The worst was the oldest. He was constantly yelling and bullied the other kids. It felt like his ultimate goal was to wreak havoc wherever he appeared. Emma gathered that his bedroom was neighboring her bedroom, with only a thin wall dividing them, as at night somebody amused himself by kicking and scratching his side of the wall, and the other kids probably were too small to do it. She thought that her life was now like a cross between “The Shining” and “The Omen.” Emma tried to bring this noise to the attention of the child’s parents, but they reacted aggressively. They stopped saying hello, and when they had guests, they pointed to her window and made gestures suggesting that Emma is not sound on her mind. The boy in Emma’s story fell when climbing the fence that divided the properties
