The Terror Next Door (Based on a True Story)

7)Intruder

"The Bird and the Worm" by The Used
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"We're not gonna talk about how weird that was?" Sophia huffed before flopping down dramatically on her bed.
It was much later in the evening now, nearing eleven at night. Sophia's parents would be at the office function until two in the morning. Being background actors, Alex and Colin were working on a local film set until seven in the morning. For the time being, Sophia was the oldest person in the house except for her grandmother staying the night. Even though there were quite a few people in the house including her large dog Napoleon, Sophia was now feeling massively paranoid upon the reveal that Blake was questioning where people in her house slept. Why the heck would he need to know that information...?

The only comfort Sophia had was thinking of how many siblings were in her house, and, not to mention, the family dog. It wasn't as though Blake would be able to simply waltz through the front door and spray paint more of Sophia's life. Even still, she felt unnerved.
"You know grandma," Annie muttered, scribbling away at her paper with an eraser. "She believes everyone is always happy and friendly and no one is ever mean to anyone else." Finishing up her schoolwork, Sophia could tell the younger teenager wasn't really paying this matter the attention it deserved.

She knew her sister was right, but this didn't make her feel any better. "Yeah, still. It's like she believed Blake over me." The teenager couldn't help but to pout.

"Again, you know grandma. She's oblivious to jerk people."

Sophia didn't bother to comment this was more than simply a jerk person. There was something seriously wrong with Blake. Anybody who was within a foot of him could see this if they just looked at him. "He gives me the creeps," Sophia admitted, writing down a few leftover words on an essay due tomorrow. She always managed to forget the date she wrote the paper along with her own name.

"You never know, it could've been someone from dance. Kermey Jennings hates that you made the first team and she got kicked to second."

While this was very true regarding the girl they attended dance with, Sophia didn't believe the teenage girl a year younger than her was behind it. Kermey was a brat, but she was also a severe chicken to try such a thing. There was also something else to consider that Sophia voiced vocally. "Most girls from dance go to school out by Streamwood, not Schaumburg. Kermey's one of them," she muttered, already knowing from Instagram that the girl and her friends go to another school entirely.

"It's not like she hasn't called you a b-i-t-c-h before," Annie pointed out, rolling her slender shoulders before she passed Sophia her paper to spell check.

"It's not her. It's the same weirdo who questioned grandma where it is we all slept."

Even though the conversation didn't last long, Sophia knew she was right. Blake did it. She sat with her lamp on for hours' sitting at her computer surfing while listening to music. Sophia scoured every social media site she could think of in search of the weird kid next door. She couldn't find Blake anywhere. He wasn't on Facebook, Twitter, Tumbler, Instagram or even Snapchat. There was positively nothing to signal the boy was anywhere. While searching, she had an idea that perhaps the boy would be stupid enough to brag about his defacing her locker on a site. Not only did he not do that, he was also nowhere to be found, not on a public or private account.

"I know you did it," Sophia muttered, twirling a strand of her hair before signing off her computer. She had no proof, no confession, and no social media paper trail. Even still, she knew the kid did it.

Even as she clicked off her light and went to pull herself into her bed, Sophia couldn't fall asleep as she adjusted her morning alarm on her cell phone before placing it on the desk beside her bed. So far, Blake had seemingly tried to seriously injure her and then he permanently ruined her locker. Would he try something again? If so...what?
Sleep eventually pulled Sophia under, making her forget about trying to stay awake to tell her parents of the day's events. She could do it in the morning, no problem.

***
"Dang it, dang it, DANG IT!!" Annie fretted the next morning, hurrying back into the room. The teenager resembled a human tornado, whipping through the room at a ridiculously fast speed, practically causing things to fly into the air -namely papers, folders, clothes- as she hurried. Sophia pulled her head off her pillow, blinking her eyes awake tiredly.

"What are you doing?"

It seemed Sophia's innocent question was enough to pull Annie from her frazzled state. "What are YOU doing!? Get up!! Our alarm clock didn't go off, WE'RE LATE FOR SCHOOL!" she practically howled.

What on earth was she talking about? They were no such thing. Sophia set her alarm on her cell phone every night just in case something like this were to happen. Rolling her eyes, the teenager reached for her cell phone and slid it open. Her eyes widened upon the revelation it was nine in the morning. They were two hours late! "Oh snap," Sophia mumbled, scrambling out of bed.

She rushed to find a pair of jeans and a long-sleeved shirt while Annie ran a brush through her own hair. The two hurried quickly as they scrambled to assemble everything at a fast pace. "I don't understand, did the power go out??"

"No!" Annie answered immediately. The clock was unplugged! I guess I forgot to set my alarm...why didn't you set yours?!"

Today was the wrong day to sleep in. No one was home to wake them in case their alarms failed. Their dad always left for work around five in the morning. Colin was at work. Today specifically, their mother had all the younger kids at their early dental appointment. Alex was supposed to drive them to school, but if Sophia and Annie weren't downstairs as they always were on time, she probably assumed their mother dropped them off at school. "I DID set my alarm!" Sophia exclaimed with great certainty. She struggled to brush her hair while packing one last folder into her bag. As she pulled out her phone to show Annie this was, in fact, not her fault, Sophia was left surprised. Her cell phone didn't show the alarm having been ignored as it normally did. Usually, the phone would show how many times it rang while being ignored. It didn't. Not only that, but as Sophia scrolled to her clock, she saw no alarm had been set.

"I SET this just last night before falling asleep, I know I did!"

"Obviously you didn't! Ah man, we're going to have to run to school!"
Sophia shook her head while throwing her backpack down. Even running it would take them twenty-minutes to get there. They already missed homeroom and first period. Sophia would call her mom or dad, and one of them would happily call the school and make up a reasoning for their absence. The Summers' parents weren't the kind that would reprehend them for something like this. Sophia and Annie were good students who attended every day with the exception of the stomach flu and neither had such an illness in over two years. After explaining her plan to Annie, the younger teenager sat down and buried her head into her hands. "I had a paper due today!"

"Well stop blaming me for something that's just as much your fault!" Sophia snapped. Even though she considered her sister her very best friend, she didn't want or need this criticism right now.

"Sorry." It was quiet after that. Sophia then called her parents and explained the situation. After giving a small speech regarding responsibility for setting their own alarms, their father said he would call the school and exclaim the girls were sick today. "It's cold in here," Annie eventually muttered.

Sophia released an involuntary shiver. Her sister was not wrong with this declaration. She hadn't noticed prior to her pointing it out. The bedroom was quite cold. Being on the lower level of the house, this area usually got the best heat with the vents connected to it. It was witnessing the blinds on the small window give a shudder that Sophia went to examine it. What she found surprised her. Raising the blinds revealed the window was open. Not only was it open, the screen was popped out and lying on the ground. "I didn't open the window last night," Annie exclaimed, coming over to examine the oddness for herself. "Did you?"

Sophia looked at the perfectness of the pulled-out screen. She had seen a cat of hers previously rip a hole through one to spend time outside in the sun, but never has a cat easily bulldozed through the window while simultaneously keeping the screen perfectly intact. "No, I didn't do this," Sophia answered as her brows furrowed.

Annie now looked worried as the sisters examined the perfectly intact window. "Then...who did?"