Chapter 4
I was waiting for the perfect moment.
Kevin got a formal warning from property management and was forced to reimburse me for the new lock and the cleanup fee.
When his mother came to drop off the cash, she looked at me like she wanted to eat me alive.
"Enjoy it while it lasts," she hissed. "This isn't over."
I took the money and counted it bill by bill, right in front of her.
"Have a nice day," I said, my voice dripping with ice.
Shaking with fury, she slammed the door on her way out.
The next few days were peaceful.
With the drones gone and the harassment stopped, they were either lying low or quietly plotting their next move.
I went about my life as usual, but every day, I checked on my little "deterrent."
On a Friday night, my opportunity arrived.
Megan posted a new update in the residents' group chat with a photo of her grandson to celebrate him turning three months old.
[So excited to have my son and his family visiting this weekend! The house is going to be pretty lively, and the baby definitely likes to make his voice heard. Thanks for understanding while we enjoy some family time!]
A flood of congratulations and well-wishes followed.
Kevin was married, and his family was officially part of the equation.
Looking at that chubby little face didn't move me at all. They say "innocents" should be spared, but I wasn't buying it.
When they were flying a drone outside my window and gluing my lock shut, they should have realized I was no longer playing by the rules.
I heard them moving furniture and a baby crying upstairs at noon on Saturday as the whole happy family settled in.
I waited until 11 p.m., long after the sounds from upstairs had died down.
They must all have been asleep.
I pulled out my phone and pressed play.
I had the volume set to the lowest possible level. I pressed my ear to the ceiling only to be met with total silence.
I felt satisfied.
Setting my phone aside, I put in my earplugs and went to sleep.
The next morning, I was woken by frantic banging on my door.
I pulled out my earplugs, walked to the door, and checked the video feed.
It was Kevin and Megan. Both had dark, heavy circles under their eyes and looked utterly wrecked.
"Emily Carter! Get out here!" Kevin bellowed.
I pressed the talk button.
"Can I help you?" I asked.
"Did you plant a speaker in my floor or something? There was this repetitive noise vibrating in our bedroom all night, and we couldn't get it to stop!"
He looked like he was about to have a complete breakdown.
I put on my most innocent voice.
"Noise? Mr. Lane, were you feeling okay? Maybe you were just sleep-deprived. I didn't hear a thing."
"That's a lie!" Megan shrieked. "We heard it all night long! It was echoing in my son's bedroom like you were standing right there! You evil woman, what did you do to my grandson?"
"You're talking crazy. You think I'm playing some weird audio? Prove it. Why didn't you ask our neighbors if they heard anything?"
As if on cue, my next-door neighbor, Harry Hall, opened his door.
He froze, looking at Kevin and Megan.
Like a drowning man clutching at straws, Kevin rushed over to Harry and blurted out, "Hey, man, did you hear anything weird last night? Like a low drone?"
Harry just looked confused.
"No, it was dead quiet. Why? What's up?"
The color drained from Kevin's face.
"Impossible. That was absolutely impossible..." Kevin muttered, staring into space with a look of pure confusion.
Megan, however, was still screaming at my door, "It was you! I know you did this!"
I was done talking to them.
"If you two didn't stop harassing me at my door, I was calling the police."
I ended the call.
They kept yelling for a few more minutes before property management came and hauled them away.
I watched them go, a cold emptiness settling in my chest.
This was just the warm-up.
Over the weekend, I swapped the audio for a curated playlist of horror movie sound effects, refining my payload for maximum psychological impact.
I edited a woman's bloodcurdling scream, a child's eerie laughter, and the sound of nails dragging across a chalkboard into one jarring, randomized loop.
The volume was low, but the directional beam sent every terrifying sound echoing clearly through their bedroom.
On Monday morning, I ran into Kevin's wife in the elevator.
She looked like a quiet and gentle woman, clutching her baby. Her face was as pale as paper, with dark circles under her eyes.
No matter how she tried, she couldn't quiet the screaming child in her arms.
When she saw me, she flinched and shrank into the corner of the elevator.
I could only imagine what her weekend had been like.
A new mother, with a three-month-old baby, was trapped in a room that sounded like it was haunted.
I felt not one shred of guilt.
When they enabled Kevin's harassment, they became his accomplices.
That afternoon at work, I got a call from an unknown number.
It was Kevin's wife.
Her voice was thick with exhaustion and unshed tears.
"Ms. Carter, please, I'm begging you. Just let us go. We knew we were wrong."
"Oh? And what, exactly, were you wrong about?" I asked.
The line went quiet.
"My son is so little," she finally whispered. "He's so scared, and he hasn't slept in two days. He just cries. He's going to get sick. Please, whatever you want, we'll give it to you."
"What I wanted," I said, "you couldn't give me."
"What did you want from us?" she sobbed.
"I didn't want anything," I replied. "I just wanted to be left alone. Unfortunately, your husband and his mother didn't seem to want that."
"He was wrong! It was all his fault!" she said frantically. "I'll yell at him, and I'll make him apologize! Just please, turn that thing off!"
"And would an apology make it better?" I asked. "When his drone was hovering outside my bathroom window, did he think about how I felt? When he glued my lock shut, did he think about the fact that he could have killed me?
"Now I'm just playing a little 'music' for him, and he can't handle it?"
I let every single word sink in, speaking slowly and deliberately.
"Go home and tell Kevin and his mother that if they couldn't admit what they did, this was far from over."
I hung up the phone.