The Neighbor's Warning
The family that never came out
The next morning, an old woman was waiting by the garden .
She said that she had lived next door to the house for fifty years.
Her name was Mrs. Doyle, and her eyes were sharp and very tired.
She told Emma that she should not have moved into that house.
"I warned the agent," she said, "that he should have told you the truth."
Emma asked her what truth she meant, and the old woman sighed.
Mrs. Doyle explained that a whole family had vanished there years before.
She said that they had gone to bed one night and never woke again.
"The parents and both children simply disappeared," she told them slowly.
She added that no bodies had ever been found inside the house.
Emma said that they had found a diary hidden inside the wall.
Mrs. Doyle went pale and replied that Alice had been her closest friend.
"I should have visited her more often," the old woman admitted quietly.
She said that Alice had begged for help in her final frightened weeks.
"I told her that she should leave, but she said she could not."
Mrs. Doyle explained that the doors had refused to open at the very end.
"You should have run the day you first felt the cold," she warned.
Emma remembered the icy air, and a deep fear settled inside her.
The old woman said that the house always chose quiet, couples.
She told them that they should have asked why the price was so low.
"I have watched three families move in," she said, "and none moved out."
Emma asked whether anyone had ever escaped from the house alive.
Mrs. Doyle looked away and said that she did not wish to answer.
She whispered that they should leave that very night, before dark.
Then she turned toward her own door and would say nothing more.
As Emma stepped back inside, she heard the lock softly behind her.