Neighbourhood Novels & Stories

There was little one could do when an ancient immortal with virtually almost no weakness was suffering from centuries of heartbreak. Within a few miles, I left the downtown grit and grime behind and entered an elegant area of carefully landscaped trees and spacious homes fronted by cobblestone sidewalks and yards big enough for the pros to play football in. The fraternity neighborhood. The whole place reeked of long teeth and I could tell my presence was felt because sooner than later, lights on several houses began to flick on with red ominous eyes trailing the intruder.

Or someone. I suspected that the first time I saw her. Every day that conclusion is reinforced. She is running and she is doing all she can to pretend she isn’t. Who moves into a tiny, quiet neighborhood like this and installs the most expensive home security system on the market? This is an upper middleclass neighborhood primarily populated by ex-soldiers like me. I know the real estate agent who sells homes in this little forty-three house community always stresses that thirty-three military families live here. I imagine this little girl thinks of that as more security as well. It probably means she’s familiar with the military, maybe grew up with parents in service.

Nevena walked towards her rented apartment. She walked along the passageway to her house carefully avoiding being splashed by water since it had rained. The rattling of rats seemed to not bother her. The noisy neighbourhood was filled with bad smells of some sort, urine, cigarette smoke, sewage and what not…she was accustomed to it. She was aware how disgusting and shabby the area they were living in was… She twisted the key and fought to open the door. Dimming on the lights in the passageway. She wished her mother had not gone to her hometown. Now she was not used to the emptiness and the silence that reigned in the house.

Huge trees and some bungalows here and there. It was a newly developed suburb according to the brochures and the realtor. As peaceful as I imagined. The security part, we'd have to see in a few months. The bermuda grass looked much lighter than the bushes around the tall concrete fence, but Mykaela seemed to appreciate it. The lights, the backyard ornaments, and the rather unique pool design also got me some nods of approval from her. "Your nearest neighbor's house is minutes away." She kept staring at me as we stood next to the patio.

"Oh! I said welcome to the Triangle neighborhood. Sorry, I sometimes forget that newcomers aren't familiar with our little nickname for the area." A bright, almost conspiratorial smile crossed her lips, and she didn't hesitate to satisfy my curiosity. She was clearly enjoying playing the role of neighborhood guide. "There are only three houses in this entire gated community," she explained, her voice taking on a storyteller's cadence. "And if you connect them on a map, they form a perfect triangle shape. My house and yours represent the two points on the base, and the massive palace directly opposite us is the third point at the top."

"You live in a place like this?" Maureen was still amazed when she entered the apartment corridor, following Ben who preceded her with a box containing copies of the meeting results and some additional plans. "Still rare, huh?" Ben turned to face Maureen and walked backwards, bragging about his rare home. Compared to the big city, their nearest neighbor, the available apartment buildings were still under ten stories. The effect of most of the soil structure on which the foundations rested was still swampy.

The neighbour's name was Gerald. He lived two doors down, retired, spent a lot of time at his front window or out front doing things that didn't really need doing just so he could be where he could see the street. He was friendly enough. Always said good morning. Always commented on Nora when he saw her. Told Maya once that they'd been a good addition to the road which Maya took as a compliment even though the way he said it suggested he'd had opinions about previous additions.

People might be curious to see the runaway Hunter and as exciting as that sounds I don't want to be in the spotlight. Mom rounded another corner and started slowing the car. The road was lined with brick and wooden houses, each with a white picket fence surrounding it. The ones with two stories had terraces on the second floor like it was a kind of law. People of different sizes and colors were moving around doing their own business, shouting greetings at one another. It was a picture of a peaceful neighborhood where no one had to watch his back when walking alone on the road because he had the assurance that his neighbors were helping him do that. Mom rolled down the window to shout greetin

I walked down the street, no particular destination in mind and observed the rows of similar houses down the street. Molly used to live in this neighborhood when we were younger, she had moved with her parents about five years ago, I didn't bother making other friends when I had Molly then, I deeply regretted my decision after she left. I had absolutely no idea who my neighbours were, at this point, I really didn't care anymore.

“This neighbourhood is very close. I’ve been here since I was born, and the other families here are very much like my own family.” Jai smiled. “Must be nice. It feels like you have a big family here.” Risa giggled genuinely. “Yes. It’s very nice.” They soon arrived at a house. It wasn’t very different from the other houses in the residential area. It had a name sign that both Jai and Darrion could not read as it was in different letters, but it had more potted plants from the other houses that looked refreshing to the eyes of those passing by the front lawn.