A Shady Terror

The New Neighbors

Greg squinted out the window at the movers who were busy moving boxes into the new neighbor’s house. Most of them seemed normal enough, but a few walked oddly, and one hunched over and carried the boxes on his back like some sort of weird, human gorilla. An abnormally tall mover in a trench coat walked stiffly, as though he was struggling not to trip. Greg shrugged and turned away from the window. Staring was rude, he told himself. And anyway, it wasn’t nice to judge people for their looks or the way they walked. As if to prove his point, his 3-legged dog, Lollipop, hopped up onto the window ledge. She glanced back at him, waving her tail. He smiled back at her. She had lost her leg as a puppy and although many people judged her, she got around just fine. He chuckled as she turned back toward the window. She clearly had no qualms about staring at people. He shrugged and turned away. He was hungry for lunch. Had Greg continued watching through the window, as Lollipop did, he would have seen the abnormally tall man with the beard trip and drop a bunch of boxes. He would have also seen the trench coat thrown off to reveal 5 oddly short men stacked on top of each other. Lollipop saw this, and began to bark. Greg’s response was to chuck a pillow in her direction.

“Be quiet, Lollipop!” He ordered, without so much as glancing in her direction. That silly dog was forever barking at who-knows-what out that window.

Outside, the top creature said something back to the others and they unstacked themselves and each grabbed a box and scurried inside. A few minutes later, they reappeared once again as one very tall man, and continued moving boxes. This was a very exciting development for Lollipop who barked again. She was rewarded with another pillow. She yelped dramatically and rolled onto her back, pretending to be hurt.

“Oh stop it. You’re fine, you oversized goofball.” Greg couldn’t help but smile in spite of himself. “What’s so exciting out there anyway?” He glanced outside, but saw nothing out of the ordinary. He shook his head affectionately. “Silly dog.”

A few days passed by uneventfully. The new neighbors moved in, but Greg rarely saw them. He had been meaning to go over and introduce himself, but with summer camp coming up, he had been far too busy. Meanwhile Lollipop had been watching the neighbors through the window with rapt attention as more and more strange things began happening. The family rarely ventured outside, but when they did, they always worse long sleeves and hats that overshadowed their faces, even though it was almost summer. In addition, every single member of the family walked with some sort of limp. But strangest of all was when the youngest son’s hand fell off as he was limping into the house. Lollipop had barked when she had seen that, but was hit by a pillow in response.

“What is it now?” A voice whispered from the steps above Lollipops window. A marionette puppet sat propped against the middle step. He yawned and glanced over to make sure Greg was out of earshot before adding, “I was in the middle of a nap. Do you mind?”

Lollipop wagged her tail enthusiastically. “Neighbors. Weird neighbors.” She sniffed the air, “Smells weird. Look weird.”

The puppet rolled his eyes. “Dogs. I moved to this side of the house because Greg had a bunch of Campus Life teenagers running around the place and I wanted to get away and of course you start making a racket as soon as I settle in.”

A breeze fluttered across the yard and into the open window. Lollipop straightened. “Zombies.”

“Wait, what?” The puppet nearly fell off his step.

“Zombies.” Lollipop repeated cheerfully.

“Zombies? Are you telling me the neighbors are-”

“Jerry! How did you get here?” Greg said. He picked up the puppet and began carrying him back to his place in the display cupboard. “I could have sworn I put you away. Well, no matter. The kids just left. Maybe one of them pulled you out.”

Jerry gave Lollipop a meaningful look, but she only grinned back and wagged her tail.

“Dogs!” Jerry grumbled.

The other toys and figurines in the cupboard were not nearly as interested in the latest developments as he was, mostly because none of them could speak, but Jerry told them all about it anyway. He waited until he was sure Greg was asleep before sneaking out again. He had to try and get a glimpse of the neighbors.

“Jerry? You are out awful early this morning.” A soft feminine voice said. Jerry looked up to see the ghostly apparition of a young girl in a nightdress sitting on the couch.

“Oh hello Isabella. Lollipop told me the neighbors are zombies and I wanted to see for myself.” Jerry said.

Isabella giggled, “You didn't know? I went over and introduced myself when they first moved in.”

“What? And you didn't tell me? Some friend you are!”

“Why would you care? You aren't undead.” Isabella said, confused.

“You know I like to hear all the gossip!”

Isabella rolled her eyes, “Calm down. Don't you pay attention to anything? Lollipop has been shouting 'zombies’ at Greg ever since they moved in.”

Jerry could think of no proper response to this, so he changed tactics, “So you met them?”

Isabella grinned, “Of course.”

“What are they like?”

Isabella opened her mouth to answer, but instead vanished when the door to Greg’s room opened.

“Jerry?” Greg looked down at the puppet where he lay on the floor, thoroughly puzzled. “I'm sure I put you away.” He shrugged sleepily. “I'll deal with you in the morning.” He continued on into the kitchen and grabbed a glass of water before returning to his room.

Isabella reappeared. “You should probably get back to your cupboard.”

Jerry harrumphed. He wanted to ask more about the neighbors, but she was right. He climbed back into his place in the cabinet and locked the door behind him.