RESIDENTS

Emily, sitting on a small couch in the corner of the living room, she leans her head slightly on her palm, as she observes the movers , as they carry things outside the house, She is completely forlorn and her countenance has diminished to nothing, but her despair is interrupted when she begins to hear husband arguing from outside the house. She struggles a little, lifts herself from the couch , and walks out, she pats George on the back a little and sighs Emily; What's the problem , Babe? George : Pulls her close, and kisses her on the forehead.... They're Charging us Double for the move Emily pulls gently out of George's arms , and frowns , turns to one of the movers Emily; What ? No ! That's not possible, we had an agreement George : Exactly what I'm trying to tell him, we can't afford it. Emily : What do we do now Honey? George : Assuring her .... Don't worry Hon, I got this, You go get Tiwa ready, I got this! Emily casts an unbelievable look upon George , as her despair slowly returns to her , after a decisive sighs she shuns him Emily : You know the last time you said you got something, You actually gave our entire life savings to a scammer . George: Emily! Emily ; Let's have one truck carry the things, our car can do the rest, it's the only thing we can afford to do right now, I'll go get Tiwa. Emily goes back inside , George couldn't agree less, after all he is responsible for losing their money to a fraud . A while later they're on their way to the new home, they encounter some problems with their car which is carrying a significant portion of their things, they do things like pumping the tires that are getting flat, while in the car George uses his right hand to pat Emily on the head, he holds out her left hand and kisses the back of it, but Emily pulls her hand back to herself, winds down the window on her side , and sticks her head out, Tiwa , 9, their only child , at the back seat, watching video games on her iPad, not caring much what the adults worries about. Their drive continues and eventually they drive through the gate of the Estate that reads Roseville at the entrance , as they drive by Emily notices the calmness of the Town Estate , she sees women each standing at the pouch of their house, it's more like when you haven't seen a new face in a thousand years , finally Emily breaks the silence . Emily; It's so quiet here George... George who has been eagerly waiting to hear at least a word from Emily, quickly Jumps into the conversation. George: Its supposed to be an Estate honey. Of course it is quiet Emily: I mean look at all the women, looking as if they haven't seen a car driving by in like a hundred years, and I see only women, what about their husbands and kids? George: Well I assume the husbands are out at work, and kids still at school Emily; And the women are creepily all on their porches at the same time, is this like a welcome ovation? lol George Pulls by and parks the car , puts off the ignition George; Here we are Baby, our new Home They all alights from the heavy laden car , standing side by side each other, as the movers begin to move their things in , A woman on the porch of the house closest to thiers , continues to stare glaringly at them, after a while of creepy staring, she smiles and waves at Emily who becomes nervous and asks her husband Emily : Did you notice how creepy these people are when you came to inspect the house? George; With so much discomfort in his eyes , blinking profusely, Well , they weren't this creepy when I came for ... uhmm... inspection , some of them were quite friendly. As he says this, the creepy neighbor walks up to them with a weird smile, Mary ; You are the new neighbor, I am pleased to meet you, you can call me Mary she stretches out her hand for a handshake Emily: Shakes her hand.... with an awry smile Yes , thank you , I am Emily, this is my husband George and my daughter Tiwa. Mary stares deeply at George .... smiles and exchanges a handshake with him as well, "Such a beautiful girl" she says as she turns to Tiwa, then she finally leaves . Tiwa : She is creepy , Mom Emily; Tiwa , Daddy will show you to your room, he says it's really nice and you'll like it. Urging Tiwa to head inside the house she turns to George, George?! Please show Tiwa her room . George holds Tiwa's hand ,as they walk in to the house "common honey, let's go see your new pinky room" Tiwa ; Has it been painted Pink? George; Well, not yet , but I'll do that with haste okay.... Emily takes another look around the vicinity in a giffy, Mary still standing on the Porch, staring just like the others, Emily heads inside .... The family is at the dining table , having their first dinner in the new house , Emily prays to the food and everyone digs in, they eat and Tiwa heads to her room, George brings two tablets of anti-depressants for Emily who refuses to take it Emily; Not tonight honey, I think I'll pass. George; Its been a long day, you need this. Emily; Stares willfully at the pills for a while No , not tonight, you know they're not exactly helping with the depression, it's more like it's making it worse. I think I wanna sleep with a clear head tonight. She stands up and walks in to the master bedroom. In the middle of the night, Emily stands up from the bed , with her eyes wide opened, she opens the door and heads out, she continues to walk barefooted on the street, when she sees a wooden garden chair, she sits on it , across of which is another detached apartment just like thiers , and a boy peeping out the window , Emily then lies on the wooden chair, and continues to sleep. A while later , she comes to, and stands up and the boy who was peeping out through the window is now standing outside the house , staring at her statically, feeling completely creeped out, she looks at her barefooted legs , "s**t" she says , and races home, she flings the door open, shuts it behind her , goes back to bed , and curls up in the duvet, George grumbles from his sleep "Honey I'm so tired" Emily's eyes are wide opened for fear of falling asleep again. In the morning, while the couple are still in bed , a loud knock on the door wakes the entire household, Emily grunts as she makes her way to the front door.. opens up and it is Mary, the neighbor. Mary smiles and says "Good morning to you, I have come to let you know that , here we have a custom, we the old and existing residents of Roseville will be holding a dinner tonight, to welcome your family into our Estate, be sure to attend . Mary leaves instantly without giving Emily the chance to reply, but Emily did well by throwing her reply into the air, as Mary walks off Emily; Yes Mary, we will uhmmm.... we will be there, , ,,Good morning Mary! Emily screams into the air ... and sighs arrrghh! George walks to the living room, as Emily shuts the door, She exchanges pecks with her husband George; Was that the neighbor? Emily: Certainly, the creepy neighbor Mary. We are supposedly attending a dinner tonight, it is customary George: Well, I guess it's how they welcome people here Emily ; What kind of Estate holds a dinner to welcome new neighbors George; Leans in on Emily who's sitting on the sofa, bending over Honey, don't be bothered by these things, it's just a dinner, and we happen to be able to attend, mmmh? Now take that worried look off your face . Emily; Sighs George stands up , heading to the room " I'll drop by the clinic and get familiar with my new place of work, on my way back I'll get some pink paint for Tiwa's room and a bottle of wine for that dinner, we don't wanna show up empty handed he heads to the room..... Emily follows Emily : It happened, Again George turns to her to listen ...she continues I went out , again, barefooted, I think I was gone for like two hours? Slept on the wooden chair, and when I came to, when I came to.... she breaks down in tears...George hugs her "shhhh, it's alright, it's alright Baby" George ; I'll be more attentive , I promise Emily; No , it's not your fault, you needed that sleep. George: It will stop, I promise , it will stop Emily; The meds , honey , I'm tired of them George; You know they help keep the terrors away, it's only because you're worried , and depressed these days, once you setlle in completely, the terrors will go I promise, I only need you to trust me He picks up the pills container from the drawer and hands them to Emily, who hesistates a while and eventually takes it from George. A phone call interrupts the moment, George picks up the unknown caller who says "Hello, is this Mr George? " , 'yes it is' George replies , the voice on the other end continues as Emily anxiously listens in , "I think you should really keep your wife close at night, she looks too lonely, anyways , welcome to Roseville" the caller hangs up George and Emily locks eyes , wondering what in the world the caller meant, just in that moment , Tiwa wakes from a weird dream with screams , George and Emily Panics and their eyes locks, widening as they both Pant ,nand Mary who's standing on the Porch outside her house, smiles , and then laughs and says "welcome to Roseville"