No matter how much Casey protested, her parents remained steadfast, and she was forced to stay home alone until they returned.

  Lying on her back, she grumbled, "I can't believe they left me behind." She kicked up her legs as she continued, "How do they expect me to do my homework after what they told me?"

  Casey already had difficulties focusing on her homework while waiting for her mom. Now it was completely impossible to even think about it. Her mind was completely filled with thoughts about the new kid.

  She sighed, rolling onto her stomach. "It's that new kid's fault. If only he didn't transfer to my school, then my parents wouldn't have to go around explaining stuff to the neighbors. Why did it have to be my school? There are like millions of schools he could have picked from."

  It was almost like he had done it on purpose, but that was ridiculous. They had no connection to each other except for looking identical. The whole thing was just a coincidence.

  A knock on the door pulled her out of her thoughts. Casey pushed herself up into a sitting position and stared at the door with furrowed brows.

  If it were her parents, they wouldn't be knocking. They had the keys and could come in unless they both somehow lost their keys, which would never happen in a million years. The world would end before that happened. None of her friends had mentioned planning to come over for a visit either. She didn't even think for a second they would come over for a surprise visit.

  So who was at the door?

  When there was another knock on the door, Casey got to her feet and slowly approached the door. As soon as she looked through the peephole, she nearly jumped out of her skin and scrambled away from the door with a racing heart.

  What was the new kid doing there? How did he even know where she lived?

  Casey had definitely not told him, and none of her friends would have told him. They just wouldn't do that. She didn't think her teachers would say anything either because they would get in trouble for that. The only way she could think of was if he followed her home like a creep, but she quickly rejected the idea. He hadn't been on the bus, so he wouldn't have seen where she lived, and there was no way he would have been fast enough to follow the bus.

  The new kid knocked again, cutting through her confused thoughts.

  Well, it doesn't matter how he found my house. He's already here. What do I do? Should I just ignore him?

  With no one else around, she didn't feel comfortable opening the door to tell him to go away. She didn't even want to talk to him through the door. He already proved many times over that there was something wrong with him.

  Who knew what he would do to her if she showed any signs of being there, especially by herself?

  She remained silent as she crept back to the door and peeked through the peephole again. The new kid knocked on the door before backing away. Suddenly, he looked up and met her eyes. Casey ducked down, covering her mouth with her hands.

  Had he seen her watching him through the peephole?

  There was no way he could have. The peephole didn't work like that. She would know since she had tried it once before, but she couldn't see anything from the outside.

  Everything was silent as she remained crouching at the door.

  There hadn't been any more knocking after her eyes had met his. Maybe he had finally given up and walked away; however, she didn't believe it for a second. Something was telling her that he was waiting right outside the door for her to give in and let him in. Well, there was no way that was going to happen. He could stand out there as long as he liked, but she wasn't going to let him in.

  More time passed, and her legs ached from squatting for so long. Unable to take it anymore, she reluctantly stood up and dared to look through the peephole once more.

  Casey fully expected to find him trying to look through the peephole or pressing himself against the door to listen for her, but much to her shock, she couldn't see him. No matter which way she looked—the peephole didn't really give her much room to work with—she couldn't even see a hint of him anywhere. It was like he vanished without a trace.

  Where had he gone? Did he really leave?

  She didn't think that was right. Maybe he was crouching down so she wouldn't be able to see that he was still lurking in front of her door.

  With a frown, she took a step back. Then Casey tiptoed to the curtain-covered window next to the door and slightly opened the curtains to take a look outside. The new kid's eyes stared right back at her, and she screamed. She tripped over her feet in her rush to get away from the window. The curtain fell back into place, acting as a barrier between them, but it was too late.

  Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

  He knew she was there.

  Casey just stared wide-eyed at the curtain-covered window as her heart raced several miles per hour. Then, as if struck by lightning, she snapped out of it and scurried away from the door to where she had previously been lying. She snatched up her phone and quickly dialed one of her neighbor's number. While the phone rang in her ears, she kept her eyes on the front door and window.

  Please pick up. Please pick up. Please pick up.

  The phone call finally went through as a woman's voice said, "Casey, what's wrong?"

  She nearly cried in relief. "There's a stranger outside my door."

  "Don't move," her neighbor said in a serious tone. "We'll handle it. Stay on the line."

  They didn't need to tell Casey twice. She wasn't going to get within one foot of the door until she was sure that the new kid was gone.

  After what seemed like forever—it was really only a couple of minutes—her neighbor said through the phone, "There's no one here. Can you open the door?"

  Casey hesitantly approached the door again while keeping a firm grip on the phone. Once she was sure it was just her neighbors outside, she opened the door. The woman hung up the phone upon seeing her, but the couple froze at the look on Casey's face.

  "Are you okay?" the woman asked as she bent down to check Casey over. "Did the stranger do anything to you?"

  Shaking her head, Casey said, "No."

  "Is that why you called us instead of the police?" the man asked.

  "Yeah."

  Her parents had given her several numbers to call if she ever found herself in trouble. She was supposed to try calling her parents or her neighbors first if she could and if it wasn't too serious. Police were reserved for when Casey thought she was in danger and couldn't reach anyone else. Calling the police because the new kid in school was stalking her didn't sound right no matter how much he creeped her out.

  "Can you tell us what happened?" the man asked.

  She slowly explained what she had seen and had to go into detail about the new kid when they asked why he would come to her house. At the end of her tale, the couple had grim expressions.

  "This is crazy," the man mumbled as he combed a hand through his hair. "What are parents teaching kids these days?"

  "Casey, do you want to stay with us until your parents come home?" the woman asked.

  Casey didn't hesitate.

  She nodded frantically. "Yes."

  "Then grab what you might need while you stay with us. Don't forget to let your parents know about what happened," the woman said.

  Casey nodded and rushed back inside to pack some of her things. After she sent the text to her parents and locked the front door, she followed the couple back to their house. As they walked the short distance between the two houses, she kept scanning her surroundings for any signs of the new kid.

  He might be close by, watching everything happening.

  She shuddered at the idea, but the couple seemed to think she was shaking from the cold as the woman said, "Our house is warm."

  Casey didn't think to correct her as they entered the house. "Thank you for letting me stay."

  "Don't mention it," the man said, locking the front door. "We couldn't leave you alone when you have a stalker lurking around. Speaking of the stalker, we should call the police and let them know."

  "Why would you call the police? He's just a kid, and he didn't really do anything."

  While she didn't like the new kid and would be happy to never see him ever again, calling the police seemed excessive. She didn't think they would be happy that she wasted their time.

  The woman shook her head as she said, "That's no excuse. He may be a kid, but he might be one of those mentally disturbed ones who could snap at any moment and attack someone. They pop up in the news all the time after they killed a bunch of people at their school. We've been pretty lucky that it has never happened in our area. It's best to let the authorities know of the potential danger."

  "Do you really think he's one of those kids who would kill someone?" Casey asked in a small voice.

  "I'm not saying he is, but his behavior is obviously not normal."

  Her neighbor wasn't wrong. He had been unsettling since the moment they met, and Casey had thought he might do something bad to her if he had let her into her house, but she hadn't thought he might try to kill her. The thought hadn't even crossed her mind.

  She shivered.

  This time her neighbor picked up on her thoughts and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. "Don't worry. You'll be safe here."

  Casey nodded and tried to make herself at home. While the man called the police, the woman offered Casey some snacks to calm her down. Despite their attempts to give her peace of mind, her eyes kept darting to the door as if expecting the new kid to start knocking on their door. A sudden knock on the door sent her sprawling to the ground, but it was just the police.

  "Good evening, officers. Thank you for coming," the man said as he let them in.

  "Of course. As soon as we heard, we didn't want to waste any time," one of the officers said.

  Waste time? What does he mean?

  The other officer seemed to sense her gaze and looked down at her. "Hello there, young lady. Are you doing okay?" She gave a small nod, which didn't deter him in the slightest. "That's good to hear. Don't worry. We'll make sure this place stays safe. We're checking the surrounding areas as we speak."

  Her eyebrows shot up. "Checking?"

  "That's right. We can't let a dangerous individual roam around, especially at night."

  She wasn't the only one shocked by the news as the woman blurted out, "Isn't that a bit excessive?"

  "Ma'am, we didn't want to take any chances. A new family just moved in, and the kid is already acting like this. That's enough to set off alarm bells. Who knows what is happening behind closed doors or what they did before coming here? We just want to ensure our people are safe."

  This seemed to appease the couple, but something about the officer's words didn't sit right with Casey. However, she wasn't sure why and had to let it go.

  The officers left after talking with them for a bit longer—they mostly asked Casey questions to double-check the details and see if there was anything she might have accidentally left out or missed—and Casey slumped in her chair.

  Suddenly, the woman said, "It's getting kind of late. Have your parents contacted you?"