The Terror Next Door (Based on a True Story)

13) Well Played

Sophia and Alex had made sure not to say anything regarding skipping school or installing a video camera. There was a serious problem they now faced with finding the neighbors had a secret video camera. "We can't tell mom and dad about it," Sophia admitted solemnly.

"Are you CRAZY!?" Alex countered angrily. "That freak has a video camera watching your bedroom, he could have been trying to watch you undress or something!"

"We tell mom and dad then we have to admit we have camera watching their house!"

"So what!? We'll just lie and say we saw them so we decided to fight fire with fire!"

"That's stupid."

"Well I'm sorry I don't have anything smart to say!"
Sophia nodded in understanding before burying her head in her hands. She was at a loss at how to handle this madness. She wanted more than anything to inform her parents about Blake's camera, but, she also didn't want to give away they had set up a camera as well...

"You need to tell mom and dad," said Alex, pulling her from her thoughts.
"What if they-"
"Don't believe you? I think once they spot the high definition camera pointed directly where your bedroom is blows that factor out of the water!"

"Why are you girls fighting??" said Mrs. Summers upon entering Sophia's bedroom. The teenager blinked, unsure of what to say or do. She wanted to catch Blake in the act of his crime, but she also wanted her parents to know what was going on. Fortunately, or unfortunately, Alex beat her to the punch.

"The Bradshaws have a video camera pointed directly at Sophie and Annie's bedroom. I don't care what you say, it's solely so that little freak next door can spy on her!"

Maybe it was this that finally caused Mrs. Summers eyes to pop open in shocked surprise. Or maybe, it was Alex's balled up fists and heated expression that seemed to grasp her attention. Either way, Mrs. Summers was now extremely angry.
"WHAT!? ARE YOU SERIOUS!? WHAT KIND OF PEOPLE POINT CAMERAS AT A BEDROOM TEENAGERS ARE IN?!?" Soon enough, her outrage turned to someone else. "AND HOW LONG HAVE YOU KNOWN ABOUT THIS, MISSY??"

Alex's eyes popped open in surprise before she started to defend herself. "Ma! I just found a little bit ago!!"

This seemed to calm Mrs. Summers down before she became more riled up by her previous words. "Let's go! I want to see this video camera! If it's pointed right at their bedroom...I'm..I'm...I'll call the police!" she announced briskly, not seeming to know what one could or could not do in this situation.

Sophia noted how cheery Alex suddenly looked as she hurried through the house and out the door. Sophia actually felt giddy as well. She and her sister finally had the undeniable proof there was something seriously wrong with the boy next door. By the time they made it passed the kitchen and living room and then out the front door, Sophia felt very relieved this strange nightmare was finally over. Things always became more serious once adults were involved. Alex led their mother to the side of the house before pointing at the direction of the Bradshaws basketball hoop. But, the young woman's expression dropped just like Sophia's stomach suddenly did. Looking at the area set up behind the hoop where the camera was revealed that it was no longer there.

The camera was gone. "Well? Where is it??" said Mrs. Summers impatiently.

"It...it was just there!" Sophia defended. She shook her head, pushing her blonde locks from her eyes. "Mom, I swear! Their camera was pointed directly at my room just a few hours ago, they had to have moved it!" Sure enough, three of the Bradshaws cars were now in the driveway, indicating they were all home. Blake had to have moved the camera the moment he got home and discovered the Summers' had found it. "He saw Alex and I out here and then he moved it because we found it!!"

"I don't see a camera anywhere, girls."

"Because he moved it!!" A brilliant idea suddenly flashed through Sophia's mind as her eyes shot to her sister. "Our camera! We had to have gotten in down on our camera!" Considering their video camera was pointed directly at the Bradshaw residence, it had to have documented Blake removing his own camera.

Mrs. Summers looked confused as she looked between her daughters. "What am I missing...?"
Alex smiled in understanding as she looked at the tree trunk. Her smile deflated once she and Sophia found the camera was no longer sticking to the tree trunk like they had it. Instead, The camera was now down from the tree and near broken on the grassy ground. The problem with this new direction was that it was no longer pointed directly at the Bradshaws house. Instead, it was pointed at the ground, obviously not having documented Blake's removal of his camera.

"Oh c'mon! All you had to do was screw it in!" Sophia chastised her sister as she went to investigate the now useless camera.

"I did!" snapped Alex. "It was fine when we left it, I couldn't even move it!"
"Obviously you did something wrong!" chastised Sophia.
"What was your first clue, Sherlock?" snarled Alex.

"When did we get a video camera??" Mrs. Summers questioned incredulously, ignoring her arguing daughters.
Back and forth Sophia and Alex argued all the way into the house. Sophia knew she had installed the base of the camera properly while her sister was adamant she used the drill to place it in the tree trunk correctly.
They headed to Alex's bedroom to check on the monitor while their mother went ahead to start on dinner. She promised to have a discussion about their video camera after their father was home. Before Alex could open her mouth upon their mother's exit, Sophia cut her off.

"I didn't mess up," she shot before her older sister could say anything. "So don't go blaming me for the now cracked camera."

"I was going to say, I didn't think we messed this up," Alex muttered as she toyed around to get her laptop started. "It doesn't seem windy enough to dislodge it either."

"Sabotage. Blake had to have done it," said Sophia quietly.

Alex bit her lip as she fiddled around to uploaded the last footage the camera was able to provide. "It would explain how Blake was able to move his camera so fast; he would be the only one who knew we installed it."
Sure enough as the grainy video started to play, Sophia watched as Alex started to fast forward the video. They had installed it two and half hours previously, they had to have caught something if Blake was on it. "There," Sophia said, pointing.

"I don't see anything."

"Look at the basketball hoop in the distance; this is proof the camera was attached."
"It only looks like a tiny black dot from here."
"Yeah, but it's a tiny black dot that wasn't there when we were showing mom. My bet is Blake watched his camera, saw us install ours, and then knew he had to move his camera immediately."

"Clever little bastard."

Sophia nodded at her sister's profanity, not being able to add much else. As much as she hated to admit it, it was clever on Blake's part. Sophia leaned forward as Alex began to get to the end of the camera's footage. For a while, there was nothing. Soon enough, a disturbance started. The camera lens shook violently even though nothing could be seen on camera. "What's happening to it?"

"I don't know."

The two watched as the lens continued to shake as if someone had come up to start fiddling with it. The problem was, if this was Blake, he could not be seen. As soon as the camera stopped rattling, it fell to the ground, instantly cracking the lens. Although, this disaster was not a complete loss. The camera distinctly picked up the outline of shadowy legs walking away from it.