Suspicions

Dear Diary,

Night had swept over the sky;

our small town had fallen silent. I looked out of my window towards the house

next door. The tinted windows were closed, making it difficult to see through

them. You may be wondering why I want to peek through the windows?

Well, here's the backstory...

Yesterday evening, my mum told me that I have a new neighbour coming in. Yeah, that's awesome... right?

Not for me or Kath. Mum had told us that the neighbour moving in was a quiet,

unsociable, rude, grumpy guy that doesn't have a family. Now that was

interesting. I mean, what type of middle-aged guy isn't already married or

doesn't have any children. Isn't that pretty weird?

So, today morning I heard the loud engine sound of the moving truck. Mum and dad headed downstairs to help with the cargo, but me? I looked out the window at the road, to see the cargo going in and a man, middle aged, grumpy looking, greying black hair and narrowed brown eyes. I think that might be our new neighbour, Mr Marlow.

Kathy was sitting on the bed next to me, hooked up with her new headphones, probably listening to music. I don’t think I’ve told you though dear diary, but Kathy told me before that she wanted to become a music artist! Awesome right? Anyways, mum thought that I should meet my new grumpy neighbour for some reason.

“Hello, miss…”, Mr Marlow sneered, scrunching his face into a deep scowl but paused at my name.

“It’s Beth, but nice to meet you sir”, I smiled, or at least tried to.

Mum turned to the grumpy man and looked him in the eye,

“How come you aren’t married yet or have any children, Tom?”, Mum asked, continuing to stare the Grump in the eye.

“U-uh, why do y-you ask?”, the man chuckled nervously, trying to hide his fear.

Mum lifted her eyebrow; her suspicions were rising as well.

“It’s none of your business. Don’t meddle with my personal life”, he growled, raising his fists in the air, almost like as if he would punch my mum. Dad glared at him coldly, making Mr Marlow to back away inside his house.

“So much for a first impression”, I muttered, looking in the direction of the house. Dad was still trembling in anger at Marlow.

“That… was odd…”, mum stated bluntly, heading back inside.

As I had guessed, Kathy was lying on the bed, updating her new, so called “Album”.

“Hey, Kath! What are you doing?”, I asked, taking a bite out of the apple in my hand. CRUNCH CRUNCH! As expected, no answer. Everyone knows Kath’s laptop, guitar and headphones are her world.

“KATH! Quit spending so much time on your dumb laptop and listen to me for once!”, I screeched over her. My answer to my raised voice was an irritated Kath, glaring at me like she wanted to wring her hands around my neck, intently.

“What?!”, She groaned, placing her headphones aside and shutting her laptop.

FINALLY!

“The neighbour… I NEED to tell you about him!”,

“What about that dude. He doesn’t really bother me, what really does, is YOU!”,

“Meh, but anyways… He is so grumpy, and his face, is always twisted into this”, I remarked, pulling into an angry pig like face. Kath just stared at me blankly.

Having a twin is meant to be fun and great, but me and Kath? No way! We’re totally opposites! I love to dance, play sport, go outside, be loud and do things my own way! But Kath? No, she’s shy, likes to lock herself up with her music, short tempered and only has one human friend, that’s Zack, or Zippy (nickname).

“Come on, why don’t you ever laugh. You are so boring!”, I groaned laying back on my bed. Oh, I didn’t tell you, but Kath and I share the same bedroom. NOOOOOO! But yeah, so last summer, dad said we could have our rooms painted, decorated and stuff. So then, I was like…

“I want our room painted a peachy red. It will look so great!”,

Kath was like:

“I want it blue!”,

And yeah… the cold war begins! But in the end, our room was split into the cold side and the warm side. Anyways, I was a little side-tracked there, so back to what was going on!

“Would you ever shut your blabber mouth?!”, Kath growled, reaching for her headphones.

“No, but that dude’s really wacky and suspicious right?”, I smiled, putting on a creepy face to get the mood set. Attempt to make Kath talk to me properly and quit listening to music: FAILED!

“Lunch!”, mum bellowed from downstairs, I could hear the clatters of cutlery on the table.

“Come on Kath, it’s lunch time”, I groaned, pulling her hand.

For once, Kath took of her headphones and headed downstairs before me! YAY!

I followed Kath downstairs, dragging my feet on the way.

I picked my fork up, ready to dig into the green leafed salad. Well, almost…

DING DONG!

“Go get the door Beth, quick”, dad directed, pointing towards the doorway.

“Why do I always have to get the door!”, I whined, dragging my feet.

As soon as I opened the door, two faces popped in. Or two people popped in.

“Richie! Kate!”, Mum and dad exclaimed in a chorus. Well dear diary, I haven’t told you but Mr and Mrs Larkins, aka Richie and Kate are our neighbours on the other side of Mr Marlow’s house. We are pretty close friends with them, or at least mum and dad are.

“So, what brings you guys here today?”, mum grinned, signalling them to take a seat at the table.

“It’s Marlow”, Kate whispered, lowering her voice slightly.

“What about him?”, dad groaned munching on his salad.

“We heard something from inside…”, Richie said, looking up from his hands.

“Like what?”, I asked suspiciously, leaning over the table.

“A voice, like a child screaming and a woman’s voice”, Richie continued.

“What? Anything more?”, Kath joined in. I didn’t know she was paying any attention.

“The women’s voice was like, ‘no!’”, Richie exclaimed, changing his voice at the woman part.

“I knew something was up with that maniac! He was so nervous talking about his family! We need to find out more!”, I said, my voice became serious.

“But how?”, mum asked, looking worried.

That’s exactly what I’m doing now dear diary, peering through the windows…

Yours with lots of love,

Beth