The New Neighbor

even any angry shouting. And those few words that were exchanged were done so without eye contact.

Late in the afternoon, Dylan called and asked Robby if he wanted to go to the mall. Anxious to get out of the house, Robby grabbed his coat and went outside to meet Dylan. He assumed they were going to walk – the Mt. Shasta Mall wasn’t far away – but instead, Mrs. Garry pulled up in her car and Dylan waved from the backseat.

A light rain was falling and Robby stuffed his hands into his coat pockets as he hurried to the other side of the car. As he got in, he spotted Lorelle walking down her drive flanked by Sodom and Gomorrah, each on a leash. He turned away quickly, as if he hadn't noticed her.

Dylan watched her as they drove away, turning around in the seat to look out the back window. With a low whistle, he whispered, 'God, they're gorgeous.' Then, chuckling: 'The dogs're pretty nice, too.'

Robby ignored him and looked out his window as they turned onto Mistletoe and something caught his eye. A tan Ford Escort was parked on the other side of the street. A man wearing a hat sat behind the wheel, elbow propped against the closed window, his face in his gloved hand. His eyes met with Robby's and he sat up suddenly, pulling his hand away, and -

– through the rain-speckled glass, Robby saw the man's mangled face, his down turned eye, the rictus curl of the left side of his mouth as it grinned halfway up his face.

The man watched Robby as they rode by and Robby spun around, clutching the back of the seat.

The Escort started up and pulled away from the shoulder, making a U-turn in the street.

'My God,' Robby breathed.

'What?' Dylan asked, glancing behind them. 'Someone you know?'

Robby stammered a moment, then fell silent. What could he say? That was the man with the melting face and the steel hand that my sister saw last night. It wouldn't sound good.

But the man was definitely following them.

'Something wrong, Robby?' Mrs. Garry asked.

He tried to relax in the seat and think of a response, but he was too upset – too frightened – to string words into a sentence, so he just mustered a weak smile, said, 'No,' and resisted the urge to look back again.

Dylan was talking to him about something, but his voice sounded far away and his words were garbled. Robby stared at the back of Mrs. Garry's head as Dylan rattled on.

They turned right on Churn Creek Road. The windshield wipers sounded like a soggy heartbeat as they swept from right to left and back again and – Robby looked over his shoulder.

The Escort was still behind them.

Robby's hands began to shake in his lap and he considered asking Mrs. Garry to take him back home -

– I could say I forgot something I had to do, or that I'm expecting a long distance call, or -

– but they were already on Hilltop Drive and Mrs. Garry turned on the blinker, ready to turn into the Sears parking lot just ahead.

“I've got some shopping to do,” she said as she looked for a parking space. “You boys do whatever you want in the mall. Dylan, I’ll give you a call when I’m ready to leave.”

'Okay, Mom,' Dylan said.

She pulled into a space, killed the engine, and they got out of the car.

Robby looked around for the Escort but didn’t see it.

'What's the matter?' Dylan asked. 'You look like you're lost.'

'Oh. Nothing. Let's go.'

Still looking over his shoulder every few seconds, Robby followed Dylan into the mall.

I'm tired, that's all, he thought. I haven't been sleeping well and it's made me jumpy. Paranoid. That's all.

Inside the mall, they went to Hot Topic first and looked around for a while. Dylan whispered jokes about the overweight goth girl operating the register as they browsed the merchandise. As the left the store, Robby looked to his left at the glass doors through which they’d entered.

The man stood on the sidewalk outside, leaning on his cane as he stared in through the glass.

'Holy shit,' Robby whispered, spinning around so his back was toward the window.

'What?'

'C'mon, we've gotta go.”

'What the hell's wrong with you?'

'That man is following me.'

'What man?'

'That – “

He was gone.

'You're still sick, aren't you?' Dylan asked, frowning. 'You got a fever?'

Robby didn't reply. He just stared at the glass doors as his heart thundered against his ribs.

'I'm gonna go look at the pictures of the half naked women in the Victoria’s Secret window.' Dylan left him standing alone.

Robby turned away from the entrance and stared absently into the display window in front of Hot Topic. He tried to tell himself it was ridiculous to be so frightened by a total stranger. Just because his face was disfigured did not mean he was some kind of mad slasher, and it certainly didn't mean he was the same man Lorelle had reported to the police last night.

Maybe I am sick, he thought, touching his forehead for signs of a high temperature.

'Please listen to me and don't run away.'

Robby gasped as he spun around to face the man who had appeared suddenly behind him.

'I don't want to hurt you. Just warn you. You have to listen to me.' The brim of his fedora was low and his head was tipped forward so Robby couldn’t get a good look at his face.

“Who are you?'

'Doesn't matter. All you need to know is that you're in danger. Your whole family is in danger. In fact, your entire neigh – “

Feeling a sudden jolt of anger, Robby growled, 'Look, man, I don't have to listen to you, okay? I don't know who you are, but if you don't stay out of my neighborhood and away from my sister, I'll have you thrown in – “

The man lifted his head and faced him directly.

Robby's words disappeared in a gulp.

The left side of the man's mouth had been cut all the way up to his cheekbone, which appeared to have caved in, as if it had been split then sewn back together. The scar that remained had dragged the outer corner of his left eye downward and puckered his cheek like a colorless raisin.

'Look at me,' the man whispered. 'Look at me. Do you want this to happen to you? To your family?'

Feeling queasy, Robby backed up until he bumped into the window.

“Now, listen to me. You have to listen. You're all in danger. You know something's wrong. Deep down, I think you know. Don't you?'

Robby looked to his right and saw Dylan a few stores down standing at the Victoria’s Secret window. He willed Dylan to turn to him, to see the man with the cane, but Dylan didn’t move.

'She's evil,' the man said quietly, moving a step closer.

Robby looked at him again. The man’s face made him wince. He couldn’t look at him for long. He turned his head toward Dylan again and tried to call his name, but his throat was full of sand and he only made a senseless, whispery sound. His hands tingled, as if freezing cold, and he waggled his fingers spastically as the man moved a step closer, almost touching him now.

Robby turned toward Dylan again. He still stood at the window, oblivious.

He whispered, 'You know she's evil, don't you?'

Robby forced himself to peel his body away from the window and turn left. He threw himself forward, away from the man, nearly tripping over his own feet on his way to the exit. But he could not keep himself from glancing