At first it was small things, like a dark figure reflected in a car window behind me. Someone getting off at the same train station behind me. Someone crossing the street at the same time I did. But every time I turned around, the street was empty.
By the fourth night I was sure of it, so I set up a small camera in the backyard, pointing toward my house.
I stayed up watching the footage, and at around 2:13 a.m., something moved.
A man dressed in all black climbed over the fence to my back yard. A chill ran through me as I watched him step slowly across the yard.
He stopped right outside below my bedroom window and just stood there, looking in.
And he was still there that very moment.
My hands started shaking. I grabbed the handgun from my bedside drawer and stepped outside.
“Don’t move,” I said, as the backyard light flicked on.
The man froze, then slowly turned around. For a moment he looked startled, then held his hands up, looking defeated.
“Seriously?” he muttered.
I kept the gun raised.
“What are you doing in my yard?”
He let out an annoyed grunt.
“Fine, you caught me.”
“Answer the damn question.”
He shrugged.
“What can I say? You’re nice to look at.”
I retched slightly.
“Were you planning to do anything?”
He hesitated.
“...Eventually.”
My stomach twisted, and I gritted my teeth, tightening my grip on the gun.
“Come on, that bedroom window's just asking to get climbed into. Shame your damn kid's always there. And the one night she's not, this happens.”
He gestured at my gun, but I just blinked.
“What kid?”
He pointed toward my window.
“The little girl that’s always in there.”
I paused.
“I don’t have a kid.”
He raised his eyebrows.
“Your little sister then? Girl looks about five.”
My voice came out quieter than I expected.
“I don’t have a sister either.”
The man turned back toward the house.
“Well she’s there most nights,” he said. "Always staring out the window, giggling at nothing."
I followed his gaze. The curtains moved slightly in the dark.
Suddenly, I didn’t want to go back [inside](https://www.reddit.com/user/TwistedUrbanTales/).
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