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Then I noticed faint scratches near the lock.
Repeated wear around specific digits.
That’s when my curiosity shifted into full investigative mode.
Opening It
I wish I could say I walked away.
I didn’t.
After about twenty minutes of trial and error, the lock clicked open.
Inside were dozens of photographs.
And every single one of them was of the house.
Not generic real estate pictures.
Detailed photos.
Close-ups of windows.
Door locks.
Hallways.
Bedrooms.
The backyard.
The woods behind the property.
Some were taken during daylight.
Others at night.
My stomach tightened immediately.
Then I found the notebook underneath the photographs.
No title.
No names.
Just pages and pages of handwritten observations.
Most entries were dated from about three years earlier.
Some were ordinary:
“Kitchen light flickers around 11 p.m.”
Others were deeply unsettling:
“Back tenant usually sleeps around 1:15.”
“Package deliveries arrive Tuesdays.”
“Side gate doesn’t latch properly.”
I stopped reading for a moment because the implication hit me all at once.
Whoever wrote these notes wasn’t casually documenting the house.
They were watching it.
Studying it.