pair of eyes that didn't look like they belonged on a human.

Predator's eyes.

As the mom slightly moved her head again, acting as if she was drying her eyes with her sleeves Jamiie saw it again, those eyes. It looked as if her pupils were way too small and they didn't stay still. It was as if they were vibrating.

A memory flashed through the mind of her first meeting them, how they looked when they introduced themselves as her new neighbor, and how the mom's eyes didn't look like that. Her eyes were soft and brown and seemed warm.

This was sharp like the edge of a nail sticking out of a piece of wood. They were cold and intense. They could break ice underneath its stare.

"Maxi" Jamiie stutters out

"What did you see?"

"Those aren't her parents" she whispers, her voice extremely low and almost couldn't be heard

She takes the phone from her ear and clicks the camera. She moved her body to the ground on her knees and tried to stay as still as possible even though her hands were shaking. Her heart thumped against her skin like someone was banging on a door

"And that isn't her mom"

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1098 words