The Creepy House Across The Street

Prologue

Ever since Lauren was a little kid, she was taught to never judge a book by it's cover. But she had to admit, the house across the street was really creepy looking.

Four years ago, her dad who was a police officer was killed and around that same time a guy moved into the house across the street.

Nobody ever caught her dad's killer and still to this day, Lauren is left wondering what happened to him. She misses him terribly every day.

"Laur, mom wants you to run to the store." Her younger brother Chris says, stopping beside her at the kitchen table.

"Myself?" Lauren asked.

"Yeah, here's the list." The fourteen year old says, handing her the list.

"Myself?" Lauren repeated.

Rolling his eyes, Chris looks at her. "Yes, mom's dealing with Taylor." He mumbles, talking about their four year old sister.

Their mom had been pregnant when their dad was killed.

"Oh." Lauren swallowed. "You don't want to come with me?" She asked, taking the list.

"No, I have to finish my science project." Chris responds, making his way out of the kitchen.

Lauren sighed. She looked at the list before getting up and making her way to the door.

Pulling on her shoes and jacket, Lauren looks around for her mom's wallet and grabs her credit card meant for only store runs.

Taking a deep breath, she left the house.

Looking across the street, she bites her lip as she looks at the broken down house.

There were broken windows, holes in the porch and roof. The front door was the only thing fully intact and seemingly brand new.

She swallowed nervously, walking down the path.

By the time she got to the store, she was ready to just go back home.

She entered the store and rushed around to get the items on the list so she could get home as quickly as she can.

"Where are you?" She mumbles to herself as she tries to find Pomegranate and Grape juice that Taylor likes.

She looked along the shelves of juices. "Come on." She muttered.

"Can I help you?" A kind voice asks from behind her.

Jumping in surprise, Lauren flinched. "Um...." She shuffled nervously.

The girl behind her steps forward, wearing a 'ShopRite' shirt. "Can I help you find something?"

"Um.... juice." Lauren said nervously. She bit her lip.

"What kind of juice?" The dark-skinned girl asks.

"Um.... p-pomegranate and... um... grape." Lauren said, looking at the list in her hands. She pushed her glasses up her nose and looked up.

Smiling, the dark-skinned girl reaches the top shelf and grabs the last two of the pomegranate and grape juice. "Here you go."

"Um... thanks." Lauren cautiously took the bottles and put them in the basket.

"No problem, just so you know, they are actually going to be discontinuing that juice. But if you want, I can put a couple back when we get our last order." The dark-skinned girl says, shifting enough so that Lauren can read her nametag - Normani.

"Um, thanks." Lauren said, offering a small smile.

Normani smiles back before looking behind Lauren as one of her coworkers call her name. "I have to get back to work, but come find me if you need anything."