The Terror Next Door (Based on a True Story)

18)Leaving

"One way or Another" by Until the Ribbon Breaks
***

It was a miracle Sophia had survived her near-death experience. After she had fallen into the forest stream, she used her cell phone -that mercifully survived the fall minus an ugly crack to the phone's screen- to call the police and then her parents. The police arrived swiftly; less than five minutes after she made the call. They had already been on the way as Dylan had called them before he retreated. The boy had left Sophia alone in that cold and terrifying stream but had at least had the decency to call the police while he fled. Sophia's parents arrived not too long later after the police as the EMT's loaded her into their ambulance. After her crying mother and worried father made sure she was okay, Mr. and Mrs. Summers started demanding that the officers arrest Blake Bradshaw immediately for attempted murder. They explained the eerie moments of Blake stalking Sophia along with the Bradshaw's video camera that had been pointed at their house. Mrs. Summers was shaking and failing at holding back tears as she hugged Sophia while barely allowing the paramedic at the scene to bandage her arm.
Even at the hospital later that night while x-rays were done to examine the examine the extent of her broken bones, Mr. Summers was demanding Blake Bradshaw be arrested for attempted murder.

While being alive and having both of her parents championing the arrest of Blake, Sophia felt relieved the madness surrounding the boy next door was finally over.
She was wrong. Not only did Blake Bradshaw have a very solid alibi for the night Sophia was attacked with a truck, his mother told the police the stalking was the other way around. Jenny Bradshaw told police that Sophia was the one fascinated with Blake while refusing to leave him alone. As ridiculous and positively untrue as the woman's statements were, there wasn't much the police could do in a he-said she-said scenario. What also didn't help the Summers build a case against Blake Bradshaw was something no one could argue; no one in Blake's family owned the brand and color of truck that was used in the attack. Even having Sophia and Dylan's identification of the truck provided no help; there were no license plates or any markers that could possibly identify the driver. It had been too dark outside, and the windows had been tinted; neither teenager specifically saw Blake driving.
The police were then at a dead end in regard to being able to arrest Blake. No security cameras outside the walls of the mall were pointing towards the direction that the truck and Dylan's jeep were at. Worse; no cameras were pointed at the direction when Dylan's jeep was seemingly moved from the parking lot. With no evidence other than the words of Sophia and Dylan, nothing but the model of the popular truck and the color, the case against Blake quickly went cold.

Two weeks on, Sophia was livid to find there was no way possible to pin down Blake as the culprit of her near-death moment. There was, however, one shining moment that came from her horrific ordeal; her mother had immediately started to pack up the family's house with the intention of moving. Sophia had been staying home from school the last week ever since the night she was early killed. She suffered a severe concussion, three broken fingers, one broken rib with four bruised ones. Tons of scrapes and bruises littered her face while her wrist was broken. She also fractured her right ankle and had taken to moving around on a pair of crutches the hospital provided. When Sophia's siblings had gone to school one morning, Mrs. Summers had brandished the moving boxes that had been kept in the garage from when the family had first moved to Illinois. Sophia tried helping the best she could but thankfully her mother was a hurricane on her own with pacing up the house. The woman soon had all the bathroom supplies packed away as well as hall closets and even the smaller children's bedrooms. Mrs. Summers had kindly made Sophia rest in her room. Instead, Sophia had taken the time to assist with the packing of the house by packing up her bedroom. She had succeeded in packing all of her and her sisters clothing as well as all pictures and trophies by the time her father and siblings arrived home work or school. Upon Mr. Summers surprised stare to find a grand majority of his house packed, Mrs. Summers shrugged at her husband's surprised stare. "We have to move and that's final."

"I agree," said Mr. Summers, his eyes still wide, "but we're not exactly equipped to move right now, hon."

Mrs. Summers turned a mighty stink eye at her husband as her younger children quickly scurried to their rooms. "That monster next door tried to kill our daughter! Do you get that?? Kill!" she hissed in a whisper. Sophia cringed while the nearby Alex nodded in agreement. "The police can't arrest that monster and we can't do a damn thing to protect our daughter against him! But do you know what we can do?? MOVE!"

"You know as well as I do we can't reasonably move right now!" Mr. Summers shot back angrily. "There are other measures of protection we can take-"

"Like what??" demanded Mrs. Summers. "You heard what that police chief told us! We can't get a restraining order against that boy because there's no evidence the "minor" did anything against our daughter!"

Sophia cringed at the memory of the conversation with the chief of police. He had revealed there was not much to be done with a severe lack of evidence in regard to everything strange that had been happening. Mr. Summers looked tired. "I understand you're angry, but we can't move right now." Given the Summers family had been struggling with finances lately, they were tied up in a rental agreement. Moving would entail having a couple thousand dollars at the ready for a large enough moving truck. That did not include the excess money needed for a security deposit as well as first month's rent for a house large enough to fit their entire family. Mr. Summers looked sheepish at his wife's heated expression. "In a few months moving will be no problem at all-"

"ARE YOU KIDDING ME??" Mrs. Summers boomed in anger and she and her husband continued to squabble. The couple were too busy arguing to hear the doorbell ring. Sophia watched as Alex left the kitchen to head to the front door on the opposite side of the living room. Hurriedly, Alex came back into the kitchen. "Attempted murderer and his father are at the door!"

This stopped Mr. and Mrs. Summers' arguing about moving and the financial issues attached. The couple exchanged looks of bewilderment before hurriedly made their way to the front door. As soon as Mr. Summers opened the door, Dan Bradshaw was at the door looking horribly crestfallen. The poor man looked as though he hadn't had a decent night of sleep in days. "Hi, guys."

"Hello," said Mr. Summers cautiously. "I don't think we should be speaking without our lawyers' present."
"That won't be necessary," said Mr. Bradshaw earnestly. "I know we are the last people you want to see right now, but, I really wanted to touch bases with you guys to inform you of these new developments."
It was his phrasing of 'we' that had Sophia and her elder sister craning their necks to see Blake Bradshaw was standing behind his father. Per usual, no expression sat upon the boy's pale face. Growing taller and becoming more muscular did not take away his baby face. Blake simply stared at the ground below his feet, looking somewhat bored.
"Hey look, there's the attempted murderer," drawled Alex sarcastically, glaring daggers as Blake became more visible. Sophia would have smiled if her attempted murderer weren't present. More often than not, her elder sister lacked a verbal filter.
"Alex!" Mr. Summers scolded.
"No, I can understand why you folks would think such a thing," said Mr. Bradshaw as he rubbed his forehead. "After what happened to your daughter I can only imagine how horrific such an event must have impacted your entire family. I'm so sorry for that." No one said anything for a few seconds. Mr. and Mrs. Summers held their tense posture as they merely watched Dan Bradshaw.
"Would..." Mr. Bradshaw began sheepishly. "Would it be possible for us to talk in private?"
"Again, I don't think it's wise for us to talk without the lawyer's present," said Mr. Summers professionally.
Sophia didn't know who he was fooling; her family didn't have enough money to hire an attorney. Hopefully Dan Bradshaw didn't know this.
"I mean just us, no kids present," said Mr. Bradshaw, sparing a quick look at Alex and Sophia.
Mrs. Summers sighed heavily but nodded. "Girls go back inside."
Even though Alex was the one to argue a silly comment, Sophia found her voice in that moment. "If anyone has the right to hear what he has to say it's me. I'm the one who could have died because of him."
No one said a word for a few long moment. Not only was Sophia someone who rarely stood up for herself, she never had such a bitter edge to her voice when she spoke. Her sister and parents seemed very surprised as they watched her. Alex nodded before slipping back inside the house. Mrs. Summers looked about to object as Sophia hobbled on her crutches onto the porch to join her parents. Mr. Bradshaw looed anywhere but at Sophia as the front door closed, leaving the five of them in private. He seemed embarrassed to see the victim of his son. Blake on the other hand looked calm and collected. He didn't bat an eyelash as he overlooked Sophia from the scratches on her face to her bandaged ankle.
"I just wanted to let you guys know that I'm very sorry for Sophia's accident," began Mr. Bradshaw, looking extremely apologetic. "I have managed to convince my soon to be ex-wife to have Blake permanently live with me." Mr. and Mrs. Summers shared surprised looks. Nodding, Mr. Bradshaw continued. "You won't have to see my son around anymore."
It was then that Sophia's eyes transferred to Blake's. His eyes watched her with a hauntingly cold expression. Even though Mr. and Mrs. Summers started talking with Mr. Bradshaw regarding how soon he would be leaving the neighborhood, it didn't matter to Sophia if Blake left the neighborhood, town, or even state. She knew she would be seeing Blake Bradshaw again just from how he watched her with chilling stare. He looked at her in a similar manner to how a hungry cat would watch a canary.