Sick To Her Stomach
Carol can feel the panic building like an unstoppable snowball in the pit of her stomach. She stares inside the home of her new neighbor. How was this possible? This was supposed to be a perfect neighborhood, where the kids play on the street and the neighbors gossip over coffee and brunch. Something like this never happens in a neighborhood like this.
But no amount of white picket fences and perfectly trimmed lawns could stop Carol from feeling sick to the stomach. She takes another look inside her new neighbors home, and again, she’s left lost for words. She knew she had to do something. Her new neighbor will be getting back anytime soon. She had to be quick. Time was running out.
The Perfect Neighborhood
Carol Smith loved her neighborhood. She had lived there for 10 years and although she saw people come and go, she had always stayed. Whether it was the friendly faces or the white picket fences, something about this neighborhood appealed to Carol. There was nowhere else she would rather live.
Then one dark night, something happened in this once idyllic neighborhood. And nothing was ever the same again.
A Noise In The Night
It was 12:05 am when Carol was woken up by the sound of a large van speeding past on the street. She instantly got up. There was never any noise at this time in this neighborhood.
She rubbed her tired eyes and peered outside her window, and what she saw left a chill up her spine.
Who Would Do This?
Across the road from her on a field nearby was a small house. For as long as Carol had lived in this neighborhood, rumors circulated about the small house; some said it was haunted, others said a terrible crime took place in there 20 years ago.
Even so, this house had been abandoned for years. Until now.
More Questions
Carol looks out her window, her pulse racing like an Olympian going for Gold. It seemed somebody was moving into the small house. But Carol had questions.
Why would someone move into their new home, in the middle of the night? Something didn’t sit right with Carol.
A New Neighbour
The following morning Carol went over to her new neighbor to introduce herself. Armed with a batch of freshly-baked muffins, she marched over, determined to find out some information about her new neighbor.
But as she got closer to the house she soon realized this was no ordinary house.
The house itself was incredibly small, in fact so small that Carol instantly let out a laugh. Why would someone love here? She thought.
But her laugh was soon cut short by a man greeting her at the front door, and a terrible feeling hit the pit of her stomach.
Something Wasn’t Right
Carol introduced herself to her new neighbor who was called Derek. She tried to get as much information she could from him, but he was being pretty tight-lipped.
And all the time Carol spoke to him, he kept his front door shut. What was inside his house? What was he hiding?
Had To Find The Truth
As Carol walked away from her new neighbor's home, something didn’t sit right with her.
She knew something was going on in that house. She had no idea what, but her gut told her something was inside. And Carol was determined to find out what.
Gossiping
For a few weeks, Carol and all the other neighbors stood on the street, clutching their coffees and laughing at Derek’s house. It had to be some kind of joke right?
But Carol was still nowhere near finding out any sort of information about her new neighbor. But still, Carol was determined to find out the truth. And she would do whatever means necessary.
A Mysterious Man
From what she could tell, Derek didn’t have a job, or if he did he must have been working from home.
He was never out on his morning commute and he never seemed to leave his house past 5 pm. Then one dark night Carol saw something. Something she never thought she’d ever see in her perfect neighborhood.
Deep In The Night
Carol got up at 11:30 pm to let her cat out and before making her way to bed she peered out her window. Her eyes fixated on Darren's house.
Then, just as she was about to get back into bed she heard a loud thud. She ran over to the window and to her surprise, Derek pulled up in his car to his house. But he wasn’t alone.
What Was He Up To?
What was he doing this time of the night? Where had he been? And more importantly why was he out at this time?
He got out of the car and made his way to the trunk. And what he got out the trunk left an uneasy feeling in Carol’s stomach.
A Big Bag
It was a long and large bag. It sort of looked like a trash bag. She couldn’t make out what it was exactly, but something was inside the bag.
It looked heavy and Derek had to drag it across his front lawn to his house. Carol’s heart drops. It couldn’t be what she thought could it? She felt sick to her stomach.
She Had To Get Answers
The following morning Carol told her husband what she saw but he just thought she was crazy. But Carol knew she wasn’t.
What she saw would forever be engrained in her mind. She needed to do something and she needed to be quick. There was only one way to find out the truth.
Wondering What To Do
As Carol stood in her kitchen, clutching a cup of tea, she pondered what she could do. She couldn’t go to the cops as she needed more evidence, and there was no way her husband was going to help her out.
But as she took a sip from her cup, she saw Derek leaving his house. With a flustered expression on his face, he hopped into his car and sped off. And right there and then, Carol knew what to do. She wasn’t proud of it, but it was the only way to get the truth.
Making Her Way Over
As Carol watched Derek speed off into the distance she grabbed her keys and left her house. She had no idea where Derek was going, or how long he was going to be, so she knew she needed to be quick.
Speeding out her front door she ran across to his house before blending within the shrubbery. She made her way over to his backdoor. But Carol was running out of time. She had to be quick.
Sneaking In
Carol sneaked into Derek's garden and to her surprise the garden was pretty immaculate. Perfectly trimmed shrubbery and colorful flowers were dotted around.
She walked through the garden and made her to the back window. She peered inside and what she saw left her lost for words.
Inside The House
Inside it must have been only around 172-square-feet! The entire space of the tiny house was divided into four sections on different levels of the floor. It looked like the area under the floor of the kitchen was used to store a washing machine, and there was a sleeping area on the upper level.
“How could Derek live like this?” Carol thought to herself. Then suddenly her thoughts were shattered by the sound of her name being called. She swiftly turned around and saw Derek staring at her.
Truth Revealed
After a frank discussion which lasted around an hour, finally, Carol had the truth.
It turned out that Derek had been living here while he waited for his new house to finish construction; it just on the other side of town. He did everything in this tiny house himself from the interior to the exterior. Carol was amazed!