Neighbours / A slightly late #Halloween #horror #story. 500 words.
"The couple that live downstairs — do you know their names?" Marcel asked me, indicating downwards with his chin.
"No, I don't."
The question surprised me. Marcel knew everybody in the building. He was our local busybody.
"What do you know about them?" he asked.
"Not much. They keep to themselves. They hardly go out, get a lot of deliveries. Occasionally there are muffled sounds, I think they argue."
"What do they look like?" he pressed.
"Well, they… an ordinary young couple. I think he's tall and she's average height."
"Can you picture their faces?"
"Well… no."
"Anything at all? Is he clean shaven? Does she wear lipstick? Glasses?"
I drew a complete blank and shrugged. It was strange. I had been living in the building for almost a year, and I'm usually good with faces.
"Nobody can," Marcel said. "Nobody remembers what they look like. Nobody knows anything about them. It's creepy."
"It's a bit odd," I admitted. "Maybe they're just not memorable."
"There's more. Sometimes I see strange things through the obscure glass of their lounge windows. I'm telling you, something's not right."
"Why are you looking through people's windows? Maybe you're just too nosy. Anyway, what are you going to do? Knock on their door, and say, 'sorry, I wanted to get a good look at your face. Mind if I take a photo?'"
"Something like that."
"You're joking!"
"It's Halloween tomorrow night. Kids will be trick-or-treating. A perfect time to knock on their door."
"Maybe you can pass as a child in the right costume," I laughed. "Not me."
Marcel was short and lean with white hair and a trimmed beard.
"I'm sure you can find something," he said as he got up to go.
"Even if I had a costume, that's just silly!"
"Right, I'll see you at 7 sharp tomorrow evening for this silly thing." He walked out and closed the door quickly.
The following evening, I sat waiting in a basic vampire costume: fangs, fake blood, white shirt with ruffles, hair slicked back. It was nearly 7.20; no sign of Marcel.
Right. I headed downstairs on my own. Why was I feeling nervous? These were just my neighbours.
I was about to knock when I realised the door was ajar.
"Hello?" I called out, pushing the door.
It opened with an eerie creak. I walked into a small hallway. There was light under a door on my left. I heard some muffled sounds through it.
I opened the door and stepped into the sparsely furnished lounge. Marcel was sitting on a chair at the far end. I momentarily admired his garden gnome costume. Then I realised he was tied and gagged.
I hurried over to him, but he shook his head and tried to speak through the gag. I heard the front door slam shut and spun around.
There were my neighbours. My jaw dropped. No wonder I couldn't remember their faces! The horror I saw was not even human. What were they? The taller one raised a strange object in their right hand.
Just as I inhaled to scream, a green spray came from the object. I couldn't help breathing it in. I smiled involuntarily as I passed out.
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