We lived excluded, the neighbor house was several miles away. We could barely see their light on the horizon.
The utter silence at night seemed to scream in my ears. The moon shone bright and lit my room in pale blue light. Objects seemed to contort into horrible faces. The door of my wardrobe wasn't completely closed and I kept imagining an eye staring back at me. The black object on the floor seemed to creep towards me.
I turned on the lights and all was normal again. The eye in the wardrobe was just a black and white striped sweater and the black thing on the floor the jeans I had thrown there after changing into pajamas. I put it away and closed the wardrobe. It was 3:00 AM. I should really get to sleep. I turned the light off and all was pitch black. It took a while until my eyes got used to the dark again. I saw a light outside. First I thought it was the ceiling lamp getting mirrored in the glass but then I realized all lights in my room were turned off, of course. It wasn't the moon either, it was too yellow, too artificial.
I got up again and noticed it was the neighbours house off in the distance. It was way too late to still have the lights on. But, well, I had them turned on moments ago too, so I laid down again and waited for it to turn off again.
4:00 AM.
I didn't know if the light kept me awake or the question of what was going on. I was tempted to pick up the phone and just call them, tell them to turn their stupid lights off. I got school tomorrow. I didn't even know who lived there though. Maybe I should fake a cold and stay home. I pulled the blanket over my head and tried to ignore the light.
It was 4:23 AM when I caught a glimpse of the clock again. The light was still on. I heard the door fell shut downstairs. My father has early shifts, he probably just left. Now I was alone. Maybe he'll stop by the neighbors. I was curious what was going on there. Have they fallen asleep and forgot to turn the lights off? How wouldn't you notice that? From what I could see every light in the house was on, it wouldn't have been much brighter if it were on fire.
Almost five. I remembered I had grandpas old binoculars here somewhere. Maybe I could see what was happening over there with it. I hoped it reached that far. I hadn’t used it much, there just wasn’t anything to look at here. As far the eye could see there were just empty fields. Sometimes with cows in them, sometimes corn. There was a thick forest in the north-east but trees weren't that interesting either. I couldn't see anyone in the windows. I concluded they were sleeping. Some things were odd though. Several objects had been pushed over. A tall lamp leaned to the sofa in the living room, flower pots in the windows lay on their side, some probably fell down. I found the entrance door and found it open. And it had been opened by force. My heart pumped faster, I could feel it in my chest.
I called the police. I told them where I lived and the address of the neighbors. Told them I thought there was a burglar. Maybe a killer even. They said they'd come as soon as possible.
Not much later red and blue lights were added to the yellow. I watched the policemen inspecting the house from afar. They looked rather disturbed by things I could not see. Then they vanished in a room with no windows to my side. They remained there for a while. One came back out, got down the stairs and out the house. He made a call. Then he noticed something too small for me to see. He walked into the fields a bit and then stopped. He still had his phone in his hand and made another call. I jumped when our telephone in the kitchen started to ring. I went to answer it but before I reached my door the ringing stopped. I was pretty sure it was the policeman who called so I looked again to see why he stopped calling. I could not see his expression but he talked to someone. Then he ran to the car and started it without waiting for the other guy. He drove down the road, towards my house. I wondered what was going on, then I realized, maybe he hadn't just given up on the call for no reason.
It wasn't silent in my room. There were footsteps and breathing.